What means Edom

I had an interesting conversation with a Rabbi about the use of the name Edom in the Bible.

James the Apostle quotes the prophecy of Amos 9:12 in Acts 15. He (or the writer of acts) cites literally from the Septuaginta. This text has ‘mankind’ instead of Edom. So my question was why the translators of the Septuaginta used mankind. Or put simply, how do we have to read Edom throughout the bible.

James lived in Israel under the Roman empire. We can easily understand that they used Edom used for the nations, other than the Jews. Because ‘all’ nations were under the Roman empire that time. We only have to suppose that Edom was a term used to describe Rome. Then Edom means the nations, the Gentiles, mankind.

But what about the broader picture of the use of Edom in the Bible? Does it support reading ‘mankind’ for it? We can go back to the very first existence of ‘Edom’. That is in the womb of Rebecca. There it states that there are two nations. In fight with each other. (Esau is called Edom, Gen.25:30) This is in line with the explanation of James. James points to the Messianic era where peace will reign between those two rebelling nations. Thus does he explains Amos 9.

The word Edom means red. It relates to Adam. Here the two nations (Israel and the nations) sprung from Adam. It began from the creation of mankind from the dust of the earth. They parted into rebelling nations. But they will end together in the Messianic era.

Then it will be like James Amos 9:12 told the disciples: “After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things.” (Acts 15:16)

They saw the beginning. Hopefully, we will see the fulfilment.

The Pope is not the antichrist (anymore)

While I was written to a considerable extend at my Dutch blog that the Pope was the antichrist in the time of the Reformation, now I can proof that he personally is not an antichrist anymore as it was in those early days. Times are changed, fortunately. He says: “Anti-Semitism is a sin, and you cannot be a true Christian without recognizing your Jewish roots.” I wish that every Protestant pastor would say that too.

The Pope doesn’t have dominion over Europe and the world anymore. His empire has gone. His (theological) power has gone. This is all over, we clearly live in other times now. Protestants interpreted prophecy, especially from the book Revelation, in a manner which is called Historicism. Although, unto the 19e century. I wrote earlier about it here. They called the Pope the antichrist, what is understandable . Now our enemy is not the Pope, but the devil himself going around like a roaring lion. Misleading the nations. Hopefully Israel and its God will soon lead the nations.

I read this encouraging words in an article from the Israely newspaper Yediot Ahronot.

The Pope and the Vatican

Yediot Ahronot, November 28, 2014

For this six-page article, Henrike Zimmerman interviewed Pope Francis at the Vatican. This is the first personal interview the pope has given to an Israeli newspaper. Pope Francis described his battle to halt the Islamic caliphate, and how there are more Christian martyrs today than in the early centuries of the church. He spoke against the violence in Jerusalem and called on all sides to act for peace, saying, “Building peace is hard, but living without peace is a nightmare.”

When speaking of Jerusalem, the pope did not want to express a personal view, but said that the Vatican’s view is that Jerusalem should be “the city of peace and faith,” the capital of all three religions. He spoke of his good memories of his trip to Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority in May, and said that he “saw things he didn’t know existed.” He said, additionally, that it is important for Christians to visit Israel since “everything began there,” and that “anti-Semitism is a sin, and you cannot be a true Christian without recognizing your Jewish roots.”

Regarding the possible opening of the Vatican archives, Pope Francis said that a treaty between the Vatican and Italy from 1929 prevents the opening of the archives, but that personally he sees no reason they shouldn’t be opened as soon as the “legal and bureaucratic” issues are taken care of.

The article ends by quoting Francis on how he wants to be remembered: “I would be happy if they said, ‘He was a good man. He did the best he could. He wasn’t so terrible.’”

Courtesy to the Media Review letter of the Caspari Centre, www.caspari.com