Q
I have been reading on line about Edom being Rome. Is there anything to this?
A
Edom is the land east of the Jordan River originally called Seir. It was given to Jacob’s brother Esau (Deut. 2:1-6). It’s called Jordan today.
The Bible has more to say about Edom than any of Israel’s other neighbors. Some people like to equate Edom with various Gentile groups, including the Palestinians of today. But there really is no reason to think of Edom any other way than as the territory God gave to Esau’s descendants.
There is a tradition that the founders of Rome were descendants of Esau (Edom) but in my opinion that would not make Rome into Edom.