God HATED Esau

The Jews, their History, Culture, and Religion, edited by Louis Finkelstein, Chancellor, The jewish Theological Seminary of America, pg. 121, Library of Congress control no. 74107615, call number DS102.4 .F5 1970

“When, years before, John Hyrcanus had forced Judaism on the Idumeans he evidently conjectured that the new, though unwilling, converts could learn to identify their own destiny with that of his people.  The gruesome accuracy of his Realpolitik was now vindicated, albeit not as John would have wished.

“Antipater was of Idumean descent.  During the reign of Alexander Janneus has father had served as governor of idumea.  The son, however, had larger ambitions.  He perceived that the tulmult within Judea could serve his own purposes if he but acted adroitly.  The first step was to win the good faith of the defeated, equivocating Hyrcanus; from then on Antipater ceaselessly urged him to contest the throne that Aristobulus had usurped.  Was not Hyrcanus the elder brother?  Was not the crown in all justice his?  Was it manly to resign so placidly?  And the prodding was effective, especially since Antipater guaranteed the assistance of a neighboring Arab king.”

What’s missing from this brief excerpt is what’s meant by “Realpolitik”: it was the conversion of the Edomites to jews and their becoming “an inseparable part of the Jewish people” as Judaica Encyclopedia describes it, or that “from then on they constituted a part of the Jewish people, Herod being one of their descendants”, as the Standard Jewish Encyclopedia says.

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