PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

...our own, we would be Jews, not Idumeans. 2. But even if we grant that the first Christians were Idumeans, it does not follow that all Christians can be called Idumeans because of their religion. The followers of a sect take their name from the first author of that religion, not from his first disciples. Thus, in the past, the Sadducees were named after Zadok, and the Hillelites and Shammaites were named after the leaders of their schools, Hillel and Shammai. Therefore, by the logic of faith, the Jews should call us Christians after the leader of our religion, not Idumeans after his obscure disciples. 3. Nor does Aben-Esra Abraham ibn Ezra (1089–1167), a celebrated Spanish Jewish scholar and biblical commentator. help his own cause when he says that many are called Ishmaelites (by the Jews, that is) who are not actually so. We must ask: by what right? They call us Idumeans as well, though we are not. Consequently, not every Jewish etymology should be taken as Gospel truth by us.

VIII. Nor are we moved by the fiction of Rabbi Nachmanides, Rabbi Nissim, Rabbi Kimchi, and Joseph Albo in his Ikkarim (Principles) A famous work of Jewish philosophy by Joseph Albo, written in the 15th century., Discourse 4, Chapter 42. All of these men lived at least 1,100 years after the birth of Christ. They claim that the Italians received their faith through a certain Idumean Sacrificulum (Priest) original Hebrew: komer (כומר), a term often used in a derogatory sense by Jewish writers for non-Jewish or Christian priests..

I respond: 1. Abarbanel Isaac Abarbanel (1437–1508), a statesman and philosopher who argued that Rome was the "successor" to Edom. himself admits that they do not provide clear reasons for this assertion. Our shoulders are not so strong that we can carry so many Jewish lies. 2. Furthermore, the logic is flawed. We could likewise conclude: Rabbi Akiba—from whom the Jews received a large portion of their traditions—was a convert, a Canaanite by birth, and specifically from the descendants of Sisera, as recorded in the Juchasin (Book of Genealogies) page 41 and the Zemach David (Sprout of David) page 86. Does it follow then that the Jews are Canaanites, and that the punishments predicted for Canaanites in Holy Scripture apply to them? If they say that Akiba ceased to be a Canaanite when he became a Jewish convert, we shall say that the "Idumean Priest" ceased to be an Idumean when he became a Christian.

IX. Furthermore, Abarbanel argues we are Idumeans based on a similarity of character. He notes it is common for the Prophets to name one people after another if their behaviors are similar, just as Isaiah (Chapter 1, Verse 10) calls his contemporaries "rulers of Sodom" and "people of Gomorrah." He lists five main points by which Christians can best be compared to Esau Esau, the brother of Jacob, is traditionally identified in Jewish thought as the ancestor of Edom/Idumea, which in turn became a symbolic name for Rome and later Christendom.:

1. Just as Esau had the same father as Jacob, he says we acknowledge and worship the same one GOD as the Jews.
2. Just as Esau treated his father, so we worship GOD deceitfully and fraudulently.
3. Just as Esau married foreigners, so the Romans mixed themselves with the most diverse nations.
4. Just as Esau was deprived of his birthright and possessed a blessing only in a physical sense, so we enjoy only temporal (earthly) benefits.
5. Just as Esau hated Jacob, so we hate the Jews.