Recent discoveries near Tell Sandahannah (or Mareshah) have revealed the presence of North Arabian (Edomite) names about the 2nd century B.C.'
If we might accept the various theories mentioned above, Balaam would appear in one source of J as an Edomite, in another as an Ammonite; in E as a native of the south of Judah or' possibly as an Aramaean; in the tradition followed by the Priestly Code probably as a Midianite.
In its earliest form it was no doubt most closely allied to the Canaanite or Phoenician stock, to the language of Moab, as revealed by the stele of Mesha (c. 850 B.C.), and to Edomite.
Israel at the death of Jeroboam was rent by divided factions, whereas Judah (under Uzziah) has now become a powerful kingdom, controlling both Philistia and the Edomite port of Elath on the gulf of `Akaba.
But the Judaean historians have successfully concealed the course of events, although, as has long been recognized, there was some movement upwards from the south of Judah of groups closely tion of related to Edomite and kindred peoples of South New Palestine and Northern Arabia.
