Jeremiah 49:22

The enemy would come down on Edom like an eagle (or vulture, cf. Jeremiah 48:40-41). Men would be as fearful as women in labor when the invader struck.

Nebuchadnezzar fulfilled the judgment predicted in this prophecy when he subdued the entire Transjordan region. Like Moab and Ammon, Edom plotted against the Babylonians, who had incorporated them into their empire about 605 B.C. However, the Edomites assisted the Babylonians in attacking Judah in 588-586 B.C. (Psalms 137:7; Lamentations 4:21; Ezekiel 25:12-14; cf. Obad.). Babylonian reprisals against Edom for lack of cooperation, and subsequent invasions of Arab tribes (Nabateans; cf. Malachi 1:1-4), drove the Edomites into Judah where they settled, north of Hebron. This area later became known as Idumea. Herod the Great was an Idumean.

". . . the threatened devastation of the land of Edom was brought about by the Chaldeans, as is clear from Mal. i. 3; but the annihilation of the people was commenced by the Maccabeans, and completed by the Romans, about the time of the Jewish war [i.e., A.D. 68-70]." [Note: Keil, 2:250.]

Misplaced trust, plus pride in herself and in her reputedly inaccessible heights, caused Yahweh to judge this nation (Jeremiah 49:16).