Idumeans and Herod

About 125 years before Jesus, a Jewish ruler made the Idumeans convert to Judaism. King Herod came from an Idumean family. The speaker says this means Jews from then on were secretly Edomites. But the historian Josephus, the speaker's own source, says the Idumeans simply became Jews. One king's family background doesn't change the ancestry of millions of people.

The opponent may say John Hyrcanus converted Idumeans, Herod was Idumean, and therefore later Jewish institutions were secretly Edomite.

Josephus, Antiquities 13.257–258 and 14.403; Herod's Idumean family background; Antigonus's reported insult.

Even if some Idumeans entered Judean society, that supports integration of a population—not replacement of all Jews. The claim about an Edomite-filled Sanhedrin needs a direct ancient source.