Now these [are] the generations of Esau, who [is] Edom.
1 5. Esau’s Wives and Children
1. the same is Edom ] A gloss introduced here and in Gen 36:8 ; Gen 36:19.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
– Section XII – Jacob
– The History of Esau
2. < ‘oholybamah, Oholibamah, tent of the high place. anah, Anah, answering. tsbon, Tsibon, dyer, colored.
4. ‘elyphaz, Eliphaz, God of strength. reu’el Reuel, friend of God.
5. yeush, Jeush, haste. yalam, Jalam, hiding. qorach Qorach, ice.
11. teyman, Teman, right-hand man. ‘omar, Omar, eloquent. tsepho, Tsepho, watch. gatam Gatam, touch. qenaz Qenaz, hunting.
12. tmna( Timna, restraint. amaleq, Amaleq, licking up, laboring.
13. nachath, Nachath, going down, rest. zerach, Zerach, rising (of light). shammah, Shammah, wasting. mzzah, Mizzah, fear, sprinkling.
20. lotan, Lotan, covering, veiled. shobal, Shobal, flowing, a shoot.
21. dyshon, Dishon, a kind of gazelle, fat. ‘etser, Etser, store. dyshan, Dishan, threshing.
22. chory, Chori, troglodyte. hemam, Hemam, noise, commotion.
23. alvan, Alvan, lofty. manachath, Manachath, rest. eybal, Ebal, stripped of leaves. shepho, Shepho, bare. ‘onam, Onam, strong.
24. ‘ayah, Ajjah, cry, hawk. yem hot springs. Not mules ( peyadym) nor giants ( ‘eymym).
26. chemdan, Chemdan, pleasant. ‘eshban, Eshban, thought? ythran, Jithran, gain. keran, Keran, harp?
27. blhan, Bilhan, timid. zaavan, Zaavan, troubled? aqan, Aqan, twistinq.
28. ‘aran, Aran, wild-goat?
32. bela, Bela devouring. beor, Beor, torch. dnhabah, Dinhabah.
33. yobab, Jobab, shout. batsrah Botsrah, fold, fort.
34. chusham, Chusham, haste.
35. hadad, Hadad, breaking, shout. bedad Bedad, separation. avyth, Avith, twisting.
36. samlah, Samlah, garment. masreqah, Masreqah, vineyard.
37. sha’ul, Shaul, asked.
38. baal–chanan, Baal-chanan, lord of grace. akbor, Akbor, mouse.
39. hadar, Hadar, honor. pau, Pau, bleeting. meheytab’el, Mehetabel, God benefiting. matred, Matred, push. mey–zahab, Me-zahab, water of gold.
40. yetheth, Jetheth, a nail?
41. ‘elah, Elah, terebinth. pynon, Pinon, dark?
42. mbtsar, Mibtsar, fortress.
43. magdy’el, Magdiel, prince of God. yram Iram, civic or naked.
The two documents that now remain run parallel to one another in point of time. They relate to the two sons of Isaac; and, as usual, the record of the one, who, though first born, falls into the ranks of paganism, is first given briefly, and thus dismissed, in order to make way for the more elaborate history of the chosen seed. The latter document does not terminate with the book of Genesis. We do not again meet with the phrase, and these are the generations, until we come to the third chapter of Numbers, and even then it is only applied in a subordinate sense to the family of Aaron and Moses, and the priesthood connected with them. Hence, the latter document may be regarded as extending through the remaining books of the Pentateuch. The former may therefore, be of like extent in regard to time. The last of the eight kings, of whom it is not said that he died, seems to have been the contemporary of Moses, who made application to him for leave to pass through his land. If this be so, it follows that the remainder of Genesis comes immediately from the hand of Moses; a result which is in accordance with other indications that have presented themselves in the previous part of this book. This interesting monument of antiquity, from its extreme brevity, leaves many questions which it suggests to our minds unanswered, and in the absence of all other information, we must rest contented with the meagre notices of the race of Edom which it has furnished. And where we cannot ascertain the actual connection of the events and individuals mentioned, we must be satisfied with any possible relation in which they may be placed. The notice, notwithstanding its brevity, we shall find to be arranged with admirable precision.
Gen 36:1-8
This passage is introductory, and records the settlement of Esau with his family in Mount Seir. Esau, who is Edom. This is a fact of which we were informed in the previous history Gen 25:25, Gen 25:30. It is mentioned here because the latter name gave origin to the national designation; namely, the Edomites or Idumaeans. The occurrence of this explanatory or definitive clause here and in other parts of this chapter throws light on the manner in which this work was composed. Such parenthetical explanations are sometimes ascribed to the reviser or redactor of the original text. And to this there is no theoretic objection, provided the reviser be allowed to be of equal authority with the original author, and the explanatory addition be necessary for the reader of a later period, and could not have been furnished by the original author. Otherwise, such a mode of accounting for these simple clauses is unnecessary, and therefore, unwarrantable. The present case the writer has already explained, and the latest reader requires the clause no more than the earliest, as he is aware from the previous notices that Esau is Edom. We are thus led to regard these explanatory clauses as marks of an early or artless simplicity of style, and not as any clear or certain traces of revision.
Gen 36:2-5
Esau took his wives. – From the word his we conclude that this sentence does not refer to his marrying these wives, but to his taking them with him when he removed from Kenaan. Hence, the sentence, after being interrupted by the intervening particulars, is resumed and completed in the sixth verse. The date of this event is therefore, some time after Jacobs flight to Padan-aram, and before his return. The daughter of Ishmael he only married after Jacobs departure, and by her he had one son who was born in Kenaan. We may therefore, suppose that, about eighteen years after Jacobs flight, Isaac had assigned to Esau a sufficient stock of cattle and goods for a separate establishment, the extent of Esaus portion and of that which Isaac had reserved for Jacob had become so great as to demand pasture grounds widely removed from one another, and Esaus former habits and his last matrimonial alliances had drawn him toward Mount Seir. He married his first wives when he was forty years of age Gen 26:34, and as Jacob was seventy-seven when he left his home, at eighteen years after that date, Esau had been fifty-five years married to his first two wives, and somewhat less than eighteen to Ishmaels daughter.
Of the daughters of Kenaan. – This refers to the two following wives mentioned in this verse, and distinguishes them from the third, mentioned in the following verse, who is of the family of Ishmael. Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite. On comparing the account of his two wives whom he married at forty with the present, the first, namely, Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, no longer appears either by her own name, that of her father, or that of her tribe. Hence, we presume that in the course of the past forty-seven years she has died without male issue. This presumption is favored by the circumstance that the daughter of Elon the Hittite is now advanced into the first place. If it seems undesirable to anyone to make any presumption of this kind, we have only to say that in the absence of the connecting links in a historical statement like this, we must make some supposition to show the possibility of the events related. The presumption we have made seems easier and therefore, more likely than that the names of the individual, the father and the tribe, should be all different, and the order of the two wives reversed, and yet that the same person should be intended; and hence, we have adopted it as a possible arrangement, leaving to others the preference of any other possibility that may be suggested. For after all it should be remembered that testimony only could determine what were the actual circumstances. She who was formerly called Basemath appears here with the name of Adah. At a time when proper names were still significant, the application of more than one name to the same individual was not unusual.
Oholibamah, daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibon the Hivite. – This may have been the fourth wife of Esau in the order of time, though she is here classed with the daughter of Elon, because she was of the daughters of Kenaan. Daughter of Zibon means his granddaughter, by the mothers side. The Hivite Gen 10:17. Zibon is thus distinguished from the Horite of the same name Gen 36:20. The Hivite race we have already met with at Shekem Gen 34:2. They also held four cities a short way north of Jerusalem, of which Gihon was the chief Jos 9:3, Jos 9:7,Jos 9:17. It was easy, therefore, for Anah the Horite to marry the daughter of Zibon the Hivite. Basemath, previously called Mahalath.
Gen 36:4-5
Five sons were born to Esau in Kenaan, of whom Adah and Basemath bare each one. As Oholibamah bare him three sons before leaving Kenaan, she must have been married to him four or five years before that event, perhaps on the death of his first wife, and in consequence of his connection with the south.
Gen 36:6-8
The sentence that was left incomplete in Gen 36:2 is now resumed and completed. His departure from Kenaan is ascribed to the abounding wealth of himself and his brother. What remained in the hands of Isaac was virtually Jacobs, though he had not yet entered into formal possession of it. Mount Seir is the range of hills extending from the Elanitic Gulf to the Salt Sea; the northern part of which is called Jebal Gebalene and the southern part esh-Sherah, and parallel to which on the west lies Wady Arabah. In this range is situated the celebrated rock city, Sela or Petra, adjacent to Mount Hor.
Gen 36:9-14
After the removal to Mount Seir the race of Esau is traced further. It is remarkable that the phrase, And these are the generations of Esau, is now repeated. This is sufficient to show us that it does not necessarily indicate diversity of authorship, or is a very distinct piece of composition. Here it merely distinguishes the history of Esaus descent in Mount Seir from that in Kenaan. Father of Edom. Edom here denotes the nation sprung from him. Eliphaz has five sons by his wife, and by a concubine a sixth, named Amalek, most probably the father of the Amalekites Gen 14:7. Timna was probably a very young sister of Lotan Gen 36:22, perhaps not older than her niece Oholibamah Gen 36:25. Eliphaz was at least forty-one years younger than Esau. Yet it is curious that the father takes the niece to wife, and the son the aunt. Teman is the father of the Temanites, among whom we find Eliphaz the Temanite mentioned in Job Job 2:11. The name Kenaz may indicate some affinity of Edom with the Kenizzites Gen 25:19, though these were an older tribe. The other tribes are not of any note in history. Zepho is Zephi in Chronicles, by the change of a feeble letter. Such variations are not unusual in Hebrew speech, and so make their appearance in writing. Thus, in Genesis itself we have met with Mehujael and Mehijael, Peniel and Penuel Gen 4:18; Gen 32:30-31. The sons of Esau by Oholibamah are younger than the other two, and hence, these sons are not enumerated along with those of the latter.
Gen 36:15-19
The first dukes of Edom. The Alluph or duke is the head of the tribe among the Edomites, like the Nasi or prince among the Israelites. The ten grandsons of Esau by Adah and Basemath take rank with his three sons by Oholibamah. This favors the presumption that she was his fourth and latest wife. Duke Corah. This appears to be inserted by a slip of the pen, though it occurs in the Septuagint and Onkelos. It is missing, however, in the Samaritan Pentateuch. It would make twelve dukes, whereas it appears from the closing verses of the chapter that there were only eleven. It is possible, however, that there may have been a Corah descended from Eliphaz who attained to a dukedom; and that Amalek separated himself from the rest of the Edomites and asserted his independence. In the absence of explanatory testimony we must leave this point undecided as we find it.
Gen 36:20-30
This notice of the Horites is in matter more distinct from what precedes, than the second is from the first paragraph in the chapter. Seir the Horite. The Horite Gen 14:6, was the cave-dweller, and probably got his name from the cave hewn out of the solid rock in which he was accustomed to dwell. Sela was a city of such excavated dwellings. If Seir here mentioned be the original Seir, then he is the remote father of the seven Horite dukes who belonged to the time of Esau. If he be their immediate parent, then he is named after that earlier Seir who gave name to the mountain range. Who dwelt in the land. The sons of Seir dwelt in this land before the coming of the Edomites. Here follow the descendants of the then living dukes of the Horim. Hori, Lotans son, bears the name of the nation. Hemam, in Chronicles Homam, by a change of letter. Timna, the concubine of Eliphaz Gen 36:12. Alvan and Shepho, in Chronicles Aljan and Shephi, by a reverse change of the same letters (see Gen 36:11).
Zibon. This we suppose to be different from Zibon the Hivite Gen 36:2, Gen 36:14. Anah is of course different from his uncle Anah the brother of Zibon the Horite. The hot springs in the wilderness. There were various hot springs in the vicinity, as Kallirrhoe in Wady Zurka Main, those in Wady Hemad between Kerak and the Salt Sea, and those in Wady el-Ahsy. Sons of Anah. The plural, sons, here is used according to the general formula, though only one son is mentioned. Oholibamah, being the daughter of Anah, and wife of Esau, while Eliphaz is married to her aunt Timna, is not likely to be the granddaughter by the mothers side of her uncle Zibon. This is in favor of Zibon the Hivite and Zibon the Horite being different individuals Gen 36:2. Anah is here the brother of Zibon. The nephew Anah Gen 36:24, bears the name of his uncle Gen 36:20. Dishon is an example of the same community of name Gen 36:21. All Dishons and Ezers sons have names ending in -an. Acan yaaqan (Jaacan) in 1Ch 1:41 is a graphic error for vaaqan (and Acan). Uz; see Gen 10:23; Gen 22:21. In Gen 36:29-30, the dukes are formally enumerated. According to their dukes; the seven officials of pre-eminent authority among the Horites. The official is here distinguished from the personal. This is a distinction familiar to Scripture.
Gen 36:31-39
The series of eight kings here enumerated are plainly elective, as not one succeeds his father. The king co-exists with the dukes, who are again enumerated at the close of the list, and are mentioned in the song of Moses Exo 15:15. These dukes are no doubt the electors of the common sovereign, who is designed to give unity and strength to the nation. It is natural to suppose that no sovereign was elected until after the death of Esau, and, therefore, if he lived as long as Jacob, after the children of Israel had been seventeen years in Egypt. As we calculate that they were two hundred and ten years in that country, and forty years afterward in the wilderness, this would allow two hundred and thirty-three (25017) years for seven reigns, and a part of the eighth, during which Moses and his host marched along the borders of Edom. Allowing some interval before the first election, we have an average of thirty-three years for each reign. Before a king reigned over the children of Israel. This simply means before there was a monarchy established in Israel. It does not imply that monarchy began in Israel immediately after these kings; as Lots beholding the vale of Jordan to be well-watered before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Amorah, does not imply that the cities were destroyed immediately after Lot beheld this sight Gen 13:10.
Nor does it imply that monarchy in Israel had begun in the time of the writer; as Isaacs saying, That my soul may bless thee before I die Gen 27:4 does not imply that he was dead at the time of his saying so. It merely implies that Israel was expected to have kings Gen 35:11, as Isaac was expected to die. Of the several sovereigns here mentioned we have no other historical notice. Beor is also the name of Balaams father Num 22:5. This indicates affinity of language between their respective tribes. The site of Dinhabah, the capital of Bela, though the name is applied to many towns, has not been ascertained. Bozrah is el-Busaireh, about twenty-one miles nearly south of the Salt Sea. The land of the Temanite has its name from Teman, son of Eliphaz. His town was, according to Jerome, five miles from Petra. Hadad is a name of frequent recurrence among the Aramaeans. Who smote Midian in the field of Moab. This records an event not otherwise known, and indicates external conquest on the part of the Idumaean state. Avith or Ajuth (1Ch 1:46, probably a graphic error) is not otherwise known.
Masrecah is likewise unknown. Rehoboth by the river. If the river be the Phrat (Onkelos), Rehoboth may be er-Rahabah, not far from the mouth of the Khabur. Otherwise it may be er-Ruhaibeh on a wady joining the Sihor or el-Arish Gen 26:22, or the Robotha of Eusebius and Jerome, the site of which is not known. Hadar is probably a colloquial variation of Hadad Gen 36:35 which is found in Chronicles. Pau or Pai is unknown. Matred is the father of his wife. Mezahab her mothers father. The death of all these sovereigns is recorded except the last, who is therefore, supposed to have been contemporary with Moses.
Gen 36:40-43
The hereditary dukes who were contemporaneous with this sovereign, and formed no doubt his council, are now enumerated. Timna, once the name of a female, now appears as a male, unless we allow a duchess in her own right to have occurred among them. The same applies to Oholibamah. Alva or Aljah is near akin to Alvan or Allan Gen 36:23. Jetheth, Elah, Pinon, Mibzar, Magdiel, Iram, are new names. Four of the old names reappear. One is only slightly different. The number of dukes is eleven. It is probable that Amalek separated from the family confederacy; and the number of tribes may have been originally twelve. The seven Horite dukedoms probably merged into the Idumaean eleven.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Gen 36:1-43
Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom
The history of the generations of Esau
I.
WE SEE HOW THE PROMISES OF GOD CONCERNING ESAU WERE FULFILLED. Temporal prosperity.
II. WE LEARN WHAT IS THE PRINCIPLE UPON WHICH OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY IS WRITTEN. This chapter is a kind of leave-taking of Esau and his posterity. The stream of sacred history leads on to the Messiah, the flower and perfection of our human race. Scripture history is written upon this principle–that it was Gods design throughout to bring His only begotten Son into the world, and, therefore, that family alone in which He is to appear shall have a prominent record.
III. WE LEARN THAT THE ENEMIES OF GOD MAY BE DISTINGUISHED BY GREAT WORLDLY GLORY AND PROSPERITY. Three times in this chapter we meet with the phrase, This is Edom; and once He is Esau, the father of the Edomites (Gen 36:1; Gen 36:9; Gen 36:19; Gen 36:43). They were the bitterest enemies of Israel. Esau is the father of persecutors. Yet Esau was prospered in his lifetime more than his brother. Thus the believer is taught that he must toil slowly upwards, and must not envy the rapid and joyful prosperity of the children of this world. His record and his reward are with the Most High. His prosperity may be late and remote, but it is permanent.
IV. WE LEARN HOW GOD WORKS IN THE FORMATION OF PEOPLES AND NATIONS. The subjugation of the Horites by the Edomites, and the fusion of both under one kingdom, is an instance of the manner in which peoples and nations are formed and consolidated. This has often occurred in history. We have examples in the rise of the Samaritans, and in the formation of the Roman people. And in modern times, we have a similar instance in the subjugation of the Gauls by the Franks. We see that the footsteps of God are to be traced throughout all human history. These nations which lay outside the covenant people were yet under the care and control of that Divine providence which appointed the bounds of their habitation, and watched over their growth and development (Act 17:26).
V. WE LEARN, ALSO, THE IMPORTANCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL ELEMENT IN HISTORY. The personal or individual element appears in all history, but in a most marked manner in sacred history. We see how nations are stamped with the character of their ancestor. (T. H. Leale)
Lessons
1. The genealogy of the wicked God records for His own ends in His Church.
2. Gods record of the wickeds line is but to brand them to those who read it (Gen 36:1).
3. Godless hearts take strange wives–Hittites, Hivites, Ishmaelites–whatever God says against it (Gen 36:2; Gen 36:8).
4. Providence doth vouchsafe progeny to wicked and multiplied matches, though He like them not (Gen 36:4-5).
5. In Gods own time He moveth the hearts of wicked enemies, to turn aside from straitening His Church (Gen 36:6).
6. Outward portions to the wicked satisfy them in and for their departing from Gods Church (Gen 36:7).
7. Mount Seir pleaseth Esau better than the land of promise, because he is Edom (Gen 36:8).
8. The reproach of a profane Esau God maketh to rest upon his posterity (Gen 36:9).
9. Multitudes of wives and children and offspring God may grant unto the wicked.
10. God hath recorded the wicked End their progeny to distinguish them from His Church (verse 10-14).
11. Dukedoms and dignities in the world is only the ambition of the wicked. The saints is of another kind (2Co 5:1-21; 2Co 6:1-18; 2Co 7:1-16; 2Co 8:1-24; 2Co 9:1-15).
12. Dignities can never blot out the stain of sin from Gods presence. The Dukes are Edomites still (verse 15-19). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
The name and line of the wicked are mentioned by Gods Spirit for distinction, not for honour to them.
2. Horites, Hittites, and Hivites are the national titles of the same sort of sinful people.
3. Uncleanness and unnaturalness are recorded in the wickeds line to make them stink.
4. A numerous progeny with dignity may be the portion of the wicked here below.
5. Affinity with persons that are wicked, usually bring souls to affinity with their sins.
6. God suffers and orders the wicked to join so in affinity, in order to the destroying of each other. So it was with Seir and Edom (verse 20-30.) (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Worldly men are ambitious of the highest titles of honour. Kings and dukes.
2. Earthly kingdoms God may order to the wicked (a settled government) before His Church (Gen 36:31).
3. Stinted are the numbers of kings and dignities by God in the world.
4. God maketh some notable for exploits above others. Hadad vanquisheth Midian.
5. Kings and queens are sometimes recorded for their shame by Gods Spirit.
6. God overturneth and changeth states and government at His pleasure.
7. Profane fathers and profane children are branded by Gods Spirit together, where mention is made of them. (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Increase of Esaus house
The text systematically shows the gradual growth and increase of the house of Esau. Through his three wives he became the father of five sons; Adah and Bashemath gave each birth to one son (Eliphaz the firstborn (Gen 36:15), and Reuel). and Aholibamah to three (Jeush, Jaalam, and Korah). These children were born to him in Canaan. But he could no longer stay in the land of his birth. His herds and flocks were too numerous to find room, by the side of those of his brother Jacob; and he emigrated spontaneously. But this took place a very considerable time before the events related in the preceding chapter; for when Jacob returned from Mesopotamia, he sent messengers to Esau into Idumea, and promised to visit him later in Seir. But this circumstance does not imply a contradiction. Our portion records the history of Esau as far as it relates to political power; it, therefore, goes back to the fortieth year of his life when he first married. He had then long sold his birthright; he had, no doubt, heard the prophecy given to his mother, that to his younger brother Jacob, the inheritance of the blessings of Abraham was reserved; when, therefore, his father Isaac advanced in years and became afflicted with infirmity, Jacob was regarded as the future head of the house, and as such obtained the superintendence over his fathers property; the cattle of Isaac was, therefore, considered as that of Jacob; and it was within the thirty-eight years between his marriage and Jacobs flight, that Esau, at that time not inimical to his brother, left Canaan, thus willingly acknowledging the superior rights of Jacob, and spontaneously resigning his own claims upon the land. When Isaac, at the age of nearly 140 years, wish to bless his firstborn and favourite son, he sent for him to his new abodes; and Esau answered to the call, just as he came later to Canaan, at his fathers death, to assist at the funeral duties. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XXXVI
The genealogy of Esau, i.e., his sons, by his Canaanitish
wives Adah, Aholibamah, and Bashemath, 1-3.
The children of Adah and Bashemath, 4.
Of Aholibamah, 5.
Esau departs from Canaan and goes to Mount Seir, 6-8.
The generations of Esau, i.e., his grandchildren, while in Seir,
7-19.
Anah finds mules (Yemim) in the wilderness, 24.
The generations of Seir, the Horite, 29-30.
The kings which reigned in Edom, 31-39.
The dukes that succeeded them, 40-43.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXXVI
Verse 1. These are the generations of Esau] We have here the genealogy of Esau in his sons and grandsons, and also the genealogy of Seir the Horite. The genealogy of the sons of Esau, born in Canaan, is related Ge 36:1-8; those of his grandchildren born in Seir, Ge 36:9-19; those of Seir the Horite, Ge 36:20-30. The generations of Esau are particularly marked, to show how exactly God fulfilled the promises he made to him, Ge 25:29-34; Ge 27:30-40; and those of Seir the Horite are added, because his family became in some measure blended with that of Esau.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They are here mentioned partly to show the effect of his father’s blessing, Gen 27:39; partly that the Israelites might be admonished to treat the Edomites like brethren, and not to invade their land. See Deu 23:7.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. these are the generationshistoryof the leading men and events (compare Ge2:4).
Esau who is EdomA nameapplied to him in reference to the peculiar color of his skin atbirth [Ge 25:25], rendered moresignificant by his inordinate craving for the red pottage [Ge25:30], and also by the fierce sanguinary character of hisdescendants (compare Eze 25:12;Oba 1:10).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now these [are] the generations of Esau, who [is] Edom. Who was surnamed Edom, from the red pottage he sold his birthright for to his brother Jacob, Ge 25:30; an account is given of him, and his posterity, not only because he was a son of Isaac, lately made mention of as concerned in his burial; but because his posterity would be often taken notice of in the sacred Scriptures, and so their genealogy would serve to illustrate such passages; and Maimonides m thinks the principal reason is, that whereas Amalek, a branch of Esau’s family, were to be destroyed by an express command of God, it was necessary that all the rest should be particularly described, lest they should all perish together; but other ends are answered hereby, as partly to show the fulfilment of the promise to Abraham, concerning the multiplication of his seed, and the accomplishment of the oracle to Rebekah, signifying that two nations were in her womb, one of which were those Edomites; as also to observe how the blessing of Isaac his father came upon him with effect, Ge 22:17.
m Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 50. p. 510.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Esau’s Wives and Children. His Settlement in the Mountains of Seir. – In the heading (Gen 36:1) the surname Edom is added to the name Esau, which he received at his birth, because the former became the national designation of his descendants. – Gen 36:2, Gen 36:3. The names of Esau’s three wives differ from those given in the previous accounts (Gen 26:34 and Gen 28:9), and in one instance the father’s name as well. The daughter of Elon the Hittite is called Adah (the ornament), and in Gen 26:34 Basmath (the fragrant); the second is called Aholibamah (probably tent-height), the daughter of Anah, daughter, i.e., grand-daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, and in Gen 26:34, Jehudith (the praised or praiseworthy), daughter of Beeri the Hittite; the third, the daughter of Ishmael, is called Basmath here and Mahalath in Gen 28:9. This difference arose from the fact, that Moses availed himself of genealogical documents for Esau’s family and tribe, and inserted them without alteration. It presents no irreconcilable discrepancy, therefore, but may be explained from the ancient custom in the East, of giving surnames, as the Arabs frequently do still, founded upon some important or memorable event in a man’s life, which gradually superseded the other name (e.g., the name Edom, as explained in Gen 25:30); whilst as a rule the women received new names when they were married (cf. Chardin, Hengstenberg, Dissertations, vol. ii. p. 223-6). The different names given for the father of Aholibamah or Judith, Hengstenberg explains by referring to the statement in Gen 36:24, that Anah, the son of Zibeon, while watching the asses of his father in the desert, discovered the warm springs (of Calirrhoe), on which he founds the acute conjecture, that from this discovery Anah received the surname Beeri, i.e., spring-man, which so threw his original name into the shade, as to be the only name given in the genealogical table. There is no force in the objection, that according to Gen 36:25 Aholibamah was not a daughter of the discoverer of the springs, but of his uncle of the same name. For where is it stated that the Aholibamah mentioned in Gen 36:25 was Esau’s wife? And is it a thing unheard of that aunt and niece should have the same name? If Zibeon gave his second son the name of his brother Anah (cf. Gen 36:24 and Gen 36:20), why could not his son Anah have named his daughter after his cousin, the daughter of his father’s brother? The reception of Aholibamah into the list of the Seirite princes is no proof that she was Esau’s wife, but may be much more naturally supposed to have arisen from the same (unknown) circumstance as that which caused one of the seats of the Edomitish Alluphim to be called by her name (Gen 36:41). – Lastly, the remaining diversity, viz., that Anah is called a Hivite in Gen 36:2 and a Hittite in Gen 26:34, is not to be explained by the conjecture, that for Hivite we should read Horite, according to Gen 36:20, but by the simple assumption that Hittite is used in Gen 26:34 sensu latiori for Canaanite, according to the analogy of Jos 1:4; 1Ki 10:29; 2Ki 7:6; just as the two Hittite wives of Esau are called daughters of Canaan in Gen 28:8. For the historical account, the general name Hittite sufficed; but the genealogical list required the special name of the particular branch of the Canaanitish tribes, viz., the Hivites. In just as simple a manner may the introduction of the Hivite Zibeon among the Horites of Seir (Gen 36:20 and Gen 36:24) be explained, viz., on the supposition that the removed to the mountains of Seir, and there became a Horite, i.e., a troglodyte, or dweller in a cave. – The names of Esau’s sons occur again in 1Ch 1:35. The statement in Gen 36:6, Gen 36:7, that Esau went with his family and possessions, which he had acquired in Canaan, into the land of Seir, from before his brother Jacob, does not imply (in contradiction to Gen 32:4; Gen 33:14-16) that he did not leave the land of Canaan till after Jacob’s return. The words may be understood without difficulty as meaning, that after founding a house of his own, when his family and flocks increased, Esau sought a home in Seir, because he knew that Jacob, as the heir, would enter upon the family possessions, but without waiting till he returned and actually took possession. In the clause “ went into the country ” (Gen 36:6), the name Seir or Edom (cf. Gen 36:16) must have dropt out, as the words “into the country” convey no sense when standing by themselves.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Generations of Esau. | B. C. 1780. |
1 Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom. 2 Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan; Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite; 3 And Bashemath Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebajoth. 4 And Adah bare to Esau Eliphaz; and Bashemath bare Reuel; 5 And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these are the sons of Esau, which were born unto him in the land of Canaan. 6 And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob. 7 For their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle. 8 Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom.
Observe here, 1. Concerning Esau himself, v. 1. He is called Edom (and again, v. 8), that name by which was perpetuated the remembrance of the foolish bargain he made, when he sold his birthright for that red, that red pottage. The very mention of that name is enough to intimate the reason why his family is turned off with such a short account. Note, If men do a wrong thing they must thank themselves, when it is, long afterwards, remembered against them to their reproach. 2. Concerning his wives, and the children they bore him in the land of Canaan. He had three wives, and, by them all, but five sons: many a one has more by one wife. God in his providence often disappoints those who take indirect courses to build up a family; yet here the promise prevailed, and Esau’s family was built up. 3. Concerning his removal to mount Seir, which was the country God had given him for a possession, when he reserved Canaan for the seed of Jacob. God owns it, long afterwards: I gave to Esau mount Seir (Deu 2:5; Jos 24:4), which was the reason why the Edomites must not be disturbed in their possession. Those that have not a right by promise, such as Jacob had, to Canaan, may have a very good title by providence to their estates, such as Esau had to mount Seir. Esau had begun to settle among his wives’ relations, in Seir, before Jacob came from Padan-aram, ch. xxxii. 3. Isaac, it is likely, had sent him thither (as Abraham in his life-time had sent the sons of the concubines from Isaac his son into the east country, ch. xxv. 6), that Jacob might have the clearer way made for him to the possession of the promised land. During the life of Isaac, however, Esau had probably still some effects remaining in Canaan; but, after his death, he wholly withdrew to mount Seir, took with him what came to his share of his father’s personal estate, and left Canaan to Jacob, not only because he had the promise of it, but because Esau perceived that if they should continue to thrive as they had begun there would not be room for both. Thus dwelt Esau in Mount Seir, v. 8. Note, Whatever opposition may be made, God’s word will be accomplished, and even those that have opposed it will see themselves, some time or other, under a necessity of yielding to it, and acquiescing in it. Esau had struggled for Canaan, but now he tamely retires to mount Seir; for God’s counsels shall certainly stand, concerning the times before appointed, and the bounds of our habitation.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
GENESIS – CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Verses 1-8:
The list of the generations of Esau contains the names of his wives:
“Adah,” meaning “ornament” or “beauty,” daughter of Elon the Hittite.
“Aholi-bamah,” meaning “tent of the high place,” daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite.
“Bashe-math,” meaning “sweet-smelling,” daughter of Ishmael.
There appears to be a discrepancy in this list of Esau’s wives, with that given previously: in Ge 26:34, 35; 28:6.
Genesis 26:34, 35; 28:6
1. Judith, daughter of Berri the Hittite.
2. Bashemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite
3. Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael.
Genesis 36:2-5
1. Aholibamah, daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon the Hittite.
2. Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite.
3. Bashemath, Ishmael’s daughter.
The apparent discrepancy is explained in the light of the customs of that time. It was not unusual that a person be known by two names: e.g., Jacob -Israel; Esau – Edom, etc. This accounts for a variation of names in the list of Esau’s wives.
Also: Berri, meaning “well man” could be the same person as Anah, as v. 24 implies.
The designations “Hittite, Hivite, and Horite” are explained: the first is the generic term for a race of people; the second is a designation of a tribe; and the third is the name for the inhabitants of the district in which he lived.
It is also possible that Esau had four wives, rather than three. The omission of any descendants through Judith implies that she was childless, though possibly still living, and thus was not listed in the present text.
Esau took his large household and moved from the territory where Jacob lived, into the region to the south, where he took up residence. This country eventually became known by his name, as Edom.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. Now these are the generations of Esau. Though Esau was an alien from the Church in the sight of God; yet since he also, as a son of Isaac, was favored with a temporal blessing, Moses celebrates his race, and inscribes a sufficiently lengthened catalogue of the people born from him. This commemoration, however, resembles an honorable sepulture. For although Esau, with his posterity, took the precedence; yet this dignity was like a bubble, which is comprised under the figure of the world, and which quickly perishes. As, therefore, it has been before said of other profane nations, so now Esau is exalted as on a lofty theater. But since there is no permanent condition out of the kingdom of God, the splendor attributed to him is evanescent, and the whole of his pomp departs like the passing scene of the stage. The Holy Spirit designed, indeed, to testify that the prophecy which Isaac uttered concerning Esau was not vain; but he has no sooner shown its effect, than he turns away our eyes, as if he had cast a veil over it, that we may confine our attention to the race of Jacob. Now, though Esau had children by three wives, in whom afterwards the blessing of God shone forth, yet polygamy is not, on that account, approved, nor the impure lust of man excused: but in this the goodness of God is rather to be admired, which, contrary to the order of nature, gave a good issue to evil beginnings.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
JOSEPH. GODS FAVORITE
Gen 36:1 to Gen 50:26
IF we began our study with the 36th chapter of Genesis we should have to do with the generations of Esau, who is Edom. It is a chapter filled with hard names of men, many of whom wore the title Duke, but like many of the lords and dukes of the present day, did nothing worthy the pen of inspiration. The men whose history God passes over with the mere statement of birth, name, title and death, we may be excused for skipping in our search for the more important characters and the more impressive lessons of the sacred Word.
The 37th chapter introduces us to such a character in Joseph, and launches us upon a study which has engaged the most serious thought of Scripture students for thousands of years. According to the reckoning of John Lord, in his essay on Joseph, this great-grandson of Abraham was born at Haran about 3701 years ago. The most distinguishing feature of his early life was his peculiar and prophetic dreams or visions. He comes before us in the blush of seventeen summers, nicknamed by those who knew him best, this Dreamer. Already in the visions of the night, God had vouchsafed to him the earnest of his coming supremacy and power. The eleven sheaves of his brethren had made obeisance, while Josephs sheaf had stood upright and received their homage. The sun and moon and eleven stars had gathered at his feet. And, when the dreams were known, his father gently reproved, but his brothers resolved and agreed to watch for a chance to act. The favorite of the household was to be put out of the way. The beauty of face that had made him a subject of parental partiality was to be despoiled. The jealousy-breeding coat was to become all crimson; the tattling tongue was to be silenced, and this business of first dreaming and then interpreting to his own profit was to be brought to a deserved end!
Such were the resolutions; and their chance came. Joseph is at last within their grasp, and with a shout of triumph they cry, as they lift their eyes to his sweet though envied face,
Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now, therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say some evil beast hath devoured him; and we shall see what will become of his dreamt (Gen 37:19-20).
The remainder of the story is familiar to every one of you, and I do not propose to give time to a rehearsal of its incidents, but rather to a consideration of its fundamental lessons.
DIVINE FAVORS DO NOT INSURE AGAINST HUMAN HATRED.
Joseph had, indeed, almost a monopoly of the favors to be coveted in this life. Through his veins there pulsed no common or unclean blood. Four of his brethren were of the meaner extraction of slave mothers, while six others were born to the tender-eyed Leah. It was Josephs good fortune, and doubtless his pride, to be the elder son of the beautiful Rachel, the only lawful wife of Jacob, because the woman of his selection, and the only one to whom he was bound by love. It may be a sin in the child to love his father and mother less because they are those in whom he can take no special pride, but I am sure that his joy is as commendable as natural who loves and delights in them the more, because they are virtuous, honorable and superior in every way. Such a pride was Josephs possession. Who of us are as grateful as we should be for godly and noble parentage?
Again, providence had favored this child in his own person. Joseph was a goodly person and well favored (Gen 29:6). Doubtless that fact accounts for some of Jacobs inexcusable partiality. He saw in the beautiful boy those princely features which called for a royal tunic as a natural complement. Beauty of person is one of Gods better gifts, and it has played its part in the role of human history. It was that charm and that alone that saved the child, Moses, and opened to him the princess nursery and put him in the splendid Egyptian school from which he graduated unto the great work of saving his people and serving his God. It was beauty of face and grace of form that brought Esther to the throne at the very time when the interests of Israel were trembling in the balance, and Gods people were waiting for just such a friend. The prominent role that Cleopatra played in the world is assigned almost entirely to the solitary circumstance of her personal charms. I have often wondered why the great artists have not made more of Joseph as a subject fit for the choicest marble, and worthy the best skilled brush.
In his spirit also, Joseph was divinely favored. So far as the record of his life goes, it would be dangerous to affirm that the splendid child, or the saintly man, Samuel, was ever possessed of sweeter temper than that which Joseph discovered in all the changing and trying experiences of his life. Not a single indictment against his conduct can be successfully sustained. If it be said that his brothers hated him on account of his intolerable pride, let it be remembered Eliab hurled at David this sentence, I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thy heart. In each instance the bigger brother was voicing the naughtiness of his own heart instead. If he be charged with tattling because he brought unto his father the evil report of his brethren, let us answer with a question, Is silence at the sight of sin a virtue? If a report is to be made, to whom other than the father, the rightful authority? His behavior toward the woman whose unholy love his beauty had excited discovers at once a righteousness of personal character, a keen sense of others interests, and a splendid sensitiveness to sin against God that all right thinking people must admire. His dealing with the butler whose freedom he secured, to be rewarded by base neglect for two long years, proved his patience with forgetfulness and ingratitude. Toward his fratricidal brothers, whose lives eventually fell to his disposal, he discovered only the bosom of love, treating with all tenderness those who had attempted his destruction. Blood may be a good thing, and beauty a joy forever, but that magnanimity of soul which can forget a wrong, be patient with a weakness, and treat with affection those who have subjected you to contemptthat is divine! To do that is to prove ones kinship with the Son of God.
Finally Joseph was favored with dreams of a wider and nobler life. The most promising youth is the one who enjoys such visions of the night. Guizot once wrote to his son who was contesting for a university prize, You are ambitious, my boy; you have a right to be. A man at forty may be too ambitious, but at 20, never.
Now and then the world is astonished by the sudden awakening of some sleeping Samson who discovers unsuspected powers at the attack of the Philistines of opposition; but the rule is that Longfellows, while still beardless, dream of being laureates and write to their mothers asking, Do you not think I may one day write books that will be read all over the land? I think that Dr. Hillis has called attention to an important truth when, in his book A Mans Value To Society, he emphasizes the imagination as the architect of manhood.
But let no man conclude that such Divine favors will insure against human hatred. Jealousy is the blindest of passions, and envy never sees anything save through the green glasses which convert all virtue into vice, and all merit into excuses for murder. We have already seen that Josephs conduct toward his brethren was commendable and in every instance meant for their good. But as the belligerent Israelites resented Moses plea for peace between brethren, so these sons of Leah and the concubines interpreted Josephs just report of their behavior as bad tattling. How many a noble Christian man has been insulted and cruelly criticised because, forsooth, he tried to get people to live right and when they would not, reported their sins to the church!
The modern martyr is that noble Joseph who keeps out of fights himself and says to his brethren, You must behave or I shall be compelled to report you to our spiritual mother. Yes, it is one of the most significant suggestions of the sham of modern profession that it will brook no correction from the brother of tenderest love, yea, even from the officials of the church of God elected for the very purpose of counsel and, when needful, of correction.
Again, how many, Joseph-like, are hated because they have had some dream of position, influence and real worth? You have heard it said, There is one black sheep in every flock. Yes, and the converse is equally true, In a black flock one white sheep appears. In most families there is one child that early comes into possession of that broader view of character, conduct and life. How often his first utterance of the hope for the future, that has grown big within his breast, is met with some expression of contempt for such pretensions, or scorn for such pride of heart! Josephs experience and Davids has been known to the bleeding heart of many a precocious boy. An education has been resolved upon, and he begins the long climb of attainments ladder alone. It would seem enough that he should struggle single-handed, and without assistance or sympathy, but how often he must make his way upward, carrying in memory the bitter reproaches and keen sarcasm of his brothers who see nothing in his dream save concentrated egotism and vain conceit!
If any reader has suffered at one or more of these points, I come to say, Be not discouraged! Retrace your steps in nothing! Be slow to conclude you are wrong, or that it is of no use to labor against such opposition. Christ experienced it all boiled down to its last bitterness and yet, when it did its final work of lifting Him to the cross, it only hastened His crown. Josephs brethren can sell him, but if he is always right the Lord will be with him, and the sale into slavery is only an additional push toward the waiting throne.
Now for our second suggestion,
And Josephs master took him and put him into prison. But the Lord was with Joseph (Gen 39:20-21).
INNOCENCE CANNOT BE EFFECTUALLY DISHONORED.
People sometimes make the mistake of affirming that an innocent man cannot be injured. On the contrary, history is rife with illustrations of the fact that no character is so easily sullied as that of the purest and best of men and women. The principle is easy of explanation. The whiter the sheet of paper the easier it is for dirty fingers to leave their track. Some people have the impression that after all preachers and other religious people are about as capable of immoralities as are the members of any other circle. Alas! for the poisoning power of a sensational and truthless press! Many a Joseph has been silenced, and even banished for a while by such confessed lovers of the profession. They know the ease with which that lord, Public Opinion is excited to jealousy and cruel judgment. They know, too, the inability of the best man to defend himself when accused of the meanest crimes, and so they clap their hands and seek on the spotted hounds of slander. Let us ever be slow in believing charges that are calculated to humble the best reputations to the dust, and wrong the most innocent by robbing them of their good name, and opening for them the door into some dungeon of shame!
Joseph may submit to the inevitable, and under the ban of the law, languish in silence, but God has a reckoning to make, and then the Hamans will swing on the gallows, and the Mordecais ride in the royal chariot and dictate to the throne.
Innocent men, however, can best afford to be lied about and wronged, since truth has wonderful powers of coming abroad. So far as the record of Scripture goes, Joseph complains in never a word. Who doubts that by faith he saw his final triumph; and said in his heart of that prison what the three Hebrew children, of a later time, said of the fiery furnace, Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us, and He will deliver us. The innocent and righteous man, and he alone, can employ such words and give to them their weight. I come more and more to think that no enemy can effectually injure him who walks uprightly, loves the truth and obeys God.
Dr. Talmage tells how, some years ago, two professed temperance lecturers speaking in Ohio, and taking the unusual course for that class of men, maligned Christians and preachers. Among other things they claimed to be well acquainted with Dr. Talmage and declared that their former drunkenness began with drinking wine from that clergymans table. Talmage, indignant over such a charge, went to Patrick Campbell, then chief of the Brooklyn police, and requested his company to Ohio to effect the arrest of the libelous orators. Campbell only smiled and said, Do not waste your time by chasing these men. Go home and do your work, and they can do you no harm. The advice was taken, and the falsehood died of weakness, if indeed it was not stillborn. There is not a scandal in the power of the tongue strong enough to blight the life that loves innocence and clings to God. Joseph may be imprisoned and never entertain the thought of breaking jail, and yet there are not doors enough in all the dungeons of Egypt to keep him in the narrow cell. Butlers will need his help, the king will require his wisdom and God will bring him forth. This brings us to a third lesson.
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Thou shalt he over my house and according unto thy mind shall all my people be ruled, Only in the throne shall I he greater than thou (Gen 41:39-40).
PRISONS WILL NOT HOLD THE MAN FIT TO BE PREMIER.
I know of few things that will so certainly effect recognition as merit. You cant sell into slavery the man who has it. You may set a price on him and be paid it, but you cant enslave him. There was an old colored man who trotted me on his knees the year the Civil War began. He never was a slave. He was always free! He would have been free on the southern plantations where masters rode with revolver in pocket and whip in hand. You cant enslave the man who makes himself needful to you at every turn. You can put him in prison but an hour later you will need him and bring him out again. Darius once had Daniel put into a lions den. But Daniel was still freer than the king. He curled himself up in a corner of that cage and slept, while Gods angel watched with his hand at the hungry mouths. But the king went to his palace and passed the night in fasting, and his sleep went from him, and very early in the morning he made haste to see if the Hebrew was yet alive, without whom the kingdom could not run; and so Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of
Cyrus the Persian. The city authorities at Philippi tried imprisoning Paul and Silas, but next day they came and let them forth and gave them full permission to depart in freedom. You may bind the body of Zedekiah with fetters of brass, and carrying him away to Babylon, imprison him for life; but he, in whom the spirit of Joseph is, must yet rule in the throne.
Moreover he called for a famine upon the land; he brake the whole staff of bread. He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant; whose feet they hurt with fetters; he was laid in iron. Until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him. The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free. He made him lord of his house and ruler of all his substance; to bind his princes at his pleasure and teach his senators wisdom (Psa 105:16-22).
Men are slow at times to discern merit, but even jailbirds will feel its power and witness to its presence. The incidental remarks in Acts, which say of the midnight song of Silas and Paul and the prisoners heard them, is not more significant than the sentence which informs us of Joseph that he was in favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Let no man flatter himself that he has great virtues but the world is ignorant of them. Goodness is power and will be felt, and the worlds wise men will be discovered, though a very prison seek to both hide and silence them. God knows the nooks of the universe and when there is need of a man he will find the fittest one in some corner and bring him forth.
When Saul has uncrowned himself, there is a shepherd youth known to God upon whom the mantle will fall. When Eli is old and his family are an offense to heaven, there is a boy in the temple trained, though the great outside world has never heard his name. When famine threatens Egypt and the king is unequal to the task of averting it, Joseph is lying in wait, ready to take the place by Divine appointment.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES.
Gen. 36:1. Edom.] This is a surname added to his birth-name, Esau. It is the national designation of his descendants.
Gen. 36:2. His wives.] There is considerable difficulty about the names of Esaus wives. Comparing this account with the previous one in chaps, Gen. 26:34; Gen. 28:9, we find that two of the three names are entirely different. According to Genesis 25, Bashemath is daughter of Elon, the Hittite; according to this account she is daughter of Ishmael. The only honest conclusion must be with Kalisch, we are obliged to confess that the Hebrew text, though containing several important coincidences, evidently embodies two accounts, irreconcileably different. And even thus we shall still require the hypothesis that subsequent changes have further confused the two accounts. (Alford.)
Gen. 36:4. Eliphaz.] His sons name was Teman. (Gen. 36:11.) Eliphaz, the Temanite, one of Jobs friends, may have been a descendant of this son of Adah.
Gen. 36:15. Dukes.] The Heb. word is alluph, from the same root as the first or leading letter of the Heb. alphabet. It properly signifies a chief, or leader. The alluphim were the tribe-prince, or sheikhs.
Gen. 36:24. The mules.] The translation mules in the A.V. (giants in the Samaritan Pentateuch and in Onkelos) seems to be abandoned, and warm springs supposed to be the right one. These might be the warm springs in the Wadyel Asal, S. of the Dead Sea, or perhaps those yet hotter springs in the Wady Hamad. (Alford)
Gen. 36:31. Before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.] This does not imply that Israel had a king when this history was written, which is not so, but that there was a promise of kings to come out of the loins of Israel (Gen. 35:11; Comp. Gen. 17:16), and Israel had not yet enjoyed the kingly rule. Others think that this clause is a later insertion.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Gen. 36:1-43
THE HISTORY OF THE GENERATIONS OF ESAU
We have here a detailed account of the posterity of Esau. And we may learn from it the following lessons and truths:
I. We see how the promises of God concerning Esau were fulfilled. He was promised great temporal prosperity; and that he should be the founder of a nation (Gen. 25:23; Gen. 27:39-40.) The chief design of the chapter is to show how completely these promises were fulfilled.
II. We learn what is the principle upon which Old Testament History is written. This chapter is a kind of leave-taking of Esau and his posterity. They appear as surrounded with a momentary glare of earthly glory, but they immediately fall out of the course of that history which is not a world-history, but a history of the kingdom of God. We hear no more of Esaus descendants after this, except when they cross the path of Israels history, or appear on the page of prophecy as of bad eminence among the kingdoms of this world which are opposed to the kingdom of God. The way is cleared for the sacred annals of the chosen family by concluding and dismissing contemporaneous family histories. This is essentially the method and principle of this book of Genesis. Thus, we read of Abraham and his two sons; then the history takes up Isaac, and gradually becomes silent concerning Ishmael. Again, the history of Jacob advances, while that of Esau ceases. In Jacobs family, also, Joseph is the one chosen out of all his sons; the rest are scarcely mentioned. Thus God separates and divides His church from the world. The stream of sacred history leads on to the Messiah, the flower and perfection of our human race. Scripture history is written upon this principlethat it was Gods design throughout to bring His only begotten Son into the world, and, therefore, that family alone in which He is to appear shall have a prominent record.
III. We learn that the enemies of God may be distinguished by great worldly glory and prosperity. Three times in this chapter we meet with the phrase, This is Edom; and once He is Esau, the father of the Edomites. (Gen. 36:1; Gen. 36:9; Gen. 36:19; Gen. 36:43.) They were the bitterest enemies of Israel. Esau is the father of persecutors. Yet Esau was prospered in his lifetime more than his brother. He was established with great power and dominion in Mount Seir, while his brother was a lowly servant at Padan-aram. And while the descendants of one were groaning under Egyptian oppression, those of the other were formed into an independent kingdom, and had eight kings in succession before there reigned any king over the children of Israel. (Gen. 36:31.) Thus the good things of this world may spring up rapidly, as with a vehement and plentiful growth and fruition, while the good things of the kingdom of God have to be waited for in faith and patience. Thus the believer is taught that he must toil slowly upwards, and must not envy the rapid and joyful prosperity of the children of this world. His record and his reward are with the Most High. His prosperity may be late and remote, but it is permanent.
IV. We learn how God works in the formation of peoples and nations. The subjugation of the Horites by the Edomites, and the fusion of both under one kingdom, is an instance of the manner in which peoples and nations are formed and consolidated. This has often occurred in history. We have examples in the rise of the Samaritans, and in the formation of the Roman people. And in modern times, we have a similar instance in the subjugation of the Gauls by the Franks. We see that the footsteps of God are to be traced throughout all human history. Those nations which lay outside the covenant people were yet under the care and control of that Divine providence which appointed the bounds of their habitation, and watched over their growth and development. (Act. 17:26).
V. We learn, also, the importance of the individual element in history. The personal or individual element appears in all history, but in a most marked manner in sacred history. We see how nations are stamped with the character of their ancestor. At the close of this record of the evolution of a great people, we read, He is Esau, the father of the Edomites. He still lives in this people. His character is stamped upon the entire race. This principle was illustrated with better issues in the case of Israel. Balaam felt that they were an holy nation. The character of their ancestors was impressed upon them. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel. (Num. 23:21).
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen. 36:1. There is an important moral in these generations of Esau. They show that the families of the carnal race of this world develop themselves more rapidly than the promised seed. Ishmael and Esau come sooner to their possession than Isaac and Jacob. The promised seed is of slow growth. It is like the grain of mustard-seed. (Mat. 13:31.) The fulfilments of all Gods promises of great blessings to His people are always long in coming. But the kingdoms of this world would soon fade, while the kingdom of heaven will endure for ever.(Wordsworth.)
Gen. 36:7. A similar reason is given for the parting of Abraham and Lot. Esaus prosperity was the means, in the hands of Providence, of leading him beyond the promised land, so that it might come into the possession of him to whom God had given it. So that prosperity, which we may sometimes be tempted to envy in others, may yet be the means by which God works out His gracious will concerning us.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
PART FORTY-FOUR
EDOMITE GENEALOGIES
(Gen. 36:1-43)
The Biblical Account
1 Now these are the generations of Esau (the same is Edom). 2 Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, 3 and Basemath Ishmaels daughter, sister of Nebaioth, 4 And Adah bare to Esau Eliphaz; and Basemath bare Reuel; 5 and Oholibamah bare Jeush, and Jalam, and Korah: these are the sons of Esau, that were born unto him in the land of Canaan. 6 And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the souls of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his possessions, which he had gathered in the land of Canaan; and went into a land away from his brother Jacob. 7 For their substance was too great for them to dwell together; and the land of their sojournings could not bear them because of their cattle. 8 And Esau dwelt in mount Seir: Esau is Edom.
9 And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount Seir: 10 these are the names of Esaus sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau. 11 And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho and Gatam, and Kenaz. 12 And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esaus son; and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek: these are the sons of Adah, Esaus wife. 13 And these are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, and Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah: these were the sons of Basemath, Esaus wife. 14 And these were the sons of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, Esaus wife: and she bare to Esau Jeush, and Jalam, and Korah.
15 These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz the first-born of Esau: chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz, 16 chief Korah, chief Gatam, chief Amalek: these are the chiefs that came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. 17 And these are the sons of Reuel, Esaus son: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah: these are the chiefs that came of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esaus wife. 18 And these are the sons of Oholibamah, Esaus wife: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, chief Korah: these are the chiefs that came of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esaus wife, 19 These are the sons of Esau, and these are their chiefs: the same is Edom.
20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan and Shobal and Zibeon and Anah, 21 and Dishon and Ezer and Dishan: these are the chiefs that came of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom. 22 And the children of Lotan were Hori and Heman; and Lotans sister was Timna. 23 And these are the children of Shobal: Alvan and Manahath and Ebal, Shepho and Onam. 24 And these are the children of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah; this is Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father. 25 And these are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah. 26 And these are the children of Dishon: Hemdan and Eshban and Ithran and Cheran. 27 These are the children of Ezar: Bilhan and Zaavan and Akan. 28 These are the children of Dishan: Uz and Aran. 29 These are the chiefs that came of the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah, 30 chief Dishon, chief Ezer, chief Dishan: these are the chiefs that came of the Horites, according to their chiefs in the land of Seir.
31 And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel, 32 And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom; and the name of his city was Dinhabah. 33 And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead. 34 And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his stead. 35 And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Avith. 36 And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead. 37 And Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the River reigned in his stead. 38 And Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead. 39 And Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Pau; and his wifes name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab.
40 And these are the names of the chiefs that came of Esau, according to their families, after their places, by their names: chief Timna, chief Alvah, Chief Jetheth, 41 chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon, 42 chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar, 43 chief Magdiel, chief Iram: these are the chiefs of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possessions. This is Esau, the father of the Edomites.
1. The History of Esau.
Esau and Jacob shook hands once more over the corpse of their father. Henceforth their paths diverged, to meet no more (Delitzsch). As Esau had also received a divine promise (Gen. 25:23), and the history of his tribe was already interwoven in the paternal blessing with that of Israel (Gen. 27:29; Gen. 27:40), an account is given in the book of Genesis of his growth into a nation; and a separate section is devoted to this, which, according to the invariable plan of the book, precedes the tholedoth of Jacob (K-D, 320). The account subdivides into six (or perhaps 7) sections, depending on the inclusion of Gen. 36:6-8 into the first section which would then begin with Gen. 36:1 and conclude with Gen. 36:8, as in the pages here infra. Skinner suggests seven sub-divisions as follows: (1) Esaus wives and children (Gen. 36:1-5); (2) His migration to Mount Seir (Gen. 36:6-8): (3) a list of Esaus descendants (Gen. 36:9-14); (4) an enumeration of clans or clan-chiefs of Esau (Gen. 36:15-19); (5 two Horite lists: a genealogy (Gen. 36:20-28), a list of clans (Gen. 36:29-30); (6) the kings of Edom (Gen. 36:31-39); (7) a second list of clans of Esau (Gen. 36:40-43). The lists are repeated with variations in 1Ch. 1:35-54) (ICCG, 428). Kraeling suggests the following subsections: (1) the tribes that could claim descent from Esau; (2) the dukes or chiefs of the sons of Esau, i.e., probably the centers furnishing a thousand-man unit for the Edomite army; (3) the tribes of the pre-Edomite inhabitants who are called Horites; (4) the Edomite kings who had reigned before Israel had a king. (See Kraeling, BA, 89).
The Edomites apparently had an illustrious history. Little is known about them beyond this summary account (Gen. 36:1-43) which indicates that they had several kings even before any king reigned in Israel. In this way the Genesis narrative disposes of the collateral line before resuming the patriarchal account (OTS, 37). Conformably to the plan pursued in the composition of this historical book, the Tholedoth of Esau precedes the ensuing account of the family history of Jacob, as the Tholedoth of Ishmael (Gen. 25:12-17) that of Isaac; the Tholedoth of Japheth and Ham (Gen. 10:1-20) that of Shem; and the Tholedoth of Cain (Gen. 4:18) that of Seth. Esau, who is Edam. The latter name was applied to him in reference to the peculiar color of his skin at birth, rendered more significant by his inordinate craving for the red pottage, and also by the fierce sanguinary character of his descendants (cf. Eze. 25:12, Oba. 1:10). The name Edom is prominently introduced at the commencement of this genealogical record, because it formed the national designation of Esaus posterity (Jamieson, CECG, 226). We prefer the subdivisions suggested by Keil-Delitzsch, and repeated in The Jerusalem Bible as given infra.
2. Esaus Wives and Children in Canaan, and Their Settlement in Seir (Gen. 36:1-8; cf. 1Ch. 1:35 ff).
Our chief difficulty (here) arises from a comparison of the names of Esaus wives as they previously appeared. In Gen. 26:34 the Canaanite wives bore the names, Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, whereas in Gen. 28:9, the Ishmaelite wife is described as Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael. Apparently, then, Judith must be identified with Oholibamah, Basemath with Adah, for both are followed by the name of the same father Elon, and Mahalath must be the Basemath of our list, because in each case follows the fathers name, Ishmael. The reason for identifying Judith with Oholibamah may be made somewhat more convincing by noting that Oholibamah is described (Gen. 36:2) as the daughter of Anah. Now Anah, according to Gen. 36:24, discovered hot springs; but beer is the Hebrew word for spring. However, in the former list he is described as Beerispring-man. Such changes of names need surprise no one, for Orientals commonly go under several names, especially the women, who frequently received a new name at marriage. Men should, therefore, not speak here of a contradiction as to Esaus wives and call this a crucial difficulty (EG, 934). Again: Since the Anah of Gen. 36:2 no doubt is a man (cf. Gen. 36:25), the word bath (daughter) following it cannot refer to him but must be used in the looser sense of granddaughter and naturally refers here to Oholibamah. This same Anah appears here as a Hivite but in Gen. 26:34 as a Hittite. The difficulty resolves itself quite readily when we observe that Hittite is simply a more general designation of Canaanites, which use of the term is found in Jos. 1:4, 1Ki. 10:29, 2Ki. 7:6. For the Hittites were a very prominent group among the inhabitants of the land and so came to stand for all of them. If in Gen. 36:20, however, Anah appears as a Horite, a term meaning cave dweller, why should not one, originally a Hivite, also be able to dwell in a cave and so merit the additional cognomen Horite? (ibid., p. 935). (Cave dweller, that is, a troglodyte: Horite may not even have been a tribal or ethnic designation). (The student is referred to Part 40 of the present text, section 3 supra, under the caption Esau Takes Another Wife. There are several standard works which deal with the technicalities that occur in this chapter (36). We suggest the following commentaries on Genesis: by Keil and Delitzsch (BCOTP), by Whitelaw (PCG), by Jamieson (CECG), by Lange (CDHCG), and especially the thoroughgoing analysis of the chapter by William Henry Green (UBG, pp. 417429), in which the composite theory is clearly refuted. Every argument put forward by the critics is answered clearly in this great work in which the nit-picking methodology of the self-styled analytical experts who seldom if ever agree among themselves, is exposed. We see no reason for devoting any more time or space here to this phase of our subject, C.C.C.). (For interesting comments by Jewish sources on these various women and their relatives, the student is referred to The Soncino Chumash, published by the Soncino Press, London.).
We now read that Esau took his wives, sons, daughters, servants, livestock, and all his possessions which he had accumulated in Canaan and went into a land away from Jacob. The separation evidently was similar to that which had occurred between Abraham and Lot in earlier times. We are brought to the time where Esau sees the necessity of leaving the land of Canaan, which has definitely been assigned to his brother Jacob. It will be difficult to determine whether he took this step before Jacobs return from Mesopotamia or some time thereafter. For there is the possibility that Esaus and Jacobs flocks could not subsist together even when the flocks which were potentially Jacobs were still in reality under Isaacs care, The more likely construction to put upon the case would be that Jacob with his large flocks and herds, freshly returned from Mesopotamia, made the problem a critical one. (The land could hardly support both groups). But Esau on his part was by this time resigned to his lot that he yield the preference to his brother to whom the better blessing had been given, and when a clash like that which threatened between Abrahams and Lots herdsmen seemed imminent, Esau showed prudence in promptly yielding (EG, 936). This journey was undertaken after Jacob had returned from Haran and settled in Canaan, possibly after their fathers death. Esau had probably settled in Seir before Jacobs return, but dwelt only in the plain, the inhabitants of the mountains not allowing him to settle higher up. Now that Jacob returned, Esau recognized that the land would be his, whereupon he made an expedition and captured the Mountain country (SC, 215).
It seems obvious that Esau, too, had grown enormously wealthy (cf. Gen. 27:39-40). It is certainly to be doubted, however, that he had grown spiritually, that is, in the direction of putting aside his profanity. We recall the words of the old Catechism: Why does God, seemingly at least, often permit the wicked to prosper while evil befalls the good? The answer: For two reasons: 1. Because the righteous can be confirmed in true holiness only by trials and sufferings; and 2. Because God will not allow even the little good which the wicked may do, to go unrewarded; and therefore as He cannot reward it in the next world, He takes this means of allowing it to be rewarded in this present world. (Cf. Mat. 5:45; Mat. 13:27-30; Rom. 12:19, Act. 17:31, Rom. 2:16, etc.).
It must be true that these patriarchs were at a great disadvantage for the time being. Canaan was literally only the land of their sojournings. (Cf. Gen. 36:7). Hence, they must have been moving about, utilizing unclaimed pasturage, and yet, no doubt, wealthier than the actual inhabitants of the land. The resulting jealousy of the native inhabitants will have made their position more difficult (EG, 937). The text seems to indicate clearly, however, that this was a separation between the brothers. Esau simply moved to a land away from his brother Jacob. Since Jacob had purchased the birthright, he was naturally Isaacs heir and became entitled to the heritage of the land of Canaan. Hence Esau sought another country (Sforno). The Midrash explains that he left on account of the decree that Abrahams children would be strangers in a foreign land before they inherited Canaan; whereupon Esau declared, I want neither the land nor the prior payment, viz. to be a stranger elsewhere; hence he left. Another reason was his feeling of shame at having sold the birthright (Rashi) (SC, 216). (Cf. Gen. 15:12-16).
So Esau dewlt in Mount Seir: Esau is Edom. This means that he chose this land south of the Dead Sea for his permanent home. Seiror Mount Seir, since it is such mountainous terrainwas the original name of the land. Exactly how this occupation proceeded we do not know. . . . As we have suggested, a process of conquest may have been involved. As the material of this chapter suggests, intermarriage with native Seirites or Horites figured quite largely in the process. Sometimes intermarriage may have preceded, sometimes may have followed upon certain stages of the conquest, until the aboriginal inhabitants were eliminated and the Edomite stock had become the dominant factor (EG, 937). Jamieson writes: The design of this historical sketch of Esau and his family is to show how the promise (Gen. 27:39-40) was fulfilled. In temporal prosperity he far exceeds his brother; and it is remarkable that, in the overruling providence of God, the vast increase of his worldly substance was the occasion of his leaving Canaan, and thus making way for the return of Jacob. Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir. This was divinely assigned as his possession (Jos. 24:4, Deu. 2:5). It was not a land of promise to him, as Canaan was to Jacob; but as the prediction in his fathers testamentary blessing pointed, so he received it as the fulfilment of his destiny, Providence paving the way for it in the natural course of events. Having become allied by marriage with the family of Seir, he removed to the mount, and settled there with his family. Upon the rapid increase of his descendants into a tribe, it became evident that both the Edomites and the Horites could not find room enough in the country, and that the one or the other must give way; the former disputed the possession, and having, by Heaven favoring his arms, proved superior in the contest, Esau destroyed the great mass of the Horites, and, incorporating the remnant with his own race, finally dwelt in mount Seir, as the dominant power: (hairy, rough, rugged) Mount Seir, inhabited by the Edomites, included that mountainous region which extends from the Dead Sea to the Elanitic Gulf (Jamieson, 227). (The earliest mention of Mount Seir is in the account of Chedorlaomers campaign in the days of Abraham (Gen. 14:6): here it is said that the Horites were then its inhabitants. The Horites were the Hurrians, now known so well from the cuneiform tablets from ancient Nuzu and other sites, who invaded N. Mesopotamia, between 1780 and 1600, and gradually spread over Palestine and Syria (UBD, 991). The route of the Exodus would have been through Seir (Deu. 2:1), but as God had given this region to Esau for a possession, the Israelites were forbidden to enter it (Deu. 2:5). The mention of Esaus removal to Mount Seir follows immediately the mention of Isaacs death and burial (Gen. 35:27-29; Gen. 36:1-8; cf. Gen. 32:3). In his farewell address Joshua spoke of Gods giving Mt. Seir to Esau (Jos. 24:4). Chieftains of the Horites were called the children of Seir in the land of Edom (Gen. 36:21; Gen. 36:30; cf. Eze. 35:2 ff.). Esau is said to have dispossessed the Horites of Mt. Seir (Gen. 32:3; Gen. 36:20 ff.; Deu. 2:1-29, Jos. 24:4). Simeonites drove out the Amalekites who had hidden in Seir (1Ch. 4:42 ff.). The majesty of God was associated with the awesome grandeur of Mt. Seir (Deu. 33:2, Jdg. 5:4). The Chronicler relates how King Amaziah of Judah (c. 800783 B.C.) went to the Valley of Salt and slew 10,000 men of Seir but paid homage to their gods (2Ch. 25:11-24). Isaiahs words, Watchman, what of the night? came from Seir (Isa. 21:11).
The sons of Esau that were born in Canaan were five in number: by Adah, Eliphaz; by Basemath, Reuel; by Oholibamah, Jeush, Jalam and Korah. Adah and Basemath had each one son, while Oholibamah was the mother of three sons, all of whom became heads of different tribes: but in the case of the other two wives, it was their grandsons who attained that distinction.
3. Esaus Sons and Grandsons as Fathers of Tribes (Gen. 36:9-14; cf. 1Ch. 1:35-37).
Esaus descendants in Seir. Through his sons and grandsons Esau became the father of Edom, i.e., the founder of the Edomitish nation on the mountains of Seir. This, it should be noted, is the history of Esau in Mount Seir. The section which preceded it was his history in the land of Canaan. Where in Gen. 36:1-8 we have only the names of those who in the strictest sense were sons of Esau, here the same expression is used in the looser sense and takes in the grandsons, at least those of Eliphaz and Reuel, and incidentally also those of Amalek.
Of all those persons mentioned in this section, Amalek (Gen. 36:12; Gen. 36:16) is the one who must be studied especially, in connection with Old Testament history. Among the sons of Eliphaz we find this Amalek, whose mother was Timna, the concubine of Eliphaz. (See 1Ch. 1:36 : here Timna and Amalek is a more concise form of saying, and from Timna, Amalek). Amalek was, of course, the ancestor of the Amalekites, who attacked the Israelites at Horeb as they were coming out of Egypt under Moses (Exo. 17:8-16), and not merely of a mixed tribe of Amalekites and Edomites, belonging to the supposed original Amalekite nation. . . . The allusion to the fields of the Amalekites in ch. Gen. 14:7 does not imply that the tribe was in existence in Abrahams time, nor does the expression first of the nations, in the saying of Balaam (Num. 24:20), represent Amalek as the aboriginal or oldest tribe, but simply as the first heathen tribe by which Israel was attacked. The Old Testament says nothing of any fusion of Edomites or Horites with Amalekites, nor does it mention a double Amalek. . . . If there had been an Amalek previous to Edom. with the important part which they took in opposition to Israel even in the time of Moses, the book of Genesis would not have omitted to give their pedigree in the list of the nations. At a very early period the Amalekites separated from the other tribes of Edom and formed an independent people, having their headquarters in the southern part of the mountains of Judah, as far as Kadesh (Gen. 14:7; Num. 13:29; Num. 14:43; Num. 14:45), but, like the Bedouins, spreading themselves as a nomad tribe over the whole of the northern portion of Arabia Petrea, from Havilah to Shur on the border of Egypt (1Sa. 15:3; 1Sa. 15:7; 1Sa. 27:8); whilst one branch penetrated into the heart of Canaan, so that a range of hills, in what was afterwards the inheritance of Ephraim, bore the name of the mountains of the Amalekites (Jdg. 12:15; Jdg. 5:14). Those who settled in Arabia seem also to have separated in the course of time into several branches, so that Amalekite hordes invaded the land of Israel in connection sometimes with the Midianites and the sons of the East (the Arabs, Jdg. 6:3; Jdg. 7:12), and at other times with the Ammonites (Jdg. 3:13). After they had been defeated by Saul (1Sa. 14:48; 1Sa. 15:2 ff.), and frequently chastised by David (1Sa. 27:8; 1Sa. 30:1 ff.; 2Sa. 8:12), the remnant of them was exterminated under Hezekiah by the Simeonites on the mountains of Seir (1Ch. 4:42-43) (K-D, 323324).
Thus it will be seen that the Amalekites were inveterate enemies of Israel. The Edomites generally were equally so (Eze. 35:5), although God forbade His people to hate or to despoil them (Deu. 23:7; Deu. 2:4-6; 2Ch. 20:10). As a matter of fact, Edom became a symbol of the hardened unbelief and hostility of the world to the people of God and as such was declared by the prophets to be the object of Gods wrath and conquering power in the Last Days (Isa. 11:14; Isa. 34:5-6; Oba. 1:1-4, Amo. 9:12) (HBD, 59).
The distinguished Jewish commentator, Maimonides (11351204), has some very important things to say about the fate of the Amalekites and the Edomites. Cf. Exo. 17:13-15, Deu. 25:17-19. He writes as follows: There are in the Law portions which include deep wisdom, but have been misunderstood by many persons; they require, therefore, an explanation. I mean the narratives contained in the Law which many consider as being of no use whatever e.g., the list of the various families descended from Noah, with their names and territories (Genesis 10); the sons of Seir the Horite (ibid., Gen. 26:20-30); the kings that reigned in Edom (ibid. 31. seq.), and the like. . . . Every narrative in the Law serves a certain purpose in connexion with religious teaching. It either helps to establish a principle of faith, or to regulate our actions, and to prevent wrong and injustice among men; and I will show this in each case. As a case in point, Maimonides asks: Had Moses nothing else to write than, And the sister of Lotan was Timna (Gen. 36:22)? He continues: The list of the families of Seir and their genealogy is given in the Law (Gen. 36:20-30), because of one particular commandment. For God had distinctly commanded the Israelites concerning Amalek to blot out his name (Deu. 25:17-19). Amalek was the son of Eliphas and Timna, the sister of Lotan (Gen. 36:12; Gen. 36:22). The other sons of Esau were not included in this commandment. But Esau was by marriage connected with the Seirites, as distinctly stated in Scripture; and Seirites were therefore his children; he reigned over them; his seed was mixed with the seed of Seir, and ultimately all the countries and families of Seir were called after the sons of Esau who were the predominant family, and they assumed more particularly the name Amalekites, because these were the strongest in that family. If the genealogy of these families of Seir had not been described in full they would all have been killed, contrary to the plain words of the commandment. For this reason the Seirite families are fully described, as if to say, the people that live in Seir and the kingdom of Amalek are not all Amalekites; they are the descendants of some other man, and are called Amalekites because the mother of Amalek was of their tribe. The justice of God thus prevented the destruction of an (innocent) people that lived in the midst of another people (doomed to extirpation); for the decree was pronounced only against the seed of Amalek (GP, 380382).
If we note Amalek as belonging among the Edomites (Gen. 36:12), we can understand how, being the son of a concubine, he may have been discriminated against and how that may have resulted in his separation from his brethren. For according to Exo. 17:8 and Num. 13:29; Num. 14:25 the Amalekites must have held territory much farther to the west. According to Jdg. 5:14; Jdg. 12:15 they must have once occupied territory much farther to the north. Gen. 14:7 points to the fact that Amalekites had once dwelt much farther eastward, although in this passage the term refers to territory which later was occupied by Amalekites. All of this cannot seem strange if it be borne in mind that all these tribes may have been more or less nomadic in their day (EG, 939).
4. The Clan-Chiefs (Tribe-Princes) of Edam (Gen. 36:15-19).
That is, dukes-phylarchs, leaders, chieftains of tribes. The term [alluphim], though used in the general sense of ruler by the later Hebrew writers (Jer. 13:21; Zec. 9:7; Zec. 12:5-6), is exclusively employed in the Pentateuch as a designation of the Edomite princes (see Exo. 15:15), corresponding to the title of shiekhs among the modern Bedouins. Fourteen alluphim are mentioned here, and each Edomite tribe took the name of its founder, or, as some conjecture from Gen. 36:40, the duke was called after the name of the tribe. From Eliphaz, the eldest son of Esau, sprang seven dukes, three of whom have obtained prominent notice in Scripture history (Jamieson, 227): (1) Duke Teman, eldest son of Eliphaz, was chief of a tribe which gave its name to a province of Idumea frequently mentioned by Scripture writers (Jer. 49:7; Jer. 49:20; Eze. 25:13, Amo. 1:12, Oba. 1:9, Hab. 3:3). This tribe seems to have risen to a position of great importance, and extended over a large portion of the territory of Edom; so that duke Teman was entitled to be mentioned first, not only as the eldest son of Eliphaz, but as the premier duke of Edom. (2) Duke Kenaz was founder of the Kenezite tribes, some of whose distinguished members, as Caleb and Othniel (Jos. 14:14, Jdg. 3:9) were adopted into Israel. (3) Duke Amalek, whose independence and widespread occupancy of Palestine and Syria, caused them to be mentioned frequently in the Old Testament records. All the other ducal sons of Eliphaz ruled over tribes in the south, as their territorial names indicate. Those of Reuel (Gen. 36:17) abode in the original territory of Esau, as seems evident from the designation, Zerah of Bozrah (Gen. 36:33). But they roam over a wide circuit [to this day] to the neighborhood of the Hauran, and the country between the Euphrates and the Tigris; and in the north and west of the Persian Gulf the names of Reuels descendants are to be traced in the classical writings and in modern times (Jamieson, ibid., 228).
5. Descendants of Seir the Horite (Gen. 36:20-30; cf. 1Ch. 1:38-42).
According to Deu. 2:12, the Horites of Seir were supplanted by the descendants of Esau. In Gen. 36:20-30 here the inhabitants of the land, or pre-Edomite population of the country. The Horite, that is the Troglodyte, the dweller in caves, which abound in the mountainous country of Edom. The Horites, who had previously been an independent people (Gen. 14:6), were partly exterminated and partly subjugated by the descendants of Esau (Deu. 2:12; Deu. 2:22) (K-D, 324). Seir, with a colony of Horites from Lebanon, settled in the mountains south of Canaan a generation before the time of Abraham, and in their new possessions continued that mode of life to which they had been accustomed in their original settlement, viz., that of dwelling in caves on account of the intense heat (Jer. 49:7-22). Hence they were called Troglodytes (in our version, Horites); and doubtless they were the excavators of those wonderful rock-habitations which abound in the ravines and the soft limestone cliffs around Petra (Jamie-son, 228). The names of the sons of Seir who became heads of tribes are listed here, as were the ducal descendants of Esau in the earlier part of the chapter. Their form of government must have been the same as that which was first adopted in Edomthat of alluphim or shiekhsexercising independent authority over district tribes. These chiefs were Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, Dishan.
6. The Kings of Edom (Gen. 36:31-39; 1Ch. 1:43-50).
The kings in the land of Edom, that is, before the children of Israel had a king (K-D). Before an Israelite king ruled Edom, rather than the sense understood by the Greek: before a king ruled in Israel (JB, 59). It is interesting to note in connection with the eight kings mentioned here, that whilst they follow one another, that is to say, one never comes to the throne till his predecessor is dead, yet the son never succeeds the father, but they all belong to different families and places, and in the case of the last the statement that he died is wanting. From this it is unquestionably obvious that the sovereignty was elective: that the kings were chosen by the phylarchs, and, as Isa. 34:12 also shows, that they lived or reigned contemporaneously with these. The contemporaneous existence of the Alluphim and the kings may also be inferred from Exo. 15:15 as compared with Num. 20:14 ff. Whilst it was with the king of Edom that Moses treated respecting the passage through the land, in the song of Moses it is the princes who tremble with fear on account of the miraculous passage of the Red Sea (cf. Eze. 32:29). Lastly, this is also supposed by the fact, that the account of the seats of the phylarchs (Gen. 36:40-43) follows the list of the kings. . . . Of all the kings of Edom, not one is named elsewhere (K-D, 326). Of the last king, Hadar (Gen. 36:39; not Hadad, as it is written in 1Ch. 1:50), the wife, the mother-in-law, and the mother are mentioned: his death is not mentioned here, but is added by the later chronicler (1Ch. 1:51). This can be explained easily enough from the simple fact, that at the time when the table was first drawn up. Hadad was still alive and seated upon the throne. In all probability, therefore, Hadad was the king of Edom, to whom Moses applied for permission to pass through the land (Num. 20:14 ff.). At any rate the list is evidently a record relating to the Edomitish king of a pre-Mosaic age. But if this is the case, the heading, Gen. 36:31, does not refer to the time when the monarchy was introduced into Israel under Saul, but was written with the promise in mind, that kings should come out of the loins of Jacob (Gen. 35:11, cf. Gen. 17:4 ff.), and merely expresses the thought, that Edom became a kingdom at an earlier period than Israel. Such a thought was by no means inappropriate to the Mosaic age. For the idea, that Israel was destined to grow into a kingdom with monarchs of his own family, was a hope handed down to the age of Moses, which the long residence in Egypt was well adapted to foster (Delitzsch) (K-D, 328). Concerning Gen. 36:31, especially the statement, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel, Jamieson interprets: that is, previous to the time of Moses, who was virtually the first king of Israel (cf. Exo. 18:16-19 with Deu. 33:5), though the words are usually considered as pointing to the reign of Saul. Skinner writes: This may mean either before the institution of the monarchy in Israel, or before any Israelitish sovereign ruled over Edom. The natural terminus ad quern is, of course, the overthrow of the Edomite independence by David. The document bears every mark of authenticity, and may be presumed to give a complete list of Edomite kings. Unfortunately the chronology is wanting. An average reign of 20 years for the eight kings is perhaps a reasonable allowance in early unsettled times; and the foundation of the Edomite monarchy may be dated approximately from 150 to 200 years before the time of David (ICCG, 434). Concerning this monarchy Skinner adds: The monarchy was obviously not hereditary, none of the kings being the son of his predecessor; that it was elective is more than we have a right to assume. Frazer finds here an illustration of his theory of female succession, the crown passing to men of other families who married the hereditary princesses; but Gen. 36:39 is fatal to this view. The fact that the kings reigned in different cities supports an opinion that they were analogous to the Hebrew Judges, i.e., local chiefs who held supreme power during their life, but were unable to establish a dynasty. A beginning of the recognition of the hereditary principle may be traced in the story of Hadad of the seed of royal (1Ki. 11:14 ff.), who is regarded as heir-presumptive to the throne (ibid., 435). Suffice it here to conclude with the opinions of the Rabbis: These are the kings. Eight are enumerated, and corresponding to this number eight descended from Jacob who overthrew Edoms independence, making it tributary. The eight are: Saul, Ishbosheth, David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa and Jehoshaphat. In the reign of Joram, Jehoshaphats son, Edom rebelled and regained its independence (2Ki. 8:20) (Rashi). Before there reigned any king over the children of Israel. Some believe that this phrase was written prophetically. Yitschaki maintained that it was written in the time of Jehoshaphat, but for expressing this opinion his book deserves to be burnt. King here refers to Moses, and the meaning is that Edom had eight kings before the time of Moses (Ibn Ezra). Sforno explains similarly (SC, 218).
Again this word from Maimonides (GP, 382): The kings that have reigned in the land of Edom are enumerated (Gen. 36:31 ff.) on account of the law, Thou mayst not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother (Deu. 17:15). For of these kings none was an Edomite; wherefore each king is described by his native land: one king from this place, another king from that place. Now I think that it was then well known how these kings that reigned in Edom conducted themselves, what they did, and how they humiliated and oppressed the sons of Esau. Thus God reminded the Israelites of the fate of the Edomites, as if saying unto them, Look unto your brothers, the sons of Esau, whose kings were so and so, and whose deeds are well known. Lear therefrom that no nation ever chose a foreigner as king without inflicting thereby some great or small injury upon the country.
7. More Chiefs of Edom (Gen. 36:40-43; cf. 1Ch. 1:51-54).
K-D entitle this section: Seats of the Tribe-Princes of Esau according to their Families. It seems evident from the wording of the caption here, after their places, by their names, by way of comparison with Gen. 36:43, according to their habitations in the land of their possession, that the names that follow Gen. 36:31 are not a second list of Edomite tribal princes (that is, of those who continued the ancient regime, with its hereditary aristocracy, after the death of Hadar), but refer to the capital cities of the old phylarchs. Therefore there is nothing surprising in the fact that out of the eleven names only two correspond to those given in Gen. 36:15-19. This proves nothing more than that only two of the capitals received their names from the princes who captured or founded them, viz. Timah and Kenaz. Neither of these has been discovered as yet (K-D, 328). Aholibamah (site unknown) probably got its name from the Horite princess (Gen. 36:25). Pinon apparently is Phunon, an encampment of the Israelites (Num. 33:42-43), celebrated for its mines, between Petra and Zoar, in which many Christians were condemned to hard labor under the Roman emperor, Diocletian. Some authorities hold that Mibzar is Petra; but this is called Selah (2Ki. 14:7), we are told by way of objection. The objection, however, is not valid, because in the ASV and the RSV, this term is actually translated as the rock, seemingly an allusion to Petra (cf. Jdg. 1:36, 2Ch. 25:12, Oba. 1:3). As far as we know, the names of the other capitals or districts in the list have not as yet been identified. The concluding sentence, This is Esau, the father (founder) of Edom, (that is, from him sprang the great nation of the Edomites, with its princes and kings, upon the mountains of Seir), both terminates this section and prepares the way for the history of the later life of Jacob, and particularly for what is often designated the Saga of Joseph.
Much light has now been shed, we are told, on the Edomite names in these lists from inscriptions gathered in recent years, notably through the excavations of Jaussen and Savignac. So writes Kraeling. He adds: The allusion to the Horites (Gen. 36:20 ff; cf. Gen. 14:6) requires brief attention. We are told in Deu. 2:12; Deu. 2:22, that they were an earlier population whom the Edomites dispossessed. The name was formerly thought to mean cave dwellers, but the Egyptian inscriptions provided a name Kharu, which was used for southern Syria, and this was found comparable to the name Horites. Since the decipherment of the Hittite inscriptions, the Khurri (from whom the Egyptian name was doubtless derived) have become well known as an element in Mesopotamia and Armenia in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries B.C. The Mitannians belonged to this group, and a Hurrian grammar has even been written in recent years. According to the laws of the Hebrew language Khurri would become Khorim-Horites, and so the equation is perfect. That some Hurrian group got down as far as Edom and held control there for a time need not be doubted. It is easier to believe than the suggestion that Horites is an error for Hivites, in three different connections. In the period of migration, splinter groups often push very far in their desperate search for a place to settle. Such groups bring little with them that is distinctive and that could be found archaeologically (BA, 89). The survey of Nelson Glueck in 193638, this author goes on to say, has shown that the early agricultural civilization in this region, as in Moab and points farther north, was wiped out about 19001750 B.C. This was the time of the Amorite migration, and it seems reasonable to believe that the Amorites were the agent of destruction. There is no mention of Edomite places in the Amarna letters of the fourteenth century. About 1300 B.C., however, so Glueck discovered, a new agricultural civilization arose in Edom. Its founders could have been the Horites, who then were soon succeeded by the Edomites (BA, 89), (We do not have space here to delve into the problems associated with the respective identities of the Hurrians, Hivites, Horites, Hittites, Canaanites, etc. Dr. Speiser has some very pertinent suggestions about this problem which the student may want to investigate: see ABG, pp. 280283). Unfortunately, most of the late modern critics seem obsessed with the notion that the names of these persons whose lives are narrated in the Patriarchal Age were not names of persons, but names of tribal groups rather than the names of their eponymic founder-ancestors. This notion must be evaluated as purely gratuitous. The same assumption has generally prevailed with respect to the heroes of early Greek and Roman times. However, archaeology has definitely proved that these names are not mythical, not even legendary, one might well say, but names of actual personages; and the events associated with their names have been proved to have been actual historical events. No more positive proof of this fact could be offered than the story of the Siege of Troy.
REVIEW QUESTIONS ON PART FORTY-FOUR
1.
Give the subdivisions of this chapter as suggested by Keil and Delitzsch and by The Jerusalem Bible.
2.
Explain the phrase, Esau, who is Edom.
3.
For what purpose is the line (toledoth) of Esau inserted at this point? How is this method in line with that of the entire content of Genesis?
4.
Where and when does Esau himself disappear from the narrative?
5.
What probably brought about the separation of the tribes of Esau and Jacob?
6.
How was the divine promise of Gen. 27:39-40 fulfilled for Esau?
7.
In what way does the separation of Esau and Jacob remind us of that which took place between Abraham and Lot?
8.
In what respect were the patriarchs at a great disadvantage with regard to the land of Canaan?
9.
Where was Mount Seir? What Biblical events are associated with this region?
10.
What are the most significant references to it in the Old Testament?
11.
Name Esaus wives and their sons as they were in Canaan.
12.
What specific reason is assigned Scripturally for Esaus migration to Seir?
13.
Which one of Esaus grandsons came to figure most prominently in Old Testament history?
14.
Trace the relationship between the Israelites and the Amalekites as presented in the patriarchal records.
15.
What specific command did God enjoin with respect to the Amalekites? Tell the story of Sauls disobedience to this command and the consequences thereof.
16.
What is the Maimonidean explanation of the Divine purpose in inserting the various Edomite genealogies into the Old Testament record? What principle does he lay down with respect to these O.T. stories?
17.
Could the fact that Amalek was the son of a concubine have affected his separation from his people? What was the general geographical distribution of the Amalekites, and what does this suggest?
18.
When and by whom were the Amalekites exterminated?
19.
In connection with Gen. 15:16, what does this ultimate destruction of the Amalekites teach us with respect to Divine Providence?
20.
What general function did the clan-chiefs of Edom serve? What general names are applied to them?
21.
What does the name Horite mean? Does this have any significance in identifying this people?
22.
How is this people to be associated with the topology of the country around the rock-city of Petra?
23.
What are some of the possible conclusions with respect to Hadad, king of Edom?
24.
What are various interpretations of the clause Gen. 36:31 b?
25.
What significance is there in the fact that the eight kings named in Gen. 36:31-39 did not succeed one another in the royal office? State the views of Keil-Delitzsch, Skinner, Jamieson, Sir James Frazier, and the Rabbis on this subject.
26.
What is the Maimonidean explanation of this listing of the kings that reigned in Edom, as these are given in Gen. 36:31-39?
27.
Explain what is meant by the phrases in Gen. 36:40, after their places, by their names.
28.
Why is it generally considered that the names in section (Gen. 36:40-43) are names of districts or their capital cities?
29.
What special significance is attached to the name Pinon?
30.
For what further development of the Biblical story does the last statement in Gen. 36:43 prepare us?
31.
What archaeological discoveries by Glueck and others throw light on the history of Edom and especially on the succession of peoples that occupied this region?
32.
What is the great fallacy (a priori) that characterizes the conclusions of modern critics with reference to the names of the patriarchs and their descendants?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XXXVI.
THE TLDTH ESAU.
(1) The generations of Esau.This tldth, consisting of Gen. 36:1 to Gen. 37:1, is very remarkable, if it were only for the difficulties with which it abounds, and which have too often been aggravated by the determination of commentators to make Holy Scripture bend to their pre-conceived ideas as to what it ought to be, instead of dutifully accepting it as it is. It begins with an enumeration of Esaus wives, in which the names are different from those given in Gen. 26:34; Gen. 28:9. Next we have the genealogy of Esau, upon the same principle as that whereby the tldth Ishmael was inserted immediately after the history of Abrahams death (Gen. 25:12-18); but this is followed, in Gen. 36:20-30, by a genealogy of the Horite inhabitants of Mount Seir. Among these Esau dwelt as the predominant power, but nevertheless on friendly terms, for a reason which we shall see hereafter. We next have a list of kings who are said to have reigned in Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Israel. This is not a prophetical portion of the Bible, but a dry genealogical table, and the attempts made to evade the plain meaning of the words, namely, that at the time when this list of kings was written there were kings in Israel, are painful to read, and can have no other effect than to harden sceptics in unbelief. Of these Edomite kings, it is remarkable that they do not succeed one another by hereditary succession, nor have they the same capital, but seem to belong to a time of anarchy, like that which existed in Israel under the Judges. During this period the Edomites and Horites were fused together, chiefly by conquest (Deu. 2:12; Deu. 2:22), but partly also by the gradual dying out of the inferior race, just as the red man is fading away in North America, and the Maori in New Zealand. Finally, we have a list of the eleven dukes of Edom, after their places. As these dukes represented tribes or clans, this catalogue is geographical, and as such it is described in Gen. 36:43, and was intended to give the political arrangement of the land at the later date when this addition was made, and when considerable changes had taken place since the time of the first settlement.
These last two documents, forming Gen. 36:31-43, were probably added at the time when the Books of Samuel were composed; but as we find the list of the kings given also in 1Ch. 1:43-50, and as at that date great activity existed in completing the canon of Holy Scripture, some suppose that the lists in both places are by the same hand. It is entirely wrong to describe them as interpolations; for it was the rule to add to and complete genealogies; and besides there existed in the Jewish Church a living authority in the prophets who had the right and power to make necessary additions to the Divine record. It is to the schools of the prophets that we owe, under Gods providence, the existence of most of the Old Testament Scriptures, and the preservation of all of them; and they did not preserve them for the sake of the authors, but for the sake of what was written. And there is nothing derogatory to the authority or inspiration of Holy Scripture in believing that the prophets were from time to time moved by the Spirit to add to what had been written. The contents of the Old Testament bear witness everywhere to the scrupulous fidelity with which men guarded in the prophetic schools the sacred deposit entrusted to their care; but it is equally certain that we find notes inserted from time to time, as in Gen. 35:20. No one can doubt but that the remark that the pillar standing on Rachels grave unto this day was the same stone which Jacob had set up, was inserted at a later date, and apparently after the conquest of Canaan. So in Gen. 14:7 we have a note inserted subsequently to the establishment of the kingly office. Why should there be any difficulty in believing that these two lists of kings and dukes, added to complete a genealogy, belonged also to a time when there were kings in Israel?
It is probable, however, that the list of kings given here is of an earlier date than that in the first chapter of Chronicles, for Hadar (more correctly, in Chronicles, Hadad) seems to have been living when this document was composed, and hence the full information about his wife. In Chronicles (1Ch. 1:51) there is added Hadad died-also. And if he really were alive when this catalogue was written, he had by that time been dead for centuries; for its date would then be one comparatively early.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
ESAU’S WIVES AND CHILDREN, AND THEIR REMOVAL TO MOUNT SEIR, Gen 36:1-8. A comparison of the names of Esau’s wives, as given here and in Gen 26:34; Gen 28:9, will show noticeable differences . Here we have:
1. Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
2. Aholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite.
3. Bashemath Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebajoth. There we have:
1. Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite.
2. Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
3. Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, sister of Nebajoth.
Here we notice that the names of the wives in the two lists are all different, but it seems altogether probable that Adah of the first list= Bashemath of the second; and Aholibamah of the first= Judith of the second; for there can be no doubt that Bashemath = Mahalath, stated in each list to be Ishmael’s daughter and Nebajoth’s sister. It is very possible that, in such ancient tables of names, changes, transpositions and corruptions have entered. Hittite and Hivite ( ) might easily become confused in transcribing, and Bashemath substituted for Mahalath. But all attempts at this date to emend or explain these differences are conjectural . The names may have been changed for reasons, and in accordance with customs, of which we are now ignorant. Names were often repeated in tribes and families, (comp. Gen 36:20; Gen 36:24-25,) and in some lists grandfathers or great grandfathers are mentioned instead of fathers. Thus it would be equally proper to call Rebekah the daughter of Bethuel, or of Nahor, or of Milcah, (see Gen 24:24,) or even of Haran or Terah . Gen 11:27. Then we must remember what incidents often changed a name, or gave a new name, as Esau and Edom, (Gen 25:30,) and the eastern customs of giving new names to women at their marriage, or at the birth of certain children . It seems better to account for these differences on such general principles, than to attempt a doubtful hypothesis to account for each specific change .
6. All his substance Esau had vast possessions as well as Jacob, possessions acquired in the land of Canaan. He had not been idle while Jacob was in Mesopotamia .
Went into the country Hebrews, went to the land, that is, the land of Edom .
From the face of his brother Jacob When this occurred we have no means of knowing, but probably about the time of Jacob’s movement southwards from Shechem. Esau knew the land of Canaan was promised to Jacob, and he would not seek to hinder his occupation and free enjoyment of his own inheritance.
THE SONS AND GRANDSONS OF ESAU AS HEADS OF TRIBES, 9-14. Compare the parallel list in 1Ch 1:35-37. The names here given are evidently those of the tribe-fathers of the nation of the Edomites in Mount Seir. They embrace five sons and ten grandsons, including Amalek the son of Eliphaz by his concubine. It is impossible and unnecessary now to trace the subsequent history and settlement of these several tribes. In the name of Eliphaz, the Temanite, mentioned in the Book of Job, (Job 2:11,) we may trace the name of the son and grandson of Esau perpetuated in the name of a city founded by this Teman, whose family made frequent use of the ancestral names . Teman was famed for wisdom . Jer 49:7. This Amalek is believed to be the tribe-father of the Amalekites, who are so frequently mentioned in the subsequent history of Israel . They attacked the Israelites on their exodus from Egypt to Sinai, (Exo 17:8,) and became a powerful and famous tribe . From his being the son of a concubine, Amalek may have found little sympathy from his brethren, and early became separated from them, founding by himself an independent tribe . The mention of the “ country of the Amalekites” in Gen 14:7, does not necessarily imply that there was a nation of Amalekites at that time, but is to be explained as the natural designation of a territory thus known at the time of the writer .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Now this is the family history of Esau, the same is Edom.’
Here again we have evidence of a colophon, a heading or final phrase that indicates content and ownership of a tablet. Esau was still the eldest son and head of the family and the family records would as such be his responsibility after the death of Isaac, Thus it may be that his name is now subscribed to the previous record to indicate ownership, although the actual recording would be made by a tribal member more suited to it. (Even if he did happily hand over the task to a tribal record keeper, or even to Jacob, the colophon would be in his name).
The fact that the later compiler had these covenant records available for putting together his narrative demonstrates how carefully they were preserved, some no doubt being read out at the family festivals as they renewed their covenant with Yahweh. It is significant that the last hint of a colophon and of covenant records occurs in Gen 37:2. From then on we have a continual story. This is easily explained by the fact that that is basically the record of the life of Joseph, put together in Egypt as befitted such an important personage and written on papyrus. There were no longer then the limitations of clay and stone.
Alternately it may be a heading to define the content of the following genealogical history (compare ‘the same is Edom’ in Gen 36:19, and ‘this is Edom, the father of the Edomites’ in Gen 36:43). But Gen 36:9 probably refers back to verse 8 and is therefore itself the colophon to that section. Thus we may have here the combination of a colophon and a heading, ‘this is the family history of Esau’ as the closing colophon and ‘Esau, the same is Edom’ as a heading. Either way they are evidence that we are dealing with written records.
If this latter be so then Gen 37:1-2 a may be seen as originally ending the record we have just been looking at with chapter 36 being incorporated by the compiler in order to sum up the life of Esau after his mention in Gen 35:29. The covenant record from Gen 35:1 then ends with ‘this is the family history of Jacob’ (Gen 37:2 a). This may seem more satisfactory from a modern point of view, for we like everything to fit a pattern, but it may not accord with ancient practise.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Genealogy of Esau We find in Gen 36:14 a list of the sons of Esau.
Gen 36:6 Comments – Esau had three wives and five sons.
Gen 36:7 Comments – The statement of Esau’s and Jacob’s separation due to prosperity is similar to Abraham and Lot separating in Gen 13:6; Gen 13:11.
Gen 13:6, “And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.”
Gen 13:11, “Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.”
Gen 36:12 Comments – Amalek will become an enemy against the nation of Israel in the generations to come (Exo 17:8).
Exo 17:8, “Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Genealogy of Esau – Gen 36:1-43 gives the account of the genealogy of Esau, Isaac’s son and the twin of Jacob. The book of Genesis lists the genealogies of the two sons of Isaac, but only one of them would carry the seed of righteousness, which was Jacob. Because these were the sons of Isaac, God blessed Esau so that he became a nation, and He gave him the land of Edom (Deu 2:5, Jos 24:4). Isaac their father also blessed both sons with prophetic utterances (Heb 11:20). Because of his wicked heart, Esau failed to fulfill his divine destiny. Like Ishmael, he did not produce a righteous offspring, but rather persecuted Jacob. Therefore, his genealogy is only briefly listed in the book of Genesis because these people did not contribute to the propagation of God’s plan of redemption for mankind; rather, they hindered it. However, God gave Esau a promise, which fulfillment is reflected in this genealogy.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. The Family of Esau Gen 36:1-14
2. The Dukes of Edom Gen 36:15-19
3. The Sons of Seir the Horite Gen 36:20-30
4. The Kings of Edom Gen 36:31-39
5. The Chiefs of Edom Gen 36:40-43
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Ten Genealogies (Calling) – The Genealogies of Righteous Men and their Divine Callings (To Be Fruitful and Multiply) – The ten genealogies found within the book of Genesis are structured in a way that traces the seed of righteousness from Adam to Noah to Shem to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob and the seventy souls that followed him down into Egypt. The book of Genesis closes with the story of the preservation of these seventy souls, leading us into the book of Exodus where we see the creation of the nation of Israel while in Egyptian bondage, which nation of righteousness God will use to be a witness to all nations on earth in His plan of redemption. Thus, we see how the book of Genesis concludes with the origin of the nation of Israel while its first eleven chapters reveal that the God of Israel is in fact that God of all nations and all creation.
The genealogies of the six righteous men in Genesis (Adam, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) are the emphasis in this first book of the Old Testament, with each of their narrative stories opening with a divine commission from God to these men, and closing with the fulfillment of prophetic words concerning the divine commissions. This structure suggests that the author of the book of Genesis wrote under the office of the prophet in that a prophecy is given and fulfilled within each of the genealogies of these six primary patriarchs. Furthermore, all the books of the Old Testament were written by men of God who moved in the office of the prophet, which includes the book of Genesis. We find a reference to the fulfillment of these divine commissions by the patriarchs in Heb 11:1-40. The underlying theme of the Holy Scriptures is God’s plan of redemption for mankind. Thus, the book of Genesis places emphasis upon these men of righteousness because of the role that they play in this divine plan as they fulfilled their divine commissions. This explains why the genealogies of Ishmael (Gen 25:12-18) and of Esau (Gen 36:1-43) are relatively brief, because God does not discuss the destinies of these two men in the book of Genesis. These two men were not men of righteousness, for they missed their destinies because of sin. Ishmael persecuted Isaac and Esau sold his birthright. However, it helps us to understand that God has blessed Ishmael and Esau because of Abraham although the seed of the Messiah and our redemption does not pass through their lineage. Prophecies were given to Ishmael and Esau by their fathers, and their genealogies testify to the fulfillment of these prophecies. There were six righteous men did fulfill their destinies in order to preserve a righteous seed so that God could create a righteous nation from the fruit of their loins. Illustration As a young schoolchild learning to read, I would check out biographies of famous men from the library, take them home and read them as a part of class assignments. The lives of these men stirred me up and placed a desire within me to accomplish something great for mankind as did these men. In like manner, the patriarchs of the genealogies in Genesis are designed to stir up our faith in God and encourage us to walk in their footsteps in obedience to God.
The first five genealogies in the book of Genesis bring redemptive history to the place of identifying seventy nations listed in the Table of Nations. The next five genealogies focus upon the origin of the nation of Israel and its patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
There is much more history and events that took place surrounding these individuals emphasized in the book of Genesis, which can be found in other ancient Jewish writings, such as The Book of Jubilees. However, the Holy Scriptures and the book of Genesis focus upon the particular events that shaped God’s plan of redemption through the procreation of men of righteousness. Thus, it was unnecessary to include many of these historical events that were irrelevant to God’s plan of redemption.
In addition, if we see that the ten genealogies contained within the book of Genesis show to us the seed of righteousness that God has preserved in order to fulfill His promise that the “seed of woman” would bruise the serpent’s head in Gen 3:15, then we must understand that each of these men of righteousness had a particular calling, destiny, and purpose for their lives. We can find within each of these genealogies the destiny of each of these men of God, for each one of them fulfilled their destiny. These individual destinies are mentioned at the beginning of each of their genealogies.
It is important for us to search these passages of Scripture and learn how each of these men fulfilled their destiny in order that we can better understand that God has a destiny and a purpose for each of His children as He continues to work out His divine plan of redemption among the children of men. This means that He has a destiny for you and me. Thus, these stories will show us how other men fulfilled their destinies and help us learn how to fulfill our destiny. The fact that there are ten callings in the book of Genesis, and since the number “10” represents the concept of countless, many, or numerous, we should understand that God calls out men in each subsequent generation until God’s plan of redemption is complete.
We can even examine the meanings of each of their names in order to determine their destiny, which was determined for them from a child. Adam’s name means “ruddy, i.e. a human being” ( Strong), for it was his destiny to begin the human race. Noah’s name means, “rest” ( Strong). His destiny was to build the ark and save a remnant of mankind so that God could restore peace and rest to the fallen human race. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, meaning, “father of a multitude” ( Strong), because his destiny was to live in the land of Canaan and believe God for a son of promise so that his seed would become fruitful and multiply and take dominion over the earth. Isaac’s name means, “laughter” ( Strong) because he was the child of promise. His destiny was to father two nations, believing that the elder would serve the younger. Isaac overcame the obstacles that hindered the possession of the land, such as barrenness and the threat of his enemies in order to father two nations, Israel and Esau. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, which means “he will rule as God” ( Strong), because of his ability to prevail over his brother Esau and receive his father’s blessings, and because he prevailed over the angel in order to preserve his posterity, which was the procreation of twelve sons who later multiplied into the twelve tribes of Israel. Thus, his ability to prevail against all odds and father twelve righteous seeds earned him his name as one who prevailed with God’s plan of being fruitful and multiplying seeds of righteousness.
In order for God’s plan to be fulfilled in each of the lives of these patriarchs, they were commanded to be fruitful and multiply. It was God’s plan that the fruit of each man was to be a godly seed, a seed of righteousness. It was because of the Fall that unrighteous seed was produced. This ungodly offspring was not then nor is it today God’s plan for mankind.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. The Generation of the Heavens and the Earth Gen 2:4 to Gen 4:26
a) The Creation of Man Gen 2:4-25
b) The Fall Gen 3:1-24
c) Cain and Abel Gen 4:1-26
2. The Generation of Adam Gen 5:1 to Gen 6:8
3. The Generation of Noah Gen 6:9 to Gen 9:29
4. The Generation of the Sons of Noah Gen 10:1 to Gen 11:9
5. The Generation of Shem Gen 11:10-26
6. The Generation of Terah (& Abraham) Gen 11:27 to Gen 25:11
7. The Generation Ishmael Gen 25:12-18
8. The Generation of Isaac Gen 25:19 to Gen 35:29
9. The Generation of Esau Gen 36:1-43
10. The Generation of Jacob Gen 37:1 to Gen 50:26
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Calling of the Patriarchs of Israel We can find two major divisions within the book of Genesis that reveal God’s foreknowledge in designing a plan of redemption to establish a righteous people upon earth. Paul reveals this four-fold plan in Rom 8:29-30: predestination, calling, justification, and glorification.
Rom 8:29-30, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
The book of Genesis will reflect the first two phase of redemption, which are predestination and calling. We find in the first division in Gen 1:1 to Gen 2:3 emphasizing predestination. The Creation Story gives us God’s predestined plan for mankind, which is to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth with righteous offspring. The second major division is found in Gen 2:4 to Gen 50:25, which gives us ten genealogies, in which God calls men of righteousness to play a role in His divine plan of redemption.
The foundational theme of Gen 2:4 to Gen 11:26 is the divine calling for mankind to be fruitful and multiply, which commission was given to Adam prior to the Flood (Gen 1:28-29), and to Noah after the Flood (Gen 9:1). The establishment of the seventy nations prepares us for the calling out of Abraham and his sons, which story fills the rest of the book of Genesis. Thus, God’s calling through His divine foreknowledge (Gen 11:27 to Gen 50:26) will focus the calling of Abraham and his descendants to establish the nation of Israel. God will call the patriarchs to fulfill the original purpose and intent of creation, which is to multiply into a righteous nation, for which mankind was originally predestined to fulfill.
The generations of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob take up a large portion of the book of Genesis. These genealogies have a common structure in that they all begin with God revealing Himself to a patriarch and giving him a divine commission, and they close with God fulfilling His promise to each of them because of their faith in His promise. God promised Abraham a son through Sarah his wife that would multiply into a nation, and Abraham demonstrated his faith in this promise on Mount Moriah. God promised Isaac two sons, with the younger receiving the first-born blessing, and this was fulfilled when Jacob deceived his father and received the blessing above his brother Esau. Jacob’s son Joseph received two dreams of ruling over his brothers, and Jacob testified to his faith in this promise by following Joseph into the land of Egypt. Thus, these three genealogies emphasize God’s call and commission to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their response of faith in seeing God fulfill His word to each of them.
1. The Generations of Terah (& Abraham) Gen 11:27 to Gen 25:11
2. The Generations Ishmael Gen 25:12-18
3. The Generations of Isaac Gen 25:19 to Gen 35:29
4. The Generations of Esau Gen 36:1-43
5. The Generations of Jacob Gen 37:1 to Gen 50:26
The Origin of the Nation of Israel After Gen 1:1 to Gen 9:29 takes us through the origin of the heavens and the earth as we know them today, and Gen 10:1 to Gen 11:26 explains the origin of the seventy nations (Gen 10:1 to Gen 11:26), we see that the rest of the book of Genesis focuses upon the origin of the nation of Israel (Gen 11:27 to Gen 50:26). Thus, each of these major divisions serves as a foundation upon which the next division is built.
Paul the apostle reveals the four phases of God the Father’s plan of redemption for mankind through His divine foreknowledge of all things in Rom 8:29-30, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Predestination – Gen 1:1 to Gen 11:26 emphasizes the theme of God the Father’s predestined purpose of the earth, which was to serve mankind, and of mankind, which was to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with righteousness. Calling – Gen 11:27 to Gen 50:26 will place emphasis upon the second phase of God’s plan of redemption for mankind, which is His divine calling to fulfill His purpose of multiplying and filling the earth with righteousness. (The additional two phases of Justification and Glorification will unfold within the rest of the books of the Pentateuch.) This second section of Genesis can be divided into five genealogies. The three genealogies of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob begin with a divine calling to a patriarch. The two shorter genealogies of Ishmael and Esau are given simply because they inherit a measure of divine blessings as descendants of Abraham, but they will not play a central role in God’s redemptive plan for mankind. God will implement phase two of His divine plan of redemption by calling one man named Abraham to depart unto the Promised Land (Gen 12:1-3), and this calling was fulfilled by the patriarch. Isaac’s calling can also be found at the beginning of his genealogy, where God commands him to dwell in the Promised Land (Gen 26:1-6), and this calling was fulfilled by the patriarch Isaac. Jacob’s calling was fulfilled as he bore twelve sons and took them into Egypt where they multiplied into a nation. The opening passage of Jacob’s genealogy reveals that his destiny would be fulfilled through the dream of his son Joseph (Gen 37:1-11), which took place in the land of Egypt. Perhaps Jacob did not receive such a clear calling as Abraham and Isaac because his early life was one of deceit, rather than of righteousness obedience to God; so the Lord had to reveal His plan for Jacob through his righteous son Joseph. In a similar way, God spoke to righteous kings of Israel, and was silent to those who did not serve Him. Thus, the three patriarchs of Israel received a divine calling, which they fulfilled in order for the nation of Israel to become established in the land of Egypt. Perhaps the reason the Lord sent the Jacob and the seventy souls into Egypt to multiply rather than leaving them in the Promised Land is that the Israelites would have intermarried the cultic nations around them and failed to produce a nation of righteousness. God’s ways are always perfect.
1. The Generations of Terah (& Abraham) Gen 11:27 to Gen 25:11
2. The Generations Ishmael Gen 25:12-18
3. The Generations of Isaac Gen 25:19 to Gen 35:29
4. The Generations of Esau Gen 36:1-43
5. The Generations of Jacob Gen 37:1 to Gen 50:26
Divine Miracles It is important to note that up until now the Scriptures record no miracles in the lives of men. Thus, we will observe that divine miracles begin with Abraham and the children of Israel. Testimonies reveal today that the Jews are still recipients of God’s miracles as He divinely intervenes in this nation to fulfill His purpose and plan for His people. Yes, God is working miracles through His New Testament Church, but miracles had their beginning with the nation of Israel.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Esau Settles in Seir
v. 1. Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom.
v. 2. Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan: Adah, the daughter of Elon, the Hittite, and Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, the Hivite, v. 3. and Bashemath, Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebajoth, v. 4. And Adah bare to Esau Eliphaz, v. 5. and Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah; these are the sons of Esau, which were born unto him in the land of Canaan, v. 6. And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, all the servants of his household, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went in to the country v. 7. For their riches, v. 8. Thus dwelt Esau in Mount Seir; Esau is Edom.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
10. THE GENERATIONS OF ESAU (CH. 36:1-37:1).
EXPOSITION
Gen 36:1
Now these are the generations (cf. Gen 2:4; Gen 5:1, &c.) of Esau,Hairy (vide Gen 25:25)which is EdomRed (vide Gen 25:30).
Gen 36:2, Gen 36:3
Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan;i.e. who were of the daughters of Canaan (vide Gen 26:34)Adah“Ornament,” “Beauty” (Gesenius); the name also of one of Lamech’s wives (cf. Gen 4:19)the daughter of Elon“Oak” (Gesenius)the Hittite, and Aholibamah“Tent of the High Place” (Gesenius)the daughter of Anah“Answering” (Gesenius)the daughteri.e. the grand-daughter, though, after the LXX. and the Samaritan, some read the son, as in Gen 36:24 (Gesenius, Kalisch, Furst, et alii)of Zibeon“Colored” (Gesenius); “Wild,” “Robber” (Furst)the Hivite; and Bashemath“Sweet-smelling” (Gesenius)Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebajoth“High Place” (Gesenius). The difference between this account and that previously given (Gen 26:34; Gen 28:9) will appear at a glance by setting the two lists of wives in parallel columns:
1. Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite.
1. Aholibamah, daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon the Hivite.
2. Bashemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite.
2. Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite.
3. Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael, sister of Nebajoth.
3. Bashemath, Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebajoth.
The two lists agree in saying
(1) that Esau had three wives,
(2) that one of them was the daughter of Elon the Hittite,
(3) that another of them was Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebajoth, and
(4) that the name of one of them was Bashemath.
The discrepancy between the two is greatest in respect of the first wife, who appears with a different name and a different parentage in the two lists; while with reference to the second and the third wives, it is only the difference of name that requires to be accounted for. Now since the two lists belong to the so-called Elohistic document (Tuch, Bleak, Stahelin, Davidson, et alii), the hypothesis must be discarded “that the Hebrew text, though containing several important coincidences, evidently embodies two accounts irreconcilably different” (Kalisch)a conclusion which can only be maintained by ascribing to the author the most absolute literary incompetence. Equally the conjecture must be set aside that the two lists refer to different persons, the second three being names of wives which Esau took on the decease of the first. The solutions that appear most entitled to acceptance, though all are more or less conjectural, proceed upon the supposition that Esau had only three wives, or at most four.
1. On the hypothesis that Esau had not more than three wives, it is only needful to presume that each of them had two names, a not unusual circumstance in Oriental countries (Rosenmller, Havernick)one of them, probably that contained in the present list, bestowed on the occasion of marriage; and that Anah, the father of Aholibamah, was the same person with Beeri, or the Well-Man, who received that cognomen from the incident related in verse 24, viz; that he discovered certain hot springs while feeding his father’s asses (Hengstenberg, Keil, Kurtz)the peculiarity that in one place (Gen 26:34) he is styled a Hittite, in another (Gen 36:2) a Hivite, and in a third (Gen 36:20) a Horite, being explained by the conjecture that the first was the generic term for the race, the second the specific designation of the tribe, and the third the particular name for the inhabitants of the district to which he belonged (Keil, Lange, ‘Speaker’s Commentary).
2. Another solution gives to Esau four wives, by supposing Judith to have died without issue (Murphy, Jacobus), or, in consequence of being childless, though still living, to have been passed over in silence in the former genealogical register (Quarry), and Aholibamah to have been the fourth partner whom Esau espoused. The Samaritan version reads Mahalath for Bashemath in the second list, which it regards as an error of transcription (W. L. Alexander in Kitto’s ‘ Cyclopedia’); while others think that Adah has been written by inadvertence for Bashemath (Inglis)’; but such conjectures are as unnecessary as they are manifestly arbitrary.
Gen 36:4, Gen 36:5
And Adah bare to Esau Eliphas;”The Strength of God” (Gesenius); afterwards the name of one of Job’s friends (Job 2:11; Job 4:1; Job 15:1)and Bashemath bare Reuel;”The Friend of God” (Gesenius); the name of Moses’ father-in-law (Exo 2:18)and Aholibamah bare Jeush,”Collector” (Furst, Lange); “whom God hastens” (Gesenius); afterwards the name of a son of Rehoboam (2Ch 11:19)and Jaalam,”whom God hides” (Gesenius); “Ascender of the Mountains” (Furst)and Korah:“Baldness” (Furst, Gesenius); the name of a family of Levites and singers in the time of David to whom ten of the psalms are ascribedthese are the sons of Esau, which wore born unto him in the land of Canaannot necessarily implying’ that other sons were born to him in Edom, but rather intimating that all his family were born before he left the Holy Land.
Gen 36:6
And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons (literally, souls) of his house, and his cattle (mikneh), and all his beasts (behemah), and all his substance (literally, all his acquisitions), which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into the countryliterally, into a land; not (LXX.), or in alteram regionem (Vulgate), but either into the land, so. of Seir (Keil), or, taking the next as a qualifying clause, into a land apart (Murphy, Lange)from the face ofor, on account of (Rosenmller, Kalisch)his brother Jacob.
Gen 36:7
For their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangersliterally, of their wanderings (cf. Gen 28:4; Gen 37:1)could not bear them because of their cattle. This does not necessarily imply that Jacob was established in Canaan before Esau removed. Esau may have recognized the impossibility of two so rich and powerful chieftains as himself and his brother occupying Canaan, and may have retired Before Jacob actually took possession (Keil, Inglis).
Gen 36:8
Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir (Gen 32:3; Deu 2:5; Jos 24:4): Esau is Edom (vide Gen 25:30). The obvious continuation of this verse m to be found in Gen 37:1, so that Gen 37:9 -40 are parenthetical in their character; but whether originally written by Moses, or inserted by a late redactor, as some maintain, may legitimately be regarded as an open question.
Gen 36:9
And these are the generations of Esau“the repetition of this clause shows that it does not necessarily indicate diversity of authorship, or a very distinct piece of composition” (Murphy)the father of the Edomites (i.e. the founder of the Edomitish nation) in mount Seir.
Gen 36:10-12
These are the names of Esau’s sons; Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Bashemath the wife of Esau (vide Gen 36:4). And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman,the name was afterwards given to a district of Idumea (Jer 49:20), and borne by one of Job’s friends (Job 2:11)Omar,”Eloquent” (Gesenius), “Mountain-dweller” (Furst)Zepho,”Watch-tower” (Gesenius); called Zephi in 1Ch 1:36and Gatam,”their touch” (Gesenius), “dried up” (Furst)and Kenaz“Hunting” (Gesenius). And Timna“Restraint” (Gesenius, Furst, Murphy)was concubinepilgash, (vide Gen 16:3; Gen 25:6)to Eliphaz Esau’s son; perhaps given to him by Adah, so that her children were reckoned Adah’s (Hughes) and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek“Inhabitant of the Valley,” or “Warrior” (Furst); “a nation of head-breakers” (Lunge); “Laboring” (Gesenius, Murphy). It is probable that this was the founder of the Amalekite nation who attacked Israel at Horeb (Keil, Kalisch, Murphy), though by others (Gesenius, Michaelis, Furst) these have been regarded as a primitive people, chiefly on the grounds that Amalek is mentioned in Gen 14:7 as having existed in the days of Abraham, and that Balaam calls Amalek the first of nations (Num 24:20); but the first may simply be a prolepsis (Hengstenberg), while the second alludes not to the antiquity of the nation, but either to its power (Kalisch), or to the circumstance that it was the first heathen tribe to attack Israel (Keil). These (including Eliphaz for the reason ,specified above) were the sons of Adah Esau’s wife.
Gen 36:13
And these are the sons of Reuel; Nahath,Nachath, “Going down”and Zerah,or Zerach, “Rising”Shammah,Wasting (Gesenius, Murphy); “Fame, “Renown” (Furst)and Mizzah:”Trepidation” (Gesenius); “Fear,” “Sprinkling” (Murphy); if from mazaz, “Fear, if from nazah, “Joy” (Furst)these were the sons of Bashemath Esau’s wife.
Gen 36:14
And these were the sons of Aholibamah, the daughter of Allah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau’s wife (vide Gen 36:2): and she bare to Esau Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah (vide Gen 36:5).
Gen 36:15, Gen 36:16
These were dukes of the sons of Esau. The , derived probably from , to be familiar, whence to join together, or associate, were Edomite and Horite phylarchs or tribe-leaders, , (LXX.), chieftains of a thousand men (Gerlach). At a later period the term came to be applied to the Jewish chiefs or governors of the Restoration (Zec 9:7; Zec 12:5). The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn son of Esau; duke Teman, duke Omar, duke Zepho, duke Kemaz (vide on Gen 36:11), duke Korah,inserted here probably by clerical error from Gen 36:18 (Kennicott, Tuch, Knobel, Delitzsch, Keil, Murphy, Quarry), and accordingly omitted in the Samaritan Pentateuch and Version, though still retained by Onkelos and the LXX; and on the hypothesis of its genuineness explained by some as the name of a nephew of Eliphaz (Junius); of a son by another mother (Ainsworth); of a son of Korah (Gen 36:18) by the widow of Timua (1Ch 1:36), who, having died without issue, left his wife to his brother (Michaelis); of some descendant of Eliphaz by intermarriage who subsequently rose to be the head of a clan (Kalisch),duke Gatam (vide Gen 36:11), and duke Amalek (vide Gen 36:12): these are the dukes that came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these were the sons of Adah.
Gen 36:17
And these are the sons of Reuel Esau’s son; duke Nahath, duke Zerah, duke Shammah, duke Minah: these are the dukes that came of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Bashemath Esau’s wife (vide on Gen 36:13).
Gen 36:18
And these are the sons of Aholi-bamah Esau’s wife; duke Jeush, duke Jaalam, duke Korah: these were the dukes that came of Aholibamah the daughter of Allah, Esau’s wife. In the two previous instances it is the grandsons of Esau that become the alluphim or heads of tribes, while in this it is the sons, which Havernick regards as a mark of authenticity (vide ‘Introd.,’ 20).
Gen 36:19
These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these are their dukes.
Gen 36:20, Gen 36:21
These are the sons of Seir the Horite, who inhabited the land. The primitive inhabitants of Idumea were Horites (vide Gen 14:6), of whom the ancestor, Seir (“Rugged”), either gave his name to, or took his name from, the district in which he lived. Though ultimately driven out by the Edomites (Deu 2:12), they were probably only gradually dispossessed, and not until a portion of them had coalesced with their conquerors, as Esau himself had a Horite wife, Aholibamah, and his son Eliphaz a Horite concubine of the name of Thuna. They were, as the name Horite, from chor, a hole or cavern, imports a race of troglodytes or cavemen, who dwelt in the sandstone and limestone eaves with which the land of Edom abounds. The cave palaces, temples, and tombs that have been excavated in Mount Seir are still astonishing in their grandeur. Lotan,”Wrapping up” (Gesenius)and Shobal,”Flowing” (Gesenius)and Zibeon, and Anah (this Anah was the uncle of the Anah mentioned in Gen 36:25), and Dishan,”Gazelle” (Gesenius, Furst)and Eser,”Treasure” (Gesenius)and Dishan:same as Dishon (Gesenius, Furst); “Threshing” (Murphy)these are the dukes of, the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom.
Gen 36:22
And the children of Lotan were Horithe name of the tribe (Gen 36:20)and Hemam:or, Homam (1Ch 1:39); “Destruction” (Gesenius), “Commotion” (Furst, Murphy)and Lotan’s sister was Timnaprobably the concubine of Eliphaz (Gen 36:12).
Gen 36:23
And the children of Shobal were these; Alvan,or Alian (1Ch 1:40); “Unjust” (Gesenius), “Lofty” (Furst, Murphy)and Manahath,“Rest” (Gesenius)and Ebal,”Stripped of leaves” (Gesenius, Murphy); “Bare Mountain” (Furst)Shepho,or Shephi (1Ch 1:40);” Nakedness” (Gesenius)and Onam“Strong” (Gesenius).
Gen 36:24
And these are the children of Zibeon; both Ajah,“Screamer” (Gesenius)and Anah:the father-in-law of Esau (Gen 36:2)this was that Anah that found the mules in the wilderness,neither invented the procreation of mules (Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Luther, Calvin, Willet, Clarke, Ainsworth, &c.), since does not signify to invent, but to light upon or discover (Keil), and there were no horses at that time in those regions (Michaelis), and it is not said that Anah was feeding his father’s horses and asses, but only asses (Rosenmller); nor overcame the giants (Onkelos, Samaritan, Bochart),which would have required (Gen 14:5; Deu 2:11); nor found out salt water (Oleaster, Percrius), a useful herb (Mais), or as a proper name (LXX.); but discovered the warm springs, the , , being now generally taken to mean aquce callidae (Vulgate, Dathius, Gesenius, Rosenmller, Hengstenberg, Keil, Kalisch, Murphy), of which there were venous in the vicinity, as, e.g; the springs of Callirrhoe in the Wady Zerka Maein, and those, in the Wady-el-Ahsa to the south-east of the Dead Sea, and those in the Wady Hamad between Kerek and the Dead Seaas he fed (literally, in his feeding) the asses of Zibeon his father. “The whirlpool of Karlsbad is said to have been discovered through a hound of Charles IV. which pursued a stag into a hot spring, and attracted the huntsmen to the spot by its howling” (Keil in loco; cf. Tacitus, ‘Hist,,’ Gen 5:3).
Gen 36:25
And the children of Anahthe brother of Zibeon (Gen 36:20)were these; Dishon,named after his uncle (Gen 36:21) and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah. This Aholibamah was not Esau’s wife, but the cousin of Esau’s wife’s father.
Gen 36:26
And these are the children of Dishon;the son of Seir (Gen 36:21)Hemdan,or Amrara (1 Citron. 1.41); “Pleasant” (Gesenius)and Eshban,or Heshbon; “Reason,” “Understanding” (Gesenius); “Intelligent,” “Hero” (Furst)and Ithran,the same as Jethro and Jithron; “the Superior or Excellent One” (Gesenius, Furst, Murphy, Lange)and Cheran“Harp” (Gesenius), “Companion” (Furst).
Gen 36:27
The children of Ezer are these; Bilhan,”Modest” (Gesenius), “Tender” (Furst)and Zaavan,”Disturbed “(Gesenius)and AkanJakan (1Ch 1:42); “Twisting” (Gesenius, Murphy).
Gen 36:28
The children of Dishan are these; Uz,”Sandy” (Gesenius, Furst)and Aran“Wild Goat” (Gesenius); “Power,” “Strength” (Furst).
Gen 36:29, Gen 36:30
These are the dukes that came of the Horites; duke Lotan, duke Shobal, duke Zibeon, duke Anah, duke Dishon, duke Eser, duke Dishan: these are the dukes that came of Hori, among (rather, according to) their dukes in the land of Seir.
Gen 36:31
And these (which follow) are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any (literally, before the reigning of a) king over (or, to) the children of Israel.
1. The reference to Israelitish kings in this place has been explained as an evidence of post-Mosaic authorship (Le Clerc, Bleek, Ewald, Bohlen, et alii), or at least as a later interpolation from 1Ch 1:43 (Kennicott, A. Clarke, Lange), but is sufficiently accounted for by remembering that in Gen 35:11 kings had been promised to Jacob, while the blessing pronounced on Esau (Gen 27:40) implied that in his line also should arise governors, the historian being understood to say that though the promised kings had not yet arisen in the line of Jacob, the house of Esau had attained at a somewhat early period to political importance (Calvin, Michaelis, Rosenmller, Keil, Kalisch, Gerlach, Havernick, and others).
2. The difficulty of finding room for the dukes (seven, four and three, all grandsons of Esau, Gen 35:15-19), the kings (eight in number, verses 32-39), and again the dukes (in all eleven, verses 40-43), that intervened between Esau and Moses disappears if the kings and dukes existed contemporaneously, of which Exo 15:15, as compared with Num 20:14, affords probable evidence.
3. As to the character of the Edomitish kings, it is apparent that it was not a hereditary monarchy, since in no case does the son succeed the father, but an elective sovereignty, the kings being chosen by the dukes, alluphim, or phylarchs (Keil, Hengstenberg, Kalisch, Gerlach), though the idea of successive usurpations (Lange) is not without a measure of probability.
Gen 36:32
And Bela the son of Beor (cf. Gen 14:2, where Bela is the name for Zoar; and Num 22:5, where Balaam’s father is called Beer, whence the LXX. has here ) reigned in Edom (as the first sore-reign): and the name of his city was Dinha-bah“Concealment,” or “Little Place” (Furst); a place of plunder (Gesenius), the situation of which has not been identified.
Gen 36:33
And Bela died, and Jobabprobably meaning “Desert,” or “Shout” (Gesenius); identified with Joban opinion which Michaelis declares to be insinis error, nec, historicus solum, sed et grammaticus, Jobab being derived from the root ; the name of a region of the Joktanite Arabs (Gen 10:29)the son of Zerah of Bozrah“Fort” (Gesenius); afterwards an important city of the Edomites (Isa 34:6; Isa 63:1; Jer 49:13); still to be traced in El-Busaireh, a village and castle in Arabia Petraea, about twenty-five miles south by east of the Dead Seareigned in his steadliterally, under him, i.e. in succession to him.
Gen 36:34
And Jobab died, and HushamHushai; “Haste” (Gesenius)of the land of Temani (a province in Northern Idumea, with a city Teman which has not yet been discovered) reigned in his stead.
Gen 36:35
And Husham died, and Hadad“Shouting,” e.g. for joy (Gesenius); whence “Conqueror” (Furst)the son of Bedad,”Separation” (Gesenius)who smote Midian (vide Gen 25:2) in the field of Moab (vide Gen 19:37), reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Avith“Ruins” (Gesenius), “Twisting” (Murphy), “Hut-Village” (Furst). An attempt has been made (Bohlen) to identify this monarch with the Edomite of the same name who rose against Solomon (1Ki 11:14); but
(1) this Hadad was not of royal blood, while Solomon’s contemporary was;
(2) this Hadad was a king, while Solomon’s adversary was only a pretender;
(3) this Hadad was a conqueror of the Midianites, while in Solomon’s time the Midianites had vanished from history; and
(4) this Hadad lived and reigned before Israel had any kings (vide Hengstenberg, ‘On the Genuineness of the Pentateuch,’ vol. 2. dissert. 6; and cf. Havernick’s ‘Introd.,’ 20, and Keil in loco).
Gen 36:36
And Hadad died, and Samlah“Covering,” “Garment,” (Gesenius, Furst, Murphy)of Masrekah“Vineyard” (Gesenius)reigned in his stead.
Gen 36:37
And Samlah died, and Saul “Asked” (Gesenius)of Rehoboth by the riverRehoboth (literally, wide spaces) of the River is so called to distinguish it from the Asshurite settlement of the same name in Gen 10:11 (Rosenmller), though by some it is identified with Rehoboth Ir (Ainsworth). If the river spoken of be the Euphrates (Onkelos, Keil, Kalisch), then it is probably to be sought for in the Errachabi or Rachabeh near the mouth of the Chaboras (Keil), though the river may be some small nahar in Idumea (Lange), in which case the site will be uncertainreigned in his stead.
Gen 36:38
And Saul died, and Baal-hanan“Lord of Benignity” (Gesenius)the son of Achbor“Mouse” (Gesenius)reigned in his stead.
Gen 36:39
And Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and HadarHadad (1Ch 1:50)reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Pau;Pal (1Ch 1:50); “Bleating” (Gesenius), “Yawning” (Furst), with which accords (LXX.)and his wife’s name was Mehetabel,“Whom God benefits” (Gesenius)the daughter of Marred,”Pushing” (Gesenius)the daughter of Mezahab“Water of Gold” (Gesenius). That the death of this king, which a later chronicler records (1Ch 1:51), is not here mentioned by the historian is commonly regarded (Rosenmller, Havernick, Hengstenberg, Keil, Kalisch, et alii) as a proof that he was then alive, and that in fact he was the king of Edom to whom Moses sent ambassadors requesting permission to pass through the land (Num 20:14).
Gen 36:40-43
And these are the names of the dukes that came of Esau, according to their families, after their places, by their names. It is now generally agreed that this and the ensuing verses contain not a second list of dukes who rose to power on the overthrow of the preceding monarchical institutions (Bertheau, Ainsworth, Patrick), or a continuation of the preceding list of dukes, which had simply been interrupted by a parenthesis about the kings (Bush); but either an enumeration of the hereditary phylarchs who were contemporaneous with Hadar, and in all probability formed, his council (Murphy), or a territorial catalogue of the districts in which the original alluphim who sprang from Esau (Gen 36:15-19) exercised their sovereignty (Keil, Kalisch, Lange, ‘Speaker’s Commentary’). Duke Timnah,according to the explanation just given this should perhaps be read duke of Timnah = Amalek, whose mother was Timna (Lange), but this is conjecturalduke Alvah,or of Alvah, or Allah, closely allied to Alvan (Gen 36:23)duke (of) Jetheth,”Nail” (Gesenius), “Subjugation” (Furst)duke (of) Aholiba-mah,vide Gen 36:2; perhaps Esau’s wife as well as Eliphaz’s concubine gave her name to the district over which her son ruledduke Elah,”Strength” (Furst), “Tere-binth” (Murphy)duke Pinon,probably equal to Pimon, dark (Gesenius)duke Kenaz (vide Gen 36:11), duke Teman (Gen 36:15), duke Mibzar,”Fortress,” “Strong City” (Gesenius)duke Magdiel,”Prince of God” (Gesenius)duke Iram:“Citizen” (Gesenius)these be the dukes of Edom, according to their habitations (i.e. their capitals, or districts) in the land of their possessions. The word seems to indicate an independent sovereignty within their respective provinces or principalities. He is Esau the father of the Edomites. The clause is equivalent to saying, This Esau (already referred to) was the ancestor of these Edomites.
Gen 37:1
EXPOSITION
Gen 37:1
And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger (literally, in the land of the sojourning,’s of his father), in the land of Canaan. This verse is not the commencement of the ensuing (Keil, Kalisch, Lange, &c.), but the concluding sentence of the present, section, the adversative particle , corresponding to the of the LXX; introducing a contrast between Esau, who dwelt in Mount Seir, and Jacob, who dwelt in the land of Canaan, and the following verse beginning the next division of the book with the customary formula, “These are the generations”. Rosenmller less happily connects the present verse with Gen 35:29; the Vulgate begins the next section with Gen 35:3. A similar division of verses to that proposed will be found in Gen 25:11.
HOMILETICS
Gen 37:1
The last of the house of Esau.
I. THE REMOVAL OF ESAU‘S HOUSE FROM CANAAN.
1. A complete removal. “Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into a land apart from the face of his brother.”
2. A necessary removal. Two things rendered the withdrawal of Esau from Canaan imperative
(1) that which was patent to Esau’s sense, viz; that the land of Canaan was too strait to afford accommodation to two so powerful chieftains as his brother and himself; and
(2) that which appears to have been accepted by Esau’s faith, viz; that the decision of Divine providence was against him, and that the land belonged to Jacob. Hence for this twofold reason his retirement from Canaan is said to have taken place on account of his brother.
3. A peaceful removal. Though in one sense compulsory, in another aspect of it Esau’s departure was voluntary. Instead of disputing possession of the land with his brother, which, humanly speaking, he might have done with some considerable hope of success, he quietly ceded what perhaps he saw he could not ultimately retain. Still it was to his credit that, instead of wrangling with Jacob about its present occupation, he peacefully withdrew to the wild mountain region of Seir. A permanent removal. Esau established his settlements altogether outside the limits of the Holy Land, and never again appeared as a claimant for its possession, leaving it finally in the free and undisputed ownership of Jacob. Hence, while it is said that “Esau dwelt in Mount Seir,” it is appropriately added by the historian, in concluding the present section, “And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.”
II. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ESAU‘S HOUSE IN EDOM.
1. A numerous race. Though Esau’s sons were not so many as those of Jacob, yet his descendants developed into a people much more rapidly than did those of Jacob. This may have been partly due to the circumstance that they were
2. A mixed race, having obviously incorporated amongst themselves a portion at least of the original Horites, whose land they appropriated, and whose political life they appear to have adopted. Then it is apparent that they were
3. An aristocratic race. At the time of their invasion by the Esahites, the cave-dwellers of Mount Seir had attained to something like a settled government by means of alluphim, phylarchs, or tribe princes, each of whom enjoyed a sort of independent sovereignty; and, as has often happened since, though obliged to retire before the more powerful Canaanitish tribe, they succeeded in imposing on their conquerors their own political institutions. No fewer than fourteen of Esau’s grandsons became reigning dukes in the country. Still further, it may be inferred that they were
4. A progressive race. The impulse towards a national life thus communicated by the Seirites does not appear to have exhausted itself by simply the formation of small independent principalities, which, as civilization advances, are always felt to be a source of weakness rather than strength to the country whose social and political unity is thus broken up, and which eventually call for the reverse process of a unification of the different fragments, whether by free confederation or by imperial subordination. In the case of the Edomites the phylarchs were succeeded by kings, whether elective monarchs or foreign usurpers cannot be determined, though the preponderance of sentiment among interpreters is in favor of the former hypothesis. And then, finally, they were
5. An exiled race; that is to say, though sprung from the soil of Canaan, they developed outside its limits-Jacob’s family alone, as the Heaven-appointed heirs, remaining within the borders of the Holy Land.
Learn
1. That God is able to bring about his purposes in peaceful ways when he so desireth.
2. That natural men often exemplify great virtues in their conduct.
3. That abundance of wealth is frequently a cause of separation among friends.
4. That political greatness is much more easily attained, by nations as well as individuals, than spiritual pre-eminence.
5. That a nation’s advancement in civilization is no certain guarantee of its continuance.
6. That in nature, as well as grace, the first is often last, and the last first.
7. That the heirs of the covenant are certain in the long run to obtain the inheritance.
HOMILIES BY J.F. MONTGOMERY
Gen 37:8
Esau separates from Jacob.
I. GOD REQUIRES ENTIRE DEVOTEDNESS AND FAITH. Edom is allied to the true kingdom, but is not one with it. We may keep in mind the relationship between the descendants of the two brothers, that we may learn the more clearly to distinguish the true heirs of the blessing.
II. THE TRUE BELIEVERS SET APART BY SPECIAL GRACE. The rest of the Book of Genesis follows the course of the one family in whose midst the ark of the covenant, as it were, was already resting, where was
(1) the revelation of God and
(2) the special manifestation of his favor, and out of which should come forth
(3) the people among the peoples, the kingdom among the kingdoms, the Goshen in the Egypt, the seed of life in the world of death.R.
Gen 37:31
Delay in fulfillment of God’s promises.
Between two stages of the history of the covenant family stands the genealogy of Esau’s descendants. The text suggests a contrast between their course and that of the family of Jacob. On the death of Isaac Esau departed from Canaan with family and possessions (cf. Gen 27:40). The desert and the valleys of Seir were more attractive than quietness of Canaan. Prosperity, such as he cared for, attended him. Among his family we read of dukes, or heads of tribes, and of kings. And what of the line of promise?kings foretold to them (Gen 17:6; Gen 35:11). Yet while kings were reigning in Edom, Israelites were slaves in Egypt or wanderers in the desert. Is God slack to fulfill his word? (1Pe 3:4). This is often a trial to believers (Psa 73:3). But God’s promises are sure, though the time may seem long. The fulfillment of promises of great blessings has almost always been slow, as we count it. Abraham waited long (Gen 12:2). It was long ere the kingdom of Israel arose; far longer ere the promise of a Savior fulfilled (Gen 3:15; Gal 4:4); and still we wait for the Lord’s return. The same truth appears in nature. Great and precious things are of slow growth.
Doctrinal lessons:
1. Delay serves for the trial and strengthening of faith. Faith grows by enduring trial. Mark how often the faith of eminent saints has been tried. Without faith we cannot please God; for faith believes God’s truth and love, and embraces his will. Unbelief charges God with untruth (Gen 3:4; 1Jn 5:10). Even in believers a leaven of unbelief may be at work. Trials are sent to cause faith to develop into other graces (Jas 1:3).
2. What springs up quietly is apt to fade quickly (cf. Exo 3:11 with Hag 1:2). Danger lest what seems to be faith be merely feeling.
3. The time that seems so long is not mere delay, but preparation. While the seed lies in the earth a process is going on, though unseen, without which the perfect plant could not be formed. Compare the expression, “the fullness of time” (Gal 4:4), and the way in which all previous history prepared the way for the coming of Christ. These lessons apply equally to God’s dealings with the world and with individuals.
Practical lessons:
1. Encouragement if disheartened by slow progress of Christ’s kingdom: much labor among the heathen with little apparent result; or many efforts at home, yet ungodliness not checked. We have promises (Isa 55:11; 1Co 15:58). In his own time God will make them good.
2. In like manner if our own striving for personal holiness, or for good of others, seems to have little success. We require the training of disappointment to check pride (2Co 12:7), and God will see to the result (Gal 6:9).
3. To bear in mind that we are but instruments in the Lord’s hand (1Co 3:6). Every work to be performed “looking unto Jesus” (2Co 12:10).M.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Gen 36:1. Now these are, &c. This account of Esau’s family seems to be given by the sacred historian, to shew how exactly the prophecies were fulfilled relating to him in ch. Gen 25:23. Gen 27:39. as well as to inform the Israelites of the tribes of Edom whom they were not to attack, as being their brethren.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
NINTH SECTION
Esaus Family Record and the Horites.
Gen 36:1-43
1Now these are the generations of Esau [ hairy, rough], who is Edom [red]. 2Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan; Adah [ornament, grace] the daughter of Elon [oak-grove, oak, strength] the Hittite, and Aholibamah [tent of the sacred height] the daughter of Anah [answering] the daughter of Zibeon [Gesenius: colored; Frst: wild, robber] the Hivite; 3And Bashemath [pleasant fragrance] Ishmaels daughter, sister of Nebajoth [lofty place]. 4And Adah bare to Esau, Eliphaz [strength of God]; and Bashemath bare Reuel [friend of God]; 5And Aholibamah bare Jeush [or Jehus, gatherer], and Jaalam [Frst: mountain-climber], and Korah1 [smooth]: these are the sons of Esau, which were born unto him in the land of Canaan. 6And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob. 7For their riches were more than that they might dwell together: and the land2 wherein they were strangers could not bear them, because of their cattle. 8Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir [rough, wild mountain-region]: Esau is Edom.
9And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites, in mount Seir: 10These are the names of Esaus sons; Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau; Reuel the son of Bashemath the wife of Esau. 11And the sons of Eliphaz were, Teman [right side, southlander], Omar [Gesenius: eloquent; Frst: mountain-dweller], Zepho [watch], and 12Gatam [Gesenius: puny, thin; Frst: burnt, dry valley] and Kenaz [hunting]. And Timna [restraint] was concubine to Eliphaz, Esaus son: and she bare to Eliphaz, Amalek3: these were 13the sons of Adah, Esaus wife. And these are the sons of Reuel; Nahath [going down, evening], and Zerah [rising, morning], Shammah [wasting; Frst: report, call], and Mizzah [Gesenius: fear; Frst: perhaps joy, rejoicing]: these were the sons of Bashemath, Esaus wife.
14And these were the sons of Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, Esaus wife: and she bare to Esau, Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah.
15These were dukes [princes, heads of families, chiefs] of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz, the first-born son of Esau; duke Teman, duke Omar, duke Zepho, duke Kenaz, 16Duke Korah, duke Gatam, and duke Amalek: these are the dukes that came of Eliphaz, in the land of Edom: these were the sons [grandsons] of Adah.
17And these are the sons of Reuel, Esaus son; duke Nahath, duke Zerah, duke Shammah, duke Mizzah: these are the dukes that came of Reuel, in the land of Edom: these are the sons [grandsons] of Bashemath, Esaus wife.
18And these are the sons of Aholibamah, Esaus wife; duke Jeush, duke Jaalam, duke Korah: these were the dukes that came of Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esaus 19wife. These are the sons of Esau (who is [prince of] Edom) and these are their dukes.
20These are the sons of Seir the Horite [cave-dweller, troglodyte], who inhabited [primitive dweller?] the land; Lotan [= covering, veiled], and Shobal [traveller, wanderer], and Zibeon, 21and Anah, And Dishon [gazelle], and Ezer [Gesenius: store; Frst: connection], and Dishan4 [same as Dishon]: these are the dukes of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom. 22And the children of Lotan were Hori [troglodytes], and Heman [Gesenius: destruction; Frst: commotion]: and Lotans sister was Timna. 23And the children of Shobal were these; Alvan [Gesenius: unjust; Frst: lofty], and Manahath [rest], and Ebal [Frst: bald 24 mountain], Shepho [bare, desert], and Onam [strong, robust]. And these are the children of Zibeon; both Ajah [screamer, hawk], and Anah [singer, answerer]: this was that Anah that found the mules [hot springs] in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father. 25And the children of Anah were these: Dishon, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah. 26And these are the children of Dishon; Hemdan [pleasant], and Eshban[Gesenius: insight; Frst: thoughtful hero], and Ithran [superior = Jethro and Jithron], and Cheran [Gesenius: harp; Frst: companion]. 27The children of Ezer are these; Bilhan [Bilhah; Gesenius: modest; Frst: tender], and Zaavan [Frst: unquiet, troubled], and Akan [twisting]. 28The children of 29Dishan are these; Uz [sandman, or woodman], and Aran [Gesenius: mightier]. These are the dukes that came of the Horites; duke Lotan, duke Shobal, duke Zibeon, duke Anah, 30Duke Dishon, duke Ezer, duke Dishan: these are the dukes that came of Hori, among their dukes5 in the land of Seir.
31And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any 32king over the children of Israel. And Bela [comp. Gen 14:2] the son of Beor [Gesenius: torch, lamp; Frst: shepherd] reigned in Edom: and the name of his city was Dinhabah 33[Gesenius, Frst: place of plunder (? Fehmgericht)6]. And Bela died, and Jobab [shout, howl, i. e., desert] the son of Zerah of Bozrah [fold, fort] reigned in his stead. 34And Jobab died, and Husham [= Hushai; rapid, haste] of the land of Temani reigned in his stead. 35And Husham died, and Hadad [prince; strong, violent] the son of Bedad [separate, the lonely], (who smote Midian in the field of Moab), reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Avith 36[Gesenius: ruins; Frst: tent-village]. And Hadad died, and Samlah [covering] of Masrekah 37[a vineyard] reigned in his stead. And Samlah died, and Saul [asked, wished] of Rehoboth 38[wide, room] by the river reigned in his stead. And Saul died, and Baal-hanan [gracious 39 lord] the son of Achbor [= Achbar, mouse] reigned in his stead. And-Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar [grace, honor] reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Pau [Gesenius: bleating; Frst: yawning deep]; and his wifes name was Mehetabel [God-benefiting], the daughter of Matred [pushing], the daughter of Mezahab [water of gold]. 40And these are the names of the dukes that came of Esau, according to their families, after their places, by their names; duke Timnah, duke Alvah [Gesenius: unrighteousness; Frst: height, exaltation], duke Jetheth [Gesenius: nail; Frst: subjugation]. 41Duke Aholibamah, duke Elah [Frst: oak strong, and hard], duke Pinon [= Punon; Gesenius: darkness; Frst: a mine]. 42, 43Duke Kenaz, duke Teman, duke Mibzar [fortress, strong city]. Duke Magdiel [Frst: glory of God; Gesenius: prince of God], duke Iram [citizen, city region]: these be the dukes of Edom, according to their habitations, in the land of their possession: he is Esau,7 the father of the Edomites.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS
A. It is in full accordance with the mode of statement used in Genesis, that at this point, at which Esau passes out from connection with the theocratic history, the history of his family, as belonging to the genealogical tree, should be preserved in the memory of the people of God (see p. 495). B. The toledoth of the Edomites is recorded in a series of special genealogies: 1. The point of departure: Esaus wives and children, and his settlement upon the mountains of Seir (Gen 36:1-8); 2. Esaus sons and grandsons viewed as tribe-fathers (Gen 36:9-14); 3. the tribe-chiefs or princes of the house of Esau (Gen 36:15-19); 4. the genealogy of the aborigines of the land, the Horites, with whom the Edomites, as conquerors, are mingled (Gen 36:20-30); 5. the kings of the land of Edom (Gen 36:31-39); 6. the ruling princes, i. e., the heads of provinces, or rather the seats of chieftains, enduring throughout the reigns of the kings of Edom (Gen 36:40-43).C. It is clear that these tables do not form any one peculiar chronological succession. The tables, number three of the Edomitic princes, and four, of the Horite princes, form a parallel; in point of time, indeed, the line of Horite princes must be regarded as the older line. So, also, table number five of the kings of Edom, is parallel with number six of the provincial princes or councillors of Edom. There are, therefore, but three fundamental divisions: 1. The sons and grandsons of Edom; 2. the old and new princes of Edom; 3. the kingdom of Edom viewed as to its kings and as to its provincial rulers (or dukedoms).In Deu 2:12; Deu 2:22, the Edomites appear to have destroyed the Horites, as the aboriginal dwellers in Seir. But this must be understood in the sense of a warlike subjugation, which resulted partly in their absorption, partly and mainly in placing the original dwellers in the land in a state of bondage, and that wretched condition in which they are probably described in the book of Job (Job 16:11; Job 17:6; Job 24:7; Job 30:1; see Knobel, p. 277). Knobel refers these tables, as generally all the completed genealogical tables in Genesis, to the Elohist. But this only is established, that the genealogical tables are, in their very nature, in great part Elohistic.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Esaus wives and children, and his settlement upon the mountains of Seir (Gen 36:1-8).Of Esau, that is Edom (Gen 25:30).In Gen 26:34 the two first wives of Esau are called Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. In Gen 28:9 the third wife bears the name of Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael. Here the daughter of Elon the Hittite is called Adah, and in the place of Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, we have Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite. But while the daughter of Elon is named Bashemath above, here the daughter of Ishmael bears that name. It is perfectly arbitrary when Knobel and others identify the Zibeon of Gen 36:2 with the Zibeon of Gen 36:21, and then, instead of the addition, the Hivite, read the Horite. But Knobel remarks correctly: The different accounts (all of which he ascribes to the Elohist) agree in this: a. That Esau had three wives; b. that one of them is called Bashemath; c. that the third was a daughter of Ishmael and sister to Nebajoth. Keil explains the differences upon the assumption that Moses used genealogical records of Esaus family and descendants, and left them unaltered. The statement, however, presents no irreconcilable contradiction, but is explained by the custom of the ancient orientals, which is still in use among the Arabians, by which men often received surnames from some important or remarkable event of life (as, e. g. Esau the surname Edom Gen 25:30), which gradually became proper names, and by which women at their marriage generally assumed new first names (comp. HengstenbergsBeitrge, iii. pp. 273302). We remark only that Judith takes the name Aholibamah, her father Beeri (for the conjecture of Hengstenberg, which will scarcely stand the test, in our judgment, see Keil, p. 232) the name Anah, while the general popular name Hittites=Canaanites becomes specific in the name Hivite. But now the names Aholibamah and Anah appear to be symbolic and religious names. Bashemath, the daughter of Elon, now bears the name Adah, while, on the contrary, Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, is now called Bashemath. This may be explained upon the supposition that Esau, whose garments were fragrant with sweet odors, distinguished Judith [Mahalath?A. G.], whom he married twenty years later than his other wives, as his favorite wife by the name Bashemath, the fragrant, while as a compensation he called his former Bashemath, Adah, or ornament. If Beeri was a priest, the name Anah (hearing, answering), would be appropriate to him, as also Aholibamah, tent of height, holy tabernacle, would be to his daughter. For the different attempts at reconciling these differences, see Knobel, p. 278. The impossibility of solving these difficulties is emphasized and supported by a collection of examples, which certainly shows that there were different traditions according to different points of view, in full accord with the living nature and character of biblical relations. [These tables carry the genealogy of the descendants of Esau down to the period at which the Pentateuch closes, since the last of the eight kings, whose united reigns would probably cover this length of time, of whom it is not said that he died, was probably still upon the throne at the time of Moses, and was the king of Edom to whom Moses applied for leave to pass through the land. The statement, though very brief, is arranged with the utmost precision. We have first the introductory statement in regard to Esau and his wives, and his settlement at Seir; then the genealogy of his sons and grandsons born in Seir, in distinction from those born in Canaan; then of the tribe-princes of Edom; then by an easy and natural transition the genealogy of the Horite princes and tribes who were absorbed by the Edomitic tribes; then of the kings of Edom; and lastly of the places or chief seats of these tribal princes, after their families, by their names. It is not surprising that there should be inquiries suggested here, which cannot be answered, or that there should be missing links in the historical statement. The apparent discrepancies, however, involve no contradiction. As to the wives of Esau, the different accounts may be reconciled in either of two ways. We may suppose with some (Murphy, Jacobus) that Judith, during the long period between her marriage and the removal of Esau to Seir, had died, without leaving male issue, and that Aholibamah here recorded is the fourth wife of Esau in the order of time, although in this table classed with the daughter of Elon, because she was a Canaanitess also. The mere change of names in the females occasions little difficulty, since it is so common for persons to have two names, and since the first name of the female was so frequently changed at marriage. This seems a natural supposition, and will meet the necessities of the case. We may, however, suppose, as Hengstenberg suggests (see also Kurtz, Keil, Baumgarten), that the names Beeri and Anah designate the same person. In the 24th verse we meet with an Anah who is thus described: This was that Anah that found the warm springs (E. V. mules) in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father. The identity in the name of the father, Zibeon, leads to the identifying of Anah and Beeri. This is confirmed by the significance of the name Beeri, man of the wells, which would seem to refer to some such remarkable event in the desert. He would probably be known by this name, Beeri, among his associates, but in the genealogy he appears with his own proper name, Anah. That he is in one place called a Hittite, in another a Hivite, in another still a Horite, may be easily explained on the theory that the Hittite defines the race, the Hivite the specific tribe, and the Horite describes him with reference to his abode. The theory of Hengstenberg is certainly ingenious, meets essentially the difficulties in the case, and may well be held until a better is suggested. See HengstenbergsBeitrge, vol. iii. pp. 273302; Keil, Kurtz, Baumgarten, in loc.A. G.]And Adah bare.See the names of the sons of Esau, 1Ch 1:35. [The difference between the catalogue there and here is due to the change in the Hebrew from one weak letter to another.A. G.]Into the country, from the face of his brother.The conjecture that the word Seir has been left out after the word land or country, is superfluous [and hence unjustifiable.A. G.], if we understand the words away from his brother as a qualifying adjective or phrase. He sought a country in which he should not meet with his brother. The final emigration of Esau to Seir after the death of his father does not exclude the preliminary migration thither (Gen 32:3); neither does the motive for the earlier removal, the securing of a wide domain for hunting, and over which he might rule, exclude the motive for the later, in the fact that the flocks of the two brothers had grown so large that they could not dwell together. We may well conclude, however, from the last statement, that Esau had at least inherited a large part of the herds of Isaac, although Keil assumes the contrary.
Second Section. Esaus sons and grandsons as the ancestors of tribes (Gen 36:9-14; comp. 1Ch 1:36-37).To Mount Seir.The mountain-range between the Dead Sea and the Ailanitic Gulf. The northern part was called Gebalene, and the southern Es Sherah (see Keil, p. 233; WinersReal Wrterbuch [Kitto, new edition, Smith, Murphy.A. G.], and the Geographies of the Bible). While the sons of Aholibamah became directly heads of tribes, it was only the grandsons of the other two wives, each of whom bare only one son, who attained this distinction. There were thus thirteen heads of tribes, or, if we exclude Amalek, who was born of the concubine Timnah, twelve, as with the Nahorites, Ishmaelites, and Israelites. Knobel. [It is probable, as Hengstenberg has shown, that this Amalek was the ancestor of the Amalekites who opposed the Israelites in their march through the desert; and that this is what Balaam alludes to when he says that Amalek was the first of the nations, not the oldest, but the first who made war with the Israelites after they became the covenant people of God. The reference to the field of the Amalekites, Gen 14:7, is not in opposition to this, since it is not said in that passage that the Amalekites were slain, but that they were slain who occupied the country which afterwards belonged to this tribe. It is not probable that a people who played so important a part in the history of Israel (see Num 13:29; Num 14:43; Jdg 6:3; Jdg 7:12; Jdg 12:15; 1Sa 14:48; 1Sa 15:2 ff; 1Sa 27:8; 2Sa 8:12) should have been without their genealogy in the book of Genesis. Amalek probably separated himself early from his brethren, perhaps from the fact of his birth not being strictly legitimate, and grew into an independent people, who seem to have had their main position at Kadesh, in the mountains south of Judah, but spread themselves throughout the desert and even into Canaan. See Hengstenberg: Beitrge, vol. iii. p. 302 ff.A. G.] There were three divisions from the three wives.The sons of Eliphaz.For the ethnographic importance of these names, compare Knobel and the Bible Dictionaries. Amalek, see above.These are the sons of Adah.Since Timnah was a concubine, it is assumed that Adah had adopted her.
Third Section. The Edomitic tribe-princes (Gen 36:15-19). , probably from or = , families, heads of families, is the peculiar title of Edomitic and Horitic phylarchs, only once, Zec 9:7; Zec 12:5, applied to Jewish princes or governors. Knobel is entirely wrong when he explains these names geographically. Keil. But they may have established themselves geographically within more or less fixed limits, e. g. Teman (Edom from Teman to Dedan, Eze 25:13).
Fourth Section. Genealogy of the Horites (Gen 36:20-30; comp. 1Ch 1:38-42).Of Seir.The name of the ancestor of the early inhabitants of Seir is identical with the name of the land, as is true also with the names Asshur, Aram, Mizraim, Canaan, in the genealogical table.The Horites., from , hole, cave, cave-man, troglodyte.Who inhabited the landi. e., the earlier inhabitants in contrast with the Edomites. The land of the Edomites is full of caves (Robinson, Researches, vol. ii. p. 551 ff.). The inhabitants of Iduma use them for dwellings. Jerome, upon Obadiah, says they had dwellings and sheepfolds in caves. This was peculiarly true of the aboriginal Horites, who (Job 30:6) are described by this peculiarity. It is remarkable that the description of the wretched manner of living and evil courses of the Horites, given in the book of Job, are still accurately true to-day of the dwellers in the old Edomitic land. Knobel. The Horite table first enumerates seven princes, then their sons, among whom the name Anah occupies a prominent place (Gen 36:24), who is said in Luthers version [also in the English.A. G.], following the error of the Talmud, to have found the mules in the wilderness. He discovered rather in the desert , warm springs (Vulgate), which may refer to the warm sulphur springs of Calirrhoe, in Wady Zerka Maein, or to those in Wady El Ahsa, southeast of the Dead Sea, or to those in Wady Hamad between Kerek and the Dead Sea. For further details see Knobel and Keil, the latter of whom remarks that the notice of his feeding the asses may indicate that these animals led to the discovery of the springs, p. 225, note. Besides the sons, there are two daughters named in this genealogical table, Thimnah and Aholibamah. Thimnah may perhaps be the same person with the concubine of Eliphaz, Gen 36:12. Aholibamah is, however, not the same with the wife of Esau. Keil. There may have been, also, more than one person of the name of Thimnah. For the differences between this catalogue and that in 1 Chron., comp. Keil, p. 234. [These diversities are mainly those which arise from the substituting one weak letter for another.A. G.] The princes are still named once more, as they gave their names to tribes or districts. Knobel attempts to explain these names as if they were geographical and not personal, which Keil should not so strongly have opposed. [Keil shows, however, how vain and groundless this attempt is, by the fact that the son of Zibeon discovered the warm springs, which proves of course that this is a table of the names of persons, and not of tribes or their localities.A. G.]
Fifth Section. The kings of the land of Edom (Gen 36:31-39; comp. 1Ch 1:43-50). Out of the original discordant or opposing Edomite and Horite princes there sprang one united kingdom, the Edomitic element being undoubtedly the predominant. From the statement here made, it is plain that the kings were not hereditary kings; in no case does the son succeed to the fathers throne. Still less are we to suppose, with Keil, Hengstenberg [also Murphy, Jacobus, and others.A. G.], that it was a well-ordered elective monarchy, with chosen kings, since in that case, at least, some of the sons would have succeeded their fathers. (Knobel wavers between the assumption of elections and usurpations.) It is rather in accordance with the Edomitic character (see the blessing of Isaac), that a circle of usurpations should arise out of the turbulent transition state; dark counterparts of the way and manner in which the judges in Israel wrought together or followed one another at the calling of God. Thus Bela, of Dinhaba, city of plunder, as devourer (as despotic Balaam), might well begin the series. And the name of Jobab, one who with the howling of the desert breaks forth from his fastness, confirms the mode of the kingdom as already intimated. Husham seems to have gained his power and position by surprise, Hadad by violence, and Samlah by political arts and fraud. With Saul, therefore, we first meet with one who was desired and chosen, and the remark that he was succeeded by Baal-hanan, gracious lord, and he by Hadar, rich in power, whose wife bears a truly pious name, justifies the conjecture that the savage, uncultivated forms of violence and cunning gradually gave place to the more noble forms. Of this eighth king of the Edomites, it is not said here that he died. The table closes, therefore, with the time of Hadar. Keil justly assumes that the tribe-princes or phylarchs (who, indeed, as persons, did not follow each other, but were cotemporary, and as hereditary dignities located and fixed themselves geographically) existed as cotemporaries with the kings (with regard to Exo 15:15, comp. Num 20:14 ff.). While Moses treats with the king of Edom with reference to a passage through his land, in the song of Moses it is the tribe-princes who are filled with fear at the miraculous passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea (comp. Exek. Gen 32:29). We may urge further that the account of the seats of these phylarchs, Gen 36:40-43, follows after the catalogue of the kings. Keil.Before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.It has been inferred from this statement, that Genesis, or the part of Genesis lying before us here, was not composed until the time of the kings in Israel. Delitzsch replies to this, that the narrator might have inserted this clause from the stand-point of the promise spoken, e. g. Gen 17:1 and Gen 35:11. Then, indeed, we should have expected another mode of expression. But how obvious it is to suppose that this phrase is an interpolation by a later writer! [The phrase does not imply that monarchy began in Israel immediately after those kings; nor does it imply that monarchy had begun in Israel at the time of the writer; as Isaacs saying that my soul may bless thee before I die, does not imply that he was dead at the time of his saying so. It simply implies that Israel was expected to have kings, as Isaac was expected to die. Murphy. The sentence is in its place, and the supposition of any interpolation is needless and therefore unwarrantable.A. G.] But, carefully considered, this table points back to a very remote time of the Edomitic kingdom. Leaving out of view the fact, that usurpations follow each other far more rapidly than hereditary sovereigns, we must observe that no one of these kings ever appears elsewhere, or is in any way involved in the Israelitish history. Some have, indeed, supposed that Hadad, the son of Bedad, Gen 36:35, is identical with the Edomite king who rebelled against Solomon (1Ki 11:14), yet the various distinctions of the two differ altogether (see Keil, p. 236). Hengstenberg, with much stronger force, concludes, from the fact that he is said to have smitten Midian in the field of Moab, that he must have been nearly a contemporary with Moses, since at the time of Gideon the Midianites disappear from the history.Bela the son of Beor.It is merely an accidental coincidence, that Balaam also, whose name is related to Bela, is a son of Beor, although even Jewish expositors have here thought of Balaam (see Knobel, p. 286).Of Bozrah.An important city of the Edomites (Isa 34:6 and other passages). Knobel thinks that the name has been preserved in the village Busaireh [see Robinson: Researches, vol. ii. p. 511 ff.A. G.]. For Masrekah and Rehoboth, see Knobel. [Keil holds that the allusion to the river determines the locality to be on the Euphrates; probably it is the Errachabi or Rachabeh on the Euphrates near the mouth of the Chaboras.A. G.] We prefer, however, to seek it at some small nahar, river, in Edom.Hadar, 1Ch 1:50, erroneously Hadad.Mezahab.Regarded by Knobel as masculine, by Keil as feminine, but the former is more probable. [Keil makes Matred the mother of his wife, and Mezahab her mother. Murphy regards both as masculine nouns. There is no general rule, other than usage, to determine the gender of many Hebrew names, and the usage is not uniform. See Greens Grammar, 197.A. G.] Keil supposes that the last-named king, Hadar, is the same one with whom Moses treated for a passage through his land. The theory that the Pentateuch must be entirely referred to Moses, probably lies at the basis of this supposition. The critical history of the Bible, however, cannot depend upon such conjectures. If we take into account the strong desire in the Edomitic race for dominion, we may well conjecture that the first usurpation began soon after the death of Esaus grandsons. If now, Keil remarks, we place their death about two hundred and fifty years before the exodus of Israel from Egypt, there would be a period of two hundred and ninety years before the arrival of Israel at the borders of Edom (Num 20:14); a period long enough for the reigns of the eight kings, even if the kingdom arose first after the death of the phylarchs mentioned in Gen 36:15-18. We may add, further, that the tables may possibly close with the beginning of Hadars reign, and hence, perhaps, we have a more detailed account of his family. We should thus only have to divide the two hundred and ninety years between the seven kings. An average of forty years is certainly, however, a very long period to assign to a circle of such despotic sovereigns. [If, however, the kings co-existed with the dukes, and were elective, chosen probably by these dukes or phylarchs, and began soon after the death of Esau, we should have a longer average. The length of human life at that period would justify the assumption of these longer reigns; if there is good reason to believe, as there seems to be, that their reigns were peaceful, and not violent usurpations. All these calculations, however, depend upon the length of the period of the bondage.A. G.]
Sixth Section. The permanent tribe-princes, or the seats of their power, in Edom (Gen 36:40-43; comp. 1Ch 1:51-54). It is plain that we have here the geographical position of the original personal tribe-princes, recorded under the political provincial tribe-names, i. e., we have the ethnographic and geographical divisions of the kingdom of Edom; and Keil justly rejects the assertion of Bertheau, that there follows here a second catalogue of the Edomitic princes, who perhaps, after the death of Hadar, restored the old tribal institution and the hereditary aristocracy.After their places, according to their families, by their names.After the names, i. e., which their families and places had formed for themselves. Hence many, perhaps the most, of the old names of princes have passed over into new names of tribes and localities.1. Thimnah=Amalek (see Gen 36:12; Gen 36:16; Gen 36:22).2. Alwah.Here the Horitic name Alwan, Gen 36:23, appears to have forced its way through the Edomite dominion.3. Jetheth.4. Aholibamah.Perhaps the district of the sons of Aholibamah, Gen 36:2. Keil is inclined to refer it to the Horite Aholibamah, Gen 36:255. Elah.Reminds us of Elon, Gen 36:2, and of Eliphaz his grandson and Esaus son, whose sons, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam (Gen 36:11), may perhaps have gone up into the district of Kenaz.6. Pinon.7. Kenaz.Points back to Kenaz, the son of Eliphaz, Gen 36:118. Theman.This was the name of the first son of Eliphaz, Gen 36:11.9. Mibzar.Goes back, perhaps through Bozra, to a tribe-prince. The signification of Zepho, Gen 36:11, is analogous.10. Magdiel.Is perhaps connected with Manahath, Gen 36:23.11. Iram. is the sea-point Aila. is the same with Phunon, a camping place of the Israelites (Num 33:43 f.), celebrated for its mines, to which many Christians were sent by Diocletian, situated between Petra and Zoar, northeasterly from Wady Musa (Ritter, xiv. p. 125 ff.). , the capital, , Gen 36:34. Keil. Mibzar might be referred to Petra, Knobel thinks, since it is a stronghold, but that place is usually called Selah.He is Esau.The conclusion of the narrative is entirely in accordance with the Hebrew conception of the personal character and relations of history. Esau is actually the father and not merely the founder of Edom, as he lives on in his toledoth. This close of the toledoth of Esau points forward to the toledoth of Jacob.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The sacred history hangs up in the treasure-house of the Old Testament the tables of the toledoth of Esau, not merely because he too received a blessing from God, and had the promise of a blessing (Keil), but more especially because he now breaks the band of the theocracy, and passes out of view, just as it had done with the tables of the nations, and all the succeeding genealogical tables. God, indeed, permits the heathen to go their own way (Act 14:16; Psa 81:13), but is mindful of all his children (Act 15:14 f.; Gen 17:26), even those who are in the kingdom of the dead [but in a different sense, surely.A. G.] (Luk 20:38; 1Pe 4:6), and hence the people of God, too, preserve their memory in hope.
2. We may suppose that Edom at first preserved the patriarchal religion, although in a more external form. Its vicinity to the tribe of Judah, if it made any proper use of it, was a permanent blessing. The idolatry of Edom is not referred to frequently even in later history. The only allusions are 1Ki 11:1; 1Ki 9:8; 2Ch 25:14. From these intimations we may infer that Edom declined, to a certain extent, into heathen, religious darkness, but much more into moral depravity (see Exo 15:15, and other passages). The people of Israel are frequently reminded, however, in the earlier history, to spare Esaus people, and treat them as brethren (Deu 2:4-5; Deu 23:7-8). It may be remarked, by the way, that these passages show the early age of Deuteronomy, since Edom stands in other relations at a later period. The refined theocratic recollection in Edom, avails so far as to even awaken and cherish its jealousy of Israel. And in this respect Edom stands in the relation of an envious, malicious, and false brother of Israel, and becomes a type of Antichrist (Obadiah). This, however, does not exclude the promise of salvation for the historic Edom, in its individual members (Isa 11:14; Jer 49:17 ff.). We do not read of any special conversion of Edom to Christianity, perhaps (see, however, Mar 3:8), because the violent conversion of Edom to the Jewish faith, under John Hyrcanus, had first occurred, by which Edom was partially merged into the Jews, and partially amalgamated with the Bedouin Arabs. To return back to Jacob, or to fall away to Ishmael, was the only alternative open to Edom.
3. In the Herodian slaughter of the children at Bethlehem, however, the old thought of Esau, to kill his brother Jacob, becomes actual in the assault upon the life of Jesus.
4. The history of the Edomites falls at last into the history of the Herods. For this history, as for that of Edom, we may refer to the Bible Dictionaries, the sources of religious history (Josephus, and others), and books of travels. [Robinson, Researches, vol. ii. p. 551 ff.A. G.]
5. The table here is composed of several tables which portray, vividly and naturally, the origin of a kingdom: 1. The period of the tribe-chiefs; 2. the period of the peculiar permanent tribe-princes; 3. the period of the formation of the kingdom, and its continued existence upon the basis of permanent tribe principalities or dukedoms.
6. The subjugation of the Horites (whom we are not to regard as savages, merely because they dwelt in caves) by the Edomites, and the fusion of both people under an Edomitic kingdom, represents to us vividly the process of the formation of a people, as in a precisely similar way it has occurred a hundred times in the history of the world. In sacred history we may refer here especially to the rise of the Samaritans, and in later history, to the formation of the Roman people. The Franks overcame the Gauls as the Edomites the Horites, although under different moulding relations. This great forming process is now taking place under our very eyes in North America. But these historical growths of a people are the subject of a special divine providence (Act 17:26).
7. We are here reminded again of the prominent personal view of all the relations of life in the sacred Scriptures. At the close of the whole evolution of a people it is said again: This is Esau. He lives still, as the father, in the entire people; stamps even the Horitic element with his own image.
8. The discovery of the warm springs by Anah, is an example of human discoveries in their accidental and providential bearings and significance. [Wordsworth says: There is an important moral in these generations of Esau. They show that the families of the carnal race of this world develop themselves more rapidly than the promised seed. Ishmael and Esau come sooner to their possession than Isaac and Jacob. The promised seed is of slow growth. It is like the grain of mustard-seed (Mat 13:31). The fulfilments of all Gods promises, of great blessings to his people, are always long in coming. But the kingdoms of this world would soon fade, while the kingdom of heaven will endure for ever (p. 147, 148).A. G.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Meditations upon this chapter must be connected with the general declarations as to Esau, e. g., with Isaacs blessing upon him, with the prophetic passages relating to Esau, with the history of the Herods, with Act 17:26, or with other New Testament passages.The fulfilling of the blessing upon Esau.Esaus development.The ancient and modern Edom.How Israel even in later days regarded the fraternal relation of Edom as sacred.
Starke: This narrative of Esau has, doubtless, its important uses, partly as it shows how richly God fulfils his promises (Gen 25:23; Gen 27:39-40), partly as it sets before the descendants of Jacob, how far the boundaries of Esaus descendants reach, and partly as thence the Israelites are earnestly forbidden to encroach upon them (Deu 2:4-5), except in relation to the Amalekites (Exo 17:14). Moreover, there were many pious men among the descendants of Esau, who were in covenant with God. Observe how the patriarchal sacrificial service continued for a long time among the Edomites, until, after the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, the church of the Edomites gradually declined, etc. (Taken in part from Rambachs Ecclesiastical History.) Gen 36:3. These names lead one to think of Jobs friends. (He then remarks, that some suppose that Jobs friend Eliphaz descended from this one, while others regard the Eliphaz of Job as still older.) View of the Edomites and of the Amalekites.(Gen 36:24. Mules, according to Luther. The Hebrew word occurs but once in the sacred Scriptures, and is, therefore, more difficult to explain. The Sept. has formed from it a mans name; the Chaldee renders it giants; the Samar. Emim, a race of giants; in the Arabic some understand a kind of warm bath; others, a kind of healing drug.)
Gen 36:33. This Jobab is held by some, though without any good reason, as the same with Job.Osiander: The kingdom of Christ alone endures and is eternal; the other kingdoms and sovereignties, which are of this world, are subject to frequent changes, and, indeed, decay and perish (Psa 89:3-4). Whatever rises rapidly disappears rapidly also (Psa 37:35 f.). Lange: Jacob, not less than Abraham and Isaac, was a type of Christ: 1. According to the promise, the lord over all Canaan, but he had nothing of his own there but the parcel of the field which he bought at Shechem. Thus, Christ also is the Lord of the whole world, etc.; 2. Jacob a great shepherd, Christ the chief shepherd; 3. Jacobs long service for Rachel and Leah, Christ in the form of a servant and his service; 4. Jacob gained two herds, Christ the Jews and Gentiles; 5. Jacob a prophet, priest, and king, the three offices of Christ; 6. Jacobs wrestling, and Christs agony and struggle; 7. Jacob lame in his thigh, Christ and the prints of the nails and spear; 8. Jacob left behind him twelve patriarchs, Christ the twelve apostles. Gerlach: Calvins remarks. We must here remember, that those separated from Gods covenant rise quickly and decay rapidly, like the grass upon the house-tops, which springs up quickly and soon withers because it has no depth of earth and roots. Both of Isaacs sons have the glorious promise that kings shall come from them; now they appear first among the Edomites, and Israel seems to be set aside. But the course of the history shows how much better it is first to strike the roots deep into the earth, than to receive immediately a transitory glory which vanishes away in a moment. The believer, therefore, while he toils slowly onwards, must not envy the rapid and joyful progress of others, for the permanent prosperity and blessedness promised to him by the Lord is of far greater value.Schrder: (Ranke:) The Israelites also were to be encouraged in their contest, through the conspicuous victory which the Edomites in earlier times had obtained over the numerous tribes of Seir. (Baumgarten:) This external glory in the very beginning of Esaus history, stands in striking contrast to the simple relations in the family of Jacob, but corresponds perfectly with the whole previous course of our history, which, from the beginning, assigns worldly power and riches to the line which lies beyond the covenant and union with God, while it sets forth the humility and retiring nature in the race chosen by God.In later history, the kingdom among the Edomites appears to have been hereditary (1Ki 11:14).
Gen 36:43. (Baumgarten:) We may explain the fact that only eleven names are found here, while there are fourteen above, upon the supposition that some of the seats of power embraced more than one princely family.
Footnotes:
[1][Gen 36:5.Murphy gives these names the signification of haste, hiding, ice.A. G.]
[2][Gen 36:7.Of their sojournings.A. G.]
[3][Gen 36:12.From , a nation of head-breakers, spoilers? Lange. Laboring, licking up; Murphy: which seems the better derivation.A. G.]
[4][Gen 36:21.Murphy: threshing.A. G.]
[5][Gen 36:30.Which were to them for tribe-princes (and tribe names).A. G.]
[6][Gen 36:32.The Fehmgericht was the secret criminal court in Westphalia, somewhat akin to our vigilance committees.A. G.]
[7][Gen 36:43.Lit., This is Esau = the father of Edom, the founder of the Edomites, with their kings and princes. This closes this Section, and at the same time prepares us for what follows.A. G.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
This Chapter is a digression from the main subject of Jacob’s history, but becomes so far interesting from its connection with it, as it records the fulfillment of the divine promises concerning the posterity of Esau. When Rebekah was pregnant with Jacob and Esau, the LORD informed her that two nations were in her womb; and that two manner of people should be separated from her bowels. In confirmation of this, the distinct race of Esau for several generations is recorded in this Chapter: their decided hatred to the seed of Jacob is thereby more clearly left for discernment, as it occurred in the after ages of the Church.
Gen 22:17
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Observe, though Esau had three wives, yet but five sons from all. More wives than one, which is contrary to the divine ordination, is not always favourable to the increase of mankind.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
XXIX
JACOB, JOSEPH, AND OTHERS
Genesis 35-41
This will be a running comment commencing at the thirty-fifth chapter and extending through the forty-first. Our last discussion showed the great disturbance of mind on Jacob’s part at the cruelty of Simeon and Levi in destroying the Shechemites. At this time God told Jacob to leave that place and go to Bethel. In removing, Jacob determined to purify his household from idols; if he was to have the enmity of the people, he was determined not to have the disfavor of God. So be commanded all his household to put away their strange gods and to change their garments. They also gave up the rings in their ears and noses. It is not fashionable with us now to wear rings that way, but many do. After this purification God protected them by causing a fear to fall upon the inhabitants of the land, or else Jacob’s crowd would have been annihilated on account of what Simeon and Levi bad done.
At Bethel he builds an altar and worships God, and God reappears to him and gives him a renewed assurance of his protection. He then leaves Bethel for what is now called Bethlehem, or Ephrath. At that place occurred the death of Rachel in giving birth to Benjamin. She was not buried in the cave of Machpelah, like the rest of the family, but for hundreds of years her tomb was standing and visible; they show it to you now, but not with certainty may you accept the tradition. In Gen 35:8 , we find an account of the death of Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse. That is the only hint as to the death of Rebekah. We infer from the fact that the old nurse had come to live with Jacob that Rebekah was dead. I may have an examination question on that point. The rest of the chapter is devoted to the names of Jacob’s sons by his several wives, which I will bring out in an examination question. The chapter closes with the death of Isaac. Jacob comes to Mamre, or Hebron, now the head of the tribe. Esau and Jacob unite to bury their father. The thirty-sixth chapter gives a genealogy of the descendants of Esau. Nothing is particular in that except the generations of Seir, father of the Horites. I will give this examination question: Why in the generations of Esau, are the generations of the Horites included? The answer is that Esau’s people moved to the country occupied by the Horites and intermarried with them. You will note that the Horites, or cave dwellers, are not prehistoric men.
The thirty-seventh chapter is devoted to the youth of Joseph, a very particular section. We find here the development of the murderous envy and hate of Joseph’s brethren toward him. An examination question will be: State what caused the envy and hatred of Joseph’s brethren toward him. The answer is: Joseph brought an evil report concerning the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, and they counted that tattling. If he had been one of the sons at work, and had reported on the others, that would have been a tell-tale business. If one in college should be appointed as a representative of the faculty, he could make a report without being justly amenable to the charge of tattling. Joseph was sent by his father to make a report. Next, Israel loved Joseph above all his other sons. I think the circumstances make it certain that he loved him justly. He was the oldest son of the only woman Jacob ever loved. He was intensely lovable, more so than any of the other boys. It is a fact, however, that there never was a case where a parent loved one child more than the others that it did not cause ill will in the family. The third reason is given here: “And he made him a full length garment.” King James Version, “a coat of many colours.” When a parent distinguishes between his children in dress he is sure to bring on a row. There Jacob made a mistake. Fourth, Joseph dreamed a dream and told it to his brothers, and they hated him yet the more. “I dreamed that we were binding sheaves, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright, and your sheaves stood around and bowed down to my sheaf.” If that dream originated with Joseph it shows that he was already imagining superiority over his brethren. But if it did not originate with Joseph, which it did not, as it came from God it showed a lack of wisdom in Joseph to tell the other boys. The dream was literally fulfilled in afterlife, and so must have been from God. He dreamed another dream: “Behold, I dreamed yet again, and behold the sun and moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.” The sun is papa, and the moon is mamma, and the stars are the eleven brothers, the whole family bowed down. He ought never to have told that dream to those boys. He told it to his father also. To show how quickly his father understood it, he said, “Shall we indeed, thy mother and thy father and thy brethren, bow down to thee?” His brothers envied him because his father kept that saying. He knew that meant something for his boy, and he was proud of the glory the boy would attain. Here are five things, and envy can get very fat on five things.
I once delivered an address on that subject before the Wake Forest College, entitled the “Ambitious Dreams of Youth.” There do come into bright minds forecasts of future greatness, great elation and swelling of the heart in thinking about it, that cannot be doubted. Sometimes these ambitious dreams do not come from God but from the heart of the student. I told those Wake Forest boys of a young fellow out in the mountains. When he started off to school a dream ran through his mind: “I will go to Wake Forest and make the brightest record ever made in that school. I will get through the four years’ course in three. I will get up my recitations so that the faculty will be talking about the most brilliant student in the institution. I will get the class honors. When I shall have delivered the valedictory and go home, all along the way people will say, ‘There is the boy who delivered the valedictory address.’ When I get home the family and all the servants will come out in a double row, and a band will play, ‘See the conquering hero come.’ ” Then I turned to the president and said, “Mr. President, what are you going to do with these ambitious boys who see the other boys bow down and their parents bowing down before them? Those boys think they have the world in a sling.” But one thing ‘is sure, no one ever became really great who did not aspire to be great. There is an honest ambition to excel, but where the faculty of imagination is wanting and it takes that to be a dreamer that man can be successful in a matter-of-fact way, but he certainly can never be successful as an artist, sculptor, painter, or as an orator or statesman. There is a creative power in the imagination. Woe to the one who expects to be great and has it not. It is characteristic of the Spirit’s day, as foretold by Joel and expounded by Peter, “Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” Sometimes men who have not the Spirit, and who find it easier to win in fancy than in fact, indulge in air castles which need to be ridiculed. There is a story in the old “Blue Back Speller” of a maiden who, walking alone with a pail of milk upon her head, fell into the following train of reflections: “The money for which I shall sell this milk will enable me to increase my stock of eggs to three hundred. These eggs, allowing for what may prove addle, and what may be destroyed by vermin, will produce at least two hundred and fifty chickens. The chickens will be fit to carry to market about Christmas, when poultry always brings a good price; so that by May Day I cannot fail of having enough money to purchase a new gown. Green! , let me consider, yes, green becomes my complexion best, and green it shall be. In this dress I will go to the fair, where all the young fellows will strive to have me for a partner; but I shall perhaps refuse every one of them, and, with an air of disdain, toss from them.” Transported with this triumphant thought she could not forbear acting with her head what thus passed in her imagination, when down came the pail of milk, and with it all her imaginary happiness. Dr. Wayland, one of the greatest educators in the United States, has a lecture on the “Evils of the Imagination,” that every schoolboy ought to read. Even barefoot boys, fishing in the creek, will weave stories of companies of which they are captains, and they will kill 1,000 buffaloes and 1,500 Indians. When I was canvassing for the Education Commission in Northeast Texas, I had to go about eleven miles out into the country. A lad of about twelve asked the privilege of taking me. I wondered why, but when we got out of town he turned around and said, “Dr. Carroll, I asked the privilege of taking you to this place because I wanted to talk to you. I heard your address on education, and do you know, I am going to be governor of Texas someday?” I smiled and said, “Tell me about it,” and he unfolded himself. That boy had already drawn out his own horoscope and filled out all the details of his future. He was brilliant. He had stood at the head of his classes. Instead of rebuking him I simply cautioned him and at the same time encouraged him because he had this record. He did not tell lies. He was never absent from his classes. He was never guilty of what you call schoolboy follies. He was intense in his application, and up to that time he had accomplished all that he had ever undertaken. So it would not surprise me if that boy yet becomes governor. I am waiting to see, however. One of the most instructive parts of the Bible is this that relates to the early life of Joseph and his premonitions of future greatness. Not long ago I read an account of a brilliant girl about thirteen years old. Her parents, uncles, and aunts were all trying to restrain her from following a certain line of education. She met it all by saying, “It is in me to do that. I know I can win on it. I dream about it. It fills my vision. I am irresistibly drawn to it.” And she did win on it, a country girl that became famous before the great audiences in European capitals.
This envy that had five roots, after awhile will come to a head when opportunity presents itself. A great many people carry envy and hate in their hearts and it eats like a cancer and burns like a hidden fire and no opportunity ever comes to gratify it, and the world knows nothing about it. “Gray’s Elegy” tells, in referring to the lowly graves, about “some mute, inglorious Milton” that never had a chance to follow the promptings of his muse. Not only that, but the lowly graves hold many a heart which had burned with hatred and envy and petulance that never had an opportunity to express itself in “Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country’s blood.” They say that everything comes to him who waits, and so this crowd waited, and here is their chance. Joseph’s brethren left Hebron, and went to Shechem, where they had massacred the Shechemites. They were looking for territory to pasture their immense herds. The father tells Joseph to go and see if it is well with the brothers and their flocks. It is a long way from home. When the boys see him coming they say, “Behold the dreamer cometh; let us slay him and cast him into a pit.” There were ten brothers in the meeting; eight were of one mind, but two had dissenting views. Reuben, the oldest, said, “Let us not kill him. Let us cast him into the pit.” The record says that Reuben intended to carry him back to Jacob. So he stands guiltless. The other one is Judah. We find when they bind him and strip off his coat that he pleads with them, ten great strong men, binding a boy, their own brother, and he weeping. Later they saw a caravan coming called Ishmaelites in one place and Midianites in another. Midian was a descendant of Esau, whose territory bordered on Ishmael’s, and the two tribes intermingled. Now Judah said, “Let us not kill him, but sell him to this caravan to take to Egypt.” In a speech I once delivered in the chapel of Baylor University, I told of a proposition about selling a man that would scorch the paper it was written on. The high court of state plotted it, the leading preacher instigated it, and the man they proposed to sell was one of the most illustrious on the roll of fame in the United States. So they sold Joseph. Then they took his coat and dipped it in the blood of a kid, and carried it to the father to make the impression that Joseph bad been torn to pieces by wild beasts. That was the heaviest stroke that Jacob ever received. He rent his garments, put on sackcloth, mourned many days and refused to be comforted. “I am going down to my son mourning to the underworld.” We will leave him there and look at one or two other matters.
The thirty-eighth chapter is devoted entirely to some rather scaly incidents in the life of Judah. The chapter is of such a character that it forbids discussion in a public address. Read it and gather your own lessons. It commences with Judah’s sin in marrying a Canaanite woman. Two of the sons born of this marriage God killed for their wickedness. This wife became an ancestress of our Lord. He derives his descent from four women not Jewesses. Rahab, the harlot; Tamar, the Canaanite; Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, whom David took; Ruth, the Moabitess.
The next three chapters give an account of Joseph in Egypt. When the caravan reached Egypt they sold him to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh. Potiphar finds his trustworthiness, purity and truthfulness and attention to business, and promotes this slave to the head of the house. When sold into slavery the brave heart ought not to despair. But the beauty of his person, great personality, evident kindly manhood, attracted Potiphar’s wife, and she fell in love with him, as some married women do. Joseph refused to Join her in this unlawful love. Whereupon, as “love unrequited and scorned turns to hate,” she accused him of the very offense which he refused to consider. So Potiphar puts him in prison. Now, though a prisoner, this man begins to work his way to the front. He is faithful to every duty. Finally he is put at the head of all the criminals in the jail. How can you put down a good man, true to God and himself? This position brings him into contact with other dreams besides his own. There are two that the birds snatched the bread of Pharaoh’s table out of fellow prisoners, the chief baker and butler of Pharaoh. Both are troubled. God sent those dreams. For a man to dream the basket on his head is a very singular thing. Joseph interpreted that to mean that he would gain his liberty but that Pharaoh would put him to death. It happened just that way. The butler dreamed about a cluster of grapes, well formed, sweet flavored, and luscious, and that he squeezed it into a goblet and handed the new wine to Pharaoh. Joseph tells him that means that he shall be restored and promoted to his old place, and says, “When you are promoted, remember me.” The butler promised well enough, but forgot. It is easy to forget the unfortunate. But after awhile God sends more dreams. This time Pharaoh has a double dream. He dreams that he sees seven stalks of grain come up in the Nile Valley, full eared and heavy headed. Right after them come up seven thin) shrivelled, parched stalks and they devour the others. He dreamed he saw seven fat beef cattle, and seven lean, ill favored, gaunt, starved specimens that ate the fat ones up. Nobody could tell Pharaoh what the dream meant. But finally the butler remembered Joseph and said, “When I was in prison there was a Hebrew lad who told us our dreams and they came out just like he said.” Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and we see him step out of the prison to stand before the monarch to explain dreams, as Daniel did later. He says each dream means the same thing, that there were going to be seven years of great plenty in which the earth would be burdened with its crops. It reminds me of what a man on the Brazos River said. Leaving out part of his language, which was very emphatic, I quote the other: “I tell you, I will have to build a wall around my field and call it a crib: there is so much corn in it.” He did make eighty bushels to the acre, and showed me a number of stalks with three full cars, standing only a foot apart and twenty feet high. Joseph said, “These seven years will be followed by seven years of drought and famine in which nothing will be made. God sent me here to provide. You ought to husband the resources of these fruitful years so that they can be spread out over the famine years.” Pharaoh was wonderfully impressed, and instantly promoted Joseph to the position of prime minister and made him next to himself. Just exactly as Joseph predicted, the thing happened. Great storage places, perfect reservoirs for holding wheat, and treasure houses were built. At the end of the first year people wanted bread to eat. Under advice of Pharaoh Joseph sold to them, taking their money, jewels, stock, land, then themselves. At the end of the seven years Pharaoh had the whole country, and Egypt was the granary of the world. “And all countries come into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn.”
That is the history of Joseph up to the time we come in touch with Jacob again.
QUESTIONS 1. Where did God tell Jacob to go from Shechem?
2. What important step did he take before going, and why?
3. How did God intervene to save Jacob from the inhabitants of the land?
4. What events happened at Bethel?
5. When did Rebekah die and what is the evidence?
6. Where did Jacob go from Bethel and what the events by the way?
7. Name the sons of Jacob by each of his wives and handmaids.
8. Where were they born?
9. Where does Jacob go from Ephrath, or Bethlehem, and what important event occurred there?
10. To what is the thirty-sixth chapter devoted, and why the genealogy of the Horites in this connection?
11. Whose is the most flawless character in history i Ana.: Joseph’s.
12. As a child, what could he say of his father and mother?
13. State in order the several causes or occasions of the hatred of his brothers.
14. What mistake did Joseph make in this?
15. What is the importance of dreams of greatness? Illustrate.
16. What is the difference between dreams of true greatness and building air castles? Illustrate.
17. What is the nature of ungratified envy and hate?
18. Cite passages from “Gray’s Elegy” to illustrate this point.
19. What was the culmination of the hatred of Joseph’s brothers? Can you find a parallel to this in the New Testament?
20. How was Reuben’s attitude toward the hostility against Joseph distinguished from that of his brothers?
21. How was Judah’s?
22. Who took Joseph out of the pit and sold him? (Gen 37:27-28 .)
23. Explain the confusion of the names of the Midianites and the Ishmaelites.
24. Compare the dejection of Jacob with that of Elijah, and show wherein both were mistaken.
25. To what is the thirty-eighth chapter devoted?
26. What was Judah’s beginning in this downward course of sin?
27. What four Gentile women became ancestress of our Lord?
28. Who became Joseph’s master in Egypt, what of his promotion and misfortune in this house?
29. How did he get out of prison and what six dreams touched his life?
30. Who was the author of those dreams?
31. To what position was he promoted in the kingdom?
32. What of Egypt at the close of the seven years of famine?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Gen 36:1 Now these [are] the generations of Esau, who [is] Edom.
Ver. 1. Who is Edom. ] The name and note of his profaneness. A stigmatical Belialist. It were a happiness to the wicked, if they might be forgotten. Ecc 8:10
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Gen 36:1
1Now these are the records of the generations of Esau (that is, Edom).
Gen 36:1 “these are the records of the generations of” This recurrent phrase (possibly a colophon) marks the divisions of the book of Genesis (cf. Gen 2:4; Gen 5:1; Gen 6:9; Gen 10:1; Gen 11:10; Gen 11:27; Gen 25:12; Gen 25:19; Gen 36:1; Gen 36:9; Gen 37:2). There is no VERB in this phrase.
“Esau (that is, Edom)” This emphasis on the origin of the Edomites relating back to Jacob’s brother, Esau, is a repeated theme throughout this chapter (cf. Genesis 8, 9, 19, 43. Esau’s connection to Edom is spelled out specifically in Gen 25:25; Gen 25:30).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
generations. Given here, as no more is to be said about him.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 36
Now in chapter thirty-six, we’re not going to bother to go into it in any detail because in it we have the generations of Esau. And they are given in chapter thirty-six just to drop out of the picture. But just to show you the descendants of Esau, the Scripture lists their names and all here in chapter thirty-six. The generations of Esau, who is Edom ( Gen 36:1 ). Which means red, and he was the father of the Edomites. In verse six, it says, And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, his cattle, and all of his beasts, and his substance, which he got in the land of Canaan; and he went to the country went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob ( Gen 36:6 ). So when Jacob came down into the area, Esau moved out over to the area that was south and somewhat east of the Dead Sea region going down to the Gulf of Akaba, the area that later became known as Edom. And that is the area where Esau and his descendants settled. Their riches were so great they could not dwell together. Their riches were so great they could not dwell together ( Gen 36:7 ); Now one of the sons of Esau, verse ten, is Eliphaz. And one of Eliphaz’s son in verse eleven is Teman. Now you remember in the book of Job, one of the comforters of Job was named Eliphaz, the Temanite. And so it is very possible that this Eliphaz that we have here, one of the sons of Esau was in actuality one of the comforters of Job. And so this probably dates for us the book of Job; which means that it is one of the oldest books in the Bible. For Genesis was written by Moses some five hundred years later. But the book of Job poetry was kept intact and it makes Job one of the oldest books in man’s literature. So the name of Eliphaz, whose son was Teman and in Job, Eliphaz the Temanite; it is very possible that here is the time of Job. It is interesting also that we have in verse thirty-three, And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead ( Gen 36:33 ). We know that Job was a ruler, a king over an area. It could be that this Jobab here is actually the Job of that book. And of course, Eliphaz then being one of his uncles who came to visit him at the time that he was going through such great personal loss and problems. So it’s very likely that chapter thirty-six we have the names of those involved and the timing at least of the book of Job and the life of Job. He lived about this time which helps you to get things now sort of in perspective. It means that Job was living at the same time as Jacob and Esau and these events. I thought we would get chapter thirty-seven tonight but we’ll let that go until next Sunday night and we’ll start next Sunday in chapter thirty-seven. I really thought I could make it but I don’t think I’m going to. So next Sunday night we’ll begin in chapter thirty-seven and take the next five chapters as we continue now in this account. We get into some of my favorite parts of Genesis as we get into the story of Joseph, and I really feel that Hollywood has really passed up a tremendous one in not that really doing a really-they’ve done some, you know, gussied-up accounts, which aren’t so good. But just the story of Joseph, the drama, the intrigue, the whole thing that is there is just-I love it. I love to read it. It just is one of my favorite parts of the Bible. So next Sunday night we begin with thirty-seven. Shall we stand? God bless you and keep His hand upon your life. May He watch over you daily and may you be conscious of His presence. Not just a thing from your head knowing, but in your heart experiencing the nearness, the closeness of God. May the Lord give you strength for every trial and testing. And may you come to that place of a total reliance upon his strength. The acknowledging of your own weakness. The surrendering and the committing of yourself completely into His hands. And thus, may your week be blessed and anointed by God. In Jesus’ name. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
This is one of the sections of the biblical literature which all of us are tempted to hurry over, because it appears to be almost exclusively a list of names. We may allow that it appears uninteresting, nevertheless it is of great importance, having a very definite place and value in the highways of history.
The story of the prolific progeny of “that profane person Esau” is at once startling and solemn. The sons of the flesh would seem to have multiplied far faster than the seed of promise. The relationship between these two lines is revealed in a brief and pregnant sentence in the first verse, “Esau . . . is Edom,” which is repeated in verse 19, and the fact is emphasized in the closing statement, “This is Esau, the father of the Edomites.” These references are evidently intended to draw attention to the origins of the people who through long centuries were antagonistic to Israel.
Though, personally, Jacob escaped the anger of his brother, the harvests resulting from his deceit were reaped in after years. These harvests of the centuries are full of suggestiveness. They reveal the awful and stupendous greatness of life. The deed of good or evil, of truth or falsehood, done today is not ended, though it is done. There is indeed nothing small.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Jacobs Sons; Esaus Sons; Isaacs Death
Gen 35:16-29; Gen 36:1-8
From Bethel to Bethlehem is not far. The one, the House of God; the other, the House of Bread. We need them both, if we are to bear up under the repeated shocks of life, such as the death of the old nurse Deborah, the death of our beloved Rachels, the sins of our children, and the breakup of the old home, as when our father is borne to his grave. Well was it for Jacob that he had got right with God before these repeated waves broke upon him. Isaac had not lived a great life, but his full years gave him a claim on the veneration of his sons, who forgot their jealousies and feuds as they stood together at his bier. But how greatly men misjudge death. It is not the end, but the beginning. We find hereafter Isaac associated with Abraham and Jacob, as welcoming the saints homeward. Death greatens good men!
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
X. THE GENERATIONS OF ESAU
1. Esau in Canaan, his wives and sons (Gen 36:1-5)
2. Esau leaving Canaan and in Edom (Gen 36:6-8)
XI. THE GENERATIONS OF ESAU IN MOUNT SEIR
1. Sons of Esau (Gen 36:9-10)
2. Sons of Eliphaz (Gen 36:11-12)
3. Sons of Reuel (Gen 36:13)
4. Sons of Aholibamah (Gen 36:14)
5. Dukes of Eliphaz (Gen 36:15-16)
6. Dukes of Reuel (Gen 36:17)
7. Dukes of Jeush (Gen 36:18)
8. Dukes of Horite and kings of Edom (Gen 36:20-43)
We point out a few interesting facts in these two generations of Esau and Esaus sons. In Gen 36:6 we read that Esau went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob. It came at last to a pronounced and complete separation between Esau and Jacob. Jacob dwelt in the land in which his father was a stranger. And Edom became the treacherous foe to the people of Israel. Read Obadiah, Oba 1:8-16. From the concubine of Eliphaz was born Amalek, one of the terrible enemies of Israel with whom there was to be a continual warfare (Exo 17:8-14).
And what a prolific progeny of the wicked Esau! The Hebrew names tell the story of their expansion, their wickedness and power. What was not of God developed rapidly, as it does now, in the earth.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Edom
Edom (called also “Seir,”) Gen 32:3; Gen 36:8 is the name of the country lying south of the ancient kingdom of Judah, and extending from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akaba. It includes the ruins of Petra, and is bounded on the north by Moab. Peopled by descendants of Esau Gen 36:1-9. Edom has a remarkable prominence in the prophetic word as (together with Moab) the scene of the final destruction of Gentile world-power in the day of the Lord. See “Armageddon”; Rev 16:14; Rev 19:21 and “Times of the Gentiles”; Luk 21:24; Rev 16:14. Cf.; Psa 137:7; Oba 1:8-16; Isa 34:1-8; Isa 63:1-6; Jer 49:14-22; Eze 25:12-14.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
am 2208, bc 1796, Gen 22:17, Gen 25:24-34, Gen 27:35-41, Gen 32:3-7, Num 20:14-21, Deu 23:7, 1Ch 1:35, Isa 63:1, Eze 25:12
Reciprocal: Gen 2:4 – the generations Gen 13:16 – General Gen 17:4 – a father Gen 25:30 – Edom Gen 36:8 – Esau Gen 36:19 – who is Edom Eze 32:29 – Edom
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
The section entitled, “The generations of Esau,” begins with the first verse of Gen 36:1-43, and continues to the first verse of Gen 37:1-36. As in the case of Ishmael and Isaac, so again here the rejected line is mentioned first, but with brevity, and chronology is not pursued in connection with it. The selected line comes second and then sufficient dates are given to enable us to follow the passing of the years. Thus is foreshadowed the fact, stated so clearly as a principle of God’s ways, “He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second” (Heb 10:9).
The chapter shows us that Esau was prospered in earthly things so that the blessing of his father was fulfilled to him (Gen 27:39, Gen 27:40). He occupied his own territory, became quite independent of Jacob, his descendants multiplied and became chiefs and notorious. They not only became “dukes” but even “kings,” and that before any king appeared in Israel’s line. In earthly greatness and power the children of this world have always taken precedence over the children of God.
The chapter also shows quite clearly that Esau, Edom and Mount Seir are to be identified, when we find these names mentioned in later Scripture. Otherwise the many names mentioned may convey but little to us. The New Translation prefers in verse Gen 36:24 the reading “found the warm springs in the wilderness,” rather than “the mules.” This was doubtless at that time a memorable discovery, but what spiritual significance this may have for us we do not know.
The generations of Jacob begin with Gen 37:2, and this is the last of these divisions of the book, continuing to the end. The first verse has told us that he dwelt in the land in which his father had been a stranger. In this he was moving ahead of God’s purpose and hence presently God permitted circumstances to move him and his sons into Egypt, and thus all came to pass that had been predicted to Abraham in Gen 15:13, Gen 15:14.
Here we may see a type of many a trying experience that intrudes itself to our Christian lives. God intends us to be strangers in the world that exists today. If we settle ourselves down and become dwellers, we may very easily find ourselves carried down into a spiritual Egypt and enslaved therein. So let us take the warning of this Scripture to heart.
The generations of Jacob are mainly occupied with the doings of his sons, who sprang out of him, and more especially with Joseph, to whom at the age of seventeen we are introduced in verse Gen 36:2; It has been said that in him we have the most perfect and complete type of the Lord Jesus that we have in the Scripture, and we believe it to be true. In keeping with this we shall see that no sinful or unworthy action of his is put on record. Thus the value of his life is enhanced as a type, though he was a sinful man like the rest of us.
At the outset he is presented to us as the son specially beloved of his father on the one hand, and as dissociated from the evil ways of his brothers on the other. The former fact was signalized by the “coat of many colours,” and the latter by Joseph bringing to his father the evil report of the doings of the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah. Thus is foreshadowed the unique Sonship of the Lord Jesus and His refusal of and separation from the evil ways of men.
As a result a complete breach supervened between Joseph and, his brethren. Knowing human nature it is just what we should expect in such a situation. The more it was manifest that he was specially beloved of his father, the more they hated him. To begin with their hatred affected their speech – they “could not speak peaceably unto him.” Later their hatred flared up into wicked action. But we see at once a type of the One of whom Psa 69:1-36 speaks prophetically “They… hate Me without a cause;” and again, “I am become a stranger unto My brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.”
Next there follows the record of Joseph’s two dreams. Now it is remarkable how large a part was played by dreams in his history, since, before the climax is reached, no less than five are recorded, and every one of them contained a prophecy. Each of them therefore was produced by the finger of God touching the unconscious mind of the sleeper, and marked a Divine intervention, and indeed a revelation of secret things.
Both his dreams were prophetic of his coming eminence and glory, so clearly so that his brothers, and his father too, saw at once their meaning. The general drift was the same in both cases, but only the second suggested that his father and mother as well as his brothers would be bowing down to him in a future day. There was the further difference in that sheaves are connected with an earthly harvest, whereas sun, moon and stars are heavenly objects. The sun is a symbol of supreme authority, the moon of derived and associated authority, and Jacob saw at once how applicable this was to the place of father and mother in his large patriarchal family.
The recounting of these dreams fanned the flame of hatred greatly, as we see in verses Gen 36:5, Gen 36:8; Gen 36:11. His father rebuked him, under the impression that such an event as that indicated by the dream was impossible. Yet it is recorded that he “observed the saying,” which shows that he could not dismiss it from his mind, and he recognized that there was more in it than he had thought at first. He had faith in God, even if it was weak; whereas the brethren had none.
The application of all this to the great Antitype, our Lord Jesus, is very striking. The Jews, His brethren according to the flesh, hated Him without a cause and rejected Him when He came amongst them, yet the day is coming when they will bow down before Him. But not only this: He is to be the central Object of worship to the heavens as well as the earth, for that which had been secret is now revealed, and we know that God’s purpose according to His good pleasure is to “gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth” (Eph 1:10). How happily therefore we can sing,
“Firstborn of many brethren, Thou!
To whom both heaven and earth must bow.”
Joseph’s two dreams therefore not only foretold his own glorious future in Egypt, but also foreshadowed the supreme glory of Christ.
With verse Gen 36:12 a fresh episode begins, in which we see Joseph sent by his father on a mission of kindly interest in his brethren. He sought them and found them in order to express his father’s love toward them. Their response to this was not only hatred but premeditated murder, their crime to be hidden under cover of a lying report. They thought his dreams were but an idle fancy, which they could easily dissipate. They had to learn that they were a revelation of the purpose of God which they could not overthrow.
God defeated their evil project by touching the hearts of two of the brothers, Reuben and Judah. Of the two, Reuben appears in the better light. His purpose was to deliver him ultimately to his father again. Joseph was stripped of the coat which expressed the special place he had in his father’s heart, and cast into a pit in which was no water. Judah supported Reuben in this, but during his absence took the lead in selling him to the Midianite merchantmen for twenty pieces of silver. Thus, though he did not actually die, Joseph went down into the pit, and was sold as a slave.
It is not difficult to see the typical value of all this. As we pass further into the Old Testament we find “the pit” becomes a symbol of death and destruction. In Psa 69:15, we find prophetic words, applicable to our Lord, ” Let not the pit shut her mouth upon Me.” The same figure is used in regard to the future deliverance of a godly remnant of Israel when the prophet said, “By the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water” (Zec 9:11). In the same prophet also we read the prophetic words, “They weighed for My price thirty pieces of silver” (Gen 11:12).
Verses Gen 36:31-35, recount the crafty way in which Jacob was led to jump to the conclusion that Joseph had been killed and devoured by some evil beast. His brothers avoided the telling of a plain lie, they only inferred it, and Jacob fell into their trap. In Gen 27:1-46 we read how Jacob by wearing Esau’s garment deceived his blind father, Isaac. Esau’s garment is called “goodly raiment,” and as he was the elder it may have been something very similar to Joseph’s “coat of many colours.” By goodly raiment Jacob deceived his father: by goodly raiment his sons deceived him. As he meted out so it was measured to him again. God’s government of His people works with great precision.
Meanwhile Joseph had been carried down into Egypt, just as though he had been some article of merchandise and again he was sold. His purchaser was Potiphar, the captain of the guard. Thus he was brought into a place of considerable danger, on the one hand, but of nearness to Pharaoh, on the other. Things began to work together for his ultimate good, though by no means apparent at the time.
We have the story of Joseph completely interrupted by Gen 38:1-30. In Gen 39:1-23 it is resumed and the great temptation that faced him is immediately recounted. It would seem that we have the deplorable story of Judah recounted in order to heighten the effect in our minds of the way Joseph stood firm under temptation of a similar kind. Judah appears to have been amongst the better behaved of the sons of Jacob, yet the practices that marked him and his family were evil, and evidently accepted as nothing very unusual. We need not dwell upon this, save to remark that the Tamar of this chapter is the first of the women mentioned in the genealogy of our Lord, recounted in Mat 1:1-25. Of the four women mentioned, only Ruth had a clean record from the moral point of view, and she came of an accursed race. Such names would never have appeared in the record had it not been for the grace of God – the grace that triumphs over human sin.
The first verse of Gen 39:1-23 picks up the thread from the last verse of Gen 37:1-36. Potiphar was an Egyptian, as is specially mentioned. This might have seemed to us a quite unnecessary remark did we not know that at that time the ruling class in Egypt and even Pharaoh himself were an alien race. For several centuries Egypt was dominated by these “Shepherd Kings,” or “Hyksos,” much as China for a long time and until early this century was dominated by a Manchu dynasty. Potiphar was of true Egyptian stock, and was greatly prospered by the service of Joseph.
We are given the explanation of all that happened – “The Lord was with Joseph” – and, that being the case, all that he did prospered, and even what looked like disaster proved to be only a stepping-stone to something much better. Verses Gen 36:3-4 lead us to remark the striking way in which Joseph’s “hand” is mentioned in the story. The Lord being with him, He “made all that he did to prosper in his hand.” The consequence of this was that he found favour with his master, and “all that he had he put into his hand.” Naturally this was so. Though he did not know the explanation of it, Potiphar found he had made a first-rate bargain when he bought the young Semitic lad, who displayed such skilful powers coupled with God-fearing uprightness and integrity.
And not only this ease of mind as to the ordering of his household was enjoyed by him, but extraordinary good fortune marked all his affairs, both “in the house and in the field.” Consequently everything was left, “in Joseph’s hand.” Joseph moreover had developed into a specially fine specimen of young manhood.
Then came a time of fierce and prolonged testing, and we see how great is the contrast with Judah’s action in the previous chapter. There the sin was committed at once and was hardly recognized as sin. Here the testing met him day after day, and he was only preserved by his fear of God and recognition of the great wickedness of the seduction laid before him. Whether young or old we do well, as we pass through this defiling world, to have continually in our hearts this question, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Had he complied he would have sinned against the woman, against Potiphar and against himself, but the controlling and saving thought was “against GOD.”
By his steadfast refusal he enraged the woman, and she with cunning artifice concocted a story against him, which, believed by her husband, landed him into prison. But we are going to see in Joseph’s history a striking exemplification of that word written by the Apostle Peter in his First Epistle, “If, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God” (1Pe 2:20). He was abased for a moment, but only that he might be exalted in due time.
In the first place we notice that he was put into that particular prison “where the king’s prisoners were bound.” This proved to be a link in the chain of circumstances that connected him with ultimate triumph. Had it been another prison he would never have met the butler and baker who had offended the king.
Then, in the second place, the Lord was with him as much in the days and place of his adversity as He had been in the days of his comparative prosperity in Potiphar’s mansion and estate. In result He showed mercy to him, which took the form of bringing him into the favour of the keeper of the prison, who evidently wielded autocratic power within his own limited sphere.
So, in the third place, we find everything in the prison “committed to Joseph’s hand.” The extraordinary statement is made that, “whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.” The young man cast in as a prisoner becomes the super-efficient deputy of the jailer, and ends by controlling the whole place! We wonder if a situation approaching this has ever been seen in a prison since that day. The keeper was relieved of all work and anxiety. He doubtless took the salary, and Joseph did the work.
He had now tasted the bitterness of both pit and prison. Taken both together they foreshadow Christ going down into death as a result of the malice of man. But there the power of His hand was felt. The skill of Joseph’s hand in the house of Potiphar may remind us of the mighty hand of Christ in His matchless life. But in the closing verses of our chapter we see typified the power of His mighty hand in the dark domain of death.
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary
The Descendants of Esau Gen 36:1-43 gives a brief history of the descendants of Esau. Since they were not part of the promised seed line, inspiration’s pen does not pause long over the details. Verses 6-8 do explain why Esau moved. The land could not support the families of Jacob and Esau. So, he moved his family to Seir, a region south of the Dead Sea. As the text notes, they actually dwelt in a mountain known as Seir. The Edomites, as Esau’s descendants were known, took kings prior to the time Israel did. In fact, Edom may have been one of the nations Israel wanted to imitate when she asked for a king.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Gen 36:1. These are the generations of Esau Esau has the honour of having an account of his posterity recorded, for the sake of his progenitors, Abraham and Isaac, and because the Edomites, his descendants, were neighbours to Israel, and their genealogy would be of use to cast light on the following relations of what passed between them. Hereby also is shown more fully the performance of the promise to Abraham, that he should be the father of many nations, of that declaration made to Rebekah, when she inquired of the Lord, Two nations are in thy womb, and of the blessing given to Esau by Isaac, Thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth. Who is Edom That name perpetuated the remembrance of the foolish bargain he made when he sold his birthright for that red pottage.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 36:1. The generations. The critics complain of the difficulties in this genealogy, arising from the same person having two names, a custom common to many nations. The ancients assumed new titles on propitious events.
Gen 36:2. Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon; that is, grand daughter or descendant, it being the manner of the ancients to trace their line back to a prince.
Gen 36:3. Bashemath. She is called Mahalath in Gen 28:9.
Gen 36:4. And Adar bare to Esau Eliphaz. The rabbins are much divided here. Very many think that Eliphaz was the ancestor of Job, and grandfather of Eliphaz, king of Teman, Jobs friend;and thus they make Job to be the fifth from Abraham. But others think that Job descended in the line of Nachor.
Gen 36:6. From the face of his brother Jacob. Esau, who seems to have approached Isaac in his last moments, returned to mount Seir, or Edom, for the camps of the two brothers were too numerous to dwell together.
Gen 36:11. Teman. Tema occurs in the poems of Ossian; and a similarity of names appears to indicate an identity in the origin of nations.
Gen 36:15. Duke, a military title, from their being as it would seem, captains of a thousand men. Others are of opinion that the term merely denotes that they were heads of houses. The term agrees with the twelve princes in the line of Ishmael; and they undoubtedly exercised a sort of regal power in their several districts.
Gen 36:20. Sons of Seirinhabited the land of Edom before Esau gained possession of it, and held the strong places of mount Seir. The dukes of Esau afterwards expelled the children of Seir; and as was usual with the patriarchs, called the land Edom after their own name. Psa 49:11.
Gen 36:24. Mules. The original word occurs in this place only, and hence its import is doubtful. Some think it signifies giants, whom Anah expelled: others contend that it means mineral waters, or hot-wells. Jerome follows this opinion in the Vulgate, as was the general belief of the rabbins, and the most probable, as mules never have foals: man may for once mar the works of God, but not a second time.
Gen 36:31. Before there reigned any king over the children of Israel. The marginal illustration, as elsewhere, has here been copied into the text from 1Ch 1:43, &c.We have no account of Esaus death. No doubt he out-lived his brother Jacob, and his latter days, it would seem, were better spent than his earlier life.
Gen 36:33. Jobab. Some of the Jews contend that this man was Job, the great model of patience; but others think, that he descended from Nahor, because Huz is mentioned. Gen 22:21. There is however a strong probability that he descended from Esau.
Gen 36:34. Temani, or Teman, the capital of Edom, not far from Bozrah, both of which are mentioned by the prophets. Isaiah 63. Jeremiah 49. Amos 1.
REFLECTIONS.
From this genealogy we see the faithfulness of God to Esau. The Lord prospered him according to the prophetic blessings of Isaac, and he rose to worldly power earlier than Jacob; but though the blessing was longer delayed to Jacob, it was more exalted than his brothers when it came, and its glory shall never fade away. Then let the men of the world have the first glare; their day shall be short, and their names shall soon be forgotten; but the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Genesis 36
Furnishes a catalogue of Esau’s sons, with their various titles and localities. We shall not dwell on this, but pass on to one of the most fruitful and interesting sections in the entire canon of inspiration.
Fuente: Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch
Genesis 36. Edomite Genealogies, Chieftains, and Kings.This chapter is not a unity but a compilation with a very complicated literary history behind it. There is an element of P in it, but its extent, the degree in which it is a revision of earlier sources, and the allocation of the other matter, is very uncertain. The historical value of the chapter is great, but the genealogies and lists cannot be discussed here. Some points of interest may be mentioned. There is a strange discrepancy as to Esaus wives between Gen 36:2-4; Gen 26:34; Gen 28:9. The same names largely recur in both lists, but in different relationships. In Gen 36:6-8 the reason assigned for Esaus residence in Seir is identical with that which led to the separation of Abraham and Lot (Gen 13:5-12), whereas Gen 32:3, Gen 33:14-16 represents Esau as living in Seir while Jacob was yet in Paddan-aram. The term duke would be better rendered chieftain (cf. mg.). The kingship was not hereditary; the new king is not the son of his predecessor. The fact that their cities differ has also led some to think that the kings were more like the Hebrew judges, and ruled over parts of Edom rather than over Edom as a whole.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
THE FAMILY OF ESAU
This chapter deals with the generations of Esau. Verse 6 tells us that he took his wives, family, and all his possessions, leaving the land of Canaan, going “from the face of his brother Jacob.” The man “after the flesh” cannot dwell together with the one who is chosen by God. Yet Esau (Edom) prospers and develops greatly in a material way, his sons becoming “dukes” (vs.15-43) before Jacob’s family attain such honor (except for Joseph in Egypt). We must remember that Joseph did not exalt himself, but was exalted by Pharaoh; but Esau’s family illustrates the common history of the flesh always exalting itself. The long list of names therefore is intended to impress on us the fact that God has taken full account of the flesh and all its activities, finding it only vanity.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
36:1 Now these [are] {a} the generations of Esau, who [is] Edom.
(a) This genealogy declares that Esau was blessed physically and that his father’s blessing took place in worldly things.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
D. What became of Esau 36:1-37:1
Moses included this relatively short, segmented genealogy (toledot) in the sacred record to show God’s faithfulness in multiplying Abraham’s seed as He had promised. It also provides connections with the descendants of Esau referred to later in the history of Israel. Among his descendants were the Edomites (Gen 36:8) and the Amalekites (Gen 36:12). Lot, Ishmael, and Esau all walked out of the line of promise. This list also includes earlier inhabitants of the area later known as Edom whom Esau brought under his control. [Note: The NET Bible note on 36:1.]
We can divide this chapter as follows.
Esau’s three wives and five sons, Gen 36:1-8
Esau’s five sons and 10 grandsons, Gen 36:9-14
Chiefs (political or military leaders) descended from Esau, Gen 36:15-19
Chiefs of the Horites (with whom the Edomites intermarried and whom they dispossessed), Gen 36:20-30
Kings of Edom, Gen 36:31-39
A final list of chiefs, Gen 36:40-43
Different names of Esau’s wives appear here as compared with what Moses recorded earlier (Gen 36:2; cf. Gen 26:34; Gen 28:9). [Note: For an explanation, see Keil and Delitzsch, 1:321-22.] People added surnames to given names later in life. Women often received new names when they married. Esau married a Hittite (Gen 36:2), a Hivite (Gen 36:2) who was a descendant of a Horite (Hurrian, Gen 36:20), and an Ishmaelite (Gen 36:3). Some commentators connected the Horites with cave dwellers since the Hebrew word for cave is hor. [Note: E.g., Speiser, p. 283; and Sailhamer, "Genesis," p. 223.]
Esau’s sons were born in Canaan and then moved out of the Promised Land to Seir. Jacob’s sons, except for Benjamin, were born outside Canaan in Paddan-aram and later moved into the Promised Land.
"That there are two toledot headings for Esau makes his treatment in two consecutive sections exceptional in the book. The first section [Gen 36:1-8] focuses on family and homeland, and the second [Gen 36:9 to Gen 37:1] centers on his offspring as a developing nation. These two sections are flanked by the major narrative toledot sections of Isaac (Gen 25:19 to Gen 35:29) and Jacob (Gen 37:2 to Gen 50:26)." [Note: Mathews, Genesis 11:27-50:26, p. 632.]
The Kenizzites (Gen 36:11; Gen 36:15) later affiliated with the tribe of Judah. [Note: J. Milgrom, Numbers, pp. 391-92.] The Amalekites separated from the other Edomites and became an independent people early in their history (Gen 36:12). [Note: See the chart illustrating their family relationship among my comments on 25:1-6.] A group of them settled in what later became southern Judah as far as Kadesh Barnea and the border of Egypt (Gen 14:7; Num 13:29; Num 14:43; Num 14:45). Another branch of the tribe settled in the hill country of Ephraim that was in central Canaan (Jdg 12:15). The largest group of Amalekites lived in Arabia to the southeast of Canaan and Edom. They united on occasion with their neighbors, the Midianites (Jdg 6:3; Jdg 7:12) and the Ammonites (Jdg 3:13). Saul defeated the Amalekites (1Sa 14:48; 1Sa 15:2) as David did (1Sa 27:8; 1Sa 30:1; 2Sa 8:12). Some Simeonites finally exterminated them during Hezekiah’s reign (1Ch 4:42-43).
"What is most interesting about the king list [Gen 36:31-39] is that it reflects an elective kingship rather than a dynastic one. . . .
"These ’kings’ may have indeed been charismatic individuals who, like the judges, assumed their office without regard to heredity." [Note: Hamilton, The Book . . . Chapters 18-50, p. 400.]
This list of Edomite kings demonstrates the partial fulfillment of God’s promise that kings would come from Abraham’s loins (Gen 17:16).
"It might seem unusual that such detail concerning the descendants of Esau be included, but the relationship between Esau and Jacob, and then between the nations of Edom and Israel, is a theme of the entire Old Testament." [Note: Davis, p. 259. For archaeological discoveries relating to the Edomites, see Itzhaq Beit-Arieh, "New Light on the Edomites," Biblical Archaeological Review 14:2 (March-April 1988):28-41.]
"What Israelites did to Canaanites, Esauites did to Horites. Thus Genesis 36 is moving backward from the conquerors (Gen 36:9-19) to the conquered (Gen 36:20-30)." [Note: Hamilton, The Book . . . Chapters 18-50, p. 397.]
Gen 36:31 is probably a post-Mosaic explanation written after Israel had kings to show that the Edomites were also a powerful people with kings, even before there were kings in Israel. [Note: Mathews, Genesis 11:27-50:26, p. 656.] This is further proof of God’s blessing on Esau, one of Abraham’s descendants.
Jacob was living at Hebron when Joseph’s brothers sold him, and he may have continued living there until he moved to Egypt (Gen 37:1; cf. Gen 35:27).
"Verse 1 [of chapter 37] belongs structurally to the preceding narrative as a conclusion to the Jacob story. It shows Jacob back in the Land of Promise but still dwelling there as a sojourner like his father before him. The writer’s point is to show that the promises of God had not yet been completely fulfilled and that Jacob, as his fathers before him, was still awaiting the fulfillment." [Note: Sailhamer, "Genesis," p. 225. Cf. Hebrews 11:39.]
Perhaps the major lesson of this genealogy is that secular greatness develops faster than spiritual greatness. Consequently the godly must wait patiently for the fulfillment of God’s promises.