Genesischapter 36
43 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
This is the account of Esau (that is, Edom).
Introduction
Moses, by tradition, The Law, Genesis Overview.
This chapter is a register, kept for a nation that would have to deal with Edom as a neighbour and a brother. It records the descendants of Esau, the chiefs of his clans, the older people of the land he settled, and the kings who ruled there. Genesis gives every family outside the chosen line its own account before it moves on, and this is the last of those accounts. Listen for the names that return later in Israel's history. Notice that Edom had kings long before Israel did. The account of Jacob's own sons begins straight after it.
Context
- Who
- Israel in the wilderness, about to ask Edom for passage along the King's Highway
- What
- A genealogy of Esau's descendants, the chiefs of Edom, the Horites of Seir and the kings who reigned in Edom before Israel had a king.
- Where
- Seir, the high sandstone country south and east of the Dead Sea that became the land of Edom.
- When
- The lists run from Esau's lifetime in the 1900s BC down through generations after him, before any king reigned in Israel.
- Why
- To give Esau's line its account before the book follows Jacob's, and to record Edom as a nation descended from Isaac's other son.
Historical context
The chapter is Esau's, given under his own heading twice, at verse 1 as a man with a household and at verse 9 as the father of the Edomites in Mount Seir.
Show the rest of the historical context, 4 more paragraphs
The country is Seir, high sandstone ridges cut by narrow wadis with strongholds carved into rock faces, and Edom controlled the southern stretch of the King's Highway and later the copper workings in the Arabah.
The occasion of the move is given as a herdsman's reason, that the land could not support both brothers and their possessions, which is the same parting Abram and Lot made at Genesis 13:6 one generation earlier.
A first hearer took in what the register says about Edom's government. It lists chiefs, then eight kings who reigned one at a time with a city each, and no son follows his father on the throne, which fits a confederation of tribal chiefs choosing a leader rather than a dynasty.
He also knew the names in it. Esau's wives are Canaanite and Ishmaelite, and Amalek, the raiding people who attack Israel at Rephidim in Exodus 17:8, stands in this genealogy at verse 12, born to a concubine of Esau's firstborn son.
Significance
Israel was told to treat Edom as a brother and not to seize his land, because God had given Seir to Esau, and this chapter is the deed behind that command.
Show the rest of the significance, 2 more paragraphs
It also gave the nation perspective on its own position. Esau's descendants had kings while Abraham's covenant line was still a family of shepherds living in tents.
The chapter is placed where it is for that reason, because the account of Jacob opens at Genesis 37:2 with a boy of seventeen and a coat.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
This chapter is a genealogy rather than a narrative, and the classical readers work it as one: they reconcile names, place the chiefs and the kings, and explain why Scripture bothers with Esau's line at all. Rashi identifies Esau's wives here with the wives named earlier under other names, and gives a reason for each change, the first being called by a name meaning spices "because she offered spices (בשמים) as incense to idols", the second on the authority of the Agadic Midrash on the Book of Samuel, which names three classes whose sins are pardoned (Rashi on Genesis 36:2:1 and 36:3:1, the Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929 to 1934, public domain). Timna the concubine he reads as an argument about Abraham: "This is stated to tell you in what importance Abraham was held", and how eager people were to attach themselves to his descendants (Rashi on Genesis 36:12:1). He takes the chiefs for heads of families, and hands on the explanation of Shabbat 85b that the earlier inhabitants were so called because "they were experts in making the land habitable" (Rashi on Genesis 36:15:1 and 36:20:1). The eight kings of Edom he sets against eight kings of Israel in whose days Edom's kingdom lapsed, naming them from Saul to Jehoshaphat (Rashi on Genesis 36:31:1), and the last name in the list he reads as a question about wealth, the man being so rich that "He was so rich that gold had no value in his eyes", on Genesis Rabbah 83:4 (Rashi on Genesis 36:39:1). Ramban is one of the few places in this half of the book where the corpus carries his English. He explains why a sister is listed under a brother rather than among the sons: "It is the custom of Scripture to trace the genealogy of a daughter through the brothers", and gives the reason for this one, that she was the sister of Lotan on both sides and not of the others (Ramban on Genesis 36:22:1, the Commentary on the Torah by Ramban, translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel, Shilo Publishing House, New York, 1971 to 1976, CC-BY). On a name that appears in two spellings he rules that the spelling is of no consequence except where both forms stand in one verse, and that two different men are meant here (Ramban on Genesis 36:26:1). Radak works the same problems in the other direction. He notes that the grandchildren of one wife are absent without that meaning she had none, weighs whether one chief is a second man of the same name, and settles that the chief whose name ends in a feminine letter was a man (Radak on Genesis 36:10:1, 36:16:1, 36:19:1 and 36:41:1, translated by Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash, CC-BY). Ibn Ezra comments here at 36:1:1, 36:25:1 and 36:32:1, and the corpus holds no English of him under a licence permitting quotation, so he stands as a citation.
What the rabbis say
The corpus records forty rabbinic locators on this chapter, thirty-nine of them Midrash and one Talmud, the lowest Talmud count of any chapter in this half of the book, which is what a genealogy draws. Bereshit Rabbati is the densest work here, cited at Parashat Vayishlach 36, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 60 and 61 and at Parashat Vayeshev 38 and Parashat Vayigash 3. Midrash Sekhel Tov follows the name lists almost line by line at Bereshit 36:11:1, 36:14:1, 36:17:1, 36:18:1, 36:21:1, 36:27:1, 36:30:1, 36:36:1, 36:37:1 and 36:38:1. Bereshit Rabbah is cited at 67:13, 75:11, 82:2, 82:12, 82:14, 83:3 and 83:4, Aggadat Bereshit at 29:1, 47:1, 52:2, 58:1 and 59:1, Bamidbar Rabbah at 14:10 and 20:4, and Midrash Lekach Tov at Genesis 3:20:1, 36:26:1 and 36:40:1. Eikhah Rabbah 2:8 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 11:57 are each cited once. The single Talmud locator is Bava Batra 115b:5, at the twenty-fourth verse. Rashi hands on further sayings with their locators, among them Genesis Rabbah 82:13 and 83:4, Shabbat 85b and the Agadic Midrash on the Book of Samuel, chapter 17.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Genesis 36:2:1, 36:3:1, 36:5:1, 36:6:1, 36:7:1, 36:9:1, 36:12:1, 36:15:1, 36:20:1, 36:24:1, 36:31:1, 36:33:1, 36:35:1, 36:39:1 and 36:40:1, the Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929 to 1934, public domain; Ramban, Ramban on Genesis 36:22:1 and 36:26:1, the Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides), translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel, Shilo Publishing House, New York, 1971 to 1976, CC-BY; Radak, Radak on Genesis 36:10:1, 36:16:1, 36:19:1 and 36:41:1, translated by Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash, CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Genesis 36:1:1, 36:25:1 and 36:32:1, cited only, no English version in the corpus under a licence permitting quotation; Midrash, Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayishlach 36, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 60 and 61, Parashat Vayeshev 38 and Parashat Vayigash 3; Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 36:11:1, 36:14:1, 36:17:1, 36:18:1, 36:21:1, 36:27:1, 36:30:1, 36:36:1, 36:37:1 and 36:38:1; Bereshit Rabbah 67:13, 75:11, 82:2, 82:12, 82:14, 83:3 and 83:4; Aggadat Bereshit 29:1, 47:1, 52:2, 58:1 and 59:1; Bamidbar Rabbah 14:10 and 20:4; Midrash Lekach Tov, Genesis 3:20:1, 36:26:1 and 36:40:1; Eikhah Rabbah 2:8; Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 11:57; Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 115b:5; Shabbat 85b and Sanhedrin 99 as Rashi and Radak cite them; Midrash Shmuel, the Agadic Midrash on the Book of Samuel, chapter 17, as Rashi cites it at Rashi on Genesis 36:3:1.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Esau Settles in Mount Seir
This is the account of Esau: This account of Esau, that is Edom, is given twice, at verse 1 and again at verse 9 where he is the father of the Edomites in Seir. Genesis ran this order at Ishmael: his sons are listed at Genesis 25:12, then Isaac's account opens at 25:19. Esau's sons stand here, and Jacob's account opens at Genesis 37:2. Missler read the eleven headings as the account narrowing to one family.
Genesis 36:1
“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.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Genesis 36:1
“The design of this historical sketch of Esau and his family is to show how the promise (Ge 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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Genesis 36:1
“To shew the performance of the promise to Abraham, that he should be the father of many nations, and of that answer which Rebekah had from the oracle she consulted, Two nations are in thy womb; and of the blessing of Isaac, Thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Genesis 36:2-3
Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Esau's wives are Adah the Hittite, Oholibamah the Hivite, and Basemath, who is Ishmael's daughter and Nebaioth's sister. Two come from the daughters of Canaan, the peoples Abraham sent a servant far off to avoid at Genesis 24:3. The names differ from those at Genesis 26:34 and 28:9. Clarke reports the difficulty and observes that one person in Scripture often carries more than one name.
Genesis 36:2
“His wives - It appears that Esau’s wives went by very different names. Aholibamah is named Judith, Gen 26:34; Adah is called Bashemath in the same place; and she who is here called Bashemath is called Mahalath, Gen 28:9. These are variations which cannot be easily accounted for; and they are not of sufficient importance to engross much time. It is well known that the same persons in Scripture are often called by different names.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Basemath daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth: Esau married Ishmael's daughter at Genesis 28:8 to 9, after seeing that Canaanite wives displeased his father. Nebaioth is Ishmael's firstborn at Genesis 25:13. Isaiah 60:7 sees the rams of Nebaioth accepted on God's altar.
Genesis 36:3
“And Bashemath, Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebaioth,.... The eldest son of Ishmael, see Gen 28:9; called there Mahalath.”
Genesis 36:4-5
Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau: Five sons are born to Esau, and verse 5 says where, in the land of Canaan, just before he leaves it. Jerome notes that Eliphaz carries the name of the friend who speaks to Job, and Job's Eliphaz is a Temanite, which is the name of this Eliphaz's firstborn in verse 11. The link stands on the names alone.
Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah: Esau's five sons were born in Canaan, and Jacob's eleven were born in Paddan-aram, as Genesis 35:26 has just said. This Korah is Esau's son. The Levite who rebels at Numbers 16 carries the same name.
Genesis 36:6-8
he moved to a land far away from his brother Jacob: Esau takes his wives and sons and daughters, his household and his livestock, and moves away from his brother Jacob. The reason given is possessions too great for dwelling together, the words used of Abram and Lot at Genesis 13:6. He settled in the area of Mount Seir. Deuteronomy 23:7 tells Israel not to despise an Edomite, for he is a brother.
Genesis 36:6
“Esau took his wives, etc. - So it appears that Esau and Jacob dwelt together in Canaan, whither the former removed from Seir, probably soon after the return of Jacob. That they were on the most friendly footing this sufficiently proves; and Esau shows the same dignified conduct as on other occasions, in leaving Canaan to Jacob, and returning again to Mount Seir; certainly a much less fruitful region than that which he now in behalf of his brother voluntarily abandoned.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
their possessions were too great for them: The land where they stayed is in Hebrew the land of their sojournings, megurim, ground held as foreigners. God promised Abraham that land by the same name at Genesis 17:8. Jacob's account opens on it at Genesis 37:1.
settled in the area of Mount Seir: Seir sounds like sair, hairy, the word Jacob uses of Esau at Genesis 27:11, and Edom is the red of the stew at Genesis 25:30. Esau was already living in the land of Seir when Jacob sent word at Genesis 32:3. Here he settled in the area for good.
Genesis 36:8
“Thus dwelt Esau in Mount Seir,.... Before he is said to be in the land of Seir, Gen 32:3; now to dwell in a mount of that name; from which driving the Horites, he seized upon and dwelt in it; it had not its name from his own rough, shaggy hair, as Josephus says (r), much less from the satyrs, and hairy demons that frequented it, as R.”
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 36:8
“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. 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.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The Chiefs Descended from Esau
Genesis 36:9-11
the father of the Edomites, in the area of Mount Seir: The second heading names Esau the father of the Edomites, and places him in the area of Mount Seir, a nation with a country under it. At Deuteronomy 2:5 God tells Israel to leave that land alone, for Mount Seir is Esau's possession. Esau holds land by grant, and he holds it already. The sons of Eliphaz stand first in the list, Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam and Kenaz.
Genesis 36:9
“And these are the generations of Esau,.... Or the posterity of Esau, his children and grandchildren, as before and hereafter related: the father of the Edomites in Mount Seir; from whom they of that mountain and in the adjacent country had the name of Edomites or Idumeans.”
Reuel means friend of God, and Moses' father-in-law, the priest of Midian, carries the same name at Exodus 2:18. The grandsons that follow come through these two sons.
Genesis 36:10
“These are the names of Esau's sons,.... In this and some following verses, an account is given of the sons of Esau, which agrees with what is before observed, and of his sons' sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau: who seems to be his first wife, and this his first son: Reuel the son of Bashemath and wife of Esau; his second son by another wife, a daughter of Ishmael, Gen 36:3.”
The sons of Eliphaz were Teman: Teman becomes a region of Edom known for its wise men, and Jeremiah 49:7 asks whether wisdom has left Teman. The name Kenaz returns with Caleb the Kenizzite at Numbers 32:12.
Timna, a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz: Amalek is born in this verse, and the name stands here for the first time in Scripture. Amalek attacks Israel at Rephidim in Exodus 17:8, and the LORD swears war with Amalek from generation to generation at Exodus 17:16. Missler watched where a thing is first named. Timna is Lotan's sister by verse 22, so Amalek is half Horite, out of the people already living in the land.
Genesis 36:12
“Timna was concubine to Eliphaz - As Timna was sister to Lotan the Horite, Gen 36:22, we see how the family of Esau and the Horites got intermixed. This might give the sons of Esau a pretext to seize the land, and expel the ancient inhabitants, as we find they did, Deu 2:12. Amalek - The father of the Amalekites, afterwards bitter enemies to the Jews, and whom God commanded to be entirely exterminated, Deu 25:17, Deu 25:19.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Genesis 36:13-14
These are the sons of Reuel: The grandsons are counted as carefully as the sons, Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah out of Reuel, and Jeush, Jalam and Korah out of Oholibamah. Within two generations Esau's household has become clans. Jacob at this same point has twelve sons and no ground of his own. Paul sets the word spoken before either brother was born, that the elder will serve the younger, beside Malachi's line at Romans 9:12 and 13.
Genesis 36:13
“And these are the sons of Reuel,.... Another son of Esau's; this man had four sons, as follow: Nahath, and Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah: of whom we know no more than their names, unless Maps or Massa, which Ptolemy (z) places in Idumea, should have its name from Mizzah: these were the sons of Bashemath, Esau's wife; her grandsons, as before. (z) Geograph. l. 5. c. 16.”
(daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon): Oholibamah's father Anah and grandfather Zibeon appear again among the Horites of Seir at verses 20 and 24. Verse 2 calls Zibeon a Hivite. Horite is taken from chor, a cave, a name for cave dwellers.
Genesis 36:14
“And these were the sons of Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife,.... See Gill on Gen 36:2; here also the Samaritan and Septuagint versions read, "the daughter of Anah, the son of Zibeon": and she bare to Esau, Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah; this is repeated from Gen 36:5; no mention is made of her grandchildren, as of his other wives.”
Genesis 36:15-19
These are the chiefs among the sons of Esau: The Berean gives chief where the King James gives duke, and Clarke traces that English to the Latin dux, a leader. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown count fourteen chiefs alive at once, from Eliphaz, from Reuel and from Oholibamah. Korah stands among the chiefs of Eliphaz in verse 16, though verse 14 makes him a son of Oholibamah. Gill allowed a grandson carrying the same name.
Genesis 36:15
“Dukes of the sons of Esau - The word duke comes from the Latin dux, a captain or leader.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 36:15
“The head of each tribe was called by a term which in our version is rendered "duke"--not of the high rank and wealth of a British peer, but like the sheiks or emirs of the modern East, or the chieftains of highland clans. Fourteen are mentioned who flourished contemporaneously.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Korah, Gatam, and Amalek: Amalek's mother was the concubine Timna, and here he is counted under Adah, the wife. His clan becomes a people of its own. Balaam calls Amalek first among the nations at Numbers 24:20.
Genesis 36:16
“Duke Korah - This Dr. Kennicott pronounces to be an interpolation. “It is certain, from Gen 36:4, that Eliphaz was Esau’s son by Adah; and from Gen 36:11, Gen 36:12, that Eliphaz had but six sons, Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, Kenaz, and Amalek. It is also certain, from Gen 36:5, Gen 36:14, that Korah was the son of Esau (not of Eliphaz) by Aholibamah; and as such he is properly mentioned in Gen 36:18: These are the sons of Aholibamah, Esau’s wife: duke Jeush, duke Jaalam, Duke Korah.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah: Jobab, Edom's second king at verse 33, is a son of Zerah. The name returns in Judah's son by Tamar at Genesis 38:30, and Matthew 1:3 names him beside Perez.
Genesis 36:17
“And these are the sons of Reuel.... See Gill on Gen 36:15.”
Chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah: Oholibamah's own sons are chiefs, one generation above the grandsons of Adah and Basemath. Her name returns at verse 41 among the chiefs of Edom's regions. 1 Chronicles 1:35 lists them among Esau's sons.
Genesis 36:18
“And these are the sons of Aholibamah Esua's wife;.... See Gill on Gen 36:15.”
they were their chiefs: Chief is alluf in Hebrew, tied to eleph, a thousand. An alluf heads one of the families of the sons of Esau in the land of Edom. Exodus 15:15 uses the word when the chiefs of Edom are dismayed at the sea.
Genesis 36:19
“These are the sons of Esua,.... See Gill on Gen 36:15.”
The Sons of Seir the Horite
Genesis 36:20-23
the sons of Seir the Horite, who were living in the land: Genesis lists the Horites who held Seir before Esau reached it, and gives them the care it gives the covenant family. They are first named at Genesis 14:6, among the peoples Chedorlaomer struck. Deuteronomy 2:12 says the sons of Esau took their place. Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon and Anah head the list, and Dishon, Ezer and Dishan close it.
Genesis 36:20
“These are the sons of Seir the Horite - These Horites were the original inhabitants of the country of Seir, called the land of the Horites, and afterwards the land of the Idumeans, when the descendants of Esau had driven them out. These people are first mentioned Gen 14:6.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
the descendants of Seir in the land of Edom: Deuteronomy 2:22 says the LORD destroyed the Horites before the sons of Esau. The LORD gave Esau his land as He gave Israel its own. Dishon and Dishan carry names from one root.
Genesis 36:21
“These are the dukes of the Horites - It appears pretty evident that the Horites and the descendants of Esau were mixed together in the same land, as before observed; and Calmet has very properly remarked, that if we compare this verse with Gen 36:30, there were princes of Seir in the country of Seir, and in that of Edom; and in comparing the generations of Seir and Esau, we are obliged to consider these princes as contemporary.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam: Hori, Lotan's son, carries the name of the whole people, the Horites. 1 Chronicles 1:39 gives Hemam as Homam. Timna's name returns at verse 40 as the first of the chiefs of Edom's regions.
These are the sons of Shobal: Shobal's five sons make the largest household among the sons of Seir. 1 Chronicles 1:40 spells two of them Alian and Shephi. Shobal is also a name in Judah's line, the father of Kiriath-jearim at 1 Chronicles 2:50.
Genesis 36:23
“And the children of Shobal were these,.... Who was the second son of Seir, and whose sons were the five following: Alvan, and Manahath, and Ebal, Shepho, and Onam; in 1Ch 1:40 Alvan is called Alian, and Shepho is Shephi.”
Genesis 36:24-25
the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness: One line of story breaks into the register, where Anah finds hot springs in the wilderness while pasturing his father Zibeon's donkeys. Jerome reports the question much debated among the Hebrews, with the Greek and Latin writers silent on it. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the word behind it is read as warm springs by many, where the King James gives mules. Oholibamah, one of Esau's wives, comes out of this house.
Genesis 36:24
“This was that Anah that found the mules in the wilderness - The words את הימם eth kaiyemim, here translated mules, has given rise to a great variety of conjectures and discordant opinions. St. Jerome, who renders it aquas calidas, warm springs, or hot baths, says there are as many opinions concerning it as there are commentators. The Septuagint has τον Ιαμειν, which seems to be the name of a man; but this is expressed in a great variety of ways in different MSS. of that version.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 36:24
“This was that Anah that found the mules in the wilderness--The word "mules" is, in several ancient versions, rendered "water springs"; and this discovery of some remarkable fountain was sufficient, among a wandering or pastoral people, to entitle him to such a distinguishing notice.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
These are the children of Anah: This Anah is the son of Zibeon, and a second Anah stands among the sons of Seir at verse 20. The Dishon here is his son, and another Dishon is Seir's son at verse 21. The names run in the family.
Genesis 36:25
“And the children of Anah were these,.... Dishon, the name of one of his uncles.”
Genesis 36:26-30
These are the sons of Dishon: The Horite chiefs carry the title Esau's chiefs carry, so two sets of chiefs hold one country at once. Gill notes that the Horite chiefs ruled together, and the kings named next ruled one at a time. Uz stands in verse 28. Lamentations 4:21 puts the daughter of Edom in the land of Uz, and Job's own land carries that name.
Genesis 36:26
“And these are the sons of Dishon,.... Not of Dishon the son of Anah, but of Dishon the son of Seir, Gen 36:21; and they are the four following: Hemdan, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran; the first of these is called Amram, or rather Chamram, 1Ch 1:41.”
These are the sons of Ezer: 1 Chronicles 1:42 gives Akan as Jaakan. Numbers 33:31 names a camp of Israel's wilderness march Bene-jaakan, the sons of Jaakan. Deuteronomy 10:6 sets it beside Moserah, where Aaron died.
Genesis 36:27
“The children of Ezer are these,.... Another son of Seir, who had the following sons: Bilhan, and Zaavan, and Achan; the two last are called Zavan and Jakan, in 1Ch 1:42.”
These are the sons of Dishan: Genesis names three men called Uz: a son of Aram at Genesis 10:23, Nahor's firstborn at Genesis 22:21, and this Horite. Jeremiah 25:20 names the kings of the land of Uz.
Genesis 36:28
“The children of Dishon are these,.... The last of the seven sons of Seir, and who had two sons: Uz and Aran; from the former of these the land of Uz, inhabited by the Edomites, had its name, Lam 4:21; some have taken this to be the country of Job, Job 1:1.”
These are the chiefs of the Horites: The seven chiefs are the seven sons of Seir from verses 20 and 21, in the same order. Each son headed a clan of his own. Zibeon's line runs through Anah to Esau's wife Oholibamah.
Genesis 36:29
“God had lately promised Jacob that kings should come out of his loins ( ch. xxxv. 11 ), yet Esau's blood becomes royal long before any of Jacob's did. Note, In external prosperity and honour, the children of the covenant are often cast behind, and those that are out of covenant get the start.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
according to their divisions in the land of Seir: Divisions renders the plural of alluf, the chief of verse 19, and the land is counted by clan. Verse 21 calls the country Edom, and this verse calls it Seir, its older name. The Horite list closes here.
Kings Who Reigned in Edom
Genesis 36:31-32
before any king reigned over the Israelites: Eight kings reigned in Edom before Israel had any king of its own. The first of them is Bela son of Beor, whose city was Dinhabah. Calvin reads the line about Israel's kings as Moses writing in the light of the promise that kings would come from Jacob at Genesis 35:11, and others take it as a note set down later. Henry observes that little beyond the names is recorded here.
Genesis 36:31
“God had lately promised Jacob that kings shall come out of his loins: yet Esau's blood becomes royal long before any of Jacob's did. Probably it was a trial to the faith of Israel, to hear of the power of the kings of Edom, while they were bond-slaves in Egypt: but those that look for great things from God must be content to wait for them. God's time is the best time.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 36:31
“Little more is recorded than their names, because the history of those that were out of the church (though perhaps it might have been serviceable in politics) would have been of little use in divinity. It is in the church that the memorable instances are found of special grace, and special providence; for that is the enclosure, the rest is common.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Bela son of Beor reigned in Edom: Balaam at Numbers 22:5 is also a son of Beor. Dinhabah, Bela's city, is named only here and in the same list at 1 Chronicles 1:43. Its site is unidentified.
Genesis 36:32
“And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom,.... His name was not Balac, as the Septuagint version, which may lead to think of Balak king of Moab; nor is this the same with Balaam, the son of Beor, who lived ages after, as some in Aben Ezra: who he was we know no more of than what is here said; he was the first Horite king, and is placed by Mr. Bedford (i) in A. M.”
Genesis 36:33-36
Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah reigned in his place: Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah reigned after Bela, and some have taken this Jobab for Job. Jerome reports that reading from the Hebrews and from the close of the Greek book of Job, and Clarke answers that there is no proper proof of it. Husham came from the land of the Temanites, and Hadad son of Bedad defeated Midian in the country of Moab. Bozrah returns at Isaiah 63:1.
Genesis 36:33
“Jobab the son of Zerah - Many have supposed that Jobab is the same as Job, so remarkable for his afflictions and patience; and that Eliphaz, mentioned Gen 36:10, etc., was the same who in the book of Job is called one of his friends: but there is no proper proof of this, and there are many reasons against it.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Husham from the land of the Temanites: The land of the Temanites takes its name from Teman, Eliphaz's firstborn at verse 11. Amos 1:12 sends fire on Teman and on the citadels of Bozrah, the home of Jobab before him. Two royal towns fall together.
who defeated Midian in the country of Moab: Hadad is a royal name in Edom, and another Hadad of the king's line becomes Solomon's adversary at 1 Kings 11:14. Midian and Moab later join against Israel at Numbers 22:4. Avith, his city, is named only here and at 1 Chronicles 1:46.
Genesis 36:35
“Smote Midian in the field of Moab - Bishop Cumberland supposes that this was Midian, the son of Abraham by Keturah, and that he was killed by Hadad some time before he was one hundred and nine years of age; and that Moses recorded this, probably, because it was a calamity to the ancestor of Jethro, his father-in-law - Orig. of Nat., p. 14.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Samlah from Masrekah reigned in his place: Masrekah is named only here and in the same list at 1 Chronicles 1:47. The name is commonly read from sorek, the choice vine of Isaiah 5:2. Samlah is named by his town alone.
Genesis 36:37-39
Shaul from Rehoboth on the Euphrates reigned in his place: The crown passes from city to city, Masrekah, Rehoboth, then Pau. Each king reigns in the place of the one who died, and the son of a king never follows him. Hadad is the only king whose wife is named, Mehetabel daughter of Matred, who is herself called the daughter of Me-zahab. Gill places Rehoboth near the Euphrates with the Targum and inside Edom with Jerome.
Baal-hanan son of Achbor reigned in his place: Baal-hanan means Baal is gracious, a name that carries the storm god of Canaan. Its Hebrew counterpart is Johanan, the LORD is gracious. His is the one reign in the list with no city named.
His city was named Pau: 1 Chronicles 1:50 to 51 gives the city as Pai and records that Hadad died. Genesis stops with Hadad reigning, and some take it that he was king when the list was written. Mehetabel means God does good.
Genesis 36:39
“And Baalhanan the son of Achbor died,.... About A. M.”
Genesis 36:40-43
These are the names of Esau’s chiefs: The chapter closes with chiefs again after the kings, and this list runs by families and regions, so the names are territories as much as men. Henry reads the order as a fall, from kings to chiefs and from crowns to coronets. Clarke takes these for the chiefs holding the country when Israel came out of Egypt. Edom ends the chapter settled in the land it possessed.
Genesis 36:40
“These are the names of the dukes that came of Esau - These dukes did not govern the whole nation of the Idumeans, but they were chiefs in their respective families, in their places - the districts they governed, and to which they gave their names. Calmet thinks that those mentioned above were dukes in Edom or Idumea at the time of the exodus of Israel from Egypt.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 36:40
“Note, When power is abused, it is just with God to weaken it, by turning it into divers channels. For the transgression of a land, many are the princes thereof. Sin brought Edom from kings to dukes, from crowns to coronets.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon: Pinon is commonly placed at Punon, where the Israelites camped at Numbers 33:42, in the copper country of Edom. Elah is often tied to Elath, Edom's port at Deuteronomy 2:8.
Genesis 36:41
“Duke Aholibamah, Duke Elah, Duke Pinon. The former is the name of a woman, Gen 36:2; here the name of a man, and also of the place of which he was duke; for Jerom observes (q), that Oolibama is a city of the princes of Edom, and who also makes mention of Elath, a country of the princes of Edom, and a city of Esau, ten miles from Petra to the east (r), and the seat of Duke Pinon was very probably Phinon, which lay between Petra and Zoar (s). (q) De Loc. Heb. fol. 93. K. (r) Ib. fol.”
Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar: Kenaz and Teman were sons of Eliphaz at verse 11, and by this list they name regions of Edom. Mibzar is the ordinary Hebrew word for a fortress or fortified town. A clan's name becomes its ground.
Genesis 36:42
“Duke Kenaz, Duke Teman, Duke Mibzar. There was a Kenaz the son of Eliphaz, and so a Teman a son of his, who were both dukes; but these seem to be different from them, though the latter might be duke of the place called Teman from him: which, in Jerom's time (t), was a village five miles distant from Petra, and where was a Roman garrison, and so Mabsar in his times (u), was a large village in the country of Gabalena (a part of Idumea), and called Mabsara, and belonged to the city Petra. (t) De loc.”
according to their settlements in the land they possessed: The land they possessed is achuzzah in Hebrew, a holding. Abraham's only achuzzah in Canaan was the field and cave for burial at Genesis 23:20. The chapter closes on the title verse 9 gave Esau, father of the Edomites.
Genesis 36:43
“While the Israelites dwelt in the house of bondage, and their Canaan was only the land of promise, the Edomites dwelt in their own habitations, and Seir was in their possession.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
How this psalm is built
The form: A genealogy and national register, set under the toledot heading that Genesis gives every line it is about to leave behind, as Missler classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The heading given twice | The account of Esau opens at verse 1 and opens again at verse 9, where he is named the father of the Edomites in the area of Mount Seir. The first heading gives a man with a household and the second gives a nation with a country. Genesis had run the same order at Ishmael, whose sons stand at Genesis 25:12 before Isaac's account opens at Genesis 25:19.Chuck Missler, The Book of Genesis, on Genesis 36:1. | Genesis 36:1, Genesis 36:9 |
| Chiefs, then kings, then chiefs again | The chapter lists the chiefs of Esau's sons, then the Horite chiefs, then eight kings who reigned one at a time, and closes with chiefs again by families and regions. Matthew Henry read the closing order as a fall, from kings to chiefs and from crowns to coronets, and Adam Clarke takes the last list for the chiefs holding the country when Israel came out of Egypt.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Genesis 36:40 to 43. | Genesis 36:15, Genesis 36:29, Genesis 36:31, Genesis 36:40 |
| One line of story inside the register | The list breaks once, at verse 24, where Anah finds hot springs in the wilderness while pasturing his father's donkeys. Jerome reports the question as much debated among the Hebrews, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the word as warm springs where the King James gives mules. Nothing else in the chapter stops for an event.Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis, c. 390, on Genesis 36:24. | Genesis 36:24 |
| The crown passing from city to city | Each king of Edom reigns in the place of the one who died and each is given with his own city, Dinhabah, Bozrah, Avith, Masrekah, Rehoboth and Pau. A son never follows his father on the throne in this list. Hadad is the only king whose wife is named.John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, on Genesis 36:37 to 39. | Genesis 36:32, Genesis 36:33, Genesis 36:35, Genesis 36:37, Genesis 36:39 |
The historical value
12 more paragraphs on the patterns
The chapter is the fullest record in Scripture of Edom's early government, and it distinguishes three forms: chiefs holding territory together, a Horite population dispossessed by Esau's descendants, and eight kings reigning one at a time with a city each and no son following a father.
It also records Amalek's origin at verse 12, born to Timna, a concubine of Esau's son Eliphaz. The name stands here for the first time in Scripture. Amalek attacks Israel at Rephidim in Exodus 17:8, and Exodus 17:16 says the LORD will war against Amalek from generation to generation. Timna is Lotan's sister by verse 22, which makes Amalek half Horite.
Deuteronomy 2:5 tells Israel to leave Mount Seir alone because God gave it to Esau as his possession, and Deuteronomy 23:7 tells Israel not to despise an Edomite, for he is a brother. Both rest on this chapter's register.
The debated concept
Verse 31 is the chapter's long question. It says these are the kings who reigned in Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites, which is a sentence written from a standpoint where Israel has kings. John Calvin reads it as Moses writing in the light of the promise at Genesis 35:11 that kings would come from Jacob, so the line looks forward rather than back. Others take it as a note set down later in the text's transmission. The two readings differ over the date of the sentence rather than over the facts it records, and Genesis gives no further help.
The second question is whether Jobab of verse 33 is Job. Jerome reports that reading from the Hebrews and from the close of the Greek book of Job, and Adam Clarke answers that there is no proper proof of it. Two facts sit near it, that Esau's grandson Eliphaz is a Temanite by verse 11 and that Job's friend Eliphaz is a Temanite, and that Uz stands in verse 28 and Lamentations 4:21 puts the daughter of Edom in the land of Uz. The link stands on names alone.
The third question is the names of Esau's wives, which differ from those given at Genesis 26:34 and Genesis 28:9. Adam Clarke notes that one man in Scripture often carries two names, and the same has long been said of the wives. Verse 16 raises a related difficulty, where Korah stands among the chiefs of Eliphaz though verse 14 makes him a son of Oholibamah, and a grandson carrying the same name accounts for it.
The New Testament's use
Romans 9:12 and 13 quotes the oracle that the older will serve the younger and sets Malachi 1:2 and 3 beside it, where God says Jacob He loved and Esau He hated and made his mountains a wasteland. The mountains in Malachi are the Mount Seir of this chapter, so the register stands behind the New Testament's use of the two brothers.
Exodus 17:16 carries the chapter's other reach, through Amalek at verse 12.
The divine connection
The chapter states no divine act at all, and its weight lies in what is recorded elsewhere about the country it describes. Deuteronomy 2:5 says Mount Seir was given to Esau as a possession, so the land Genesis 36 registers is held by grant. At the Evidence Standard the claim is that Genesis gives the passed over brother a full national register and that Deuteronomy treats the holding as given rather than seized. Nothing in the chapter itself makes that claim, and a reader reaches it by reading the two books together.
Keep studying
Studies1
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Genesis 36:20 to 23; Chuck Missler, The Book of Genesis, on Genesis 36:1; John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis, 1554, on Genesis 36:31 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Genesis 36:40 to 43.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Chuck Missler; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis; John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.