And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom: and the name of his city was Dinhabah.
And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom; and the name of his city was Dinhabah.
And Bela son of Beor reigneth in Edom, and the name of his city is Dinhabah;
And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom; and the name of his city was Dinhabah.
Genesis — The book of beginnings. Creation, fall, flood, covenant, election, providence — eleven generational seams stitch one unbroken story from heaven-and-earth to a coffin in Egypt.
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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.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed
These are the names - Observe here, 1. That only the names of Esau's sons and grand-sons are recorded: not their history, for it is the church that Moses preserves the records of, not of those that were without. The elders only that lived by faith obtained a good report.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765evangelical
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, 1710puritan
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
