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Genesis 36

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Esau’s Family and Relocation 1–8

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.

The Sons and Dukes of Edom 9–19

9
And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount Seir: ​
10
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.
11
And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz.
12
And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau's son; and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek: these were the sons of Adah Esau's wife. ​
13
And these are the sons of Reuel; Nahath, and Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah: these were the sons of Bashemath Esau's wife.
14
And these were the sons of Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife: and she bare to Esau Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah.
15
These were dukes of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz the firstborn son of Esau; duke Teman, duke Omar, duke Zepho, duke Kenaz, ​
16
Duke Korah, duke Gatam, and duke Amalek: these are the dukes that came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these were the sons of Adah.
17
And these are the sons of Reuel Esau's 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 of Bashemath Esau's wife.
18
And these are the sons of Aholibamah Esau's wife; duke Jeush, duke Jaalam, duke Korah: these were the dukes that came of Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife.
19
These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these are their dukes.

The Descendants of Seir the Horite 20–30

20
These are the sons of Seir the Horite, who inhabited the land; Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah, ​
21
And Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan: these are the dukes of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom.
22
And the children of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan's sister was Timna. ​
23
And the children of Shobal were these; Alvan, and Manahath, and Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.
24
And these are the children of Zibeon; both Ajah, and Anah: this was that Anah that found the mules in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father. ​
25
And the children of Anah were these; Dishon, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah.
26
And these are the children of Dishon; Hemdan, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran.
27
The children of Ezer are these; Bilhan, and Zaavan, and Akan.
28
The children of Dishan are these; Uz, and Aran.
29
These are the dukes that came of the Horites; duke Lotan, duke Shobal, duke Zibeon, duke Anah,
30
Duke Dishon, duke Ezer, duke Dishan: these are the dukes that came of Hori, among their dukes in the land of Seir.

The Early Kings of Edom 31–39

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 Temani 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 Saul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his stead.
38
And Saul died, and Baalhanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead.
39
And Baalhanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab. ​

The Dukes of Edom by Territory 40–43

40
And 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, duke Jetheth, ​
41
Duke Aholibamah, duke Elah, duke Pinon,
42
Duke Kenaz, duke Teman, duke Mibzar,
43
Duke Magdiel, duke Iram: these be the dukes of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession: he is Esau the father of the Edomites. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Genesis 36

Verse 1

Esau, who is Edom — ‘Edom’ means red, the name Esau took from the ‘red pottage’ (Gen 25:30). The heading is toledoth, ‘generations’, the word that opens each family record in Genesis. The chapter repeats the identity at v.8, ‘Esau is Edom’, and ends on it in v.43.

Verse 2

the daughters of Canaan — Esau’s wives here are from Canaan’s peoples, the kind of marriage Isaac forbade Jacob: ‘Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan’ (Gen 28:1). Earlier Esau’s Hittite wives ‘were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah’ (Gen 26:34–35).

Verse 7

could not bear them — The same wording as the parting of Abraham and Lot: ‘the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together’ (Gen 13:6). Esau ‘went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob’ (v.6), taking his house and his cattle with him.

Verse 9

the father of the Edomites in mount Seir — Edom is Israel’s kin. Moses sent to its king in these words: ‘Thus saith thy brother Israel’ (Num 20:14). Seir was already called ‘the land of Seir, the country of Edom’ when Jacob sent messengers to Esau there (Gen 32:3).

Verse 12

Timna… bare to Eliphaz Amalek — Amalek is Esau’s grandson by a concubine. ‘Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim’ (Ex 17:8), and the LORD said he would ‘utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven’ (Ex 17:14). Balaam called Amalek ‘the first of the nations’ (Num 24:20).

Verse 15

dukes — Alluph, a chief of a clan; ‘duke’ is the KJV’s word. Teman is the first of Eliphaz’s sons named, and Job’s friend is ‘Eliphaz the Temanite’ (Job 2:11), the same two names. The title is heard at the Red Sea: ‘the dukes of Edom shall be amazed’ (Ex 15:15).

Verse 20

Seir the Horite — The Horites held Seir before Esau’s line: ‘the children of Esau succeeded them, when they had destroyed them from before them’ (Deut 2:12). Their sons and chiefs are listed in vv.20–30; Esau’s wife Aholibamah belongs to the line of Zibeon, one of Seir’s sons (vv.2, 25).

Verse 22

Hori and Hemam — They are sons of Lotan, in the Horite line. The list is repeated in 1 Chr 1:39, which gives ‘Hori, and Homam: and Timna was Lotan’s sister’. A Timna is also the concubine of Eliphaz (v.12), and ‘duke Timnah’ stands in the later list (v.40).

Verse 24

found the mules in the wilderness — Anah found them ‘as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father’. The Hebrew word, yemim, occurs nowhere else in Scripture. Two men named Anah stand in this chapter, a son of Seir (v.20) and a son of Zibeon, and the verse marks the second as ‘that Anah that found the mules’.

Verse 31

before there reigned any king over the children of Israel — Edom had kings first, as when Moses sent messengers ‘unto the king of Edom’ (Num 20:14). There are eight (vv.32–39), and none is the son of the one before: each ‘reigned in his stead’ from a different father or city.

Verse 35

Hadad… smote Midian in the field of Moab — Midian was a son of Abraham by Keturah (Gen 25:2). The victory is recorded again in 1 Chr 1:46 in the same words, ‘which smote Midian in the field of Moab’. His city was Avith.

Verse 39

Baalhanan… Hadar — Baalhanan the son of Achbor is the seventh king, Hadar the eighth. Hadar is the only one whose wife is named, Mehetabel, ‘the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab’. In 1 Chr 1:51 the line of kings ends: ‘Hadad died also. And the dukes of Edom were’.

Verse 40

the dukes… after their places — This is a second list of chiefs, this time ‘according to their families, after their places, by their names’, so each is tied to a territory. The word is again alluph (v.15). The eleven names run to v.43; in 1 Chr 1:51 too the dukes follow the kings.

Verse 43

he is Esau the father of the Edomites — The record closes where it began. Two nations had been told to Rebekah: ‘Two nations are in thy womb… and the elder shall serve the younger’ (Gen 25:23). Israel was told to leave Edom’s land alone: ‘I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession’ (Deut 2:5).