Genesis 36--Esau's Descendants

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​Esau's Descendants

36 These are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). 2 Esau took his wives from the Canaanites: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, 3 and Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. 4 And Adah bore to Esau, Eliphaz; Basemath bore Reuel; 5 and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

6 Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob. 7 For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock. 8 So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is Edom.)

9 These are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir. 10 These are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau. 11 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. 12 (Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's son; she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.) These are the sons of Adah, Esau's wife. 13 These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife. 14 These are the sons of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife: she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

15 These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: the chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, 16 Korah, Gatam, and Amalek; these are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. 17 These are the sons of Reuel, Esau's son: the chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah; these are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife. 18 These are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau's wife: the chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah; these are the chiefs born of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife. 19 These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs.

20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. 22 The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan's sister was Timna. 23 These are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. 24 These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah; he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he pastured the donkeys of Zibeon his father. 25 These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah. 26 These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. 27 These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. 28 These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. 29 These are the chiefs of the Horites: the chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 30 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, chief by chief in the land of Seir.

31 These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the Israelites. 32 Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, the name of his city being Dinhabah. 33 Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his place. 34 Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. 35 Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place, the name of his city being Avith. 36 Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. 37 Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates reigned in his place. 38 Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his place. 39 Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his place, the name of his city being Pau; his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab.

​40 These are the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their clans and their dwelling places, by their names: the chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, 41 Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, 42 Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, 43 Magdiel, and Iram; these are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of Edom), according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession.

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There's not much to say here other than to point out a few main points.  First, note that the name of the nation that is formed from the descendants of Esau is Edom.  We will see the Edomites in several places in the Old Testament and prophecies about the destruction of Edom.  Edom would be known a warrior people with a mountain fortress at a place called Petra and one day this is a place that the Jews will run to safety in the time of tribulation, but for now Edom and Israel will be in a life-long blood feud.

One other important descendant of Edom will be Hearod the Great who took on the title of "King of the Jews"--the one that had the magi visit him and when he found out that the Child was to be born in Bethlehem and that the wise men had seen His star in the East, he had all the male children two year's old and under murdered.  Edom typically allied itself with Israel's enemies and Herod allying himself with Rome was no exception.

We see that God still blessed Esau with land and descendants, but not the Land and the Descendant of Promise--that blessing and covenant went to his brother Jacob.  It is also pointed out here that Esau had multiple Canaanite wives against the wishes of his father and mother and it appears he did this simply to be rebellious.  It would be these wives that would turn their the hearts of their children away from the God of Israel along with Esau's bitterness.  The people of Edom would turn to paganism and idolatry just like the people around them and would quickly turn to wanting a king and a strong military to defend them.  They should have been a defense for anyone that wanted to come against Israel as attackers would usually first have to come through Edom, but instead of defending their "brothers" they usually gave aid and comfort to the enemy and cheered them on in battle--sometimes even joining with them in the battle.

Another name that we'll see often associate with Edom is its capital city of Seir.  As mentioned before, many nations were known by the name of their capital city.  For instance, we don't really know many other cities in Syria other than Damascus, or Assyria other than Nineveh, or in Babylonian empire other than the city of Babylon.  Seir would be this kind of a city where everyone from other countries would know the country/kingdom by associating it with its capital.

Here are some places where the nation of Edom will be mentioned later for your -you may even be able to trace the lineage of some of the Edomites back to these generations listed here, though I have not personally tried to do so:
Exodus 15
Numbers 20, 21, 24, 33, and 34
Deuteronomy 23
Joshua 15
Judges 5 and 11
I Samuel 14, 21, and 22
2 Samuel 6 and 8
​1 Kings 9, 11 and 22
2 Kings 3, 8, 14, and 16
1 Chronicles 1, 13, 15, 16, 18, and 26
2 Chronicles 8, 20, 21, 25, and 28
Psalm 52, 60, 83, 108, and 137
Isiah 11, 34, and 63
Jeremiah 9, 25, 27, 40, 49
Lamentations 4
Ezekiel 25, 32, 35, and 36
Daniel 11
Joel 3
Amos 1, 2, and 9
Obadiah 1
Malachi 1

So, as you can see, the histories of Israel and Edom often intersect, and you'll see from the passages in the prophets that sometimes God will use Edom to judge Israel but God always promises that one day Edom would face the consequences of their evil actions towards their brothers in Israel and their rebellion against the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

This is the end of the genealogies of the sons of Isaac and we are moving on to the narrative of the sons of Israel, focusing mostly on Joseph, the son of Jacob and Rachel, and this will be the final biography in the anthology we know as Genesis.