Where are they now? (Political)

Genesis 36 9-43

(Part 2 of 3)

So let me begin by pointing out that the division of this chapter is in two parts. The first part is chapter in verses 1 to 8.

“This is the account of the family line of Esau (that is, Edom)”.

(Genesis 36:1)

Now drop down to verse nine and again it says,

“This is the account of the family line of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir”.

(Genesis 36: 9)

That’s shows where this next division is. But what’s the difference between verses 1 to 8 and a section and  verses 9 all the way to the end of the chapter, which is verse 43, a lot of verses and lots and lots of names. The answer to that question is verses 1 to 8 are the personal history of Esau, it talks about his wives and his children and him personally. When it moves to 9 to 43, is a longer-term constitutional history of his descendants. There is a difference between the two sections. In Chapter 36, it’s his personal history and in the second half it’s what you might call is political history of what happened thereafter. So let me just very briefly summarize verses 1 to 8, which we covered last time. This is Esau’s personal history.

“ Esau took his wives from the women of Canaan: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite – also Basemath daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, Basemath bore Reuel, and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam and Korah. These were the sons of Esau, who were born to him in Canaan.

(Genesis 36: 2-5)

“Esau took his wives and sons and daughters and all the members of his household, as well as his livestock and all his other animals and all the goods he had acquired in Canaan and moved to a land some distance from his brother Jacob. Their possessions were too great for them to remain together; the land where they were staying could not support them both because of their livestock. So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the hill country of Seir”.

(Genesis 36: 6-8)

Versus two and three tell us about his wives and what is important in those verses is that it says he saw took his wives from the daughters of Canaan. He married women who were Canaanites, now the Jews were not supposed to marry the Canaanites they were only supposed to marry their fellow Jews. In fact, he married three of them, there’s not a whole lot of information about who these women were apart from giving us their names, some of which are hard to pronounce and telling us they were Canaanites. We also got the names of his children, and what these verses also tell us is that he had five sons. It just talks about his sons, but he didn’t only have sons, because verse six says he had sons and daughters. But these earlier verses only list his sons. So, this is his personal history gives us his wives and his children. 

The other thing that’s mentioned here is the fact that he left the land of Palestine and went somewhere else. Notice the text underlines the point that Esau is Edom. I feel I need to  pause and explain two things before we go on any further.

Number one. The reason he left is that he and Jacob both had these large flocks and herds, and the land was not large enough to feed both of them. So, Esau packed up his wives, his children, and all of his possessions, and he moves South. What this passage is telling us is that Esau left this land and went in a southern direction and dwelt there. The region south of Canaan is what we today call Jordan. I began by asking whatever happened to Esau, well this passage tells us he went south and set up a new home for himself in the south. Probably not far from the dead sea. That's the point of the first eight verses of this chapter.

Now there's a second question you might ask and that is what happened to his children, and for that matter his grandchildren. Whatever happened to his descendants? So far, the Bible hasn’t told us any stories about them or described for us any events they were involved in because it’s been focusing on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants, because they are the once who will produced the Israelite nation. Here the Bible pauses long enough to tell us what happened to Esau and to tell us his descendants became the nation of Edom. As I mentioned, already the second part of this passage begins at verse 9 and will go all the way to verse 43 and it is nothing more than a very long list of names. 

What are we supposed to get out of this? What’s the organization and structure of the rest of these verses? The answer to that is this, beginning in verse nine and going through to verse14, he’s giving us Esau’s grandchildren. I told us earlier he had five sons and daughters and now we are going to see what happened to his grandchildren. He had three wives and five sons, and the text is organized around those three wives. 

10 These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz, the son of Esau’s wife Adah, and Reuel, the son of Esau’s wife Basemath.

11 The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam and Kenaz.

12 Esau’s son Eliphaz also had a concubine named Timna, who bore him Amalek. These were grandsons of Esau’s wife Adah.

13 The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. These were grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

14 The sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon, whom she bore to Esau:

(Genesis 36: 10-14)

So, verses 10 through 12 tell us the first wife had six grandchildren. Verse 13 tells us the second wife had four grandchildren. The third wife (versus 14) it just says that she had three sons, apparently, they didn’t have children. So, the point is that 9 through 14 is telling us about his grandchildren. 

15 “These were the chiefs among Esau’s descendants: The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: Chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz,

16 Korah,[a] Gatam and Amalek. These were the chiefs descended from Eliphaz in Edom; they were grandsons of Adah.

17 The sons of Esau’s son Reuel: Chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. These were the chiefs descended from Reuel in Edom; they were grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

18 The sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: Chiefs Jeush, Jalam and Korah. These were the chiefs descended from Esau’s wife Oholibamah daughter of Anah.

19 These were the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these were their chiefs”.

(Genesis 36: 15-19)

Verses 15 through 19 are telling us about the tribes that came out of the next wife. We see the use of the word, chiefs, to describe those who became heads of tribes. So, these sons produced descendants who were the chiefs the heads of the tribes. And again, these verses are organized around the three wives, the first wife and verses 15 and 16 had seven sons who became chiefs and verses, four sons became chiefs and verses 18 and 19, three sons became chiefs. So, remember this is about Esau’s family line so we’re talking about Esau’s descendants, and he had sons. He had grandsons who became chiefs of tribes. 

20 These were the sons of Seir the Horite, who were living in the region: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 21 Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. These sons of Seir in Edom were Horite chiefs. 22 The sons of Lotan: Hori and Homam Timna was Lotan’s sister. 23 The sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho and Onam. 24 The sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. This is the Anah who discovered the hot springs[c] in the desert while he was grazing the donkeys of his father Zibeon. 25 The children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah daughter of Anah. 26 The sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran and Keran. 27 The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan and Akan. 28 The sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. 29 These were the Horite chiefs: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 30 Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. These were the Horite chiefs, according to their divisions, in the land of Seir.

(Genesis 36: 20-30)

Then in verses 20 to 30 it talks about his predecessors in the land of Edom. Verse 20 says these are the sons of Seir the Horite. See that? Now wait a minute, we no longer talking about Esau. We're talking about the original inhabitants of the land now called Edom and they are Horites. The Hebrew word Horite means cave dwellers. People have lived in caves throughout history, including down till this day. People lived in caves before they lived in houses or tents, so, they were cave dwellers. If you go to the Middle East, you have to go to Amman in Jordan, which is the capital, then you travel South you’re still in modern Jordan, which was ancient Edom you then come to the city of Petra which is where they probably dwelt. So, Esau ended up living in a cave. or at least he ended up in the land that was originally inhabited by cave dwellers. That’s verses 20 to 30, and versus 31 to 39, he seems to be talking about chiefs who will become kings. 

31 These were the kings who reigned in Edom before any Israelite king reigned: 32 Bela son of Beor became king of Edom. His city was named Dinhabah. 33 When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah succeeded him as king. 34 When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites succeeded him as king. 35 When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, succeeded him as king. His city was named Avith.

(Genesis 36: 31-35)

36 When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah succeeded him as king. 37 When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the river succeeded him as king. 38 When Shaul died, Baal-Hanan son of Akbor succeeded him as king. 39 When Baal-Hanan son of Akbor died, Hadad[e] succeeded him as king. His city was named Pau, and his wife’s name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-Zahab.

(Genesis 36: 36-39)

See, we’re growing into a larger and larger nation. There becoming city states with their own individual kings, and then it says they were had kings before Israel had kings.

“These were the chiefs descended from Esau, by name, according to their clans and regions: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements in the land they occupied. This is the family line of Esau, the father of the Edomites”.

(Genesis 36: 40-43)

Then versus 40 to 43 it goes back and reminds us that these are chiefs of Esau, but I thought it had already told us that. It had but this time they confirm which of these chiefs became kings. So that’s the chapter, it’s nothing more than his personal history in the opening verses. Then goes on to describe, how he moved to Edom, and then it gives the history of his grandchildren, and the tribes that came from him. The it tells us about the predecessors that lived there, and  the Kings that came out of there family lines and all about the land of Edom and confirms it all by using the phrase, “Esau, is Edom”. So, it fills in all the gaps for us and tells us what happened to Esau?  While this chapter at first appears to be nothing but a long list of names that when you first read it makes no sense. We shall now try and understand what has been happening or where it’s going. (Next time)