Or, Your Father Was an Edomite
Scripture: Genesis 36:1-37:1
Date: January 15, 2017
Speaker: Sean Higgins
I do not believe in torture. I am also not, as I’ve said before, what might be called a “genealogy guy.” So you may wonder why I would ask Jim to read all of one of the longest chapters in Genesis plus one verse, and then attempt to preach all of it in one sermon, knowing that this section is mainly a long list of fathers and sons. And it’s not even the elect line. God’s people don’t look to find their heritage here.
I will say that this is a challenging chapter. Most of the men in this chapter are obscure even to vocational Bible historians and, of course, all of the men in this chapter are dead. It is likely that all of the men in this chapter are in hell. The primary verb, at least that is understood, is “fathered,” which is more like setting the stage than driving the drama. There’s not much other action. The people and places are presented like a chronological phone book, except that no one wants to call any of these deceased. So I get that it is challenging.
But I also believe that each one of these verses is profitable. Paul told Timothy that “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable.” In context, “Scripture” refers to the Old Testament, and “all Scripture” certainly includes Genesis 36. Moses was no less moved by the Holy Spirit when he wrote this chapter than he was for chapter 1, or 3, or 12, or 22, or any other. So it will return a good investment of our reading and attempt to understand it.
And Moses intended for us to give it our attention. As I already said, it is one of the longest chapters in this first book of the Law. We might have returned the first draft of Genesis and asked Moses to write more in chapter 6 about the identity of the mighty men and less in chapter 36 about the identify of the Horites.
In addition to attention by proportion, there is also repetition in Genesis 36 unlike anywhere else in Genesis. Moses goes through the “generations of Esau” twice (see verses 1 and 9). The toledot divides Genesis into 10 smaller books, but every other “generations” just gets one go-round.
It would be very easy, probably preferable to modern readers with a penchant for book blurbs more than books, to cut out verses 9-43. Verses 1-8 start with the generations and end with “Esau settled in Seir.” We could pick up very nicely in 37:1 with the contrast: “Jacob lived in the land of Canaan.” Yet for some reason Esau’s generations are repeated and greatly expanded.
I want to observe what’s on both tables and then see if we can walk away with some profit in our spiritual pockets.
“Isaac breathed his last” and “his sons Esau and Jacob buried him” (Genesis 35:29). It is time to move on in the story. As with every other change of generations, the non-elect son is treated first. This was true with Cain before Seth, Japheth and Ham before Seth, Ishmael before Isaac, and now Esau before Jacob. The story of Jacob’s descendants (mainly Joseph) begins in 37:2 and runs through the end of Genesis.
These are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). Edom means “red,” the color of Esau’s skin and the color of the stew for which Esau sold his birthright. The new name becomes even more significant in the next section.
Esau took his wife from the Canaanites , to the embitterment of his parents and the disapproval of the LORD. The three women named here are not the same names as listed before in Genesis 26:34 and 28:9 (Judith, Basemath, and Mahalath). Here his wives are named as Adah , Oholibamah , and Basemath . I lean toward the explanation that the same woman might take a different name (like Sarai to Sarah) rather than that Moses didn’t know what he was doing, or that he got it wrong, or that Esau had that many more wives. There is still a problem since the father’s names are different.
All three wives bore Esau children. Five sons are named (Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah) and they were born to him in the land of Canaan . Jacob left Canaan after stealing the blessing from Isaac, Esau stayed in the land of blessing though he didn’t have it, at least until Jacob returned.
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. For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock. So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is Edom.) (Genesis 36:6–8)
Didn’t Esau come out to meet Jacob from Seir (Genesis 32 and 33)? Why then does this chapter say that he moved after Jacob came back? Esau had interests in both places, but now he takes all of this family and his things and establishes himself as a neighbor a land away. Like Lot and Abraham separated, Esau separates from Jacob since the land could not support them because of their livestock .
This is the kind of genealogy we expect, with a focus on sons and a brief explanation of where they lived. This makes a sufficient contrast with Jacob (37:1) who settles in the promised land. Esau, who is Edom , settles with his family a land away.
As noted, verse 9 repeats These are the generations of Esau . But while the same sons will be named again, the emphasis is on the Edomites . Through the rest of this extended section there is a concern for “chiefs” and “clans” and “kings.” Here are Esau’s descendants considered as a political force, including their takeover of the original inhabitants of the land.
We’ve already met the five sons, now we meet the son’s sons as well. While Oholibamah gave Esau three sons, no grandsons are listed. Five grandsons came through Adah’s one son, Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz, and three grandsons came through Basemath’s one son, Reuel: Namath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. If we also count a grandson through a concubine of Eliphaz (Amalek), there are a total of three sons of Esau and ten grandsons, a little but growing force, comparable to Jacob’s twelve sons. As for Esau, these are not only his family, they are the Edomites in the hill country of Seir .
The same names are given again in this paragraph. The difference is that the sons are all called chiefs —a word used 42 times in the chapter—they are heads of clans. The grandsons through Epiphaz and Reuel, along with the sons of Oholibamah, become leaders of tribes. More than fathers, they wield a kind of public office. This is important for sake of interacting with and, in some cases, dispossessing the people of Seir.
Esau settled in the hill country of Seir, but it’s not as if Seir was unoccupied territory; the name of the place came from one of the first men who dwelt in the place. There were quite a number of inhabitants of the land who traced their origin from Seir the Horite . We first met the Horites in Genesis 14 as one of the groups defeated by the four Eastern tyrants. Seir, the man, had sons who were recognized as chiefs: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These chiefs had some kind of agreement between each other because the entire group could be called the Horites, similar to the Israelites in their tribes. The list of seven chiefs descended from Seir is in verses 20-30.
From Israel’s perspective there are also kings a land away, and verses 31-39 list eight of the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites . Once the Israelites returned from Egypt to possess the promised land, they didn’t have a king at all for many years until Saul. But the people just a land away transitioned through a number of kings. The central organization of society was moving from families to tribes to kingdoms.
These kings in Edom were not a family dynasty. In fact, not one of the transitions is from a father to a son. Also, each new king who took over when the previous king died comes from a different place. This appears to be an election system, not familial or by hostile takeover.
One more time Moses lists the chiefs of Esau, according to their clans and their dwelling places . Some of the names are new, and a total of eleven chiefs had distinct places of possession and rule, with dwelling places being the unique factor in this paragraph, just a land away from the promised land. For however long Esau’s descendants and Seir’s descendants lived together, there were more from Esau (Seir: 7 vs Esau: 11), the name Edom replaced the name of Seir as the Edomites dominated the region. Two nations were indeed in Rebekah’s womb (per the word of the LORD in Genesis 25:23), the Israelites and the Edomites.
The toledot of Esau finishes with the transition and contrast of Jacob who lived in the land of his father’s sojourning, in the land of Canaan (37:1).
So what? What is profitable from all of this? Moses’ original readers were likely to be at least a little more familiar. Kids in Israeli elementary schools would want to know something about the history of their neighbors. It’s important to know who lives in Mirkwood, or the land next to Narnia. But is there anything for us?
Yes. There is profit for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, just as God said there is through Paul’s pen. I am not sure that we can find all the pieces of treasure in this hoard of 43/44 verses, but here are some of the more sparkly pieces sitting on top of the pile.
Genesis 36 teaches us about God’s character, that He is faithful to all He’s said. He fulfills every promise, even when we might think He shouldn’t. The LORD said Esau would become a nation, and Isaac “blessed” Esau (Genesis 27:38-40). Esau didn’t deserve what he got (though Jacob didn’t do much better either).
Genesis 36 reproves our pride in thinking that we’re the only ones God cares about. God blesses the non-elect with life, with families, with places to live. Paul told the men at Lystra that God “did not leave himself without witness (among the nations), for he did good by giving…rains from heaven and fruitful seasons” (Acts 14). He gives good to those who are undeserving.
Genesis 36 corrects our fear of thinking that neighboring enemies are too big to fight. God has His ways of giving His people what He wants them to have, and oftentimes He makes their enemies more glorious so that His deliverance will be more glorious. The Edomites were a hard people, a growing and great people of chiefs and kings. The Edomites are some of the most bitter enemies of Israel in the Old Testament. Yet David defeated them and set up garrisons in their territory (2 Samuel 8:13-14). As the LORD told Rebekah, the older would serve the younger, and this was true for generations.
Genesis 36 trains us in righteousness for sake of waiting on and trusting in God to get us where He wants us to be. Even Esau’s decision to move to Seir permanently because the land “could not support them because of their livestock” was part of Jacob possessing Canaan.
Of course some of this profit requires that we know more of the history of the Old Testament, and all of these truths can be shown in other parts of Scripture. But Genesis 36 establishes realities that other parts of the timeline depend on, and illustrates the more straightforward statements. We have much to be thankful for from this chapter.