Genesis 36

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:31:43utc

The thirty-sixth chapter is difficult to interpret. It is wrought with problems, probable repetition and seeming contradictions. Jerome said about some of the verses that there are as many interpretations as there are interpreters.

The chapter may be divided into the following sections:

1. Vs. 1-5 a list of Esau's wives and their children.

2. Vs. 5-8 Esau's move away from Jacob in Canaan to Seir.

3. Vs. 9-19 a list of Esau's children and grand children.

4. Vs. 20-30 the genealogy of Seir, the Horite.

5. Vs. 21-34 a list of the kings who reigned in Edom.

1. Vs. 1-5 a list of Esau's wives and their children.

The Pulpit Commentary links this chapter to the opening verse of the next one, where we read: "Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan."

The obvious reason for the inclusion of this chapter in the Genesis account is not only that Esau was Jacob's brother, but also to indicate the origin of Israel's enemies. Edom was a thorn in Israel's flesh during the whole period that the two nations lived in each others vicinity. And Amelek became Israel's archenemy.

Adam Clark remarks about this chapter: "The generations of Esau are particularly marked, to show how exactly God fulfilled the promises He made to him, chapter xxv and xxvii, and those of Seir the Horite are added, because his family became in some measure blended with that of Esau."

About the first section of this chapter, The Pulpit Commentary says the following: "The difference between this account and that previously given (ch. xxvi. 34 ; xxviii. 9) will appear at a glance by setting the two lists of wives in parallel columns :-

1. Juduth, daughter of Berreithe Hittite. 1. Aholibamah, daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon the

2. Bashemat, daughter of Elon the Hittite .2. Adah, daughter of Hittite.

3. Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael, sister 3. Bashemath, Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebajoth.

of Nebajoth.

The two lists agree in saying (1) that Esau had three wives, (2) that one of them was the daughter of Elon the Hittite, (3) that another of them was Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nabajoth, and (4) that the name of one of them was Bashemath. The discrepancy between the two is greatest in respect of the first wife, who appears with a different name and a different parentage in the two lists ; while with reference to the second and the third wives, it is only the difference of name that requires to be accounted for. Now since the two lists belong to the so-called Elohistic document ..., the hypothesis must be discarded ''that the Hebrew text, though containing several important coincidences, evidently embodies two accounts irreconcilably different'' (Kalisch) - a conclusion which can only be maintained by ascribing to the author the most absolute literary incompetence. Equally the conjecture must be set aside that the two lists refer to different persons, the second three being names of wives which Esau took on the decease of the first. The solutions that appear most entitled to acceptance, though all are more or less conjectural, proceed upon the supposition that Esau had only three wives, or at most four. 1. On the hypothesis that Esau had not more than three wives, it is only needful to presume that each of them had two names, a not unusual circumstance in Oriental countries. ... - one of them, probably that contained in the present list, bestowed on the occasion of marriage; and that Anah, the father of Aholibamah, was the same person with Beeri, or the Well-Man, who received that cognomen from the incident related in ver. 24, viz., that he discovered certain hot springs while feeding his father's asses ... - the peculiarity that in one place (ch. xxvi. 20) a Horite, being explained by the conjecture that the first was the generic term for the race, the second the specific designation of the tribe, and the third the particular name for the inhabitants of the district to which he belonged. ... 2. Another solution gives to Esau four wives, by supposing Judith to have died without issue. ..., or, in consequence of being childless, though still living, to have been passed over in silence in the former genealogical register ..., and Aholibamah to have been the fourth partner whom Esau espoused. The Samaritan version reads Mahalath for Bashemath in the second list, which it regards as an error of transcription ...; while others think that Adah has been written by inadvertence for Bashemath ...; but such conjectures are as unnecessary as they are manifestly arbitrary."

Only five sons are mentioned as Esau's offspring. We read in vs. 4 and 5: "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."

2. Vs. 5-8 Esau's move away from Jacob in Canaan to Seir.

These verses tell us that Esau moved away from Canaan to Seir, because the land of Canaan was not large enough to support both his flocks and those of Jacob. Obviously the move was made after Jacob's arrival in Canaan. We have to remember that although Canaan was a rich and fertile country, different tribes inhabited it. Esau and Jacob had to content themselves with the land that was not occupied by the original inhabitants.

Esau went to the mountains south of the Dead Sea. The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible tells us: "It is a mountainous and extremely rugged country, about 100 miles long, extending s. from Moab on both sides of the Arabah, or great depression connection the s. part of the Dead Sea with the Gulf of Akabah." This move put a distance of 60 to 70 miles between Esau and Jacob. This later becomes the country of Edom, which means "red." The name Edom is supposedly a reference to the red porridge Jacob sold to Esau in exchange for the latter's birth right. It could be linked to the name Adam, which has the same meaning "red," in which case it might refer to the fact that the descendants of Esau regarded themselves as the real offspring of Adam, more human than the rest of humanity. A trace of this kind of inflated pride is still found among primitive tribes. Several of the mountain Papua's in Irian Jaya call themselves "The real people."

3. Vs. 9-14 a list of Esau's children and grand children.

This section paints in rough lines the development of the Edomite nation. It is, in a certain way, a repetition of the first five verses, but the idea in these verses is more than to trace a family tree. We see Esau and his sons grow into a people of might and influence, a force to be reckoned with by Israel when it enters Canaan four centuries later and inhabits the land. The emphasis is upon the importance of its leaders, the chiefs, or, as the KJV calls them "