Genesis 36:22 | 71
6
Esau took his wives and sons and daugh ters and all the mem bers of his house hold, as well as his live stock and all his oth er an i mals and all the goods he had ac quired in Ca naan, and moved to a land some dis tance from his brother Ja cob. 7 Their pos ses sions were too great for them to re main to geth er; the land where they were stay ing could not sup port them both be cause of their live stock. 8 So Esau( that is, Edom) set tled in the hill coun try of Seir.
9
This is the ac count of the fam i ly line of Esau the fa ther of the Edom ites in the hill coun try of Seir.
10
These are the names of Esau’ s sons: El i phaz, the son of Esau’ s wife Adah, and Reu el, the son of Esau’ s wife Bas e math.
11
The sons of El i phaz: Te man, Omar, Ze pho, Ga tam and Ke naz.
12
Esau’ s son El i phaz also had a con cu bine named Tim na, who bore him Am a lek. These were grand sons of Esau’ s wife Adah.
13
The sons of Reu el: Na hath, Ze rah, Sham mah and Miz zah. These were grand sons of Esau’ s wife Bas e math.
14
The sons of Esau’ s wife Ohol i ba mah daugh ter of Anah and grand daugh ter of Zib e on, whom she bore to Esau:
Je ush, Ja lam and Ko rah.
15
These were the chiefs among Esau’ s de scen dants:
The sons of El i phaz the first born of Esau: Chiefs Te man, Omar, Ze pho, Ke naz, 16 Korah, a Ga tam and Am a lek. These were the chiefs de scend ed from El i phaz in Edom; they were grand sons of Adah.
17
The sons of Esau’ s son Reu el: Chiefs Na hath, Ze rah, Sham mah and Mizzah. These were the chiefs de scend ed from Reu el in Edom; they were grand sons of Esau’ s wife Bas e math.
18
The sons of Esau’ s wife Ohol i ba mah: Chiefs Je ush, Ja lam and Ko rah. These were the chiefs de scend ed from Esau’ s wife Ohol i ba mah daugh ter of Anah.
19
These were the sons of Esau( that is, Edom), and these were their chiefs.
20
These were the sons of Seir the Ho rite, who were liv ing in the re gion: Lo tan, Sho bal, Zib e on, Anah, 21 Di shon, Ezer and Di shan. These sons of Seir in Edom were Ho rite chiefs.
22
The sons of Lo tan: Hori and Ho mam. b Tim na was Lo tan’ s sis ter. a
16 Masoretic Text; Samaritan Pentateuch( also verse 11 and 1 Chron. 1:36) does not have Korah. b
22 Hebrew Hemam, a variant of Homam( see 1 Chron. 1:39)
See note on 13:7. Hittite See note on 23:3. Anah The Hebrew word used here, anah, is a component of known ancient Near Eastern personal names, suggesting that the name may also be that of a god. Hivite See note on 34:2. While Esau’ s wife Oholibamah is identified as a Hivite here, her ancestors( presumably her father and grandfather— Anah and Zibeon), appear in the genealogy of the descendants of Seir the Horite in 36:20 – 30. The Hivites and Horites are likely both names for the same native Canaanite people. In Hebrew, the names differ by one letter and look very similar.
36:6 – 8 The migration of Esau and his family clan to Seir at this point in the narrative is chronologically problematic. Earlier Esau was already depicted as living in Seir and then returning to Seir again after his meeting with Jacob( 32:3 – 4; 33:14,16). This means that this chapter likely presents a parenthetical summary and elaboration rather than a chronological account. This would mean that Jacob and Esau living in proximity to one another as adults with large families( 36:7 – 8) occurred at some point between 33:11 and 33:16.
36:8( that is, Edom) settled in the hill country of Seir This is a name for either part of Edom( e. g., 14:6; Dt 2:1; Jos 12:7) or Edom in its entirety— in both geographical and political terms( e. g., Ge 33:14,16; Nu 24:18; Jos 24:4; Eze 25:8).
36:9 – 43 This second genealogy of Esau is divided into four sections: Ge 36:9 – 14; vv. 15 – 19; vv. 20 – 30; and vv. 31 – 43. The first section of this second genealogy( vv. 9 – 14) repeats the names and relationships of the first one( see vv. 1 – 4), but it continues the line to the third generation for Adah and Basemath. The sequence of Esau’ s wives moves according to the descending number of their children.
36:11 Teman Verse 34 refers to the land of the Temanites, which suggests that Teman was a geographical term for Edom( see Ob 9; Hab 3:3; Eze 25:13). 36:12 Amalek Amalek is in Esau’ s family line by a concubine, Timna. The OT casts the Amalekites as one of Israel’ s most bitter foes. The Amalekites are elsewhere not described as part of Edom( see Ex 17:8 – 15; Nu 24:20), likely because they are descendants of a concubine. This may indicate that they were latecomers to the Edomite tribal confederation. This is supported by Ge 36:22, which describes Timna as the sister of Lotan, an indigenous Horite( v. 20). This suggests that the Edomites who migrated to Seir began to intermarry with the native population.
36:15 – 19 This portion of Esau’ s genealogy focuses on Esau’ s firstborn son, Eliphaz. In this section each individual is described as a“ chief”( alluph in Hebrew). The term alluph is related to the Hebrew word eleph, which refers to a clan or subdivision of a tribe.
36:20 – 30 This portion of the second genealogy traces the lineage of the indigenous Canaanite people— the Horites or Hivites( see 36:2 and note)— who were native to the region taken over by the descendants of Esau( 36:8). This list links the family of Esau to the native Horites through his marriage to Oholibamah, daughter of a chief of the Horites( 36:25; compare 36:18 – 19). The placement of this genealogy of the Horites suggests that they were assimilated into the clans of Edom. In this section, Seir is identified as the ancestor of the native clans. The region of Seir was named after him.