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 .