Reflections on Genesis 36

Genesis 36 (Contemporary English Version)
1. Esau, also known as Edom, had many descendants.
   
2. He married three Canaanite women: The first was Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, the second was Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite,
   
3. the third was Basemath, who was Ishmael's daughter and Nebaioth's sister.
   
4. Esau and his three wives had five sons while in Canaan. Adah's son was Eliphaz, Basemath's son was Reuel, Oholibamah's three sons were Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
   
5. (SEE 36:4)
   
6. Esau took his children and wives, his relatives and servants, his animals and possessions he had gotten while in Canaan, and moved far from Jacob.
   
7. He did this because the land was too crowded and could not support him and his brother with their flocks and herds.
   
8. That's why Esau made his home in the hill country of Seir.
   
9. Esau lived in the hill country of Seir and was the ancestor of the Edomites. Esau had three wives: Adah, Basemath, and Oholibamah. Here is a list of his descendants: Esau and Adah had a son named Eliphaz, whose sons were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. Timna was the other wife of Esau's son Eliphaz, and she had a son named Amalek. Esau and Basemath had a son named Reuel, whose sons were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. Esau and Oholibamah had three sons: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
   
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15. Esau and Adah's oldest son was Eliphaz, and the clans that descended from him were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz,
    
16. Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These and Esau's other descendants lived in the land of Edom.
    
17. The clans that descended from Esau and Basemath's son Reuel were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.
    
18. The clans that descended from Esau and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah were Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
    
19. All of these clans descended from Esau, who was known as Edom.
    
20. Seir was from the Horite tribe that had lived in Edom before the time of Esau. The clans that had descended from him were Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,
    
21. Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan.
    
22. Lotan's sons were Hori and Heman, his sister was Timna.
    
23. Shobal's sons were Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.
    
24. Zibeon's sons were Aiah and Anah--the same Anah who found an oasis in the desert while taking the donkeys of his father out to pasture.
    
25. Anah's children were Dishon and Oholibamah.
    
26. Dishon's sons were Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.
    
27. Ezer's sons were Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.
    
28. Dishan's sons were Uz and Aran.
    
29. The clans of the Horites were Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,
    
30. Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan, and they lived in the land of Seir.
    
31. Before there were kings in Israel, the following kings ruled Edom one after another: Bela son of Beor from Dinhabah, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah, Husham from the land of Teman, Hadad son of Bedad from Avith (Bedad had defeated the Midianites in Moab), Samlah from Masrekah, Shaul from the city of Rehoboth on the Euphrates River, Baalhanan son of Achbor, Hadar from the city of Pau (his wife Mehetabel was the daughter of Matred and the granddaughter of Mezahab).
    
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40. The clans that descended from Esau took their names from their families and the places where they lived. They are Timna, Alvah, Jetheth,
    
41. Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon,
    
42. Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar,
    
43. Magdiel, and Iram. These clans descended from Esau, who was known as Edom, the father of the Edomites. They took their names from the places where they settled.
    
    

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    Before moving forward with the history of Jacob/Israel and his family, following the covenat fulfillment with the descendants of Abraham, the writer of Genesis wraps up the family lineage of Esau, Jacob's brother. Esau was prosperous, as was Jacob. So much so that the land could not support the herds of both brothers. Thus, Esau chose to move to the mountains of Seir, where he continued to prosper. When Esau's father, Isaac, blessed him, he told him, "your dwelling place will be away from the richness of the land, away from the dew of the sky above. You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you rebel, you will break his yoke from your neck." (27:39-40) We see the fulfillment of this in these verses.
    
    The next mention of the people of Edom in scripture is of a people who opposed the Israelite nation in its procession through the wilderness toward its promised land. Though Jacob deceived his father out of the blessing Esau would otherwise have received, Esau could have enjoyed some of the blessings of those who were friends of God's chosen people, the Israelites. God's promise to Abraham was that, "I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt." (12:3) Esau and his descendants chose to treat them with contempt. Though he prospered and grew into a nation as did his brother Jacob, it was a nation that was cursed rather than blessed because of its treatment of Israel.
    
    In reading these accounts of God's hand on history, one might mistakenly think that people's destinies were set by God without them having any choice in the matter. But everyone makes their own choices, as was the case with Esau. He chose his own destiny. When Isaac told Esau he would live by the sword, he was prophecying rather than determining Esau's destiny.