I'm continuing my informal study of the Bible's genealogies. Esau's descendants (and more!) are found in Genesis 36. Interestingly, the genealogy of Esau precedes that of Jacob. Although Jacob is the focus of God’s promise, Esau is under God’s grace as well, even though his descendants vexed the Israelites in later years.
See this site for a good lineage of Esau: https://www.cookancestry.com/Biblical%20Genealogy/05.htm This chart helped because, as I looked at Genesis 36, I was confused as to who was who, and why other families seemed to be included. My Bible chart, which inspired these posts, lays out the families this way:
Here is the KJV for Genesis 36. Remember that the name “Esau” means “hairy,” and “Edom” means “red”---both characteristers of Esau. The New Interpreter’s Bible commentator notes that the lists were probably written after the Davidic subjugation of Edom (I:590).
Genesis 36 Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom.
(On verses 2-5, I’ve highlighted the wives’ names.)
2 Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan; Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite;
3 And Bashemath Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebajoth.
4 And Adah bare to Esau Eliphaz; and Bashemath bare Reuel;
5 And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these are the sons of Esau, which were born unto him in the land of Canaan.
(Verses 6-8 tells a little more of their story. My Jewish Study Bible notes that this passage is reminiscent of the separation of Abraham and Lot. My New Interpreter’s Bible notes that the land is Seir is spoken biblical as a gift from God to Esau, as in Deut. 2:5, Josh. 24:4)
6 And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob.
7 For their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle.
8 Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom.
(Verses 9-14 gives more genealogy. I have highlighted “Timna” because she figures a few verses later, and also Teman because the name appears elsewhere in the Bible.)
9 And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount Seir:
10 These are the names of Esau's sons; Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Bashemath the wife of Esau.
11 And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz.
12 And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau's son; and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek: these were the sons of Adah Esau's wife.
13 And these are the sons of Reuel; Nahath, and Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah: these were the sons of Bashemath Esau's wife.
14 And these were the sons of Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife: and she bare to Esau Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah.
(The KJV word “dukes” means chiefs or tribal princes. One of my Jewish Bibles uses the word "clans.")
15 These were dukes of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz the firstborn son of Esau; duke Teman, duke Omar, duke Zepho, duke Kenaz,
16 Duke Korah, duke Gatam, and duke Amalek: these are the dukes that came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these were the sons of Adah.
17 And these are the sons of Reuel Esau's son; duke Nahath, duke Zerah, duke Shammah, duke Mizzah: these are the dukes that came of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Bashemath Esau's wife.
18 And these are the sons of Aholibamah Esau's wife; duke Jeush, duke Jaalam, duke Korah: these were the dukes that came of Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife.
19 These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these are their dukes.
(Verses 20-30 has to do with the inhabitants of Seir—which is east of the Dead Sea, which became the kingdom of Edom. The family connection is Timna. The charts show more clearly her place in the family lineage.
My Jewish Study Bible points out Deuteronomy 2:12: “Moreover, the Horim had formerly inhabited Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them, destroying them and settling in their place, as Israel has done in the land that the Lord gave them as a possession," NRSV.)
20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, who inhabited the land; Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah,
21 And Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan: these are the dukes of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom.
22 And the children of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan's sister was Timna.
23 And the children of Shobal were these; Alvan, and Manahath, and Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.
24 And these are the children of Zibeon; both Ajah, and Anah: this was that Anah that found the mules in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father.
25 And the children of Anah were these; Dishon, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah.
26 And these are the children of Dishon; Hemdan, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran.
27 The children of Ezer are these; Bilhan, and Zaavan, and Akan.
28 The children of Dishan are these; Uz, and Aran.
29 These are the dukes that came of the Horites; duke Lotan, duke Shobal, duke Zibeon, duke Anah,
30 Duke Dishon, duke Ezer, duke Dishan: these are the dukes that came of Hori, among their dukes in the land of Seir.
(My Jewish Study Bible points out verse 24 and notes that nothing more is said or known about Anah’s discovery. It must've been something known to the original hearers.)
(Verses 31-39 are family groups of kings that reigned in Edom. One of the articles I read indicated that verse 38 is the first biblical mention of the name Baal, “lord.” Sometimes the name applies to Canaanite gods, but here it means “Lord Hanan.”)
31 And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.
32 And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom: and the name of his city was Dinhabah.
33 And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead.
34 And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of Temani reigned in his stead.
35 And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Avith.
36 And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead.
37 And Samlah died, and Saul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his stead.
38 And Saul died, and Baalhanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead.
39 And Baalhanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.
(Verses 40-43 are other clans/chiefs/dukes of Edom, without a clear connection to the preceding verses. It seems to be from another source. The New Interpreter’s Bible suggests that these names are from the times of David’s and Solomon’s times: I:590).
40 And these are the names of the dukes that came of Esau, according to their families, after their places, by their names; duke Timnah, duke Alvah, duke Jetheth,
41 Duke Aholibamah, duke Elah, duke Pinon,
42 Duke Kenaz, duke Teman, duke Mibzar,
43 Duke Magdiel, duke Iram: these be the dukes of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession: he is Esau the father of the Edomites.
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| from https://theisraelbible.com/esau-was-the-father-of-christianity/ |
A very important aspect of these verses is the name Amalek, son of Timna (verse 12). The Amalekites are perennial opponents of the Israelites. According to Wikipedia, in Jewish traditions the name has been used metaphorically for enemies of Jews. In the book of Esther, the enemy of the Jews is Haman; he is traditionally considered a descendant of Amalakites. One of the articles I read noted these passages about the kingdom.
* Exodus 17:8-16, where the Amalekites attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.
* Numbers 24:20, where Galaam prophesied against the Amalekites
* Deuteronomy 25:17-19, where God ordered their destruction, because of the earlier attack at Rephidim.
* Judges 3:13, where the Amalakites, Ammonites, and Moabites defeated Israel and the King of Moab ruled Israel, until God raised up Ehud to defeated them.
* Judges 5:15, where Deborah mentions them in her song.
* 1 Samuel 15, where God orders Saul to destroy the Amalekites, but Saul kept their king captive and retained slaves and soils. (See also 2 Samuel 8:12)
* 1 Samuel 28, where the spirit of Samuel confirms that God had taken the kingdom from Saul because of his earlier disobedience concerning the Amalekites.
I found an interesting article, "Was Esau the Father of Christianity?" https://theisraelbible.com/esau-was-the-father-of-christianity/ According to Talmudic sources, as well as the Zohar, the founders of Rome were Edomites. Thus the Roman Empire, in which Christianity threw and thrived, grew from the family of Esau.
Two orphans were left to [Esau], namely Remus and Romulus, and You [God] gave permission to a she-wolf to suckle them, and afterwards they arose and built… Rome. [Esther R. 3:5]
As I wrote above, the name Teman (verses 11, 15, 34, and 42) appears elsewhere in the Bible and also in the deuterocanonical Baruch. These quotations are NRSV.
* Job 2:11: Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him.
* Jeremiah 25:23, where God orders the cup of the wine of wrath offered to several Gentile kingdoms (verses 15 and following)
* Jeremiah 49:7,
Concerning Edom.
Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?
Has counsel perished from the prudent?
Has their wisdom vanished?
* Ezekiel 25:13, therefore thus says the Lord God, I will stretch out my hand against Edom, and cut off from it humans and animals, and I will make it desolate; from Teman even to Dedan they shall fall by the sword.
* Amos 1:12 So I will send a fire on Teman,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.
* Obadiah 1:9 Your warriors shall be shattered, O Teman,
so that everyone from Mount Esau will be cut off.
* Habakkuk 3:3: God came from Teman,
the Holy One from Mount Paran.
Selah
His glory covered the heavens,
and the earth was full of his praise.
* Baruch 3:22 She has not been heard of in Canaan,
or seen in Teman
Wikpedia has this:
“The Jewish Encyclopedia points out that the biblical genealogy and the references of the name "Teman": "proves that Teman was one of the most important of the Edomite tribes, and this is confirmed by the fact that "Teman" is used as a synonym for Edom itself (Amos i. 12; Obad. 9; comp. Jer. xlix. 20, 22; Hab. iii. 3). The Temanites were famed for their wisdom (Jer. xlix. 7; Baruch iii. 22)".
“The exact location of Teman remains unknown, but there is a possibility that if the city of Teman ever existed as a more permanent location of shepherds during the time of Job, present-day Ma'an (Arabic: معان) in Jordan could be its successor. The possible location of Teman given by bibleatlas.org[5] is in the vicinity of the Jordanian town Ma'an.”
1 Chronicles chapter 1 also includes the genealogy of Esau.
34 And Abraham begat Isaac. The sons of Isaac; Esau and Israel.
35 The sons of Esau; Eliphaz, Reuel, and Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah.
36 The sons of Eliphaz; Teman, and Omar, Zephi, and Gatam, Kenaz, and Timna, and Amalek.
37 The sons of Reuel; Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.
38 And the sons of Seir; Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah, and Dishon, and Ezar, and Dishan.
39 And the sons of Lotan; Hori, and Homam: and Timna was Lotan's sister.
40 The sons of Shobal; Alian, and Manahath, and Ebal, Shephi, and Onam. and the sons of Zibeon; Aiah, and Anah.
41 The sons of Anah; Dishon. And the sons of Dishon; Amram, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran.
42 The sons of Ezer; Bilhan, and Zavan, and Jakan. The sons of Dishan; Uz, and Aran.
43 Now these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the children of Israel; Bela the son of Beor: and the name of his city was Dinhabah.
44 And when Bela was dead, Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead.
45 And when Jobab was dead, Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his stead.
46 And when Husham was dead, Hadad the son of Bedad, which smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Avith.
47 And when Hadad was dead, Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead.
48 And when Samlah was dead, Shaul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his stead.
49 And when Shaul was dead, Baalhanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead.
50 And when Baalhanan was dead, Hadad reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Pai; and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.
51 Hadad died also. And the dukes of Edom were; duke Timnah, duke Aliah, duke Jetheth,
52 Duke Aholibamah, duke Elah, duke Pinon,
53 Duke Kenaz, duke Teman, duke Mibzar,
54 Duke Magdiel, duke Iram. These are the dukes of Edom.
