John Gill Bible Commentary

Thus dwelt Esau in Mount Seir,.... Before he is said to be in the land of Seir, Gen 32:3; now to dwell in a mount of that name; from which driving the Horites, he seized upon and dwelt in it; it had not its name from his own rough, shaggy hair, as Josephus says (r), much less from the satyrs, and hairy demons that frequented it, as R. Abraham Seba (s), but rather from Seir the Horite who inhabited the land, Gen 36:20; unless he had his name from the mountain which might be so called, from its being rough and rugged like shaggy hair, and being covered with bushes and brambles which carried such a resemblance; and so it stands opposed to Mount Halak near it, Jos 11:17, which signifies the bald or smooth mountain, being destitute of shrubs, &c. The Targum of Jonathan calls this mountain Mount Gabla, and one part of the land of Edom, or Idumea, was called Gobolites, as Josephus (t) relates, perhaps the same with Gebal, Psa 83:7; hither Esau went and took up his residence, after things were amicably adjusted between him and his brother Jacob; the Jews say (u), that Isaac left, all he had to his two sons, and that after they had buried him, Esau said to Jacob, let us divide what our father has left us into two parts, and I will choose because I am the firstborn; so Jacob divided it into two parts; all that his father had left he made one part, and the land of Israel the other part, and Esau took what his father left, see Gen 36:6; and the land of Israel and the cave of Machpelah he delivered to Jacob, and they drew up everlasting writings between them. Now this or something like it being the case, and those the circumstances of fixings, thus, and by that means, so it came to pass, that Esau dwelt in Seir; and Jacob remained secure and quiet in the land of Canaan: Esau is Edom, so called from the red pottage he had of Jacob, which is repeated to fix the odium of that transaction upon him, as well as for the sake of what follows, showing the reason why his posterity were called Edomites. (r) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 20. sect. 3. (s) Tzeror Hammor, fol. 47. 1. (t) Antiqu. l. 2. c. 1. sect. 2. (u) Pirke Eliezer, c. 38. fol. 43. 1.