Genesis 36

CHAPTER 36THEME: Esau moves from Canaan to Mount SeirThis chapter deals entirely with the family of Esau which became the nation of Edom. Although it may not be too interesting for the average reader, it is a marvelous study for one who wants to follow through on these names and the peoples who came from them. You will find that some of the names mentioned here are names that one hears out on that great Arabian desert today. Omar, the tentmaker, belongs out there, as do Teman and Zepho and Kenaz and Korah. Well, here is the family of Esau, and they are still located out in that area. The family of Esau settled in Edom, which is right south and east of the Dead Sea. It is a mountainous area, and the capital of Edom, the rock-hewn city of Petra, stands there today. Prophecy in the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Obadiah concerning Edom has been remarkably fulfilled. The nation of Edom came from Esau. Three times in this chapter it is made very clear that Esau is the father of Edomin fact, the names are synonymous (notice verse Gen_36:8, for example). Then what is the difference between Esau and Edom? Well, when we first met Esau, we saw him as a boy in the family of Isaac. He was the outdoor, rugged type, a fine-looking athletic boy, by the way. Outwardly, he looked attractive, but if there ever was a man of the flesh, Esau was that man. Years ago a Christian girl talked to me about a fine-looking young man whom she had met. To tell the truth, they were both fine-looking young people. She had been born in China. Her father was in the oil business and had been made very wealthy. She met this young man who was a bank clerk, a very poor boy. I had been a bank clerk when I was a young fellow, and I knew that a lot of bank clerks look around for a good marriage.

They notice the daughters of customers who have money in the bank. So this boy had met the girl. He was a handsome brute, fine-looking, the rugged type. To me he looked like Esau. She was a lovely Christian girl who had been led to the Lord by a missionary while in China. She insisted on marrying this young man, hoping that he would come to the Lord.

I had talked with him and knew he had no notion of coming to the Lord, but he wanted to marry that girl. She was beautiful and she had moneyand he was a man of flesh. I told them I could not perform the ceremony. She was quite provoked with me, but later on she came back to tell me that she was divorced. She told me she had never known a person so given over to the things that were secular and carnal and of the flesh. She said she never dreamed there could be a person who would never in his entire life have a high, noble, spiritual, wonderful thought.

She said he was as crude as one could possibly be. On the surface he gave a good impression, and he had been well mannered and chivalrous when they were courting, but underneath the facade he was crude and rude. Well, that is Esau, also. If you had been an attractive young lady in Esau’s day and had seen him there in his family, the chances are that you would have been glad to date him. He was an attractive young man, but he was a man of the flesh. Perhaps someone will want to argue with God about His choice of Jacob over Esau. Esau looked so good on the outside. Could God have made a mistake? Well, over in the little prophecy of Obadiah we see Esau unveiled. One little Esau has become about one hundred thousand Edomites. Each one of them is a little Esau.

Now take a look at the nation and you will see what came from Esau. It is like putting Esau under a microscope; he is greatly enlarged. What do we see? We see a nation filled with pride. God said to Edom: “The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD” (Oba_1:1:3-4).

The pride of their heart was a declaration of independence, a soul that says it can live without God and does not have a need for God. That is Esau. In the last book of the Old Testament God says, “Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated.” God never said that until over one thousand years after these men lived, but God knew the heart of Esau at the beginning. After they worked their way out in history, it is obvious to us all that God was accurate.

Genesis 36:1

Again we are told that Esau is Edom.

Genesis 36:2

Esau, you recall, had married two Canaanite women and also an Ishmaelite woman.

Genesis 36:6

Remember that Abraham and Lot had had that same problem. There was not enough grazing land for them. Each one had too many cattle. They had separated and now Esau leaves the Promised Land, leaves it on his own, due to economic circumstances.

Genesis 36:8

Now Esau moves from “the land of Seir” in Canaan, where he lived when Jacob returned from Padan-aram (Gen_32:3), to Mount Seir, which I have already described.

Genesis 36:12

This is the beginning of the Amalekites. Down through the centuries those tribes which were there in the desert pushed out in many directions. Many of them pushed across North Africa. All the Arab tribes came from Abrahamthrough Hagar, the Egyptian, and through Keturah, whom he married after the death of Sarah. And there has been intermarriage between the tribes. They belong to the same family that Israelites belong to. In the Mideast I met an Arab who expressed hostility to a statement I had made about the nation Israel in a message I had given to our tour group. Although he was a Christian Arab, he told me how he hated the nation Israel. I said to him, “But he is your brother.” Believe me, that did antagonize him! He said, “I have no relationship with him at all.” I insisted that he did. I said, “You are both Semitic people. You are a Semite as much as they are.” Well, he had to admit that was true. So this chapter is important as it shows these relationships. The Spirit of God uses a great deal of printer’s ink to tell us about this. We find some humor in this chapter, too.

Genesis 36:15

Where in the world did they get these dukes? Well, here is the beginning of nobilitythey just assumed these titles. Each one of them became a duke. It is not just a nicknamethey mean business by it. The beginning of nobility is in the family of Esau.

Genesis 36:19

They have dukes in the family now. A great many people in my country can trace their ancestry back to royalty. It makes me wonder if anybody who came from Europe were folk who worked in vineyards, made pottery, and ran shoe shops. Everybody seems to have come from royalty. Well, Esau turned out quite a few of them. In fact, he went further than producing dukes

Genesis 36:31

This business of having kings was not God’s plan for His people. But this was the lifestyle of Edom. They had dukes and kings over them. If you had belonged to the family of Esau, you would have needed a title, because that is the type of folk they were. It is interesting to note that the people of Esau had kings long before the people of Israel had kings. In fact, later on the people of Israel will say to Samuel, “…make us a king to judge us like all the nations” (1Sa_8:5). They could have said, “Our brothers down south, the Edomites, have kings. We would like to have kings like they do.”

Genesis 36:40

This is the family history of the rejected line. When the chapter gives the final resumé, it lists again the dukes that came from the line of Esau. There must have been a lot of bowing and scraping to each other when they got together. “I want you to meet my brother here. He is Duke Alvah” and “I want you to meet my friend. He is Duke Timnah.” And the kingsI doubt if you could even get in to see them! This is a very interesting chapter for anyone who is interested in the study of anthropology or ethnology. A chapter like this gives a family history which probably extends farther back than any other source could go. So the chapter closes with a list of the dukes and mentions again that their habitation is in the land of their possession which is Edom. “He is Esau the father of the Edomites.” We see the working out of this in the prophecies of Obadiah and in Malachi. This is quite remarkable, friend, and something we cannot just pass by.