This chapter gives us a genealogical account of Esau’s family, of his wives and sons, with whom he removed from Seir, Gen. 36:1–10; of his sons’ sons, or grandsons, who were dukes in the land of Edom, Gen.

Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom. ] Who was surnamed Edom, from the red pottage he sold his birthright for to his brother Jacob, ; an account is given of him, and his posterity, not only because he was a son of Isaac, lately made mention of as concerned in his burial; but because…

And Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan Of the Canaanites, the posterity of cursed Canaan, most of them were of them, though not all, the two following were, and so those, if different from them in , one of his wives was of the family of Ishmael, as after related: Adah the daughter of…

And Bashemath, Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebaioth The eldest son of Ishmael, see ; called there Mahalath.

And Adah bare to Esau Eliphaz This son of Esau, according to Jerom [[12]], is the same with him mentioned in the book of Job, as one of his friends that came to visit him, ; and so says the Targum of Jonathan on ; but he rather was the grandson of this man, since he is called the Temanite: and…

And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah In this genealogy mention is made of another Korah among the sons of Eliphaz, ; which Jarchi thinks is the same with this, and takes him to be a bastard, and begotten in incest by Eliphaz, on his father’s wife Aholibamah; but Aben Ezra observes, that…

And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters The names of his wives and sons are before given; but what were the names of his daughters, or their number, is not said: and all the persons of his house: his menservants and maidservants that were born in his house, or bought with his…

For their riches were more than that they might dwell together, &c.] And therefore it was proper to part, as Abraham and Lot had done before, ; and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them, because of their cattle; their cattle were so numerous that they could not get pasturage for…

Thus dwelt Esau in Mount Seir Before he is said to be in the land of Seir, ; 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 [[16]], much less from the satyrs, and hairy…

And these are the generations of Esau Or the posterity of Esau, his children and grandchildren, as before and hereafter related: the father of the Edomites in Mount Seir; from whom they of that mountain and in the adjacent country had the name of Edomites or Idumeans.

These are the names of Esau’s sons In this and some following verses, an account is given of the sons of Esau, which agrees with what is before observed, and of his sons’ sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau: who seems to be his first wife, and this his first son: Reuel the son of…

And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman This was his firstborn, and from him the city of Teman in Edom or Idumea had its name, see ; and Eliphaz is called the Temanite from hence, ; four more sons are mentioned, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz; but I do not find that any towns or cities, or any part…

And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz, Esau’s son She is said to be the sister of Lotan, the eldest son of Seir the Horite, ; in mention is made of Timna among the sons of Eliphaz, and of Duke Timnah here, ; and Gerundinsis [[23]] is of opinion, that Timnah the concubine of Eliphaz, after she had bore…

And these are the sons of Reuel Another son of Esau’s; this man had four sons, as follow, Nahath, and Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah: of whom we know no more than their names, unless Maps or Massa, which Ptolemy [[24]] places in Idumea, should have its name from Mizzah: these were the sons of Bashemath,…

And these were the sons of Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, Esau’s wife (See Gill on Gen. 36:2); here also the Samaritan and Septuagint versions read, “the daughter of Anah, the son of Zibeon”: and she bare to Esau, Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah; this is repeated from ; no…

These were dukes of the sons of Esau Ben Melech says, the difference between a duke and a king was, that a king is crowned and a duke is not crowned; but Jarchi interprets the word of heads of families, which seems probable; so that as Esau’s sons and grandsons are before related, here it is…

Duke Korah Only among the sons of Eliphaz is reckoned Duke Korah, not before mentioned among his sons, and is left out in the Samaritan version; (See Gill on Gen.

And these are the sons of Reuel &c.] (See Gill on Gen. 36:15).

And these are the sons of Aholibamah Esua’s wife; &c.] (See Gill on Gen. 36:15).

These are the sons of Esua (See Gill on Gen. 36:15).

These are the sons of Seir the Horite, who inhabited the land “Before”, as the Targum of Jonathan adds, that is, before it was inhabited by Esau and his posterity, and called Edom, and had from him the name of Seir; but the Horites dwelt here before him, even in Abraham’s time, ; and who were so…

And Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan These were three others of the sons of Seir, which with the other four before mentioned made seven: these are the dukes of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom; these were in the land of Edom before it was so called and possessed by the Edomites,…

And the children of Lotan were Hori and Heman The first of these seems to have his name from the general name of the tribe or nation, and the other is called Homam, ; and Lotan’s sister was Timna: whom Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau took for his concubine, ; for the sake of which her relation to…

And the children of Shobal were these Who was the second son of Seir, and whose sons were the five following: Alvan, and Manahath, and Ebal, Shepho, and Onam; in Alvan is called Alian, and Shepho is Shephi.

And these are the children of Zibeon The third son of Self, and who had two sons; both Ajah and Anah; of the latter it is observed: this was that Anah that found the mules in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father; who observed, while he was feeding his father’s asses in the…

And the children of Anah were these Dishon, the name of one of his uncles. ; and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah; Aben Ezra thinks this is not the same Anah that was mentioned in the beginning of this verse; since, if he was the same, there was no need to mention him again, but that he is the same…

And these are the sons of Dishon Not of Dishon the son of Anah, but of Dishon the son of Seir, ; and they are the four following: Hemdan, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran; the first of these is called Amram, or rather Chamram, .

The children of Ezer are these Another son of Seir, who had the following sons: Bilhan, and Zaavan, and Achan; the two last are called Zavan and Jakan, in .

The children of Dishon are these The last of the seven sons of Seir, and who had two sons, Uz and Aran; from the former of these the land of Uz, inhabited by the Edomites, had its name, ; some have taken this to be the country of Job, .

These are the dukes that came of the Horites Not that succeeded one after another, as the kings next mentioned did, but were together, at the same time, heads of respective families, and governors of them; and then the seven sons of Seir are rehearsed in this verse and in their order, with the…

These are the dukes that came of Hori The ancestor of Seir, whence he is called the Horite, unless the singular is put for the plural, used in : among their dukes in the land of Seir; not that there were other dukes besides them in the land of Seir until Esau got among them, but these were they…

And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, &c.] In the land that was afterwards called the land of Edom; for this laud was not so called when these kings began to reign: for, according to Bishop Cumberland [[5]], and those that follow him [[6]], these were Horite kings, who, after…

And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom His name was not Balac, as the Septuagint version, which may lead to think of Balak king of Moab; nor is this the same with Balaam, the son of Beor, who lived ages after, as some in Aben Ezra: who he was we know no more of than what is here said; he was the…

And Bela died How long he reigned is not known with any certainty, nor whether he left any sons behind him; if he did, they did not succeed him in the throne; for Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead: this king some have thought to be the same with Job, and from whom one of the…

And Jobab died According to Mr. Bedford, A. M. 2177: and Husham of the land of Temani reigned in his stead; or of the land of the south, as the Targum of Jonathan, of the southern part of the land of Idumea, as it was afterwards called; the metropolis of which was the city of Teman, after spoken of…

And Husham died As is thought, about A. M. 2219, above forty years after the death of Abraham, as computed by the above writer: and Hadad the son of Bedad (who smote Midian in the field of Moab) reigned in his stead: who he or his father were we have no other account, nor of this warlike action of…

And Hadad died As is supposed, about A. M. 2241. and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead; but who he was, or the place he was of, cannot be said.

And Samlah died As is supposed, about A. M. 2283. and Saul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his stead; Rehoboth was one of the cities built by Ashur, ; and was situated near the river Euphrates; and so the Targum of Jonathan calls it Rehoboth which is by Euphrates; but Jerom [[12]], from…

And Saul died About A. M. 2325; and Baalhanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead: whose name, inverted, is observed by Grotius to be the same with Hannibal; it signifies a gracious lord or king.

And Baalhanan the son of Achbor died About A. M. 2367. and Hadar reigned in his stead; the last of the Horite kings, when an end was put to this monarchy by the united families of Seir and Esau, and changed into dukedoms; of which there were seven of the race of Seir, and fourteen of the race of…

And these are the names of the dukes that came of Esau, &c.] After the regal monarchy ceased, the government in Edom was by dukes, and of these there were two sons, one of which an account has been given of already, who were partly of the race of Seir, and partly of the race of Esau; and who were…

Duke Aholibamah, Duke Elah, Duke Pinon. ] The former is the name of a woman, (Gen. 36:2, Gen. 36:25) ; here the name of a man, and also of the place of which he was duke; for Jerom observes [[15]], that Oolibama is a city of the princes of Edom, and who also makes mention of Elath, a country of the…

Duke Kenaz, Duke Teman, Duke Mibzar. ] There was a Kenaz the son of Eliphaz, and so a Teman a son of his, who were both dukes; but these seem to be different from them, though the latter might be duke of the place called Teman from him: which, in Jerom’s time [[18]], was a village five miles…

Duke Magdiel, Duke Iram Magdiel also, Jerom [[21]] says, was in the country of Gabalena, formerly possessed by the dukes of Edom; and the Targum of Jonathan says, this duke was called Magdiel from the name of his city, which was a strong “migdal” or tower: and Jarchi’s note upon this word is, this…