Genesis 36

Genesis 36:1

It all begins with God An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on the Book of Genesis www.easyenglish.info Marie Wetherill and Keith Simons This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 36 Esau’s *descendants v1 These are Esau’s (Edom’s) *descendants.

v2 Esau married *Canaanite wives. He married Adah, the daughter of Elon the *Hittite. And Esau also married Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah. Anah was the son of Zibeon the *Hivite. v3 Also, Esau married Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter. She was Nebaioth’s sister.

v4 Adah had a baby called Eliphaz for Esau. Basemath had a baby called Reuel. v5 Oholibamah had babies called Jeush, Jalam and Korah. Those are Esau’s sons. They were born for him in the country called Canaan.

v6 Then Esau went away. He took his wives, his sons and his daughters. And he took everyone in his *household. He also took his *cattle and all his animals. He took everything that he had got in the country called Canaan. Esau went into a country that was away from his brother Jacob. v7 They could not live near each other, because they both had so much wealth. Esau and Jacob had many *cattle. Where they were living before, there was not enough land for them both. It was not enough to feed all their *cattle. v8 So Esau lived in the hilly region called Seir. People also call Esau ‘Edom’.

v9 These are Esau’s *descendants. Esau was the father of the *Edomites. They live in the hilly region called Seir.

v10 These are the names of Esau’s sons. Eliphaz was the son of Esau’s wife Adah. Reuel was the son of Esau’s wife Basemath.

v11 Eliphaz’s sons were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam and Kenaz.

v12 (Timna was a *concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz. She had a baby called Amalek for Eliphaz.) Those were the grandsons of Esau’s wife Adah.

v13 Reuel’s sons were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. Those were the grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

v14 These were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah. She was the daughter of Anah, who was Zibeon’s son. Oholibamah had babies called Jeush, Jalam and Korah for Esau.

v15 These were the chief men among Esau’s sons. The sons of Eliphaz, Esau’s oldest son, included the chief men Teman, Omar, Zepho and Kenaz. v16 The other sons of Eliphaz were the chief men Korah, Gatam and Amalek. They were chief men in the country called Edom. And they were Adah’s grandsons.

v17 These were the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son. They were the chief men Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. They were chief men in the country called Edom. They were Reuel’s sons. And they were the grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

v18 The chief men Jeush, Jalam and Korah were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah. She was Anah’s daughter.

v19 All those were Esau’s (Edom’s) sons. Those men were chief men.

v20 These were the sons of Seir, the *Horite. They lived in that country. They included Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon and Anah. v21 The other sons of Seir were Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. Those men were *Horite chief men. They were Seir’s sons in the country called Edom.

v22 Lotan’s sons were Hori and Heman. Lotan had a sister, Timna.

v23 These were Shobal’s sons. They were Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho and Onam.

v24 These were Zibeon’s sons. They were Aiah and Anah. This man Anah used to feed the *donkeys of his father Zibeon in the desert. There, one day, he found wells where hot water came up.

v25 These were Anah’s children. They were his son Dishon and his daughter Oholibamah.

v26 These were Dishon’s sons. They were Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran and Cheran.

v27 These were Ezer’s sons. They were Bilhan, Zaavan and Akan.

v28 These were Dishan’s sons. They were Uz and Aran.

v29 Those men were the *Horite chief men. They were Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon and Anah.

v30 There were also Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. Those were the chief men among the *Horites. They were the chief men in their *tribes in the region called Seir.

v31 These were the kings that ruled in the country called Edom. They ruled there before any king ruled over the *Israelites.

v32 Bela, Beor’s son, was the king in Edom. Bela’s city was called Dinhabah.

v33 Bela died. After him, Zerah’s son Jobab ruled. Jobab was from Bozrah.

v34 Jobab died. After him, Husham ruled. Husham was from the region where Teman’s *descendants lived.

v35 Husham died. After him, Bedad’s son Hadad ruled. Hadad’s city was called Avith. Hadad defeated the army from Midian in the country called Moab.

v36 Hadad died. After him, Samlah from Masrekah ruled.

v37 Samlah died. After him, Shaul ruled. Shaul was from Rehoboth by the Euphrates River.

v38 Shaul died. After him, Achbor’s son Baal-Hanan ruled.

v39 Baal-Hanan, Achbor’s son, died. After Baal-Hanan, Hadar ruled. Hadar’s city was called Pau. Hadar’s wife was Mehetabel. She was the daughter of Matred, who was Mezahab’s daughter.

v40 These were the chief men that were Esau’s *descendants. Each *descendant’s name also refers to his family. The name also refers to the place where the family lived. The chief men included Timna, Alvah, Jetheth. v41 They also included Oholibamah, Elah and Pinon. v42 There were also Kenaz, Teman and Mibzar. v43 The other chief men were Magdiel and Iram. They all were chief men in Edom. Each name also refers to the area where the chief man lived. Each chief man owned the area where he lived. Those were *descendants of Esau, who was the father of the *Edomites.

People try to discover what the names of Esau’s *descendants meant. People try to link the names with nations that people knew in that area later. But that is not very helpful. God always does the things that he promises to do. In this chapter, the writer reminds us about this principle. Esau was not the son that God had chosen. But God had made a promise about Esau (Genesis 25:23). So, God gave many *descendants to Esau. Later, King David defeated the *Edomites and he ruled over them. So they did serve Jacob’s *descendants. Notes on the verses Verses 2-8 Esau’s first two wives did not come from Abraham’s family. The writer reminds us about that. God had especially chosen Abraham’s family. So God did not want them to marry *Canaanite wives. But Esau did not care about that. It is very difficult to compare the lists that contain Esau’s wives.

From chapters 26 and 28, we can make one list of Esau’s wives. There is Judith, the daughter of Beeri the *Hittite. There is Basemath, the daughter of Elon the *Hittite. And there is Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael. Then here in verses 2 and 3, we have another list of Esau’s wives. Both lists have the name Basemath, but in each list she has a different father.

And there are two fathers that have a different daughter in each list. Maybe the wives had more than one name. Maybe Esau had more than three wives. We do not know.

Verse 7 God led Esau away from Jacob’s family. He did not want Esau and Jacob to marry members of each other’s family. We do not know when Esau went to live in Seir. (In Genesis 32:3, we see that Esau was already living in Seir then.) God was *blessing both brothers with large *flocks. He had promised to do that.

Verses 9-40 The list of Esau’s *descendants continues. Their nation became large and successful. They appointed kings before Jacob’s *descendants did (verse 31). But God’s ideas about success are different from people’s ideas. In God’s opinion, a nation is not really successful just because it becomes large and powerful. And a nation does not become really successful just because it appoints important kings. The only really successful nations are those whose rulers and people serve God.

© 2006, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

May 2006

Visit our website: www.easyenglish.info

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