Genesis 36

As he fed the asses of Zibeon his father. The sons of princes were wont to follow this employment in ancient times, as Bochart shews out of many authors, particularly the scholiast upon Homer’s Odyssees. To irakaibv koi ol rov BaaiX(o)v TraiStgeTToifxaivov. (Hierozoic.par.i.lib.ii. cap. 44.)

Genesis 36:1

JL HESE are the generations of Esau. Which are here set down to shew how effectual his father’s blessing was, (xxvii. 29.) and, as Maimonides thinks, (par. iii. cap. 00. More Nevoch.) to prevent the destruction of any of the family of Esau, but only those of Amalck: who descended from the first-born of Esau by a concubine, the sister of Lotan, a Horite, one of the ancient inhabitants of Seir, (ver. 12 and 22.) His descendants were to be destroyed, by an express precept, for a particular offence; (Exod. xvii.) but the Divine justice took care of the rest, by distinguishing them thus exactly from him; that they might not perish under the name of Amalckites.

Genesis 36:2

Esau took his wives, &c. The names of these wives are not the same with those he is said to have married, xxvi. 34. Therefore it is probable his former wives died without issue: and so he took another daughter of Elon (when Judith was dead) called Adah: and the daughter of a man called Anah; by whom he had such children as here follow. TJie daughter ofZibeonJ] The word daughter here signifies neice; or, she is called Zibcon’s daughter, because he bred’ her: as the children of Michal are mentioned, (2 Sam. xxi. 8.) though she had none at all; but only educated the children of her sister, as Zibcon, perhaps,, did his brother Anah’s daughter, (ver. 20.)

Genesis 36:3

Bashemath, IshmaeVs daughter. She is called by another name, xxviii.i). But it is likely Esau changed her name from Mahalah, which signifies sickly and infirm, into this of Beshmath, which signifies aromatic and fragrant: either becauso the name better pleased him, or bethought would better please his father: or, she grew more healthy after marriage: or perhaps she had two names given her at first

Genesis 36:6

Went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob. Into another country out of the land of Canaan: into which he lately camo to bury his father, as we read in the latter end of the last chapter. Which being done, he and Jacob, no doubt, agreed about the division of Isaac’s estate, out of which a large share came to Esau: who had something also of his own there before, (all his sons beforementioned being born to him in Canaan, ver. 5.) besides what he had in Seir. His brother Jacob.] He knew of no other name his brother had; that of Israel, it is likely, being not yet published and commonly used.

Genesis 36:7

For their riches were more than that they might dwell together. There was not room enough in the land of Canaan (where they were but sojourners, and could have no more than the present possessors would let to them) for such a vast stock as they had between them: and therefore were constrained to separate, as Abraham, for the same reason, had done from Lot, (xiii. 6, &c.) And Esau having begun before to settle in Seir, did not think fit to bring what he had there hither: but carried what his father left him thither. Where he had enlarged his dominion, since Jacob’s return to Canaan.

Genesis 36:8

Thus dwelt Esau in Mount Seir. It is a question how he could be said to have gone to dw r ell in Seir, upon this occasion; seeing we find him there before, when Jacob came out of Mesopotamia, (xxxii. 3.) But the answer is easy, that then he had only some part of the. country, and not the best of it neither; and therefore, perhaps, had some ofhis estate still in Canaan, while the rest of it was in Seir. And it seems remarkable to me, that he is not said till now to dwell in Mount Seir, but only in the land of Seir, or barely in Seir, to which he invited Jacob at his return, (xxxii. 3. xxxiii. 14. 1G.) This mountainous country, which was richer than the other, he got into his possession after that time. Esau is Edom.] The father of the Edomites, as it follows, ver. 9.

Genesis 36:12

She bare to Eliphaz, Amalek. This was necessary to be set down (as I observed on ver. 1.) that there might be a distinction between the Amalekites, who were to be destroyed, and the rest of the posterity of Esau: concerning whom it is said, " Thou shalt not abhor an Edomitc, because he is thy brother/’ (Deut. xxiii. 7.) Thus Joseph Albo. For though they made a distinct people from the Edomites, and lived in a neighbouring country; yet they possessed that part of Mount Seir which was near Kadesh-Barnca, as may bo gathered from Numb. xiii. 29. and xiv. 43.

Genesis 36:15

These were dukes. The word allouphe, if we may believe R. Solomon Jarchi, signifies heads, chiefs, or riders of families, who may be called princes; though their government was not yet regal, but a kind of aristocracy in the beginning. Ver. 1G. Duke Corah.] He is not reckoned among the sons of Eliphaz, (ver. 11.) but celled the son of Aholibamah, (ver. 14.) and accordingly said to rule over a family descended from hers, (ver. 18.) We must suppose, therefore, there wxre tw r o Korahs; one the son of Aholibamah, the other a nephew of Eliphaz, by some of his sons or grandsons; who came to be a great ruler, and to get the government of some of these families: and, according to the style of Scripture, is reckoned for Eliphaz’s son.

Genesis 36:20

These are the sons of Seir the Eorile. From this Seir the country had its name: but from whom he descended is not recorded. Who inhabited tlie land.] Who were the ancient inhabitants of this country before Esau conquered it, and perhaps were the first that possessed it after the flood; whose genealogy, I suppose, is here mentioned, because Esau’s posterity married with some of them: particularly his eldest son Eliphaz took Timna, sister of Lotan (one of Seir’s sons), for his concubine, (ver. 22.) Tea, Esau himself seems to have married one of this family, viz. Aholibamah, whose father and uncle are said to be Hivites, (ver. 2.) but here plainly called Horites; being descended from Seir the Horite, though dwelling then among the Hivites.

Genesis 36:21

These are the dukes of the Horites. The heads of their families, who governed the country before Esau and his posterity dispossessed them; and settled themselves in the same form of government which they found among these Horites. In the land of Edom.] So it was called in the days of Moses.

Genesis 36:24

This is that Anah who found the mules in the wilderness. Not by accident, but by his art and industry he invented (as w r e speak) this mixture, and produced this kind of creature. So it is commonly interpreted. But the word found, though used four hundred times in Scripture, never signifies (as Bochart hath observed, par. i. Hierozoic. lib. ii. cap. 21.) the invention of that which was not before; but the finding that which already is in being. Nor doth jemim signify asses in Scripture; and therefore others have read the Hebrew word as if it had been written jamim, (as St. Jerome observes), imagining that as Anah fed his father’s asses, he found a great collection of waters, (see Vossius, lib.‘iii. de Idolol. cap. 75.) which some fancy to have been hot waters, or baths, as the Vulgar Latin interprets it. But then we must read the Hebrew quite otherwise than Ave do now: and Bochart gives other reasons against this interpretation; and endeavours to establish another opinion: That by jemim we are to understand emim, a gigantic sort of people, mentioned in Scripture, and next neighbours to the Horites. These Anahis said to find,t.e. to meet withal and encounter; or, rather, to have fallen upon oii a sudden and unexpectedly; as this phrase he shews signifies inScripture. This opinion he hath confirmed with a great many reasons; to which another late learned writer (Wagenseil) thinks an answer may be given: though he inclines to it, if one thing were not in the way; which makes him think, here is rather meant some herb or plant, called lafitiv, which w r ord the LXX. retain, not knowing how to translate it. And thus Aben Ezra affirms many interpreters of the Scripture have understood it: which seems to be the most probable conjecture of all others. (See Wagenseil in his Annot. upon that title of the Talmud called Sota, p. 217, 218, &c.)

Genesis 36:28

The children of Dishan are these: Uz, &c. From this man the whole country, or a great part of it, is called by the name of Uz, (Lament, iv. 21.) which was in Arabia Petraea, in the borders of the land of Canaan.

Genesis 36:30

These are the dukes that came of Hori. This Hori was the ancestor of Seir, by whom this country was first planted. Among their dukes.] Or according to their families, or principalities. *’ •

Genesis 36:31

And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom. It appears by this, that after several dukes (as we translate it) had ruled the country; the Edomites changed their government into a monarchy. And here follows a catalogue of their kings. For I can find no ground for the opinion of the Hebrew doctors, that allnph, a duke, differed in nothing from melech, a king; but that the latter was crowned, the former not crowned. Before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.] Moses having a little before this (xxxv. 11.) mentioned the promise of God to Jacob, that “kings should come out of his loins;” observes, it is a thing remarkable, being a great exercise of their faith, that Esau’s posterity should have so many kings: and there was as yet no king in Israel when he wrote this book, nor (as it is commonly interpreted) a long time after. This Moses might well write without a spirit of prophecy; nor is there any reason to say, this passage was inserted by somebody else after the death of Moses. We might rather affirm, if it were needful, that Moses’s meaning is, " All these were kings in Edom, before his own time;" who was the first king in Israel, (Deut. xxxiii. 5.) For he truly exercised royal authority over them, as Mr. Selden observes, lib. ii. de. Synedr. cap. 1, 2.

Genesis 36:32

The name of his city was Dinhabah. Of which he was governor, perhaps, before he was made king; and wherein he reigned.

Genesis 36:33

Of Bozrah. Which was afterward the principal city of the whole country; as we read in the prophet Isaiah, xxxiv. 6. and Jeremiah xlix. 3. and Amos i. 12. It seems, by this list of their kings, that the kingdom at this time was elective; for the son did not succeed the father: which may have been the reason, perhaps, why it lasted but awhile, before their government was altered.again, (ver. 40.) Maimonides hath an opinion different from all others, that none of these kings were of the race of Esau, but strangers, who oppressed the Edomites; and are here set down by Moses to admonish the Israelites to observe that precept, (Deut. xvii. 15.) " Not to set a stranger to be king over them, who is not their brother," i. e. one of their own nation. -

Genesis 36:35

Who smote Midian in the field of Moab. The Midianites, perhaps, came to invade them; and Hadad marched out and met them in the frontiers of their country, which joined to that of Moab: where he got a great victory over them.

Genesis 36:37

And Saul ofRehoboth by the river reigned, &c. If by the river we should understand Euphrates (as it usually signifies), near to which stood the city of Rehoboth, (Gen. x. 11.) it may seem strange, that one should be chosen from so remote a country, to be king of Edom: unless we suppose him to have been born there, but to have lived in Edom; and by his great achievements to have got into the throne. Otherwise we must take this for some other city, which stood by the most known river of this country.

Genesis 36:38

Baal-hananJ. This name is the reverse (as I may call it) of Hani-ball.

Genesis 36:39

His wife’s name was Mehetabal, &c. None of their wives, much less their pedigree, are named besides this alone: which shews she was an eminent woman in those times and that country; either for wisdom or parentage, or estate, or some other excellence. Ver. 40- And these are the names of the dukes ihat came of Esau.] They seem now to have returned to their first constitution; and kings were laid aside for some time. But in future ages we find they changed again, and then kings reigned successively, the son after the father, as they did in Israel. Some think, these were the great men, who ruled in Edom, in Moses’s time. According to their families, &c] They were the heads of different families, and lived in different places; and, perhaps, reigned at the same time, in several parts. of the country: so the words seem to import.

Genesis 36:43

In the land of their possession. In -their own country; whilst the seed of Jacob sojourned in a strange country, and possessed no land of their own. He is Esau, &c] He ends as he began. This is the account of Esau, the father of the people who are now called •Edomites.