Why is Genesis 36 about Esau?

Before continuing with Jacob’s line, the narrator of Genesis recounts the subsequent history of Edomites for a number of generations. The writer likewise treats Ishmael’s descendants before moving back to the story of Isaac (Gen 25:12-18); God confirms his promise that nations will come from Abraham, and the narrator lavishly illustrates this with genealogies. Yet in both cases he quickly returns to the chosen line, and although Joseph is the primary hero in the next narrative, from here on the narrator will include genealogies for all the tribes (46:7-27).

Genesis also recounts where Esau settled, lists kings fom his line, and addresses the Horites, all apparently early traditions. Esau had already settled largely in the hill country of Seir (32:3; 33:14, 16). Now, however, he settles there exclusively (36:8), because God blessed both him and Jacob so fully that there was not room for both in the same place because their flocks and herds needed enough land to graze (36:6-7). Shepherds commonly moved their flocks based on season, but those of Jacob and Esau could not occupy the same location at the same time, so Esau preferred to stay close to his normal settlement. Jacob’s flocks would still have to move periodically to find the best grazing (see 37:12-17).

This arrangement probably recalls the arrangement that their grandfather Abram made with Lot in 13:8-9. Here Esau apparently chose where to go (36:6) as Lot had chosen on that earlier occasion (13:11). In both cases, God sovereignly left the promised land for the specially chosen line (for Abraham and for Jacob), reinforcing the narrative’s emphasis on this promise. The first audiences of these stories, waiting to possess the promised land, undoubtedly treasured these memories and passed them on to their descendants. They remind us again of God’s sovereignty and his ability to fulfill his promises, even when the outcome seems to depend on other people’s decisions.

Why would Genesis list rulers and clans from Edom (36:15-19, 32-43)? The narrator could not yet list kings over Israel (36:31; and if the narrator knew of any, it made little sense to narrate them so far ahead of the narrative’s chronology). God had promised kings to Abraham’s line (17:6, 16); the fulfilment of this promise regarding one descendant from Abraham’s line confirms that the more explicit divine promise of a royal line to Abraham’s other grandson (35:11), offered in the previous Genesis chapter, would also be fulfilled. Genesis includes genealogies of Abraham’s ancestors and key descendants (Ishmael and Isaac, and Isaac’s children Esau and Jacob), until reaching the line in which all the children (Israel’s twelve tribes) would be heirs of the promise.

Finally, we may ask why Genesis devotes space to address the Horites. Between the list of earliest Edomite clan leaders (36:15-19) and subsequent Edomite kings and clan leaders (36:32-39) appear Horite leaders (36:20-30); they had lived on this mountain long before Esau (14:6). One of Esau’s wives, Oholibamah, was a Horite princess, daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon (36:2, 14, 18, 20, 24-25, 29), helping to explain why Esau settled in Seir. Unlike Jacob, who did not intermarry with local inhabitants, Esau did, explaining why tradition preserved the list of Horites. Although Genesis does not explain the outcome, however, Deuteronomy later explains that Esau’s descendants ultimately possessed the Horites’ land (Deut 2:12, 22). (Zibeon the Horite was also a Hivite in 36:2; this seems to be a wider or perhaps overlapping category; cf. 10:17; 34:2; Exod 3:8, 17.)

Feel alienated from church?

Some people don’t attend church because they were hurt by the church. That’s understandable, especially if you had people there harassing or abusing you and even doing it, tragically, in the Lord’s name. Hey, Jesus had problems with religious folk in his day, too. In a way, you might feel more access to God not being around those who misrepresent him. Yet in Ephesians 5 we see that Jesus loves the church. He laid down his life for the church—for the purpose of making the church spotless and pure. If you love Jesus, you are part of the church. If you and I are talking about him together, in a sense we are doing church. Church is not something you just go to. It’s when you engage with other believers about Jesus. But because we’re members of a larger body, it’s not something we can do on our own. Of course, if you’re on a desert island or you’re somewhere else where there are no fellow followers of Jesus, no one can hold that against you. But it’s important for us to connect with other believers to honor the Lord together, and if there aren’t any, maybe the Lord can use you to help some others become believers. You’ll never find perfect Christians (or perfect people of any sort) to hang out with, but just as God is patient in putting up with us, we have to be patient putting up with others.

Obedience, grief, and hope—Genesis 35:16-29

Jacob faces terrible loss

Jacob obeyed God and returned to the promised land, despite the threat of violence at the hands of both Laban (pursuing him from behind) and Esau (confronting him in the land). You might think that when you obey God, even in the face of difficulty, that immediately things will get better. But that’s not what happened to Jacob, and that’s not always what happens to us. In the midst of grief, though, we can take courage, because God’s promises are faithful. God has a good plan for our future, whether in the short run or the long run.

Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel died in childbirth with his youngest son, and his eldest son committed immorality with Rachel’s maid Bilhah, one of Jacob’s other wives and the mother of two of his sons (Gen 30:4, 5, 7; 35:22, 25). (That probably also effectively ended any further intimacy between Jacob and Bilhah.) The death of Rachel and horrific sin of both his firstborn son and one of his wives were even not the end of Jacob’s sorrow. The narrator quickly moves to a crowning (though presumably not unexpected) blow, the death of Jacob’s father (35:29). Esau and Jacob together buried him (35:29), just as Ishmael and Isaac had together buried their father Abraham (25:9), and Joseph and his brothers would one day bury Jacob (50:7-8).

Jacob’s commitment of his household to God in 35:2-4 and God’s promise to Jacob in 35:9-15, then, were followed by much grief. More grief would follow with the disappearance of Joseph, Jacob’s firstborn and closest tie to Rachel (37:33-35). Someday, however, Joseph would be restored to him (45:27-28), and God would renew his promise (46:3-4). He lived to see God’s faithfulness. Even in the midst of Jacob’s sorrow, the narrator chooses to remind us that Jacob had twelve sons (35:22-26); God was preparing a future for a people who would descend from Jacob.

Often testing obscures for us God’s promises, but in light of eternity, what intervenes will ultimately make glorious sense. We can look back and see how God does keep his promises, and is faithful, even in ways we never imagined.

Does doubting salvation make you unsaved?

When I was new in my faith in Jesus, someone worried that I wasn’t really converted because I was doubting my salvation. Can a person struggling with self-doubt have faith for salvation? Yes: The Bible doesn’t say that we are saved by confidence in ourselves, but by confidence in Jesus. Also, the Bible doesn’t say we have to suppress all anxieties, hide from all doubts and make ourselves feel good to know that we’re saved; a person might come up with all sorts of concerns, with fears feeding on fears. Rather, whatever else might be in our head, it is God’s Spirit, not our own doubtlessness, that assures us of salvation (Rom 8:16; 1 John 3:24).