THE DESCENDANTS OF ESAU After Isaac’s death, his sons, Jacob and Esau, buried him. The Holy Bible presented us with lists of Esau’s descendants and the chiefs who proceeded from him, and the descendants of Seir, and the kings of Edom... These lists came concise, so that the believer can comprehend the future events that are to follow along the ages, on his own, as far as origin of every people or nation. It came to pass that those nations entered into faith, as the ancient Israel denied his Christ. 1- Wives of Esau 1-3. 2- Descendants of Esau in Canaan 4-5. 3-Departure of Esau to Seir 6-8. 4- Descendants of Esau in Seir 9-14. 5- Chiefs, the sons of Esau 15-19. 6- Sons of Seir 20-28. 7- Chiefs of Seir 29-30. 8- Kings of Edom 31-39. 9- Another list of the chiefs, sons of Esau 40-43. 1- WIVES OF ESAU The names of Esau’s wives were previously mentioned in (Gen. 26:24, 35; 28:9). The reason for the differences between the list mentioned here, and the one mentioned before, is that some of them carried more than one name, something that was common among men and women, as for example, calling Esau by the name of Edom, and Sarai, by the name of Sarah. (1) Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, was most probably Judith, the daughter of Anah the Hivite, who was himself Beeri the Hivite; that is because his father was a Hivite, and his mother was a Hittite; especially that the tribes of the Hivites and the Hittites have been descended from Canaan (Gen. 10:15, 17), and were intermarried. (2) Adah was herself Basmath the daughter of Elon the Hittite (Gen. 26:34). (3) Basmath daughter of Ishmael, sister of Nebajoth, was called Mahalath(Gen. 28:9). 2- DESCENDANTS OF ESAU IN CANAAN We were presented with a list of the sons, born by Esau’s wives, while he was still with his father Isaac in Canaan, who were: (1) Eliphaz (My God is power), son of Adah. (2) Reuel (Care of God), son of Basmath. (3) Sons of Aholibamah: Jeush (Jehovah hastens); Jaalam (Jehovah knows); Korah (Squash plant). 3- DEPARTURE OF ESAU TO SEIR As Jacob and Esau became too prosperous, and their possessions were too great for them to dwell together, and the land of Canaan could not support them because of their livestock, Jacob dwelt in the land of Canaan, to inherit with his descendants what the Lord had promised; Esau, on the other hand, departed to the land of Seir, that extended from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba, embracing a chain of mountains beside agricultural land. 4 Some believe that the name Seir refers to Esau himself, having been hairy; while others see it referring to a land of dense trees, that simulates a hairy body; others still believe that it refers to Seir, one of the chiefs of the Hevites (Gen. 36:20), with whose family Esau got related in marriage, having married Aholibamah, the daughter of Zibeon; Esau went and took possession in that land. 4- DESCENDANTS OF ESAU IN SEIR The Holy Bible presented us with a list of Esau’s sons and grandchildren, born to him in Seir, after departing from the land of Canaan, even though this list includes some of them, who were born in Canaan. 5- CHIEFS OF THE SONS OF ESAU Chiefs, here, mean heads of tribes; the Hebrew word came meaning ‘heads of thousands.’ 6- SONS OF SEIR Here, the seven sons of Seir the Hevite, and their grandchildren, are included. 7- CHIEFS OF SEIR The seven sons of Seir were called chiefs, having been chiefs of tribes. 8- KINGS OF EDOM Those kings were like the judges in Israel; their titles were not inherited, and their authority was similar to a chief of tribe. We have previously, in the introduction to this book, commented on the phrase, “Before any king reigned over the children of Israel” (Gen. 36:31), by saying that it does not mean that it was written at the time of the kings of Israel, but it was written by the prophet Moses, who knew that kings will reign on Israel in eras to come, according to God’s promise to the fathers, like His saying to Jacob: “Kings shall come from your body” (Gen. 35:11). 9- ANOTHER LIST OF THE CHIEFS OF ESAU Some believe that certain of these chiefs took their authority by force, and not by inheritance.
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