(Genesis) Genesis 36:15-43 — J. Vernon McGee

The Dukes of Esau and the Beginning of Nobility

Verse 15, these were dukes of the sons of Esau. And you have here Duke Omer, Duke Zepho, Duke Kenaz, Duke Korah, Duke Gatham, and Duke Amalek. Where in the world did they get these dukes? Well, here's the beginning of nobility.

They just assumed it, each one of them became a duke. And believe me, here we go, and it's not just a nickname they mean business by. This is the beginning of nobility now. Where did it begin? In the family of Esau.

And again we come back to it in verse 19, that is, this one statement, these are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these are their dukes. My, they got dukes in the family now. And a great many people in this country can trace their ancestry right back to royalty.

You wonder if anybody came from over there, from those who ran stores and worked in vineyards and made pottery and ran a shoe shop. Everybody seems to come from royalty. Well, I'll tell you, Esau turned out quite a few of them, and if you think that is going pretty far, he went farther than that.

Edom's Kings Before Israel

Will you notice verse 31, and these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Israel. The business of having kings. I don't think this was God's arrangement at all to put a king over them like this, but here they go.

They have kings over them also. And isn't this quite interesting? This was before the children of Israel had kings. Where did they get the idea? They got the idea from these people. In fact, that's the thing they told Samuel later on.

They said, we want kings just like our neighbors round about us. And they could have said, our brother down here, the Edomites, they happen to have kings and we'd like to have kings also. This was the thing that they did.

Edomite Genealogy and the Study of Peoples

We find in this section here many things that have to do with certain tribes that actually could be followed today for anyone that would be interested in following the study of anthropology or the study of ethnology.

Here they are. And that lends importance to a chapter like this that goes back, gives a family history probably farther back than anyone else could go. And this is the rejected line. Now immediately after this, we'll take this line that's going to lead to Christ.

The Closing List of Edomite Dukes

Let me read verse 40 again, and these are the names of the dukes that came of Esau according to their families, after their places, by their names. Here's some more dukes, friends. Duke Timnath, Duke Alva, Duke Jetheth.

When they got together, don't you know that that was quite a matter of bowing and scraping to each other and introducing each other? I want you to meet my brother here, he's Duke Alva. I want you to meet my friend here, he's Duke Timnath.

They were dukes and then some of them were kings, and I doubt whether you could even get in to meet them. But now notice how this chapter closes. We have here Duke Magdiel, Duke Aram. These be the dukes of Edom according to their habitations in the land of their possession.

Now this is down in the land of Edom, and now this chapter closes as it began. He is Esau, the father of the Edomites. We see the working out of that in the book of Obadiah and then in the last book of the Old Testament.

This is quite remarkable, friends, and something you just can't bypass. We'll have to leave off there. We'll pick up at the next chapter next time, my beloved.