Sunday Night, November 3, 2019 PM

Esau’s Line and the Nation of Edom in Genesis 36

We're going to be reading about Esau and his descendants and the formation of the nation of Edom. As we remember that when Esau was born, he was named Esau because he was hairy, but his other name was Edom because he was red, red and hairy.

So those are his two names, Esau and Edom. In Genesis 36, we have a record of Esau. We've been learning a lot about Jacob, Jacob and his sons, about his comings and goings. We have a lot of detail about Jacob, but most of the detail that we have about Esau and his descendants is all captured here in Genesis 36.

You could imagine that everything we know about Esau and Edom is here in Genesis 36 and in the book of Obadiah and a few passages here and there throughout the rest of scripture, as contrasted to what we know about Jacob and his descendants, which is, again, just the whole story as we're following God's promises to Israel in the coming of the Messiah.

So Genesis 36 is going to be our focus. I'm going to pray for us and then we're going to work our way through the chapter bit by bit. Father, I thank you again for gathering us together tonight. I pray that you would bless the study of your word tonight and help us to understand it, that you would lead us by your spirit.

We pray these things for Christ's sake. Amen. Okay. We're going to begin with verses 1 through 8. And as we work through the text, I'm going to give us an outline to follow. I'm going to leave the first word blank in all the points.

And after we finish, then I'm going to see if you know what the first word is. It's going to be the same in each point. The second word will be different. So this will be a fill-in-the-blank at the very end.

Okay? All right. So prosperity is our first focus here in verses 1 through 8. Now, these are the records of the generations of Esau, that is, Edom. Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan, Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Holy Bama, the daughter of Anah, and the granddaughter of Zibion the Hivite, also Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nebaioth.

Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, and Basemath bore Reuel, and Holy Bama bore Jeish, and Jelum, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan. So here we hear about wives. This is an evidence of Esau's wealth.

It's a status symbol in the ancient Near East to be able to afford more than one wife. The sin of polygamy was committed for various reasons, not least of which was a desire to have many sons. You could not, however, marry many wives if you did not have a great deal of wealth.

So if a man had many different wives, then it was a sign of wealth. You can think of the notorious example of Solomon. The richest man in the world had the most wives in the world. So Esau is reported to have three wives from three different nations.

There was a Hittite, a Hivite, and an Ishmaelite. And Esau obviously is prosperous because he has three wives. Now, what about his sons? Verses four and following. Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, and Basemath bore Reuel, Holy Bama bore Jeish, and Jelum, and Korah.

Five sons. Now that five sons is a wealth as well to a man of the ancient Near East. To have five sons is no small thing. Sons were a measure of wealth as well. A man could have many lands and livestock, but if he had no sons, he was considered to be incredibly deprived.

A poor man, indeed. He would have no one to pass on his inheritance to. His name would go out of the earth. And so sons were highly prized. So let's consider also the livestock of Esau. He was a wealthy man because of his wives, because of his sons, and also because of his livestock.

Verse six and following. Then Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all his household, and his livestock, and all his cattle, and all his goods, which he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went into another land away from his brother Jacob.

For their property had become too great for them to live together, and the land where they sojourned could not sustain them because of their livestock. So Esau lived in the hill country of Seir. Esau is Edom.

Now Esau has a lot of livestock. Where'd he get all these animals? I thought all he had was a band of 400 men. Where'd he get all these animals from? Jacob. Jacob gave him a lot of animals. And if Esau didn't have any animals yet, he sure got himself a great starter package to become a nomadic herdsman.

So he received lots of animals from Jacob that either was added to what he already had, or it became the basis for his growing wealth in livestock. He had so much that he could not maintain a livelihood in the same area as Jacob.

They just had too much. Remember that Abraham and Lot had to separate because they had so much livestock between, and the land could not support them both. Very similar situation. So Esau heads east while Jacob remains in the promised land, just like Lot headed east while Abraham remained in the promised land.

A very similar pattern. And so Esau is very wealthy. He is very prosperous. He has many wives, many sons, much livestock, and he is the start of a great nation named Edom. Esau is Edom. So he lives in the hill country of Seir.

There it is. He is prosperous. He has much prosperity. So when we think about wealth and the prosperity of Edom is no exception, wealth is not in and of itself sinful by any means. But what is the great failing of wealth and what is the great failing of man in regards to wealth?

It becomes his God. If he loves the wealth, if he idolizes the wealth, if he worships the wealth, this is the great failing of man. The love of money is the root of all evils and many evils at the very least.

Now what we have here is a reminder in Ecclesiastes 5 verses 10 through 11. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money. This is wisdom from Ecclesiastes chapter 5 verses 10 through 11. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money nor he who loves abundance with its income.

This too is vanity. When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to look on? So we should not love wealth. What benefit are they, Solomon asks, except to just look at them.

I mean, really, what good are they? Possessions cannot talk to you, love you, guide you. They do not last. So we have prosperity, but of course, and although his prosperity is impressive, we must remember that there are severe limits to prosperity.

It is not all that it maybe cracks up to be. When we get all the wealth in the world, what good is it if we do not own it and steward it to God's glory? Well, we move from prosperity to more details about Esau's progeny, about the sons of Jacob and all of their comings and goings and all the important things that happened to them.

But for now, we have a detail of Esau's progeny. Verse nine, then these are the records of the generations of Esau, the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir. Notice his sons, more detail about his sons.

These are the names of Esau's sons, Eliphaz, the son of Esau's wife, Ada, Reuel, the son of Esau's wife, Bassamoth. The sons of Eliphaz were Timon, Omar, Zepho, Gatham, and Kinaz. Timnah was the concubine of Esau's son, Eliphaz, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.

These are the sons of Esau's wife, Ada. These are the sons of Reuel, Nahath, and Zerah, Shammah, and Mitzah. These are the sons of Esau's wife, Bassamoth. These are the sons of Esau's wife, Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah, and the granddaughter of Zibion.

She bore to Esau Jeush, and Jelom, and Korah. All right, so in other words, Esau has many sons, and his sons have many sons. What does this mean for Esau? It means that his name will last for quite some time.

Sons, as we've already said, were very, very important, very significant. Solomon in Ecclesiastes ponders the sorrow that someone may have for not having a son, Ecclesiastes 4, 7 -8. And I looked again at vanity under the sun.

There was a certain man without a dependent, having neither a son nor a brother. Yet there was no end to all his labor. Indeed, his eyes were not satisfied with riches, and he never asked, and for whom am I laboring and depriving myself of pleasure?

This too is vanity, and it is a grievous task. Remember that Absalom had no son. He set up a pillar in the king's valley, and the only way to make sure his name would be remembered. And this was the perspective of those in the ancient Near East.

If I don't have a son, how will my name last? How will my name be remembered? And so the progeny of Esau, however, he's in no threat of his name going away. He has many sons, and his sons have many sons as well.

And not only did he have many children, but they all seem to be very successful. So notice the chiefs of Edom now, beginning in verse 15. These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau, are chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kana, chief Korah, chief Gatham, chief Amalek.

These are the chiefs descended from Eliphaz. In the land of Edom, these are the sons of Adah. These are the sons of Rehuel, Esau's son, chief Nachath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mitzah. These are the chiefs descended from Rehuel in the land of Edom.

These are the sons of Esau's wife, Basemath. These are the sons of Esau's wife, Aholibamah, chief Jeush, chief Jelum, chief Korah. These are the chiefs descended from Esau's wife, Aholibamah, the daughter of Enah.

These are the sons of Esau, that is Edom, and these are their chiefs. Okay, so the structure of tribes with chiefs would be common enough, but the sheer number of them being listed, they're being listed so you can see how quickly Esau's descendants became a great nation and how they quickly organized themselves into this particular power structure.

So Esau's descendants showed that they were strong and they worked hard enough, they all made names for themselves, they were all a chief in their own way. Had you spent any time with Esau, he probably would have told you how successful his kids and his grandkids were, how they were a chip off the old block, and they all took after the old man.

And he would be right, and he would revel in that. So as we think about the raising up of children, it's not the glory of someone in their children, we can understand that, but what is the true significance of it?

What if these children are not raised to know God and to live according to his ways? God did not look for child rearing that produced chieftains, that that wasn't a bad idea, or success stories, though God is certainly not against success.

What did he look for? Deuteronomy chapter 4 verses 24 to 26 says, for the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. When you become the father of children and children's children, and have remained long in the land, and act corruptly and make an idol in the form of anything and do which is evil in the sight of the Lord your God so as to provoke him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that you will surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it.

You shall not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed. Do you remember the first commandment with promise? Honor your father and mother, and your days shall be long on the earth. And even more particularly, you shall live long in the land, right?

Now what would happen if parents did not raise their children to honor the heavenly father? Then they would not prosper and live long in the land either, would they? So, we see that Esau had many generations, he had many children, but the question of course is, was he raising them to honor the Lord, to know the Lord, to fear the Lord?

And we can leave that question for the answer at the end. The third thing that we see in the text is that of power. Power, make sure I get my reference correct, yes. It's no surprise that Esau having great prosperity, great wealth, that Esau having many sons and many grandsons and becoming, it's no surprise that he became a great power in the world, that his descendants became strong in the world.

Now, in verses 20 through 30, we have to understand that these are, this list in verses 20 through 30 of Genesis 36, this is the list of the descendants of Seir the Horite. And they are listed only for this one reason, they got beat.

These are the mighty men of Seir the Horite who were defeated by Edom. That's why they're being listed here. So, let's listen to their names. This is the losing faction. So, verse 20, these are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land.

Remember, it keeps on saying that Esau went to live in the land of Seir. Well, that's somebody else's land. So, how did he get it? Well, this is the people who live there first. Lotan and Shobal and Zibion and Anna, verse 21, and Dishon and Ezer and Dishon.

These are the chiefs descended from the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. The sons of Lotan were Hori and Himmim and Lotan's sister was Timnah. These were the sons of Shobal, Alvin and Manahath and Abel, Shefo and Onam.

These are the sons of Zibion, Ayah and Anna. He is the Anna who found the hot springs in the wilderness when he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibion. Oh, that Anna. These are the children of Anna, Dishon and Holibama, the daughter of Anna.

These are the sons of Dishon, Himdun and Eshbon and Ithrun and Charon. These are the sons of Ezer, Bilhon and Zahavon and Akon. These are the sons of Dishon, Ez and Eran. These are the chiefs descended from the Horites, chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibion, chief Anna, chief Dishon, chief Ezer, chief Dishon.

These are the chiefs descended from the Horites according to the various chiefs in the land of Seir. All right. And so they are listed because they are the lesser. The lesser is listed before the greater.

They were defeated. Deuteronomy 2 .12 says that the Horites formerly lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place. So Deuteronomy 2 .12 says what happened to these folks?

There was a lot of them. They were powerful too. They were mighty too. They had many chiefs as well. But they were defeated by the Edomites. So that's why they're being listed. Now the land of Seir is southeast of the Dead Sea.

So if you look in the maps in the back of your Bible and you go southeast from the Dead Sea, you'll see some notation about Seir or Edom and that's their location. It's very mountain fortress of Petra.

And this was a mountain fortress that was uncovered in the 1800s through archaeological efforts and is a very famous ancient location. So let's read about the kingdom of Edom and their great power beginning in verse 31.

Now these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the sons of Israel. Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom and the name of his city was Dinhabah. Then Bela died and Jobab the son of Zerah of Basra became king in his place.

Then Jobab died and Husham the son in the land of the Timanites became king in his place. Then Husham died and Hadad the son of Bedad who defeated Midian in the field of Moab became king in his place and the name of his city was Avith.

Then Hadad died and Samlah of Masrekah became king in his place. Then Samlah died and Shaul of Rehoboth and the Euphrates river became king in his place. Then Shaul died and Baal Hanan the son of Akhvor became king in his place.

Then Baal Hanan the son of Akhvor died and Hadar became king in his place and the name of his city was Pau and his wife's name was Mehetabel and the daughter of Matred the daughter of Mezachab. The Edomite kings in succession were known for great deeds.

They defeated other nations in battle. They were from far off lands. They were able to spread their influence a great deal. They were powerful men in the Edomite dynasty. They became kings of that land because they defeated the Horites and because they maintained their power against all who would try to take it from them.

When we think of power, this is yet another thing that we would label as success and we're looking at Esau's success, are we not? We're looking at his prosperity, we're looking at his progeny, we're looking at his power.

So here's a man who is powerful, who has many descendants and is great in his wealth and these are all all of them, the factors, the ingredients, shall we say, of what we would consider success, not just in our culture but in many other cultures as well.

It's kind of universal aspects of success. Well, what about power? Power has the same drawback as riches. Proverbs 27 24 says, riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations. Just because you're rich and powerful doesn't mean it's going to last.

There are some drawbacks to them. There are some limitations. Edom thought they would never be conquered. Their fortress was legendary. It was carved out of mountains. The archaeologists who discovered Petra were impressed that it was so designed that 12 men could hold off a thousand in the narrow crevices on the approach to their fortress.

And so Edom was very arrogant that they could never be defeated. And this is referenced in the book of Obadiah, which is a sentence of judgment of God upon Edom. So in Obadiah verses 3 and 4, chapter 1 verses 3 and 4, it says, the arrogance of your heart has deceived you.

They're arrogant because they're wealthy, they're powerful, and so on. The arrogance of your heart has deceived you. You who live in the clefts of the rock. Now that's Petra. In the loftiness of your dwelling place, nobody can ever take us.

Who say in your heart, who will bring me down to earth? Though you build high like the eagle, though you set your nest among the stars, right? Because they're up in the mountains. From there I will bring you down, declares the Lord.

So Petra is no match for God. His judgment can reach even that supposedly impregnable fortress. And so we're reminded that the kingdom and the power and the glory belong to God. But Esau was incredibly powerful.

He was prosperous, he had many sons, great descendants, and he was indeed powerful. And for our fourth consideration, take the word progress. I think we go to 46, is that right? No, 43. So when we think about the progress that was made, Esau made a lot of different personal advancements.

He went from, think about Esau's situation. He was the spurned son of a shepherd, Isaac. And he went from that position, being the non-blessed son, the black sheep of the family, to becoming a leader of a wealthy, militarily powerful nation.

Edom as a nation made many advancements. They built impressive cities, they settled many lands, and they produced a group of men renowned for their intelligence and insight. And Obadiah chapter 1 and verse 2 is a good reference for that.

But think about the cities they built. In verses 31 through 39, we read about these cities, Dinhabah, Basra, Avis, Mathreka, Rehoboth, and Pehu. Not only were many cities built, but a great expanse of land was settled and ruled by Edom.

Verses 40 and following. Now, these are the names of the chiefs descended from Esau according to their families and their localities by their names. Chief Timnah, Chief Alva, Chief Jetheth, Chief Aholibama, Chief Ela, Chief Pinnon, Chief Kannaz, Chief Timmon, Chief Mibzar, Chief Magdeal, Chief Eram.

These are the chiefs of Edom, that is Esau, the father of the Edomites, according to their habitations in the land of their possession. They possessed their lands. They took them over and they possessed them.

That could not be well said of the tribes of Israel when they first entered the land. When we begin to read the details of how Judah and Reuben and the other tribes fared in the beginning of the book of Judges, for instance, there were many different failings of the people of Israel as they couldn't take this area or that area and so on.

Not so for the Edomites. They conquered, they took, they held. They made their progress and did so very well. By every measure that we have in the record of Scripture and in the discoveries made by archaeologists, Edom was a place of many architectural and societal advancements.

Now, we are considering the success story of Esau. Esau's success story certainly could have been perhaps published in a magazine. It could be one of those stories of how someone pulled himself up by his own bootstraps and how he was wronged early on.

His family gave him no support and his brother wronged him. His father was weak to reverse the wrong and Esau could have said stuff like, it only made me stronger. I wouldn't have it any different now.

I'm a success now because I learned how to fight through and win the day over adversity. You can imagine that kind of success story about Esau. But you come to the end of it and we have this list of Esau's success in Genesis 36.

We have his prosperity, his progeny, his power, and his progress. What would be a good adjective to list here in front of all four of those? Have you thought of a good word? What are some good candidates for that?

Temporary is a great word. Because that's what we've been hearing from Ecclesiastes and Proverbs, isn't it? What else could we put there? Look at what I can do. Look at all my achievements. A better question would be this too.

Why is this chapter in the Bible? I mean, who cares? It's Edom. It's not Israel. Why do we care how successful Edom was? Well, it does type a loose end. Well, what happens to Esau? And we do encounter Edom later on in the biblical story.

And so, oh, this is the continuation. But in my question about why in the world did God include chapter 36 in the Bible, there's also a related question about what is not included in chapter 36. There is a word that is absent from chapter 36.

It's not there. God. God is not there in chapter 36. The adjective that I think of when I read this is godless. He was prosperous. He had many descendants. He was powerful. Much progress was made by that empire of Edom.

But it was godless, godless, godless, godless. The word God is not in the chapter. It is absolutely devoid. That chapter is devoid of God. Everything that Edom did was godless. And so, of what value is it?

That's the question. Of what value is it if all of this, yes, success, success, success, but it is godless. God is not in the chapter. We are reminded of the difference between Jacob and Esau. Before they were born, when they were still in the womb, God said, Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated.

And how did God prove that in their lives? He wouldn't leave Jacob alone because he loved him. He was hounding him and pestering him all his days. But how did he show he hated Esau? Left him alone. Just left him alone.

Esau became a great success. He just left him alone. It is godless, chapter 36. And so, we're reminded of the message of Ecclesiastes in a nutshell here in Genesis 36. What good is it if we deny God in all of these different endeavors?

Vanity, vanity, all is vanity. All is just striving after the wind. Unless, unless what we're doing is in the fear of the Lord, ever acknowledging who God is and living in light of him, living quorum Deo in the face, before the face of God, everything matters to him.

And so, let's live fearing him. The poem, you may have heard this poem before, Ozymandias, is, I think, a fitting epithet for Esau's tombstone. It's a little bit long, but he may have had a big tombstone, so.

I met a traveler from an antique land who said, two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desert, near them on the sand. Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown and wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command tell that its sculptor well those passions read, which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things.

The hand that mocked them, the heart that fed, and on the pedestal, these words appear. My name is Ozymandias, king of kings. Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. Nothing beside remains round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch away.

That's Esau. That's Genesis 36, great and mighty and powerful, the remains of which we can still see, but what's left of it? What's left of it? So, that's the end of progress, power, progeny, and prosperity without God.

So, here's the prayer of David from Psalm 17, 13 through 15. Here's his prayer. Deliver my soul from the wicked with your sword, from men with your hand, O Lord, from men of the world whose portion is in this life and whose belly you fill with your treasure.

They are satisfied with children and leave their abundance to their babes. As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness. I will be satisfied with your likeness when I awake. There's the prayer of the believer.

All right. Well, let's close by singing the doxology together. Praise God.