Matthew Henry on Genesis 36:9-19
Observe here, 1. That only the names of Esau's sons and grandsons are recorded, only their names, not their history; for it is the church that Moses preserves the records of, not the record of those that are without. Those elders that lived by faith alone obtained a good report. It is Sion that produces men of renown, not Seir, Psa 87:5. Nor does the genealogy go any further than the third and fourth generation; the very names of all after are buried in oblivion. It is only the pedigree of the Israelites, who were to be the heirs of Canaan, and of whom were to come the promised seed, and the holy seed, that is drawn out to any length, as far as there was occasion for it, even of all the trib…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 36:8
Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir--This was divinely assigned as his possession (Jos 24:4; Deu 2:5).
Adam Clarke on Genesis 36:12
Timna was concubine to Eliphaz - As Timna was sister to Lotan the Horite, Gen 36:22, we see how the family of Esau and the Horites got intermixed. This might give the sons of Esau a pretext to seize the land, and expel the ancient inhabitants, as we find they did, Deu 2:12.
Amalek - The father of the Amalekites, afterwards bitter enemies to the Jews, and whom God commanded to be entirely exterminated, Deu 25:17, Deu 25:19.
John Gill on Genesis 36:13
And these are the sons of Reuel,.... Another son of Esau's; this man had four sons, as follow:
Nahath, and Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah: of whom we know no more than their names, unless Maps or Massa, which Ptolemy (z) places in Idumea, should have its name from Mizzah:
these were the sons of Bashemath, Esau's wife; her grandsons, as before.
(z) Geograph. l. 5. c. 16.
John Calvin on Genesis 36:9-23
And these are the generations of Esau, the father of the Edomites [130] Though Esau had two names, yet in this place the second name refers to his posterity, who are called Idumeans. For, to make it appear what God had bestowed upon him for the sake of his father Isaac, Moses expressly calls him the father of a celebrated and famous people. And certainly, it served this purpose not a little, to trace the effect and fulfillment of the prophecy in the progeny of Esau. For if the promise of God so mightily flourished towards a stranger, how much more powerfully would it put itself forth towards the children, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and consequently the inheritance of grace? Esau was an…
