A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

Looking at the Scriptures with a blast of fresh air!

Then Isaac his father answered and prophesied, saying,

“And by your sword shall you live, you will go to every place, and wander, and you will be subject to your brother. But when his descendants abandon the commandments of the Torah, then you will break his yoke from your neck.”

“And Esau harbored hatred in his heart against Jacob, his brother, because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him.

And Esau said in his heart, ‘I will not do as Cain did, who killed Abel during their father’s lifetime and then their father had another son, Seth.

Rather, I will wait until the days of mourning for my father have passed, and then I will kill Jacob my brother, and I will be the sole heir.’” Genesis 27:41-42 Jonathan

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and until He has performed the intent of His thought; in the latter days ye shall understand it perfectly.” Jeremiah 23:20

Genesis 35

¹ And God said unto Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make there an altar unto God, who appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.” — Arise, go up to Beth-el; about thirty miles south where Jacob made his first vow, or perhaps, the position of Jacob at Shechem had become dangerous;

² Then Jacob said unto his household and to all that were with him, “Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean and change your garments. — strange gods; besides Rachel’s teraphim, probably, many of the family or servants of Jacob at Haran were idolaters, and had brought their gods with them;

— the object, then, of this tranformation was not merely to raise Jacob’s own family to a higher spiritual state, but also to initiate the many heathen belonging to their households into the true religion.;

— and be clean; either by abstaining from their wives, as some interpret it, from Exodus 19:10; or rather by washing their bodies, as their hands were full of the blood of the Shechemites, and needed to be washed and purified, as the Targum of Jonathan has it, from the pollutions of the slain, before they went to Bethel, the house of God;

³ And let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.” — an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress; on account of his brother Esau, from whose wrath he fled;

⁴ And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. — they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods; rather, the gods of the stranger; and all their ear-rings;

— the “seraphim” as well, perhaps, as other idols acquired among the Shechemite spoil; earrings of various forms, sizes, and materials; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem; that is, the idols, which, after he had broke to pieces, perhaps, he dug a hole under an oak, and there buried them;

⁵ And they journeyed; and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. — the terror of God was upon the cities; there was every reason to apprehend that a storm of indignation would burst from all quarters upon Jacob’s family, but a supernatural panic seized them;

⁶ So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people that were with him. — to Luz, inhabited by those who were called Canaanites, but the place Jacob had called Bethel;

⁷ And he built there an altar and called the place Elbethel [that is, The God of Bethel], because there God appeared unto him when he fled from the face of his brother. —  El-beth-el; that is, the God of the house of God: the God into whose house he had been admitted;

⁸ But Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under an oak; and the name of it was called Allonbachuth [that is, The oak of weeping]. — Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died; but no record of when Rebekah died; but the Targum of Jonathan added, “there tidings were brought to Jacob of the death of Rebekah his mother, and he called the name of it, the other weeping;”

⁹ And God appeared unto Jacob again when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him. — God appears to Jacob again at Bethel, and renews the promise made to him there in Genesis 28;

¹³ And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father and the God of Isaac: The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.

¹⁴ And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west and to the east, and to the north and to the south; and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 28:13-14

¹⁰ And God said unto him, “Thy name is Jacob; thy name shall not be called Jacob any more, but Israel shall be thy name”; and He called his name Israel. — He called his name Israel; so he had been named by the angel that wrestled with him, (Genesis 32:28) and the change of his name, then made, is here confirmed and ratified by the Divine Majesty;

¹¹ And God said unto him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins. — a nation (gōy);

— a company of nations (gō·yim), tribes, for number and power, equal to so many nations; shall come out of thy loins; often, gōy and gō·yim have being translated as Gentile or Gentiles; but here these are the Israelites;

¹² And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.” — and the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee will I give it; meaning the land of between the two rivers, from the Euphates to the Nile which God had by promise given to Abraham and Isaac;

¹³ And God went up from him in the place where He talked with him. — the Targum of Jonathan says: and the Shekinah of the Lord ascended from him in the place where He had spoken with him;

¹⁴ And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with him, even a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon. — even a pillar of stone; made of numerous stones hewed and polished, and well put together; whereas the former (Genesis 28:18) was but a single stone, rude and unpolished;

— and he poured a drink offering thereon; of wine, of which drink offerings under the law were, thereby consecrating it to the worship and service of God.

¹⁵ And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him Bethel. — Jacob called the name Bethel; the house of God, as from El-beth-el, the God of the house; the name was unknown and unused, as what then passed had been confined to Jacob’s own inward consciousness; he now confirmed it and teaches the name to his family, explains the reason why he first gave it;

¹⁶ And they journeyed from Bethel. And there was but a little way to come to Ephrath; and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor. — and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour; the time of childbirth was come;

— and which came suddenly upon her, as travail does, even while journeying, which obliged them to stop; and her pains came upon her, and these very sharp and severe;

¹⁷ And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said unto her, “Fear not. Thou shalt have this son also.” — thou shalt have this son also; as she had one before, at whose birth she said, “the Lord shall add to me another son” and therefore called his name Joseph, Genesis 30:24

¹⁸ And it came to pass as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Benoni [that is, The son of my sorrow], but his father called him Benjamin [that is, The son of the right hand]. — Rachel had passionately said earlier, Give me children, or else I die; and now that she had children, she died!

¹⁹ And Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.

²⁰ And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave; that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day. — that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day; this is a later addition, but whether inserted by Moses or Ezra we cannot tell.

²¹ And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

²² And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine; and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. — Reuben went and lay with Bilhah after Rachel had died; she was the maid that Rachel gave to Jacob earlier;

— there was empty space following the original Masoretic Text, and a pause in it, denoting perhaps after the grief of his heart, that he was not able to speak a word, then an amazement flashed upon him and he elevated himself; as the Targum of Jonathan says; ‘Woe, perhaps there will come forth from me a blemished offspring, just as Ishmael came forth from Abraham and Esau from my father;’

— or another grief for Jacob; a sin and a crime was so provoking, that for it Reuben lost his birthright as the firstborn; the Septuagint also notes that some words might have fallen out of the text by adding, “And it was evil in his sight” for Jacob remembered his defilement to his dying day, and took away the blessing from him; “Reuben: unstable as water, thou shalt not excel;” Genesis 49:3-4

— now the sons of Jacob were twelve; who were the heads of twelve tribes, Benjamin the last being born, and Jacob having afterwards no more children, they were all reckoned up under their respective mothers, excepting Dinah, a daughter, from whom there was no tribe.

²³ The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon and Levi, and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun; — these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padan-aram. All except Benjamin were born there;

— a sore affliction Reuben’s sin was, and no more was said, until the giving of tribal blessing when Jacob was dying; Genesis 49

— Reuben ~ France; Simeon ~ scattered and Germany? Levi ~ Israel; Issachar ~ Finland; Zebulun ~ Holland;

²⁴ the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin; — the sons of Rachel; then Rachel’s, Jacob’s next wife, though in right his first and only one, who had two children, Joseph and Benjamin; whose posterity were promised the richest blessings: Manasseh ~ UK; Ephraim ~ US; Benjamin ~ Norway and Iceland;

²⁵ and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid: Dan and Naphtali; — Dan ~ Ireland, Denmark; Naphtali ~ Sweden;

²⁶ and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Padanaram. — Gad and Asher; Gad ~ Switzerland; Asher ~ Belgium;

²⁷ And Jacob came unto Isaac his father at Mamre, unto the city of Arbah (which is Hebron) where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. — Jacob came unto Isaac his father; probably to dwell with or near him; bringing, it seems, his family with him;

²⁸ And the days of Isaac were a hundred and fourscore years. — as Isaac was sixty when his sons were born, Jacob was one hundred and twenty years of age at his father’s death; and one hundred and thirty when he appeared before Pharaoh;

²⁹ And Isaac gave up the ghost and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. — and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him; in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre; but nothing was said of the six sons of Keturah, and their sons;

— the Book of Jubilees (chapters 37, 38) relates that, after Isaac’s death, Esau was stirred up by his sons to attack Jacob with an army; and that Esau said: “If the boar can change its skin, and make its bristles as soft as wool … then will I observe the tie of brotherhood with thee.” Whereupon Jacob, listening to the advice of Judah his son, “bent his bow and sent forth the arrow and struck Esau his brother on the right breast and slew him.”

Before reading from the Book of Jubilees, remember to reflect on the background earlier:

“And Esau harbored hatred in his heart against Jacob, his brother, because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, ‘I will not do as Cain did, who killed Abel during their father’s lifetime and then their father had another son, Seth. Rather, I will wait until the days of mourning for my father have passed, and then I will kill Jacob my brother, and I will be the sole heir.'” Genesis 27:42 Jonathan

Book of Jubilees: Chapter 37

¹ And on the day that Isaac the father of Jacob and Esau died, the sons of Esau heard that Isaac had given the portion of the elder to his younger son Jacob and they were very angry.

² And they strove with their father, saying: “Why hath thy father given Jacob the portion of the elder and passed over thee, although thou art the elder and Jacob the younger?”

³ And he said unto them “Because I sold my birthright to Jacob for a small mess of lentils;

⁴ and on the day my father sent me to hunt and catch and bring him something that he should eat and bless me, he came with guile and brought my father food and drink, and my father blessed him and put me under his hand.

⁵ And now our father hath caused us to swear, me and him, that we shall not mutually devise evil, either against his brother, and that we shall continue in love and in peace each with his brother and not make our ways corrupt.”

⁶ And they said unto him, “We shall not hearken unto thee to make peace with him; for our strength is greater than his strength, and we are more powerful than he;

⁷ we shall go against him and slay him, and destroy him and his sons. And if thou wilt not go with us, we shall do hurt to thee also.

⁸ And now hearken unto us: Let us send to Aram and Philistia and Moab and Ammon, and let us choose for ourselves chosen men who are ardent for battle, and let us go against him and do battle with him, and let us exterminate him from the earth before he groweth strong.”

⁹ And their father said unto them, “Do not go and do not make war with him lest ye fall before him.”

¹⁰ And they said unto him, “This too, is exactly thy mode of action from thy youth until this day, and thou art putting thy neck under his yoke. We shall not hearken to these words.”

¹¹ And they sent to Aram, and to ’Adurâm to the friend of their father, and they hired along with them one thousand fighting men, chosen men of war.

¹² And there came to them from Moab and from the children of Ammon, those who were hired, one thousand chosen men, and from Philistia, one thousand chosen men of war, and from Edom and from the Horites one thousand chosen fighting men, and from the Kittim mighty men of war.

¹³ And they said unto their father: “Go forth with them and lead them, else we shall slay thee.”
And he was filled with wrath and indignation on seeing that his sons were forcing him to go before (them) to lead them against Jacob his brother.

¹⁴ But afterward he remembered all the evil which lay hidden in his heart against Jacob his brother; and he remembered not the oath which he had sworn to his father and to his mother that he would devise no evil all his days against Jacob his brother.

¹⁵ And notwithstanding all this, Jacob knew not that they were coming against him to battle, and he was mourning for Leah, his wife, until they approached very near to the tower with four thousand warriors and chosen men of war.

¹⁶ And the men of Hebron sent to him saying, “Behold thy brother hath come against thee, to fight thee, with four thousand girt with the sword, and they carry shields and weapons”;

¹⁷ for they loved Jacob more than Esau. So they told him; for Jacob was a more liberal and merciful man than Esau.

¹⁸ But Jacob would not believe until they came very near to the tower.

¹⁹ And he closed the gates of the tower; and he stood on the battlements and spake to his brother Esau and said, “Noble is the comfort wherewith thou hast come to comfort me for my wife who hath died.

²⁰ Is this the oath that thou didst swear to thy father and again to thy mother before they died? Thou hast broken the oath, and on the moment that thou didst swear to thy father wast thou condemned.”

²¹ And then Esau answered and said unto him, “Neither the children of men nor the beasts of the earth have any oath of righteousness which in swearing they have sworn (an oath valid) for ever; but every day they devise evil one against another, and how each may slay his adversary and foe.

— or in modern language:

“And Esau answered and said to him, ‘Never will there be a sworn oath of true faithfulness among mankind and the beasts of the earth forever, for on that very day, a man will do evil to his brother, and an enemy will seek the life of his foe.'”

— this passage reflects a cynical or pessimistic view expressed by Esau towards Jacob, implying that true and lasting faithfulness or loyalty is impossible among people and even among animals, as enmity and hostility are inevitable.

²² And thou dost hate me and my children for ever. And there is no observing the tie of brotherhood with thee.

²³ Hear these words which I declare unto thee, If the boar can change its skin and make its bristles as soft as wool, Or if it can cause horns to sprout forth on its head like the horns of a stag or of a sheep, Then shall I observe the tie of brotherhood with thee.

²⁴ [And if the breasts separated themselves from their mother; for thou hast not been a brother to me.]
And if the wolves make peace with the lambs so as not to devour or do them violence, And if their hearts are towards them for good, Then there will be peace in my heart towards thee.

²⁵ And if the lion becometh the friend of the ox and maketh peace with him, And if he is bound under one yoke with him and plougheth with him, Then shall I make peace with thee.

²⁶ And when the raven becometh white as the râzâ (white like rice), Then know that I have loved thee And shall make peace with thee.

²⁷ Thou shalt be rooted out, And thy sons shall be rooted out, And there shall be no peace for thee.”

²⁸ And when Jacob saw that he was (so) evilly disposed towards him with his heart, and with all his soul as to slay him, and that he had come springing like the wild boar which cometh upon the spear that pierceth and killeth it, and recoileth not from it;

²⁹ Then he spake to his own and to his servants that they should attack him and all his companions.

Book of Jubilees: Chapter 38

¹ And after that Judah spake to Jacob, his father, and said unto him: “Bend thy bow, father, and send forth thy arrows and cast down the adversary and slay the enemy;

² and mayest thou have the power, for we shall not slay thy brother, for he is such as thou, and he is like thee: let us give him (this) honour.”

³ Then Jacob bent his bow and sent forth the arrow and struck Esau, his brother, (on his right breast) and slew him.

⁴ And again he sent forth an arrow and struck ’Adôrân the Aramaean, on the left breast, and drove him backward and slew him.

⁵ And then went forth the sons of Jacob, they and their servants, dividing themselves into companies on the four sides of the tower.

⁶ And Judah went forth in front, and Naphtali and Gad with him and fifty servants with him on the south side of the tower, and they slew all they found before them, and not one individual of them escaped.

⁷ And Levi and Dan and Asher went forth on the east side of the tower, and fifty (men) with them, and they slew the fighting men of Moab and Ammon.

⁸ And Reuben and Issachar and Zebulon went forth on the north side of the tower, and fifty men with them, and they slew the fighting men of the Philistines.

⁹ And Simeon and Benjamin and Enoch, Reuben’s son, went forth on the west side of the tower, and fifty (men) with them, and they slew of Edom and of the Horites four hundred men, stout warriors; and six hundred fled,

¹⁰ and four of the sons of Esau fled with them, and left their father lying slain, as he had fallen on the hill which is in ’Adûrâm.

¹¹ And the sons of Jacob pursued after them to the mountains of Seir. And Jacob buried his brother on the hill which is in ’Adûrâm, and he returned to his house.

¹² And the sons of Jacob pressed hard upon the sons of Esau in the mountains of Seir, and bowed their necks so that they became servants of the sons of Jacob.

¹³ And they sent to their father (to inquire) whether they should make peace with them or slay them.
And Jacob sent word to his sons that they should make peace,

¹⁴ and they made peace with them, and placed the yoke of servitude upon them, so that they paid tribute to Jacob and to his sons always.

¹⁵ And they continued to pay tribute to Jacob until the day that he went down into Egypt.
And the sons of Edom have not got quit of the yoke of servitude which the twelve sons of Jacob had imposed on them until this day.

¹⁶ And these are the kings that reigned in Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Israel [until this day] in the land of Edom…. — the posterity of Esau had their kings well before the posterity of Jacob had theirs; that is, well before Israel had their first king Saul, and then king David;

— Spain’s earliest kings were from the Visigothic Kingdom or Visigothic Spain (409-711AD), whereas the kings of England started when Æthelstan became the first king to rule the whole of England in 927AD.

¹⁷ And Bâlâq, the son of Beor, reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Danâbâ.

¹⁸ And Bâlâq died, and Jobab, the son of Zârâ of Bôsêr, reigned in his stead.

¹⁹ And Jobab died, and ’Asâm, of the land of Têmân, reigned in his stead.
And ’Asâm died, and ’Adâth, the son of Barad, who slew Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead, and the name of his city was Avith.

²⁰ And ’Adâth died, and Salman, from ’Amâsêqâ, reigned in his stead.

²¹ And Salman died, and Saul of Râ’abôth (by the) river, reigned in his stead.

²² And Saul died, and Ba’êlûnân, the son of Achbor, reigned in his stead.

²³ And Ba’êlûnân, the son of Achbor, died, and ’Adâth reigned in his stead, and the name of his wife was Maiṭabîth, the daughter of Mâṭarat, the daughter of Mêtabêdzâ’ab.

²⁴ These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom. Book of Jubilees (chapters 37, 38) 

Genesis 36

¹ Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom. — these are the generations of Esau; Esau has the honour of having an account of his posterity recorded, for the sake of his progenitors, Abraham and Isaac;

— now Edom is used in place of the name Esau, which he received at his birth, because the former became the national designation of his descendants; the Edomites; others are Idumeans, Hasmonean; and from his famed grandson, Amalek, the Amalekites;

— and because the Edomites, his descendants, were neighbours to Israel, and their genealogy would be of use to cast light on the following relations of what passed between them; their dwelling shall be away from the fatness of the earth; and their genealogy would be of use to cast light on the following relations of what passed between them at latter years.

² Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite; and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite; — and Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan; of the Canaanites, the posterity of cursed Canaan;

— Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite; one of the seven tribes destined to be eliminated, says Genesis 15:18-20: “and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Rephaim;”

— and Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite; Shechem the Hivite, took Dinah the daughter of Leah, by force, and evilly defiled her; and to God’s horror, they agree to take up circumcision and residence and be incorporated with Israel, to become one people!

— unlike Jacob, who went back and took wives from his kinsmen, Esau took wives from the local ‘natives’ which displeased both his parents, Isaac and Rebecca. Esau’s descendents are a mixtures of Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, known to be among the posterity of Ham; and Ishmaelites, a mix with the Egyptians;

³ and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebajoth. — Basemath was listed as a Hittite in Genesis 26:34;

⁴ And Adah bore to Esau, Eliphaz; and Basemath bore Reuel;

⁵ and Aholibamah bore Jeush and Jaalam and Korah. These are the sons of Esau, who were born unto him in the land of Canaan. — these are the sons of Esau, who were born unto him in the land of Canaan; perhaps his fourth and fifth wives, their sons were born after they left Canaan.

— Rashi: Oholibamah bore…and Korah: This Korah was illegitimate. He was the son of Eliphaz, who had been intimate with his father’s wife, Oholibamah, the wife of Esau. This is evidenced by the fact that he [Korah] is [also] listed among the chieftains of Eliphaz at the end of this chapter. — [from Gen. Rabbah 82:12]

⁶ And Esau took his wives, and his sons and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle and all his beasts, and all his substance which he had gotten in the land of Canaan, and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob.

— Esau sought a home further south in Seir, because he knew that Jacob, as the heir, would enter upon the family possessions, so without waiting till Jacob returned, he actually took possession further south;

— “because of Jacob” perhaps for fear of him, as the Targum of Jonathan, which paraphrases the words, “for there fell upon him a fear of Jakob his brother;” because he knew, by the blessing of his father, and the oracle of God, and his concurring providence in all things, that the land of Canaan belonged to Jacob,

— Rashi:

and the land of their sojournings could not: provide [sufficient] pasture for their animals. The Midrash Aggadah (Gen. Rabbah 82:13), however, explains “because of his brother Jacob,” [as follows:] Because of the note of obligation of the decree: “that your seed will be strangers” (Gen. 15: 13), which was put upon the descendants of Isaac.

He (Esau) said, “I will get out of here. I have neither a share in the gift-for the land has been given to him-nor in the payment of the debt.” [He left] also on account of the shame that [he felt because] he had sold his birthright. — [from Gen. Rabbah 82:13]

⁷ For their riches were more than that they might dwell together, and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle. — the land wherein they were strangers; the large growth of their wealth made the separation of Esau and Jacob as inevitable;

⁸ Thus dwelt Esau in Mount Seir. Esau is Edom. — Mount Seir; the land of Idumea extends from the southern extremity of the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Elath, and consists of a chain of mountains running parallel to the Akaba, or continuation of the deep depression through which the Jordan flows till it loses itself in the Dead Sea;

— Esau is Edom, so called from the red pottage he had of Jacob, which is repeated to fix the odium of that transaction upon him, as well as for the sake of what follows, showing the reason why his posterity were called Edomites.

⁹ And these are the generations of Esau, the father of the Edomites in Mount Seir.

¹⁰ These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau.

¹¹ And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz.

¹² And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz, Esau’s son, and she bore to Eliphaz, Amalek: these were the sons of Adah, Esau’s wife. — among the sons of Eliphaz we find Amalek, whose mother was Timna, the concubine of Eliphaz; the ancestor of the Amalekites, who attacked the Israelites at Horeb as they came out of Egypt under Moses (Exodus 17:8);

— more about Timna, the mother of Amalek, from Rashi:

And Timna was a concubine: [This passage is here] to proclaim the greatness of Abraham-how much [people] longed to attach themselves to his descendants. This Timna was a daughter of chieftains, as it is said: “and the sister of Lotan was Timna” (below verse 22).

Lotan was one of the chieftains of the inhabitants of Seir, from the Horites, who had dwelt there before. She said, “I may not be worthy of marrying you, but if only I could be [your] concubine” (Gen. Rabbah 82:14). In (I) Chronicles (1:36) [the Chronicler] enumerates her among the children of Eliphaz [here she is counted as the daughter of Seir the Horite, and the concubine of Eliphaz].

This teaches [us] that he (Eliphaz) was intimate with the wife of Seir, and Timna emerged from between them (Seir’s wife and Eliphaz), and when she grew up, she became his (Eliphaz’s) concubine. That is the meaning of “and the sister of Lotan was Timna.” [Scripture] did not count her with the sons of Seir, because she was his (Lotan’s) sister through his mother but not through his father. — [from Tanchuma Vayeshev 1]

¹³ And these are the sons of Reuel: Nahath and Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah: these were the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife.

¹⁴ And these were the sons of Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau’s wife; and she bore to Esau: Jeush and Jaalam and Korah.

¹⁵ These were chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn son of Esau: Chief Teman, Chief Omar, Chief Zepho, Chief Kenaz, — Eliphaz, as he was Esau’s first-born, so he had more than a double portion, his six sons being made dukes;

— another term for Chief is Duke; or like the sheiks or emirs of the modern East; or like the Nasi or Prince among the Israelite; that is, these men given the titles Chiefs meant that they had rose to a position of prominance to distinguish themselves from their peers;

¹⁶ Chief Korah, Chief Gatam, and Chief Amalek: these are the chiefs who came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these were the sons of Adah. — Amalek rose from the position of a grandson and separated himself from the rest of the Edomites by being given the title of a Chief;

¹⁷ And these are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: Chief Nahath, Chief Zerah, Chief Shammah, Chief Mizzah: these are the chiefs who came of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife.

¹⁸ And these are the sons of Aholibamah, Esau’s wife: Chief Jeush, Chief Jaalam, Chief Korah: these were the chiefs who came of Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau’s wife. — these would make fourteen Dukes or Chiefs, whereas it appears from the closing verses of the chapter that there were only eleven:

• Verses 15 to 18: 1. Chief Teman, 2. Chief Omar, 3. Chief Zepho, 4. Chief Kenaz, 5. Chief Korah, 6. Chief Gatam, 7. Chief Amalek, 8. Chief Nahath, 9. Chief Zerah, 10. Chief Shammah, 11. Chief Mizzah, 12. Chief Jeush, 13. Chief Jaalam, 14. Chief Korah;
• Verses 29 to 30: 1. Chief Lotan, 2. Chief Shobal, 3. Chief Zibeon, 4. Chief Anah, 5. Chief Dishon, 6. Chief Ezer, 7. Chief Disha;
• Verses 40 to 43: 1. Chief Timnah, 2. Chief Alvah, 3. Chief Jetheth, 4. Chief Aholibamah, 5. Chief Elah, 6. Chief Pinon, 7. Chief Kenaz, 8. Chief Teman, 9. Chief Mibzar, 10. Chief Magdiel (identified by Rashi and Chabad as Rome), 11. Chief Iram

¹⁹ These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these 

¹⁹ These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these are their chiefs.

²⁰ These are the sons of Seir the Horite, who inhabited the land: Lotan and Shobal, and Zibeon and Anah, — Mount Seir is called the land of their possession. Canaan was at this time only the land of promise. Seir was in the possession of the Edomites;

— “Seir the Horite,” the Horites Genesis 14:6, were cave-dweller, and probably got the name from the cave hewn out of the solid rock in which he was accustomed to dwell; Sela being a city of such excavated dwellings;

— Rashi:

the inhabitants of the land: They were its inhabitants before Esau came there. Our Rabbis explain [that they were called, “inhabitants of the land”] (Shab. 85a) because they were skilled in making the land habitable.

[They would say,] “The length of this [measuring] stick is [good] for [planting] olives; the length of this [measuring] stick is [good] for [planting] grapevines,” for they would taste [the soil] and know what was suitable to plant in it.

²¹ and Dishon and Ezer and Dishan: these are the chiefs of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom.

²² And the children of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan’s sister was Timna.

²³ And the children of Shobal were these: Alvan and Manahath and Ebal, Shepho and Onam.

²⁴ And these are the children of Zibeon: both Ajah and Anah; this was that Anah that found the mules in the wilderness as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father.

— Rashi:

who found the mules in the wilderness: Heb. הַיֵמִם, mules. He mated a donkey with a mare (female horse), and it gave birth to a mule. He (Anah) was illegitimate, and he brought illegitimate offspring into the world (Gen. Rabbah 82:15).

Why were they called יֵמִם (signifying “dreaded beings”)? Because their dread (אֵימָתָן) was cast upon people; Rabbi Hanina said, “In all my days no one has ever recovered from a wound from a white female mule.” (But we see that [those bitten by white female mules] do live.

Do not read: “who has lived (וְהָיָה) ,” but “that was healed (וְחָיתָה) ,” because [such a] wound will never heal. — [from an old Rashi manuscript]) It was unnecessary to list the genealogy of the Horites except to mention Timna, and thereby inform us of the greatness of Abraham, as I explained above (verse 12). [from Chullin 7b]

²⁵ And the children of Anah were these: Dishon, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah.

²⁶ And these are the children of Dishon: Hemdan and Eshban, and Ithran and Cheran.

²⁷ The children of Ezer are these: Bilhan and Zaavan and Akan.

²⁸ The children of Dishan are these: Uz and Aran.

²⁹ These are the chiefs who came of the Horites: Chief Lotan, Chief Shobal, Chief Zibeon, Chief Anah,

³⁰ Chief Dishon, Chief Ezer, Chief Dishan: these are the chiefs who came of the Horites, among their chiefs in the land of Seir.

³¹ And these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.

— Rashi:

And these are the kings, etc.: They were eight, and, corresponding to them, Jacob set up [eight kings] and nullified the kingdom of Esau during their time. They are the following (kings): Saul, Ish-bosheth, David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, and Jehoshaphat.

During the days of his (Jehoshaphat’s) son Joram, however, it is written: “In his days, Edom revolted from under the power of Judah, and they appointed a king over themselves” (II Kings 8:20), [whereas] during Saul’s days it is written: “There was no king in Edom; a governor was king” (I Kings 22:48). [from Gen. Rabbah 83:2]

³² And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom; and the name of his city was Dinhabah.

³³ And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead.

³⁴ And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his stead.

³⁵ And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad (who smote Midian in the field of Moab) reigned in his stead; and the name of his city was Avith.

— Rashi: who defeated Moab in the field of Midian: For Midian came against Moab to wage war, and the king of Edom went to aid Moab. From here we learn that Midian and Moab were quarreling with one another, and in the days of Balaam they made peace, [in order] to band together against Israel. — [from Tanchuma Balak 3]

³⁶ And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead.

³⁷ And Samlah died, and Saul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his stead.

³⁸ And Saul died, and Baalhanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead.

³⁹ And Baalhanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his stead; and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.

⁴⁰ And these are the names of the chiefs who came of Esau, according to their families, after their places, by their names: Chief Timnah, Chief Alvah, Chief Jetheth,

— Rashi: And these are the names of the chieftains of Esau: who were called by the names of their provinces after Hadar died and their kingdom had ceased. The first ones mentioned above (verses 15-19) are the names of their generations, and so it is delineated in (I Chronicles 1: 51): And Hadar [sic] died, and the chiefs of Edom were Chief Timna, etc.”

⁴¹ Chief Aholibamah, Chief Elah, Chief Pinon,

⁴² Chief Kenaz, Chief Teman, Chief Mibzar,

⁴³ Chief Magdiel, Chief Iram: these are the chiefs of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession; he is Esau, the father of the Edomites. — the name Magdiel couldn’t be traced back to which son of Esau was he from; thus he could be a more remote great or even great-great grandson of Esau;

— Rashi: Magdiel: This is Rome. — [From Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer, ch. 38]; but Magiel could only be a grandson or even great grandson of Esau; as Esau had many wives; children and grandchildren, Magiel would have numerous near and distant cousins that would have migrated further into the Iberian peninsula as identified in Obadiah 1:20;

In summary, Esau took wives from the local ‘natives’ which displeased both his parents. Hence Esau’s descendents are a mixtures of Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, known to be among the posterity of Ham; and Ishmaelites, a mix with the Egyptians. Often, many of their childen are spiritually illegitimate!

Centuries later, the Spanish are also known to have taken wives from the natives, starting with Mexico and have mixed marriages all over South America.

For more about the South, a prophecy of Esau or Edom, see Obadiah

For more on the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South!

For more into another Captivity: see Ezekiel Timeline – 190/40 Years

~ by Joel on August 24, 2024.

Posted in Books of Moses, Esau, France