Temporal Blessing vs Covenant Promise
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
In the previous section we saw Jacob complete the last leg of the journey back to the promised land. This journey was a rough one as there was much death and sin in it that brought sadness to Jacob.
Tonight the story shifts as we have a new toledot section, what is a toledot? These are the generations of. There is actually two of these here and they will be the division for our points tonight. These major sections divide the entire book of Genesis and tonight they bring in some information about Esau.
Who was Esau? Exactly, he is Jacobs brother who is not the one whom the covenant will go through. Even still as we will see he is an offspring of Abraham and because of that he receives great blessings.
That will bring us to the core truth of tonight that we will see through this passage.
The Genealogy of Esau
The Genealogy of Esau
These are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). Esau took his wives from the Canaanites: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. And Adah bore to Esau, Eliphaz; Basemath bore Reuel; and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.
Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob. For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock. So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is Edom.)
We see here that Esau has three wives and later we will see that he also had a concubine and he had children with all of them. The children in this section are all born in the promised land that Israel does not yet have. After growing Esau moves outside of the land in a similar fashion to Abraham and Lot. There was not enough room so he goes to a land called Seir, this land will eventually be called Edom after Esau.
In the cases of Abraham and Lot and Jacob and Esau, one remains in the land tied to the covenant promise, while the other moves away. Esau’s relocation to the hill country of Seir is not merely a geographical shift but a symbolic movement away from the sphere of God’s covenant purposes that continue through Jacob.
Though there is this symbolic leaving of the covenant he is still under the blessing and he will become a great nation and that is what the rest of this passage details.
The Nation of Edom
The Nation of Edom
These are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir. 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. The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. (Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau’s son; she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.) These are the sons of Adah, Esau’s wife. These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife. These are the sons of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau’s wife: she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: the chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, Korah, Gatam, and Amalek; these are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. These are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: the chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah; these are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife. These are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau’s wife: the chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah; these are the chiefs born of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau’s wife. These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs.
These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan’s sister was Timna. These are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah; he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he pastured the donkeys of Zibeon his father. These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah. These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. These are the chiefs of the Horites: the chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, chief by chief in the land of Seir.
These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the Israelites. Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, the name of his city being Dinhabah. Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his place. Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place, the name of his city being Avith. Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates reigned in his place. Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his place. Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his place, the name of his city being Pau; his wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab.
These are the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their clans and their dwelling places, by their names: the chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel, and Iram; these are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of Edom), according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession.
Here we have a list of the sons, the chiefs, and the kings that come from Esau. It is clear that he becomes a mighty nation. This chapter has shifted from a genealogy to a national history and Esau is the father of the Edomites.
One interesting part of this is that Esau’s descendants and his nation had kings long before Israel did. Esau’s line multiplies, conquers territory, and forms a structured society, all of which reflect the blessing that comes from being related to Abraham, in fulfillment of God’s promise that Abraham would be the father of many nations in Genesis 17:4–6.
This favorable presentation leaves open the theological door for Edomites to be welcomed among the people of God, as seen in Deuteronomy 23:7 which says
“You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land.
This anticipates the broader inclusion of the nations in God’s redemptive plan, which James cites in Acts 15:17
that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord,
and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,
says the Lord, who makes these things
At the same time, the prosperity of Edom is shown to be limited in scope and duration. Their blessing is largely earthly, marked by land, power, and political organization, rather than covenant intimacy with God. Later prophetic texts reveal that Edom often becomes a symbol of opposition to God’s people, and its ultimate end is judgment and desolation, as declared in Malachi 1:2–5 and Ezekiel 35:1–15.
Conclusion: The Core Truth
Conclusion: The Core Truth
This all leads us to the core truth that we see from this chapter. I know genealogies can be tough and you probably wonder why I stop to focus in on them. The thing is though they are rich with truth for us and all scripture is worth being taught.
What we are seeing here is this; there is a difference between receiving temporal blessing and inheriting the covenant promise. Both Ishmael and Esau prospered because of their connection to Abraham, yet the covenant line continues through Isaac and Jacob. This distinction prepares us for a clarification of who the people of God are; we are the people of God by faith, not by lineage. As Paul writes, all people stand equally in need of salvation, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God in Romans 3:23, and peace with God comes only through justification by faith in Christ in Romans 5:1.
The promise to Abraham ultimately finds its fulfillment in his greater Seed, Jesus Christ, through whom salvation is offered to both the descendants of Jacob and the descendants of Edom alike, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved, as declared in Acts 4:12.
