Today we'll conclude this section dealing with genealogy and lists of early rulers of the land that Esau and his family gradually took over. Esau is not the son of Isaac who inherited the covenant of God regarding someday possessing the promised land, but he became a very powerful man in his own right and his descendants became a very powerful people. They intermarried with the chiefs, rulers, and kings of the region of Seir (renamed Edom after a nickname of Esau's---Edom meaning "red"). Today we'll finish by looking at who the kings were in the times before Israel became a nation and had kings of her own.
It's important to note that the remainder of Chapter 36 may or may not have been written by Moses. In Moses' day Israel had no king, yet we find the author referencing the Edomite kings who existed in the region "before any Israelite king reigned". This makes it appear as if whoever inserted the remaining verses lived in a time after Israel became a monarchy. Prior to having a king, Israel was led by men like Moses and Joshua and then later by the judges. Centuries are going to pass between Genesis 36 and the coronation of Israel's first king. This suggests that whoever wrote verses 31-43 lived several centuries later than Moses and inserted the verses after the royal line of Israel had been established. Then again, Moses could have written these verses if he was speaking of the future kings of Israel by faith, for the Lord promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that kings would come from their bloodline. Moses would have known this and could have spoken about the coming kings with full confidence that the Lord always fulfills what He promises.
"These were the kings who reigned in Edom before any Israelite king reigned: Bela son of Beor became king of Edom. His city was named Dinhabah." (Genesis 36:31-32) Scholars believe the kings in this list were elected officials. We will see that the crown isn't handed down a family line. Dinhaba's exact location is not known but some archaeologists believe it lies under the modern city of Dibdiba, northeast of Petra. It's original name may mean "robbers den" and if that's true we can speculate that it wasn't a very wholesome place.
Now we take a look at a king who may be someone famous in the Bible. "When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah succeeded him as king." (Genesis 36:33) Many scholars over the centuries have equated this Jobab with Job of the Book of Job. The Bible tells us very little about Job's origins, but we know he was from the land of Uz, an Edomite territory. This means he lived in the same territory as Esau and Esau's descendants. The region of Uz was likely named after Uz the son of Seir the Horite, and we know that Esau dwelt in the land of Seir and that Esau's family later drove the Horites out of the territory and took it over during the time period between Genesis and Deuteronomy. So we see that the Job of the Book of Job was living in the same area where King Jobab would have been living. The Bible tells us that Job was devoted to the Lord and that because of his faithfulness the Lord had richly blessed him. These blessings may well have included his election as king since the Bible tells us that during Job's lifetime he was "the greatest man among all the people of the East". (Job 1:2b) Job himself makes references to his power in Uz, and at the very least must have been a judge, for he sat in the gate and rendered verdicts. But he seems to have had more power than a judge would have, for he also states that princes kept their silence in his presence and that he was the head of the army. This sounds very kingly to me. Princes would not hold their peace before a mere city judge. A judge would not ride at the head of the army. In those days kings led their armies, riding out in front of the troops. There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that Job was indeed a king, though he never calls himself by that title. Job was a man of such humility that I can imagine him not making a big deal of his title. Job recognized only one King: the Lord Almighty, and Job knew that everything he was and everything he had was due to the Lord being bountiful with him.
Though the Book of Job is placed much further down into the Bible than the five books Moses wrote, the Book of Job is actually the oldest book of the Scriptures, written several centuries before Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. Job lived long before Moses was born and could easily have been alive during the time period we are studying here in Genesis 36. In the Book of Job we learn that Job acted as priest for his entire family, which means he lived in a time long before the priesthood of Israel was established, long before the nation of Israel was ever enslaved in Egypt, and long before the Lord called a man named Moses to help the children of Israel make their exodus into the promised land. It is not until after the exodus that the priesthood is established upon command of the Lord; prior to that the man who was the head of his clan performed the duties of priest.
Lending further proof that Job lived in the same territory as King Jobab and that he was possibly related to or socially mingled with the descendants of Esau is the fact that one of his best friends was Eliphaz the Temanite. The Temanites were a tribe that came from Esau's grandson Teman who was the son of Esau's son Eliphaz. Job's friend Eliphaz was probably named after Esau's son as a way of honoring his ancestral heritage.
We can't be sure whether Job was King Jobab, but we can be certain who he wasn't. He wasn't an Israelite. He lived centuries Israel became a nation. Yet he served the one and only living God with his whole heart. That's really something, considering he lived in a pagan culture. He's not the only person named in the Bible who came to know the Lord while living among heathen idolaters, but you can bet it was much more difficult to come to faith in the Lord while being continually surrounded by idolatry and witchcraft and heathen rituals. It took a great deal of courage and faith to swim against the stream and stand up for the Lord and obey the Lord in every personal decision and every legal ruling he made. So whether or not Job and Jobab are one and the same, it doesn't hurt to take a moment to recognize the faith of Job and commend him for it.
"When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites succeeded him as king. When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, succeeded him as king. His city was named Avith." (Genesis 36:34-35) There was a man named Midian who was the son of Abraham by Keturah, the wife he married after Sarah's death. Some scholars believe this is the same Midian mentioned here. It's quite possible due to the long lifespans of the people in Genesis. After all, Abraham's son Isaac just died in our previous chapter and he would have been Midian's elder by a number of years. Archaeologists are uncertain of the location of the city of Avith but believe it was somewhere within the region of Bozrah.
"When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah succeeded him as king. When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the river succeeded him as king. When Shaul died, Baal-Hanan son of Akbor succeeded him as king. His city was named Pau, and his wife's name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-Zahab." (Genesis 36:36-39) Baal-Hanan's name reflects the worship of the Canaanite god Baal. His name means "Baal has been gracious". The father of this king named him in honor of a false god, whom he credits with being gracious to him in the giving of a son. King Baal-Hanan's wife's name means "whom God makes happy", but whether her name is a reference to the God of Abraham or to some other god (perhaps Baal), we do not know. Some scholars believe she served the one true God and that this is why a queen's name is mentioned in the king list. The person who wrote the final verses of Chapter 36, whether it was Moses or someone else, may have granted Mehetabel the honor of having her name in the Bible because she believed in the Lord. The exact location of her husband Baal-Hanan's city, Pau, is not known as no definitive archaeological remains of it have been found.
The author of this portion of Scripture closes the chapter by reminding us of the names of the chieftains who descended from Esau. "These were the chiefs descended from Esau, by name, according to their clans and regions: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements in the land they occupied. This is the family line of Esau, the father of the Edomites." (Genesis 36:4-43)
Esau is not given the honor of having his age and place of death recorded in the Bible. We don't know what happened in his life after he had to move a distance away from Jacob (due not to any discord between the brothers but due to the enormous size of his and Jacob's flocks and herds). Some scholars interpret the lack of continuing information about Esau as an indication that he was still not a very spiritually-minded man and that he accomplished nothing of eternal significance during the remainder of his life. I don't think we need to draw that conclusion. It's evident that Esau forgave his brother and that the two of them mended their relationship. It think it must have taken the help of the Lord for Esau to forgive such a huge trespass, and it's very difficult for the Lord to help us if we do not submit ourselves to Him. I think Esau must have allowed the Lord into his heart; otherwise I can't fully explain Esau's enormous change of heart and change of personality. Esau may never have been as spiritual as Jacob, but I don't think he abandoned the God of Isaac and the God of Abraham. I believe what's going on here is the same thing we will see time and time again: the Bible keeps its main focus on the line from which the Redeemer will come. That is Jacob's line. That is Jacob's son Judah's line. At every turn we are going to see the Bible keep directing our attention to a specific tribe of Israel and to the direct genealogy that leads us to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Tomorrow the Bible directs our attention back to the family of Jacob and we will begin a very exciting and action-packed portion of Genesis.
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