Genesis 36: Esau's Peeps

Journey through the Book of Genesis with me.  The plan is simple. Read ONE chapter a day. Blog or journal 5* things you learned that you previously didn't know and ask 5* questions about the chapter that you'll ponder all week. Let's go!

** You'll probably learn way more than 5 things and have more than 5 questions about each chapter. That's totally fine. The more the merrier! 

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GENESIS 36:1-43

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1: Is “Amalek” in verse 12 the same father of the Amalekites who would become one of Israel’s future bitter enemies?

QUESTION 2: “Eliphaz” (v.4) is a name that pops up on a few occasions in scripture, but most significantly in the book of Job as one of Job’s comforters (Job 2:11). Since the events in the book of Job took place much earlier in history, very possibly around the time of Jacob and Esau, might this Eliphaz be one of the three unwise counselors? 

QUESTION 3: if Jacob was the one who fled from Esau (and from Canaan) many years earlier, and was welcomed back by Esau gladly into the land (Genesis 33-35), then why is Esau the one “packing up”  and finding another location to live when both their wealth outgrows the space (v.6-7)? 

QUESTION 4: If Jacob is the “blessed” one (Romans 9:13), how/why is it that Esau sees kings and chiefs from his bloodline before Jacob does?

QUESTION 5: What became of Esau after this account? The next time his name is mentioned is in Deuteronomy 2:4 when Moses is speaking about Israel’s passage through Edomite land. 

WHAT I LEARNED

INSIGHT 1: (Verse 1) Esau’s action in taking “wives from the Canaanites” is the very thing Abraham went out of his way to avoid for his son, Isaac (Genesis 24:2-6). This act, therefore, serves as an indicator that Esau is not living on a path that aligns him with the Abrahamic promise. 

INSIGHT 2: (Verse 6-7) Esau separating from Jacob due to the size of their wealth is similar to the relationship dynamic between Abraham and Lot in Genesis 13.

INSIGHT 3: (Verse 24) Anah makes a life-changing discovery in his day, the first hot tub. “Anah… discovered the hot springs in the wilderness while he was grazing his father’s donkeys”

INSIGHT 4: (Verse 31-32) “Bela the son of Beor” was the first king to reign in the land of Edom before Israelites ever had kings reigning over them. 

INSIGHT 5: (Verse 35) Next to Abram’s army defeating Cherdorlaomer and his kings in Genesis 14:17, “Hadad” is the first recorded account of a descendant of Abraham fighting and winning in battle (“…Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab”).

INSIGHT 6: In Genesis 25:23, God told, Rebekah, “And the LORD told her, "The sons in your womb will become two nations. From the very beginning, the two nations will be rivals. One nation will be stronger than the other; and your older son will serve your younger son." The Edomites are a descendant of Esau and Jacob is clearly Israel. Interestingly,  when the Israelites came through the wilderness to the Promised Land in the days of Moses, the Edomites refused them passage through their land (Numbers 20:21, which was a great a source of discouragement for the nation (Numbers 21:4). The prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel spoke out against Edom (Jeremiah 49:17-18 and Ezekiel 25:12-14). To top it all, Herod the Great, the same Herod who tried to kill baby Jesus, and who ordered the execution of all the toddlers in Jerusalem, was an Edomite!

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