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Context No. 205 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 36:9-14: in context

9This is the history of the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir: 10these are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz, the son of Adah, the wife of Esau; and Reuel, the son of Basemath, the wife of Esau. 11The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz. 12Timna was concubine to Eliphaz, Esau’s son; and she bore to Eliphaz Amalek. These are the descendants of Adah, Esau’s wife. 13These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the descendants of Basemath, Esau’s wife. 14These were the sons of Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, Esau’s wife: she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

Genesis pauses the story of Jacob's family to record the descendants of Esau, the brother who was cheated out of the blessing and became the father of Edom. This passage is part of that register: Esau's sons by his wives, and their sons after them.

Giving a chapter to the rejected brother is itself worth noticing. Genesis does this repeatedly, recording Ishmael's line before Isaac's and Esau's before Jacob's, so the family that is not the chosen line still gets its names written down. Edom became a real neighboring kingdom, and these lists are its origin story kept in Israel's book.

One name in the middle carries a long tail. Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's son, and she bore Amalek. The Amalekites became Israel's bitterest enemy, the people who attacked the stragglers at the back of the column after the exodus, and against whom Saul's kingship later broke. The genealogy notes it without comment: a concubine, a son, a name. Generations of war begin as one line in a family register. What am I recording now as a minor detail, that has more future in it than I can see?

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