Genesis 36: Esau Is Edom

Why do we have a whole chapter devoted to Esau and his descendants (the Edomites)?  For the nation of Israel, Edom became an antagonistic neighbor even though the Edomites were their distant cousins.  God's chosen people would have been naturally curious to know their ancestral connection to another people-group.

We are, of course, most familiar with the story of the Israelites - how they make their way to Egypt and are enslaved for four hundred years.  Even Israel, their ancestor, made the trip to Egypt himself.  After he died, his body was returned to the Promised Land while his descendants continued living in Goshen in Egypt.

But Israel's brother, Esau, also fathered a nation.  The Edomites did not leave their land, they did not venture into Egypt, and they did not endure slavery.  Nor were they miraculously delivered by God.  When the children of Israel return to the Promised Land under Moses and Joshua, they re-discover the people of Edom living nearby.

Biblical genealogy is important because families became indelibly associated with the land.  Esau is Edom.  And so scripture takes time to explain how the different tribes and clans all relate to one another.

It may not be very interesting to us, Gentile Christians far removed in time and space from the Promised Land.  But we do similar things, don't we?  We have 50 states of our own country that we require our children to memorize in school, along with their capitals, major cities, rivers, etc.  Some of us trace back our own genealogy to discover where we come from and where we fit into the bigger picture of things.  And we continue to associate land with tribes and people, as the fans of the Ohio State Buckeyes could tell tales of their rivalry with that team from up north!

Sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same.