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1 Now this is the genealogy of Esau, who is Edom. 25:30 2 Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite; Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite; 28:1
Adah The daughter of Elon the Hittite is also referred to as Basemath in chapter twenty six (Gen 26:34), in the Strong’s, and BDB, Hebrew definition Basemath can also be spelled a few ways: “Bashemath”, Bosmath, or Basmath. (H1315). The name is defined as fragrance or spice, depending on if you are looking at the Strong’s or BDB definition. At the chabad.org website, Rabbi Rashi explains why she is also known as Basemath:
Aholibamah, also spelled Oholibamah (Depending on what bible version one reads), we are told in verse two that she is the “daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hittite”. How can this be? one would ask, I know I sure did. And, to add more confusion to this puzzle; one only has to read on to verse’s twenty and twenty four of this chapter. When you do this you will probably be scratching your head as I was, trying to figure out what The Almighty one is telling us here. As I always do when I come to situations like this I go to the commentaries to shed some light on the subject. In my opinion I found the best possible explanation to this puzzle to come from Rabbi Rashi’s commentary at the chabad.org website. Mr. Rashi does give a sound explanation that ties all this together (At least for me). So I will now quote from Mr. Rashi’s commentary in regards to verse two here, and I will wait until I get to verse twenty four to quote Mr. Rashi (Just as he does), to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Now I am but a simple man, meaning I am also simple minded, there may be many of you who have read this, that have already figured out this puzzle, so I am not speaking to you, but to like minded people as myself. Fortunately for you (the like minded reader), you can skip ahead to verse twenty four to find the answer, for I have already done all the footwork for you, lol. But if you like puzzles, and want to try to figure this out on your own I would encourage it, because you will learn much more about the family of Esau, and you will be the more wiser for it. But I digress.
Rabbi Rashi: Oholibamah: She is [identical to] Judith (mentioned above 26:34). He (Esau) nicknamed her Judith (יְהוּדִית) to imply that she denied the validity of idolatry, so that he might deceive his father.
The Rabbi goes on to further clarify his understanding of who Aholibamah is:
Daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon: If she was the daughter of Anah, she could not have been the daughter of Zibeon: Anah was the son of Zibeon, as it is said:“And these are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah” (below verse 24). [This] teaches [us] that Zibeon was intimate with his daughter-in-law, the wife of Anah, and Oholibamah emerged from between them both [i.e., from Zibeon and Anah]. Scripture teaches us that they were all mamzerim (illegitimate), products of adultery and incest. — [from Tanchuma Vayeshev 1]
3 and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebajoth.
According to Rabbi Rashi, Just as Esau’s wife Adah was also known as Basemath, and Aholibamah was known as Judith (Compare Gen 26:34), Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, is referred to as Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, back in Gen 28:9. Rabbi Rashi goes on to explain that the reason Nebajoth is mentioned in this verse is because by the time Esau marries Basemath, Ishmael is already dead, so according to tradition; Nebajoth (Ishmael’s firstborn), is the one who give his sister to Esau as his wife.
4 Now Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, And Basemath bore Reuel. 5 And Aholibamah bore Jeush, Jaalam, and Korah. These were the sons of Esau who were bore to him in the land of Canaan.
Esau has a total of five sons altogether. Eliphaz, and Basemath both had one son a piece, while Aholibamah had three sons. So we see here that the Edomites are made up of the Hittite people from Ada, a wife of Esau’s, The Hivite people, from Aholibamah another wife of Esau, And the Ishmaelites, from Basemath also the wife of Esau, and daughter if Ishmael. Ishmael is the son of Abraham thru Hagar the Egyptian, handmaid of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. What we see here in these verses is the continuation of the promise God to Abraham and Isaac, (Compare Gen 17:16, 22:15-17, 26: 4, 24), but also the blessings God gave to Ishmael thru his mom Hagar (Gen 16: 8-10), and the blessing of Esau thru his father Isaac, in which he would inherit the fatness of the earth, the dew of heaven, and have dominion (Gen 27:40).
6 Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the persons of his household, his cattle and all his animals, and all his goods which he had gained in the land of Canaan, and went to a country away from the presence of his brother Jacob. 25:6 7 For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together, and the land where they were strangers could not support them because of their livestock. 8 So Esau dwelt in mount Seir. Esau is Edom. v.1; 25:30
I am reminded of the time of Lot and Abraham when they too had many possessions and there was rift between the peoples of Lot and Abraham ( Gen 13:7-11). Jacob and Esau were brothers (twins at that), they had reconciled to one another years ago back at the banks of the river Jabbok. In order to keep the peace between the two brothers they had to go their separate ways. Since Jacob got the blessing of the land inheritance of the land of Canaan, it was only right that Esau move on to other lands. God however did not forget Esau, he too was given a land inheritance, just not the land as we know as modern day Israel. The land God gives to Esau, in what we know today as modern day Jordan for the most part, back then it was called mount Seir. In fact, upon entering into the land of Canaan, after wandering in the wilderness for forty years after leaving Egypt, God gives specific instructions to Moses, to instruct the people not to cause strife among the Edomites when they cross into their borders on the way to their own inheritance, because God has given this land to Esau as his inheritance (Deut 2:1-5). Just as God gave Abraham’s son Ishmael a land inheritance, and the descendants of Lot as well, should be encouraging to all of us that God is no respecter of persons ((Acts 10:34), We are all His children, He loves us all equally. We are told in the scriptures that Jehovah God hated Esau (Mal 1:3, Rom 9:13). It is thru God’s Holy days, where we can get a better understanding of God’s master plan for salvation, for all of mankind. In them we know that God is not trying to save the whole world in this earth age, but is only working with a few elect people: those He has called and chosen. There will come a time when all nations, tribes and tongues, will get there first true chance of salvation (Including Esau and the Edomite people). God has used, and will continue to use certain people in the world to serve His purpose, that in the long run will benefit all mankind, and in turn Glorify our wondrous God Almighty (Rom 9:13-29), emphasis on verses twenty five and twenty six. Amen and Amen !! “Esau God hated,” but one day His hated will be His beloved. And all nations of the earth will be blessed thru the one who bares the stripes, for the healing of all peoples.
9 And this is the genealogy of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount Seir. 10 These were 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. Job 2:11 11 And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. vv. 10, 15, 16; Job 2:11 12 Now Timna was the concubine of Eliphaz, Esau’s son, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These were the sons of Adah, Esau’s wife. 13 These were the sons of Reuel: Nathan, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the sons of Basemath’s, Esau’s wife. 14 These were the sons of Aholibamah, Esau’s wife, the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, and she bore to Esau: Jeush, Jaalam, and Korah.
Just as God appoints the number of the stars in heaven, and knows them all by name (Psalm 147:4), so to God appoints the number of the children of Esau, his grandchildren, and He knows them by their names. These verses are again a testimony as how precious each and every one of us are to Him. Even though Esau despised his birthright, God still loves him. It is that form of Agape love that our Father has for all of us, it is a love that we as parents have for our own children. We should strive to develop this kind of love with all peoples of the earth in our walk with God. He commands it! Jesus himself says that this is one of the greatest commandments of God: that we love God with all our heart and soul, and the second greatest is to love one another as ourselves (Matt 22:37-39, John 13:34).
15 These were the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn son of Esau, were Chief Teman, Chief Omar, Chief Zepho, Chief Kenaz, 16 Chief Korah, Chief Gatam, and Chief Amalek. These were the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom. They were the sons of Adah. 17 These were the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: Chief Nahath, Chief Zerah, Chief Shammah, and Chief Mizzah. These were the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom. these were the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife. 18 And these were the sons of Aholibamah, Esau’s wife: Chief Jeush, Chief Jaalam, and chief Korah, these were the chiefs who descended from Aholibamah, Esau’s wife, the daughter of Anah. 19 These were the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these were their chiefs.
The Chiefs of the sons of Esau were the leaders of their own individual tribe, made up of their particular descendants within their blood line. How they ruled as Edomites, yet separated into their own tribes by their families, may be partially answered in verse forty. In my commentary on verse forty I will try and shed some light to this question. History has shown us that when you have many chiefs, those in position of authority will always lust for what they do not have and war usually breaks out(Jas 4:1-2) thus dividing the people. Some how, some way, the Edomites were able to keep their identity as a nation, yet having many chiefs ruling in their particular areas at one time. So my only conclusion is that it is God Himself, who made sure the Edomites stayed united as a people in order to serve His purpose.
20 These were the sons of Seir the Horite who inhabited the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These were the Chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir, in the land of Edom.
Seir the Horite obviously is where mount Seir is derived from. Seir had a total of seven sons. Seir the Horite and his descendants were the inhabitants of the land before the arrival of Esau and his family. Esau’s wife Aholibamah came from this region, she was the daughter of Anah the Hivite.
22 And the sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam. Lotan’s sister was Timna.
The reason Timna (Lotan’s sister), is mentioned her is because she was a concubine of Eliphaz who was Esau’s firstborn. She eventually gave birth to Amalek (Gen 36:12), whom became the father of the Amalekites, who are mentioned often in the Old Testament, In my opinion, God is letting it be known to us how the Amalekites came into being, because of the fact of their constant interaction with Israel.
23 These were the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. 24 These were the sons of Zibeon: both Ajah and Anah. This was the Anah who found the water in the wilderness as he pastured the donkeys of his father Zibeon.
As I stated I would do in my commentary on Verses one and two of this chapter, I will now quote from Rabbi Rashi and his explanation as to how Anah, could be both son, and brother to Zibeon, whose father was Seir the Horite: He is Anah: Who is mentioned above (verse 20) to be the brother of Zibeon, but here [Scripture] calls him his son. This teaches us that Zibeon was intimate with his mother, and fathered Anah. — [from Pes. 54a].
Continuing on in verse twenty four we are told that Anah is the one, “Who found the water in the wilderness as he pastured the donkeys of his father Zibeon.” Why does the Lord make mention of these donkeys Anah pastured? I asked myself. As I have stated on numerous occasions, “If it is important to God the make mention of it, then it is important for me to find out the “ANSWER.” Which interestingly enough brought me to the meaning of Anah’s name. As any of you who have been following my work, knows that I put great significance in the meanings of the names of the bible, and here is one more example of how knowing these meanings, helps me to understand what I believe the Lord is trying to convey to me, thru His Spirit, in His word. I would encourage the reader to click on the Strong’s definitions I have highlighted here and see where I draw my conclusion, for there are too many definitions for me to go over here, but they seem to have the same theme. The main definition to the name of Anah (H6034) is “answer”. Answer to what? well this word in the Strong’s definition is a primitive root for the Strong’s number (H6030) let me explain what I draw from this. In the beginning God said, “let the earth bring forth the living creature after it’s kind, and the beasts of the earth after it’s kind.” (Gen 1:24-25). in this day and age it is a well known fact that mules are a hybrid animal, interbred between a jackass (Male donkey), with a female horse (Mare). Since God is all knowing, the Alpha and Omega, who knows the end from the beginning, and as I like to say, “All things in between” ( Isa 46:10), He is giving us, “the human kind,” the “ANSWER” (Anah), as to where the mule came from. In both Rabbi Rashi’s, and Adam Clarke’s commentary, they both come to the same conclusion as far as what it means, when we are told that Anah found the water in the wilderness, and pastured the donkeys.
Adam Clarke: My own opinion is, that mules were not known before the time of Anah; and that he was probably the first who coupled the mare and ass together to produce this mongrel, or the first who met with creatures of this race in some very secluded part of the wilderness. Rabbi Rashi: who found the mules in the wilderness: Heb. הַיֵמִם, mules. He mated a donkey with a mare (female horse), and it gave birth to a mule. He (Anah) was illegitimate, and he brought illegitimate offspring into the world. Adam Clarke does also offer another argument about the origin of the mule, which I believe is best left to the reader to draw their own conclusion. I myself embellished on verse twenty four as to the “WHY” the Lord made mention of the donkey’s in this verse. I was searching for the “ANSWER” (Anah), pun intended, and came to the conclusion in which I feel the Lord’s Spirit led me.
25 These were the children of Anah: Dishon and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah. 26 These were the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. 27 These were the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. 28 These were the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran Job 1:1
Genealogy of the sons of Seir the Horite, who inhabited the land Of Seir before the time of Esau and the Edomites. (Gen 14:1-7). When Esau drove them out of Seir, they intermarried with each other thus forming the
Edomite nation.
29 These were the chiefs of the Horites: Chief Lotan, Chief Shobal, Chief Zibeon, Chief Anah, 30 Chief Dishon, Chief Ezer, and Chief Dishan. These were the chiefs of the Horites, according to their chiefs in the land of Seir.
The sons of Seir were the leaders of their own perspective families, in the land of Edom, in the territory in which they lived. Interestingly enough they total seven chiefs; a sign of perfection in the bible.
31 Now these were the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the children of Israel: 17:6: 1 Chr. 1:43 32 Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah. 33 And when Bela died, Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his place 34 And when Jobab died, Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. 35 And when Husham died, Hadad the son of Bedad, who attacked Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his place. And the name of his city was Avith. 36 When Hadad died, Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. 37 And when Samlah died, Saul of Rehoboth-by-the-River reigned in his place. 10:11 38 When Saul died, Baal-Hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his place. 39 And when Baal-Hanan the son of Achbor died, Hadar reigned in his place; and the name of his city was Pau. His wife’s name was Mehetable, the daughter of Matred, The daughter of Mezahab.
Before Seir, there were kings who reigned in the land which will one day be known as Edom. God told Abraham that kings would come out of him (Gen 17:6), but this wouldn’t happen until hundreds of years later. However, during the time of Abraham there is mention of kings from the north, the south and the east, during the time the kings of the south and east rebelled against against the king of the north (Gen 14:1-17), This may explain why Moses makes the statement in verse thirty one, that these were the kings who reigned in Edom, before there were any kings in Israel; Remembering back to the time in Genesis chapter fourteen. King Bela (The first king), is mentioned back in Genesis fourteen as one of the kings who rebelled against king Chedorlaomer from the north (Gen 14:2). We notice here that the succession of the kings are not passed down thru the bloodline, but in some other form or fashion, maybe by an election process, casting of lots, or some other form of process in which kings were chosen.
40 And these were the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to thier families, and their places, by their names: Chief Timnah, Chief Alvah, chief Jetheth, 41 Chief Aholibamah, Chief Elah, Chief Pinon, 42 Chief Kenaz, Chief Teman, Chief Mibzar, 43 Chief Magdiel, And chief Iram. These were the Chiefs of Edom, according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession. Esau was the father of the Edomites. 36:1
Notice here we are told that these are the chiefs of Esau, according to their families, places and names. We see other people listed as chiefs in this chapter, but are described as chiefs of the sons of Esau (Gen 36: 15-19), and once more as the chiefs of the Horites, who dwelt in the land before the time of Esau (Gen 36: 29-30). The chiefs listed here are described as chiefs of Esau. This tells me that these chiefs of Esau are above all the other chiefs, and are of a higher authority over them. If this is true then we can get a better understanding as to how the Edomites governed themselves: First in line (At the time of Esau), would be Esau himself (Esau is Edom), then his personal chiefs, and then Esau’s grandsons. One thing that is confusing to me is the fact that none of the sons of Esau himself are mentioned as being chiefs in the land of Edom; just food for thought. The only other names mentioned in verses forty thru forty three, that are recognizable are Teman and Kenaz, who are the sons of Eliphaz (Esau’s firstborn), The other chiefs of Esau described here are not mentioned anywhere else in this chapter, and are only mentioned one more time in 1 chronicles 1:51-54, which is basically repeating what is written in these verses above. Aholibamah mentioned here, as far as I can tell, is the same Aholibamah (Also known as Oholibamah), that is a wife of Esau’s. I can find no evidence to support this claim, however, the silence of all the commentaries are defining to the ears. There have been many times throughout recorded history where a woman is the leader of her country, so it is not far fetched to assume as such in the case of Aholibamah.