Seder 33: Gen 36---Esau's Family

 After the tearful reunion between Jacob and Esau upon Jacob's return to Canaan (Gen 33:4), we do not know much about the relationship of the two brothers. We do know that 

1. Jacob and Esau were together to bury their father Isaac (Gen 35:27-29).
2. Esau settled in the mountainous region of Seir, and Jacob turned down an invitation to accompany him there when he returned to Canaan. 
3. As with Abraham and Lot (Gen 13), Jacob and Esau lived in separate areas so that the land could support the livestock of both (Gen 36:6-8).

When Esau settled in Seir, he displaced the Horites (literally "cave dwellers") who were already living there (Deut 2:22).  A Horite genealogy is given in Gen 36:20-30.  

Some details about the early history of the Edomites, the nation that descended from Esau, are given in Gen 36.  The blessing Isaac pronounced upon Esau in Gen 27:39-40 does not sound too promising, but like other descendants of Abraham, the Edomites were greatly blessed.  

A number of Edomite kings are listed in Gen 36:31-40.  Verse 31 notes that there were "kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the Israelites."  (This note apparently was written after Israel began to have kings.)  The kings listed in verses 31-40 are associated with particular towns, so the picture we get is not one of a highly centralized government.  The king at a given time would have been the leader among Edom's local chieftains at that time. 

Hostility between Israel and Edom would come later, starting near the end of Israel's 40 years of wandering in the wilderness (Num 20:14-21).  But we do not have evidence of hostility between Israel and Edom between the time of Israel's return to Canaan and the Exodus.