Genesis 36:1-8
God may grant real increase outside the covenant line, yet He still preserves a distinct path for His redemptive promise.
1 Now this is the history of the generations of Esau (that is, Edom).
2 Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon, the Hittite; and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, the Hivite;
3 and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebaioth.
4 Adah bore to Esau Eliphaz. Basemath bore Reuel.
5 Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan.
6 Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, with his livestock, all his animals, and all his possessions, which he had gathered in the land of Canaan, and went into a land away from his brother Jacob.
7 For their substance was too great for them to dwell together, and the land of their travels couldn’t bear them because of their livestock.
8 Esau lived in the hill country of Seir. Esau is Edom.
God may grant real increase outside the covenant line, yet He still preserves a distinct path for His redemptive promise.
To identify Esau as Edom and to explain his relocation from Jacob through the growth of his household and possessions.
Esau Becomes Edom, His Line Expands in Seir, and the Non-Covenant Brother Becomes a Nation
Though Esau does not bear the covenant line, God causes his descendants to become Edom, a structured nation of chiefs and kings, thereby distinguishing common historical greatness from covenant inheritance.