God Speaks
36 This is the account of the descendants of Esau (also known as Edom). 2 Esau married two young women from Canaan: Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite; and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite. 3 He also married his cousin Basemath, who was the daughter of Ishmael and the sister of Nebaioth. 4 Adah gave birth to a son named Eliphaz for Esau. Basemath gave birth to a son named Reuel. 5 Oholibamah gave birth to sons named Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. All these sons were born to Esau in the land of Canaan.
6 Esau took his wives, his children, and his entire household, along with his livestock and cattle—all the wealth he had acquired in the land of Canaan—and moved away from his brother, Jacob. 7 There was not enough land to support them both because of all the livestock and possessions they had acquired. 8 So Esau (also known as Edom) settled in the hill country of Seir.
9 This is the account of Esau’s descendants, the Edomites, who lived in the hill country of Seir.
10 These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz, the son of Esau’s wife Adah; and Reuel, the son of Esau’s wife Basemath.
11 The descendants of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. 12 Timna, the concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, gave birth to a son named Amalek. These are the descendants of Esau’s wife Adah.
13 The descendants of Reuel were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the descendants of Esau’s wife Basemath.
14 Esau also had sons through Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon. Their names were Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
15 These are the descendants of Esau who became the leaders of various clans:
The descendants of Esau’s oldest son, Eliphaz, became the leaders of the clans of Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, 16 Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These are the clan leaders in the land of Edom who descended from Eliphaz. All these were descendants of Esau’s wife Adah.
17 The descendants of Esau’s son Reuel became the leaders of the clans of Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the clan leaders in the land of Edom who descended from Reuel. All these were descendants of Esau’s wife Basemath.
18 The descendants of Esau and his wife Oholibamah became the leaders of the clans of Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the clan leaders who descended from Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.
19 These are the clans descended from Esau (also known as Edom), identified by their clan leaders.
20 These are the names of the tribes that descended from Seir the Horite. They lived in the land of Edom: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These were the Horite clan leaders, the descendants of Seir, who lived in the land of Edom.
22 The descendants of Lotan were Hori and Hemam. Lotan’s sister was named Timna.
23 The descendants of Shobal were Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.
24 The descendants of Zibeon were Aiah and Anah. (This is the Anah who discovered the hot springs in the wilderness while he was grazing his father’s donkeys.)
25 The descendants of Anah were his son, Dishon, and his daughter, Oholibamah.
26 The descendants of Dishon[a] were Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Keran.
27 The descendants of Ezer were Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.
28 The descendants of Dishan were Uz and Aran.
29 So these were the leaders of the Horite clans: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 30 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. The Horite clans are named after their clan leaders, who lived in the land of Seir.
31 These are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom before any king ruled over the Israelites[b]:
32 Bela son of Beor, who ruled in Edom from his city of Dinhabah.
33 When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah became king in his place.
34 When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites became king in his place.
35 When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad became king in his place and ruled from the city of Avith. He was the one who defeated the Midianites in the land of Moab.
36 When Hadad died, Samlah from the city of Masrekah became king in his place.
37 When Samlah died, Shaul from the city of Rehoboth-on-the-River became king in his place.
38 When Shaul died, Baal-hanan son of Acbor became king in his place.
39 When Baal-hanan son of Acbor died, Hadad[c] became king in his place and ruled from the city of Pau. His wife was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred and granddaughter of Me-zahab.
40 These are the names of the leaders of the clans descended from Esau, who lived in the places named for them: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, 41 Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, 42 Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, 43 Magdiel, and Iram. These are the leaders of the clans of Edom, listed according to their settlements in the land they occupied. They all descended from Esau, the ancestor of the Edomites.
37 So Jacob settled again in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived as a foreigner.
2 This is the account of Jacob and his family. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father’s flocks. He worked for his half brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing.
3 Jacob[d] loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe.[e] 4 But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him.
5 One night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever. 6 “Listen to this dream,” he said. 7 “We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine!”
8 His brothers responded, “So you think you will be our king, do you? Do you actually think you will reign over us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way he talked about them.
9 Soon Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it. “Listen, I have had another dream,” he said. “The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!”
10 This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers, but his father scolded him. “What kind of dream is that?” he asked. “Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you?” 11 But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dreams meant.
12 Soon after this, Joseph’s brothers went to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem. 13 When they had been gone for some time, Jacob said to Joseph, “Your brothers are pasturing the sheep at Shechem. Get ready, and I will send you to them.”
“I’m ready to go,” Joseph replied.
14 “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are getting along,” Jacob said. “Then come back and bring me a report.” So Jacob sent him on his way, and Joseph traveled to Shechem from their home in the valley of Hebron.
15 When he arrived there, a man from the area noticed him wandering around the countryside. “What are you looking for?” he asked.
16 “I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Do you know where they are pasturing their sheep?”
17 “Yes,” the man told him. “They have moved on from here, but I heard them say, ‘Let’s go on to Dothan.’” So Joseph followed his brothers to Dothan and found them there.
18 When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. 19 “Here comes the dreamer!” they said. 20 “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’ Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”
21 But when Reuben heard of their scheme, he came to Joseph’s rescue. “Let’s not kill him,” he said. 22 “Why should we shed any blood? Let’s just throw him into this empty cistern here in the wilderness. Then he’ll die without our laying a hand on him.” Reuben was secretly planning to rescue Joseph and return him to his father.
23 So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing. 24 Then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it. 25 Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromatic resin from Gilead down to Egypt.
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain by killing our brother? We’d have to cover up the crime.[f] 27 Instead of hurting him, let’s sell him to those Ishmaelite traders. After all, he is our brother—our own flesh and blood!” And his brothers agreed. 28 So when the Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for twenty pieces[g] of silver. And the traders took him to Egypt.
29 Some time later, Reuben returned to get Joseph out of the cistern. When he discovered that Joseph was missing, he tore his clothes in grief. 30 Then he went back to his brothers and lamented, “The boy is gone! What will I do now?”
31 Then the brothers killed a young goat and dipped Joseph’s robe in its blood. 32 They sent the beautiful robe to their father with this message: “Look at what we found. Doesn’t this robe belong to your son?”
33 Their father recognized it immediately. “Yes,” he said, “it is my son’s robe. A wild animal must have eaten him. Joseph has clearly been torn to pieces!” 34 Then Jacob tore his clothes and dressed himself in burlap. He mourned deeply for his son for a long time. 35 His family all tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “I will go to my grave[h] mourning for my son,” he would say, and then he would weep.
36 Meanwhile, the Midianite traders[i] arrived in Egypt, where they sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was captain of the palace guard.
Source: New Living Translation: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: Genesis 36 is an extensive list of the names and connections of the various descendants of Esau. They may seem insignificant to us, but each one is important to God. It reminds this author of the worship song, “He Knows My Name.” God knows and cares about each one of His image bearers and has made it possible for them to become His children.
Genesis 37: After listing the descendants of Esau, the scriptures shift to focus on the descendants of his twin brother Jacob, specifically his son Joseph. Some things we learn about Joseph: his age,17; he worked with his older half-brothers; he reported bad things about his brothers to their father; their father favored Joseph, giving him a special robe; his brothers hated him; he had prophetic dreams. Relating those dreams to his brothers and father caused Joseph many problems. The brothers recognized him from a distance (likely because of the special, colorful robe) and began plotting to kill him. Separately, both Reuben and Judah pointed out that they should not kill Joseph outright. After all he was their own flesh and blood. They could throw him into a pit or perhaps sell him into slavery. In the audio version of his The Rational Bible, Dennis Prager states that the Hebrew text does not say that the brothers took Joseph out of the pit. The Hebrew indicates that it was the Ishmaelites who pulled him out and later Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt. When the brothers returned and showed their father the bloodstained robe, he was the one who assumed Joseph was dead and grieved bitterly. Meanwhile in Egypt, Joseph was sold to Potiphar, a high-ranking officer under Pharaoh. He was captain of the palace guard.
Prayer: Dear awesome and sovereign God, thank You that You know the names and circumstances of all 7 billion plus people on the planet, as well as all those who have gone before. Thank You that Christ died for each and every one. Through faith none need to go to hell. You will pour Your love, mercy, and gracious presence into all that trust and obey Your Holy Spirit. Please help me to live according to this truth. Please help teenagers (especially the ones I love) to grow in wisdom, to be humble instead of boastful. Please help parents to treat each of their children appropriately as each one needs. Show us the true interpretation of any dreams You give. Please show people, especially the current generation of young people, their true identity, particularly the identity they can have in Christ. Rescue those who are threatened with death (in whatever form or stage of life). Since You are everywhere, help those who are being abandoned, enslaved, or tortured that You are there with them. Keep me from jumping to negative conclusions when I’m faced with apparently horrific information. Be with and comfort those who grieve. Put Your obedient people in positions that can be used to further Your kingdom agenda, LORD. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on one of the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will research the names and other pertinent information of relatives, so that I can effectively pray for them.
- I will confess and forsake any hatred I have toward a sibling or close relative.
- I will examine my interactions with a sibling or close relative to see how I might be adding to the tension between us.
- I will seek peace and blessing on a person who hates or wants to harm me.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.