Bibliorum

 

Genesis 36

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1 And these are the births of Esau; he is Edom.

2 Esau took his women from the daughters of Canaan; Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah and the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite*;

3 and Basemath the daughter of Ishmael, the sister of Nebaioth.

4 And Adah gave·​·birth to Eliphaz for Esau; and Basemath gave·​·birth to Reuel;

5 and Oholibamah gave·​·birth·​·to Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah; these are the sons of Esau that were·​·born to him in the land of Canaan.

6 And Esau took his women, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the souls of his house, and his livestock, and every beast of his, and all that he bought, which he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went unto a land from the face of Jacob his brother.

7 For their acquisition was too· much ·for dwelling together; and the land of their sojournings was· not ·able to bear them on·​·account·​·of their livestock.

8 And Esau dwelt in Mount Seir; Esau, he is Edom.

9 And these are the births of Esau the father of Edom* in Mount Seir.

10 These are the names of the sons of Esau; Eliphaz the son of Adah Esau’s wife, Reuel the son of Basemath Esau’s wife.

11 And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz.

12 And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz the son of Esau; and she gave·​·birth to Amalek for Eliphaz; these are the sons of Adah Esau’s wife.

13 And these are the sons of Reuel; Nahath and Zeraḥ, Shammah and Mizzah; these were the sons of Basemath Esau’s wife.

14 And these were the sons of Oholibamah—the daughter of Anah, and the grand- daughter of Zibeon—Esau’s wife; and for Esau she gave·​·birth to Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah.

15 These are the leaders of the sons of Esau; the sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau; leader Teman, leader Omar, leader Zepho, leader Kenaz,

16 leader Korah, leader Gatam, leader Amalek. These are the leaders of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah.

17 And these are the sons of Reuel the son of Esau; leader Nahath, leader Zeraḥ, leader Shammah, leader Mizzah; these are the leaders of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath Esau’s wife.

18 And these are the sons of Oholibamah Esau’s wife; leader Jeush, leader Jaalam, leader Korah; these are the leaders of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau’s wife.

19 These are the sons of Esau, and these are their leaders; he is Edom.

20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, dwelling·​·in the land; Lotan and Shobal and Zibeon and Anah,

21 and Dishon and Ezer and Dishan; these are the leaders of the Horite, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom.

22 And the sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and the sister of Lotan was Timna.

23 And these are the sons of Shobal; Alvan and Manahath and Ebal, Shepho and Onam.

24 And these are the sons of Zibeon, both Ajah and Anah; he is the Anah who found the mules in the wilderness, when he pastured the donkeys for Zibeon his father.

25 And these are the sons* of Anah: Dishon, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah.

26 And these are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan and Eshban and Ithran and Caran.

27 These are the sons of Ezer; Bilhan and Zaavan Akan.

28 These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

29 These are the leaders of the Horite: leader Lotan, leader Shobal, leader Zibeon, leader Anah,

30 leader Dishon, leader Ezer, leader Dishan. These are the leaders of the Horites, according·​·to their leaders in the land of Seir.

31 And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned a king over the sons of Israel.

32 And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom; and the name of his city was Dinhabah.

33 And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zeraḥ of Bozrah reigned in· his ·stead.

34 And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in· his ·stead.

35 And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in· his ·stead; and the name of his city was Avith.

36 And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in· his ·stead.

37 And Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth of the river reigned in· his ·stead.

38 And Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in· his ·stead.

39 And Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in· his ·stead; and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab.

40 And these are the names of the leaders of Esau, according·​·to their families, according·​·to their places, in their names; leader Timna, leader Alwah, leader Jetheth;

41 leader Oholibamah, leader Elah, leader Pinon;

42 leader Kenaz, leader Teman, leader Mibzar;

43 leader Magdiel, leader Iram. These are the leaders of Edom, for their dwellings in the land of their possession. Esau, he is the father of Edom.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

Commentarius

 

Adam

  
The Creation of Adam, by Jan Breughel (II)

In a general sense, then, Adam represents the Most Ancient Church. In specific, when named as an individual, he represents that church as it first began turning away from the Lord. In both senses, though, his story is spiritual history, not natural history. Adam is a figurative character, not an actual individual human being.

The word "adam" is Hebrew for "man" or "humankind," and it is consistently translated that way in the first chapter of Genesis. In fact, in that chapter "adam" is plural, and includes men and women: "So God created man (adam) in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (Genesis 1:27, quoted from the King James Version of the Bible). Yet in later chapters – even including the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3:38 – "Adam" is used as a name, and seems to refer to a specific person.

The first ripple in the relationship between God and humanity came as people began wanting a greater sense of life as their own, as they began to want to feel their love and wisdom as their own instead of things flowing in from God. The Lord gave them the power to feel as they wanted to, which is represented by the rib taken from the "man" Adam and formed into the "woman" Eve. This would, of course, lead to the downfall of humanity; because of that sense of self, people were drawn to the power of their own senses and their own minds – the serpent – instead of trusting the Lord. The Writings say the switch from "man" to "Adam" represents the change made in people when the Lord allowed them to have that sense of self. So what does this mean? The Writings tell us that the "man" created in Genesis represents the Most Ancient Church, which was the first church among early humans and was the purest ever to grace the earth. People of the church were motivated purely by the love of the Lord, and lived in peace, harmony, mutual love and inexpressible wisdom. This follows from the idea that the Lord is the one true human – and is, in fact, humanity itself. Since the Most Ancients were so close to the Lord, they are represented by "adam" in its meaning of "man" or "humankind." The common interpretation is that Genesis 1:26-28 is a general statement of the creation of people, and that the specifics of that creation are laid out in the next chapter when God first creates the man Adam and the woman Eve. But linguistically "adam" in the second chapter is the same as "adam" in the first chapter. In fact, while the King James Version of the Bible switches from "man" to "Adam" midway through the second chapter (Genesis 2:19), Young's Literal Translation – created to be as close to the original language as possible – does not use "Adam" as a named person until Genesis 4:25, long after the Garden of Eden. Eve, meanwhile, is simply "the woman" in all translations until Genesis 3:20, which is after she and Adam have eaten the forbidden fruit and been expelled from the Garden. Adam is one of the most crucial and most controversial figures in the Bible, dividing even the faithful into camps: those who believe he literally existed, created by God as the first human; and those who believe he is a figurative character, embodying spiritual and moral lessons but not an actual person.

In Genesis 2:19, Also that man was made from the ground, or from the non-man, by regeneration. (Arcana Coelestia 478, Arcana Coelestia 64, 313)

In Genesis 3:17, Adam's expulsion from Eden signifies the condemnation of those called Adam and Eve, the former of their intellectual part, the latter of their voluntary or will: in short of both degrees of their selfhood or proprium. Proprium is defined as "the love of self, and the derivative conceit of self-intelligence." (Doctrine Regarding Sacred Scripture 60, Divine Providence 313)