The Bible

 

Genesis 36

Study

   

1 And these are the generations of Esau, the same is Edom.

2 Esau took wives of the daughters of Chanaan: Ada the daughter of Elon the Hethite, and Oolibama the daughter of Ana, the daughter of Sebeon the Hevite:

3 And Basemath the daughter of Ismael, sister of Nabajoth.

4 And Ada bore Eliphaz: Basemath bore Rahuel:

5 Oolibama bore Jehus and Ihelon and Core. These are the sons of Esau, that were born to him in the land of Chanaan.

6 And Esau took his wives and his sons and daughters, and every soul of his house, and his substance, and cattle, and all that he was able to acquire in the land of Chanaan: and went into another country, and departed from his brother Jacob.

7 For they were exceeding rich, and could not dwell together: neither was the land in which they sojourned able to bear them, for the multitude of their flocks.

8 And Esau dwelt in mount Seir: he is Edom.

9 And these are the generations of Esau the father of Edom in mount Seir,

10 And these the names of his sons: Eliphaz the son of Ada the wife of Esau: and Rahnel the son of Basemath his wife.

11 And Eliphaz had sons: Theman, Omar, Sepho, and Gatham, and Cenee.

12 And Thamna was the concubine of Eliphaz the son of Esau: and she bore him Amalech. These are the sons of Ada the wife of Esau.

13 And the sons of Rahuel were Nahath and Zara, Samma and Meza. These were the sons of Basemath the wife of Esau.

14 And these were the sons of Oolibama, the daughter of Ana, the daughter of Sebeon, the wife of Esau, whom she bore to him, Jehus, and Ihelon, and Core.

15 These were dukes of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: duke Theman, duke Omar, duke Sepho, duke Cenez,

16 Duke Core, duke Gatham, duke Amalech: these are the sons of Eliphaz, in the land of Edom, and these the Bone of Ada.

17 And these were the sons of Rahuel, the son of Esau: duke Nahath, duke Zara, duke Samma, duke Meza. And these are the dukes of Rahuel, in the land of Edom: these the sons of Base- math the wife of Esau.

18 And these the sons of Oolibama the wife of Esau: duke Jehus, duke Ihelon, duke Core. These are the dukes of Oolibama, the daughter of Ana, and wife of Esau.

19 These are the sons of Esau, and these the dukes of them: the same is Edom.

20 These are the sons of Seir the Horrite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, and Sobal, and Sebeon, and Ana,

21 And Dison, and Eser, and Disan. These are dukes of the Horrites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom.

22 And Lotan had sons: Hori and Heman. And the sister of Lotan was Thamna.

23 And these the sons of Sobal: Alvan and Manahat, and Ebal, and Sepho, and Oman.

24 And these the sons of Sebeon: Aia and Ana. This is Ana that found the hot waters in the wilderness, when he fed the asses of Sebeon his father:

25 And he had a son Dison, and a daughter Oolibama.

26 And these were the sons of Dison: Hamdan, and Eseban, and Jethram, and Charan.

27 These also were the sons of Eser: Balaan, and Zavan, and Acan.

28 And Disan had sons : Hus, and Aram.

29 These were dukes of the Horrites: duke Lotan, duke Sobal, duke Sebeon, duke Ana,

30 Duke Dison, duke Eser, duke Disan: these were dukes of the Horrites that ruled in the land of Seir.

31 And the kings that ruled in the land of Edom, before the children of Israel had a king were these:

32 Bela the son of Beer, and the name of his city Denaba.

33 And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zara of Bosra reigned in his stead.

34 And when Jobab was dead, Husam of the land of the Themanites reigned in his stead.

35 And after his death, Adad the son of Badad reigned in his stead, who defeated the Madianites in the country of Moab: and the name of his city was Avith.

36 And when Adad was dead, there reigned in his stead, Semla of Masreca.

37 And he being dead, Saul of the river Rohoboth, reigned in his stead.

38 And when he also was dead, Balanan the son of Achobor succeeded to the kingdom.

39 This man also being dead, Adar reigned in his place, and the name of his city was Phau: and his wife was called Meetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezaab.

40 And these are the names of the dukes of Esau in their kindreds, and places, and callings: duke Thamna, duke Alva, duke Jetheth,

41 Duke Oolibama, duke Ela, duke Phinon,

42 Duke Cenez, duke Theman, duke Mabsar,

43 Duke Magdiel, duke Hiram: these are the dukes of Edom dwelling in the land of their government; the same is Esau the father of the Edomites.

   

Commentary

 

Jacob or Israel (the man)

  

Jacob is told twice that his name will now be Israel. The first time is when he wrestles with an angel on his journey to meet Esau, and the angel tells him that his name will be changed. After he is reconciled with Esau, they go their separate ways. Jacob moves to Shechem and then on to Bethel, where he builds an altar to the Lord. The Lord appears to him there, renews the covenant He first made with Abraham and again tells him that his name will be Israel (Genesis 35). The story goes on to tell of Benjamin's birth and Rachel's death in bearing him, and then of Jacob's return to Isaac and Isaac's death and burial. But at that point the main thread of the story leaves Israel and turns to Joseph, and Israel is hardly mentioned until after Joseph has risen to power in Egypt, has revealed himself to his brothers and tells them to bring all of their father's household down to Egypt. There, before Israel dies, he blesses Joseph's sons, plus all his own sons. After his death he is returned to the land of Canaan for burial in Abraham's tomb. In the story of Jacob and Esau, Jacob represents truth, and Esau good. Jacob's stay in Padan-Aram, and the wealth he acquired there, represent learning the truths of scripture, just as we learn when we read the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount. The change of name from Jacob to Israel represents the realization that what we learn should not simply be knowledge, but should be the rules of our life, to be followed by action. This action is the good that Esau has represented in the story up to that time, but after the reconciliation between Jacob and Esau, Jacob as Israel now represents the truth and the good, together. It is interesting that even after his name change Jacob is rarely called Israel. Sometimes he is called one and sometimes the other, and sometimes he is called both Jacob and Israel in the same verse (Genesis 46:2, 5, & 8 also Psalm 14:7). This is because Jacob represents the external person and Israel the internal person, and even after the internal person comes into being, we spend much of our lives living on the external level.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 4274, 4292, 4570, 5595, 6225, 6256, Genesis 2:5, 46:8)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #5595

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

5595. 'And Israel said' means a perception received from spiritual good. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' as perceiving, dealt with already; and from the representation of 'Israel' as spiritual good, dealt with in 3654, 4598. And as 'Israel' represents spiritual good, he also represents the internal Church, 3305, 4286; for that Church is a Church by virtue of its spiritual good. Spiritual good is truth made into good; for truth is made into good when a person leads a life in keeping with that truth. When he does this, truth passes into his will and from there into action and becomes part of his life; and when truth becomes part of his life it is no longer called truth but good. But the will which transforms truth into good is the new will formed in the understanding part of his mind; and that good is called spiritual good. Spiritual good differs from celestial good in that celestial good is implanted in the will part of a person's mind. But this matter has been dealt with quite a number of times before.

[2] The reason why Jacob is not called Jacob now, as he is in Verse Genesis 42:36 of the previous chapter, but Israel is that good is the subject here, whereas truth was the subject in the previous chapter. In the previous chapter the speaker was therefore Reuben, who represents the truth of doctrine taught by the Church, 3861, 3866, 4731, 4734, 4761, 5542; but in the present chapter the speaker is Judah, by whom the good of the Church is represented, 3654, 5583. Good becomes the subject now because this time the joining together is effected of the internal, which is 'Joseph', and the external, which is 'the ten sons of Jacob', through the intermediary, which is 'Benjamin'. That joining of the internal to the external is effected through good.

  
/ 10837  
  

Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.