Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
In this chapter are described the descendants, and at verse 15 the dukes, and at verse 31 the kings descended from Esau: both because he was the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham; and to show that the blessing of Isaac, that given in chapter 27, verse 39, was in fact fulfilled; and because God wished the Edomites, who were to merge with the Jews into one nation, to be regarded by them as brothers, Deuteronomy 23:7.
Vulgate Text: Genesis 36:1-43
1. Now these are the generations of Esau, he is Edom. 2. Esau took wives from the daughters of Canaan: Ada, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oolibama, the daughter of Ana the daughter of Sebeon the Hivite; 3. and also Basemath the daughter of Ishmael, sister of Nabaioth. 4. And Ada bore Eliphaz: Basemath bore Rahuel; 5. Oolibama bore Jehus and Ihelon and Core: these are the sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan. 6. And Esau took his wives and sons and daughters, and every soul of his house, and his substance, and cattle, and all that he could possess in the land of Canaan: and he went into another region, and departed from his brother Jacob. 7. For they were exceedingly rich, and could not dwell together: nor could the land of their sojourning sustain them because of 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: Rahuel also the son of Basemath his wife. 11. And the sons of Eliphaz were: Theman, Omar, Sepho, and Gatham and Cenez. 12. And Thamna was a 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: Nahath and Zara, Samma and Meza: these are the sons of Basemath the wife of Esau. 14. And these also 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 are the 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 sons of Ada. 17. These also are 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 are the sons of Basemath the wife of Esau. 18. And these are the sons of Oolibama the wife of Esau: duke Jehus, duke Ihelon, duke Core. These are the dukes of Oolibama, the daughter of Ana the wife of Esau. 19. These are the sons of Esau, and these their dukes: he is Edom. 20. These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, and Sobal, and Sebeon, and Ana, 21. and Dison, and Eser, and Disan: these are the dukes of the Horites, the sons of Seir, in the land of Edom. 22. And the sons of Lotan were: Hori and Heman; and the sister of Lotan was Thamna. 23. And these are the sons of Sobal: Aluan and Manahat and Ebal, and Sepho and Onan. 24. And these are the sons of Sebeon: Aia and Ana; this is the Ana who found the hot springs in the wilderness, when he pastured the donkeys of Sebeon his father, 25. and he had a son Dison, and a daughter Oolibama. 26. And these are the sons of Dison: Hamdan, and Eseban, and Jethram, and Charan. 27. These also are the sons of Eser: Balaan, and Zavan, and Acan. 28. And Disan had sons: Hus and Aram. 29. These are the dukes of the Horites: duke Lotan, duke Sobal, duke Sebeon, duke Ana, 30. duke Dison, duke Eser, duke Disan: these are the dukes of the Horites who ruled in the land of Seir. 31. And the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before the children of Israel had a king, were these: 32. Bela the son of Beor, and the name of his city was 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 he also being dead, Adad the son of Badad reigned in his stead, who struck Midian in the region of Moab: and the name of his city was Avith. 36. And when Adad was dead, Semla of Masreca reigned in his stead. 37. And he also being dead, Saul of the river Rohoboth reigned in his stead. 38. And when he also had died, Balanan the son of Achobor succeeded to the kingdom. 39. And he also being dead, Adar reigned in his stead, and the name of his city was Phau: and his wife was called Meetabel, the daughter of Matred the daughter of Mezaab. 40. These therefore are the names of the dukes of Esau in their kindreds, and places, and by their names: 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 dominion, he is Esau the father of the Edomites.
Verse 2: Ada, the Daughter of Elon the Hittite
ADA, THE DAUGHTER OF ELON THE HITTITE. Note that men and women in ancient times had multiple names, as I said at chapter 19. So therefore she who is here called Ada, daughter of Elon the Hittite, is called Judith, daughter of Beeri in Genesis 26:34; and she who is here called Oolibama, daughter of Ana, is there called Basemath, daughter of Elon; again, she who is here called Basemath is called Maheleth in chapter 28, verse 9.
Verse 6: He Went into Another Region
AND ALL THAT HE COULD POSSESS, that is, all the possessions which he had acquired in the land of Canaan: so the Hebrew. HE WENT INTO ANOTHER REGION, into Edom; Esau had already gone there before on account of his offense against his parents, as is clear from chapter 32, verse 3; but when his father died, he returned with his whole family for his father's funeral in Hebron, as if intending to remain there. But since he abounded in flocks, and the pastures were not sufficient for both, namely for himself and his brother, he willingly yielded Canaan to his brother, and himself returned to his own Edom. So St. Augustine, Question 119. This happened by the will of God, who had promised Canaan to Jacob.
Verse 9: The Generations of Esau, the Father of Edom
AND THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF ESAU, THE FATHER OF EDOM, that is, the father of the Edomites, as is clear from verse 43. IN MOUNT SEIR, that is, dwelling in Edom, or rather as if to say: These are the sons, that is, the grandsons, of Esau, whom his sons born in Canaan begot in Seir, that is, in Edom. For henceforth Moses narrates the grandsons of Esau, born to him from his sons, who were already dwelling in Edom.
On the Rabbinical Identification of Edom with Rome
Foolishly and most ignorantly Aben Ezra and the Rabbis think Edom is Rome, and call the Roman Pontiff an Edomite monk; much more plausibly they would say the Edomites are Jews, as being most closely related to one another both in customs and in location and name: whence Pliny calls the Edomites Jews.
Verse 12: Amalech
AMALECH. Amalech was therefore a grandson of Esau, through Eliphaz: from him the Amalekites originated and took their name.
Verse 15: The Dukes of the Sons of Esau
THESE ARE THE DUKES OF THE SONS OF ESAU. Up to this point Moses had simply listed the sons and descendants of Esau; now he lists the dukes descended from Esau: hence it is not surprising if the same persons are named again; for previously they were named simply as sons, but here they are named as dukes. Note: Here are listed dukes, but at verse 31 kings, and again at verse 40 dukes descended from Esau; because the Edomites first embraced aristocracy, in which individual dukes presided over their own tribe and dynasty, and governed not by their own judgment but by the opinion of the nobles, as does the Doge of Venice; then they embraced monarchy, in which kings ruled over all of Edom by royal right; third, they again embraced aristocracy and returned to their dukes. Moreover, both the dukes and the kings were elective; hence the successors to the kingdom are listed not as the sons of the deceased, but as others, as Abulensis noted.
Verse 20: The Sons of Seir the Horite
THESE ARE THE SONS (that is, the inhabitants) OF SEIR THE HORITE, as if to say: These are the inhabitants of the mountain which was later called Seir after Esau; inhabitants, I say, by race and nation Horites, who inhabited this mountain before Esau, and whom the Esauites expelled, Deuteronomy 2:12. Those therefore who are named in what follows, namely Lotan, Sobal, Sebeon, etc., were Horites, not Esauites. Moses mentions the Horites, both because they were the first inhabitants of Edom, and because the Esauites took wives from them. For Thamna, the concubine of Eliphaz, the son of Esau, was the sister of Lotan the Horite, as is stated in verse 22. So St. Jerome.
Verse 24: Ana Who Found the Hot Springs
THIS IS ANA, WHO FOUND THE HOT SPRINGS, WHEN HE PASTURED THE DONKEYS. For hot springs, the Hebrew has iemim, which the Chaldean translates as giants. Second, Aquila, Symmachus, and the Septuagint retain the Hebrew word and translate it eamim; they customarily render the Hebrew chet by epsilon, whence for pesach they translate phase, for Corach they translate Core, for Therach they translate Thare. Now chaiammim appears to be composed of cham, meaning hot, and jammim, meaning waters; properly chaiammim signifies hot waters, which is noteworthy: for to my knowledge, no one has observed this.
Ana therefore found in the desert hot springs, such as are the springs of Aachen, which are hot and medicinal, because they flow through sulfur and sulfurous veins, and thus cure many diseases, especially those arising from phlegm. Therefore Ana was the inventor of baths. So says Torniellus.
Third, some, says St. Jerome in the Questions, think that wild asses were brought by Ana to mate with female donkeys; and that he himself discovered this kind of coupling, so that from them the fastest donkeys might be born, which are called jamim. Most think that he was the first to cause herds of mares to be mounted by donkeys, so that from them mules, a new kind of animal contrary to nature, might be born. And this is commonly followed by the Rabbis, Vatablus, and others, who translate jemim as mules, and Calvin and the Innovators eagerly seize upon this, in order to criticize and attack the Vulgate edition. Whence cleverly but unfaithfully Robert Estienne translated in the Vulgate edition, instead of hot waters he printed hot mares, and adds in the margin, that is, mules, which namely the hot mares produced when mixed with donkeys. Some add that, just as teomim means twins, so also jemim is derived from the verb tamam, meaning to complete, to perfect, as if jemim were called mules because they are completed and perfected from a double, or twofold, species of animals, namely descended from a mare and a donkey.
But our Translator most correctly rendered jamim as hot waters. First, because in the Punic language (which is related to Hebrew), according to St. Jerome, jamim means hot waters; second, because our Translator did not read jemim, but with different vowel points jammim, whence St. Jerome also reads jamim: and jammim in Hebrew means an abundance of waters, and hence the sea, and so Eusebius, Diodorus, Theodoretus, and Procopius translate and read it here. Third, in the Hebrew it is haiammim, for which it seems one should read chaiammim: for the he appears to have been distorted and corrupted into the neighboring chet; for the Septuagint, retaining the Hebrew word, translate eamim; they customarily render the Hebrew chet by epsilon.
Tropological Interpretation: Peter Damian on Ana
Tropologically, Blessed Peter Damian, Book II, Letter 12, to Desiderius the Abbot Cardinal: What does it mean, he says, figuratively, for Ana to pasture his father's donkeys in the wilderness, except for some spiritual man whose father is God to guard simple brothers under the zeal of a more remote discipline? And what does it mean to find hot waters, except to burst forth in tears of compunction, which are drawn out by the fervor of the Holy Spirit? For Onam is interpreted as pain, or sorrow, or also murmuring, or complaining. For whoever is saddened by the pain of true compunction is compelled, as it were under a kind of querulous murmuring, to complain against the wickedness of his own life. But Sebeon is interpreted as standing in equity, which no one is entirely unaware befits God. For He Himself principally stands in equity, because He never deviates from the rectitude of justice, compelled by no necessity. Therefore Onam, while he pastures the donkeys of his father Sebeon in the wilderness, finds hot waters; because whoever shows himself a son of God through the rectitude of his life, and grieves from the depths of his heart for his sins, while he renders himself solicitous in watchful care for his brothers, receives by divine gift the grace of tears.
Verse 31: Before the Children of Israel Had a King
BEFORE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL HAD A KING. These words seem to have been added after Moses by the one who organized Moses' records; for in the time of Moses there was no mention of a king in Israel. See what was said in the introduction to Genesis.
Verse 33: Jobab, That Is, St. Job
JOBAB. This is St. Job, the mirror of patience; for although the Hebrews and St. Jerome want St. Job to have been born from Hus, the son of Nachor, Abraham's brother, it is more truly the case that St. Job was descended from Esau and was his great-grandson. For Esau begot Rahuel, Rahuel begot Zara, Zara begot Jobab, or Job; whence his friend was Eliphaz the Themanite, the firstborn of Esau. This is the opinion of the Seventy Translators at the end of the book of Job; it is also that of Origen, Philo, St. Athanasius, Chrysostom, St. Augustine, Theodoretus, Gregory, Hippolytus, Irenaeus, Eusebius, Tostatus, Pererius, and Pineda on chapter 1 of Job, verse 1, number 31. From this it is clear that St. Job was a king in Edom, and the second in order.
On the Chronology of Job's Life
It is clear secondly that St. Job was born about the time when Jacob went down to Joseph in Egypt. For Job was the third generation from Esau; and Esau took a wife and began to beget children at age 40. But Jacob went down to Egypt at age 130, when the third generation was reached, in which Job was born. Hence thirdly, it follows that St. Job lived until the times of Moses: for St. Job lived at least two hundred and ten years, as Pineda shows on Job 45:16, number 3. Therefore he lived with Moses for at least 75 years; for from Jacob's descent into Egypt, which occurred in the 130th year of Jacob, around which time St. Job was born, to the departure of Moses and the Hebrews from Egypt, 215 years elapsed. And Moses was then 80 years old: therefore, if we grant that Job was born in the 130th year of Jacob and lived 210 years, we must consequently say that he lived with Moses for 75 years, and died 5 years before the departure of Moses and the Hebrews from Egypt.
Verse 37: Saul of the River Rohoboth
SAUL OF THE RIVER ROHOBOTH. That is, as 1 Chronicles chapter 1, verse 48 says: Saul of Rohoboth, which is situated by the river. From this it is clear that Rohoboth is a city, situated by a river. By this river some understand the Euphrates, the famous river in Scripture, by antonomasia. Whence the Chaldean translates: Saul of Rohoboth, which is above the Euphrates.
Verse 40: The Names of the Dukes of Esau
THESE THEREFORE ARE THE NAMES OF THE DUKES OF ESAU IN THEIR KINDREDS, AND PLACES, AND BY THEIR NAMES, as if to say: These are the names of the sons of Esau, who were dukes and heads of kindreds and tribes dwelling in Edom, through the places and regions assigned to them, which each named and designated after his own name. So Vatablus.