A Royal Problem - Genesis 36:1-43

[0:00] Let's turn to Genesis 36. And as I said before, man, this chapter has been on my radar for, I don't know, over a month because I've not been looking forward to it.

[0:12] Like, Lord, what is there? It's just 40-some verses, 43 verses of Esau, his generation and his tribe, shall we say.

[0:25] But the Lord is so good. There's application. It's a lot of information. It'll be very information-heavy for sure, but there's application. I was talking with Sue. We were talking about back when we were in the school of ministry ourselves, back when I was 19 and 20, going through the inductive Bible study class.

[0:43] I loved it. It was like, whoa, like unlocking the scripture. But you observe, you interpret, and you apply. Man, so you observe the scripture. Then you interpret. What does it mean? That part came pretty easily.

[0:53] But application, as like a 19 or 20-year-old, I'm like, love God. Don't do bad things. Now it's like at the point where I'm at in life, it's like there's application in everything.

[1:04] It's amazing. And it's just cool to see how the Lord, the Lord just in his own time, without even realizing, he just causes growth. Because there's no point in my life I can be like, yeah, then it started making sense.

[1:16] It's just God and his goodness. My title for today's message is A Royal Problem. Because we're going to go through the line of Esau, and we're going to see dukes and kings. And it's not British, I promise.

[1:28] Duke in the text just means chief, kind of like you have the tribes of Israel. Well, Esau had these dukes, and they were just well-known chieftains. But there's also going to be some kings. But this is a royal problem, and it's a royal problem that's continuing today.

[1:42] We're going to see that's continuing on today. The area of the world that we're going to be in is Edom. If you remember Esau, his name meant hairy, because he came out really hairy.

[1:52] And then he made that dumb deal with his brother where he sold his birthright for a bowl of red oatmeal, essentially. And then they called him red after that. You know, poor guy. He had that label the rest of his life because of that.

[2:06] So Edom just means red, but that's down in the area of Mount Seir. And if you look on the right, running vertical, you can kind of see it says the Seir Mountains. So that's below Moab's on the right, Judah on the left.

[2:19] If you look where it says Arad towards the top on the left, and then you get up to the Dead Sea. So Hebron, where Isaac is living, and where Abraham dwelt, is just outside of the screen.

[2:30] It's a little further north there. So we're down south beneath the promised land. And this is the area where we're going to be today with Esau. But if you turn to Genesis 36, we'll back up a little bit and talk about, if you remember last time, Jacob, I'm sorry.

[2:49] Jacob has just come back home. He's seen his father, and his father's passed off the scene. He set up his fourth pillar, though, that last pillar, which meant releasing the past for the future. His first pillar, trusting in the flesh.

[3:01] His second pillar, confidence in God. His third pillar, new beginnings. And then this one, releasing the past for the future. He thought, hey, I've just come back to rededication and renewal.

[3:12] What more is there? And the Lord is like, there's things you need to let go of, Jacob, before we can move on. And so He did. Our outline today is just simply breaking down the different sections for you.

[3:26] No fancy titles or anything. No alliteration. Sorry. I'll just leave that up there for now. Our theme verse, if you remember, was in 1 John 2, verses 15 through 17.

[3:38] Kind of this section with Jacob and Esau, especially as we finish now with Esau. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

[3:55] And the world passes away, and the lust thereof. But he that does the will of God abides forever. And I've really been thinking this week, one of the things that we kind of brought out of the text last week was, you know, there's no point holding on to things we're going to have to let go of eventually.

[4:10] We're all going to have to let go. You can hold as tight as you want to whatever you want in this life. You're going to have to let go of it eventually. When we all die, and we all will, and pass from this life, we're going to have to let go. So why hold on to something so tightly now that's going to prevent me from experiencing new life in Christ?

[4:27] The life of the Spirit, right? You know, on Mother's Day we talked about, we've all been born, right? You may not know your mother or your father, but to be alive in this life, you've been born. You have to be.

[4:37] There's no other way to get into this life. And to get into the next life is the same. You must be born again. We must be born of the Spirit. And that life lasts past this life. It's eternal.

[4:47] This one's temporary. So to hold on to the temporary things, why? I'm going to let go of them anyway. Now, that doesn't mean I just take no care for anything. But what it means is I'm not going to hold on to something so tightly that it's holding on to me, right?

[5:00] Something in my life that I realize, man, this thing has a hold on me. And it's replacing something of Christ, something of that new life that he wants me to experience.

[5:11] So that's what it's talking about, saying don't love the world. Don't cling so tightly to those things. And in verse 29, you remember, it says in Isaac, verse 29 of the chapter before, sorry, chapter 35, says in Isaac, he gave up the ghost and died and was gathered unto his people being old and full of days.

[5:30] And his sons, Esau and Jacob, buried him. In Ecclesiastes 8, verse 8, it says, There is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit. Neither has he power in the day of death.

[5:42] And there is no discharge in that war. Neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it. I like that. There's no discharge in that war. You can't get out of it. You can't escape it. We're all going to face it, right?

[5:55] And so Isaac, no matter how long he lived, no matter how right he lived, no matter how right he was with the Lord, there was a point he had to move on. And that's where we find ourselves now, as it gave us the brief genealogy of Jacob last week.

[6:11] And now we move on looking at Esau's. Picking up in verse 1 of Genesis 36.

[6:23] Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom. Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan, Ada the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Ahilabamah the daughter of Anna, the daughter of Zibion the Hivite.

[6:37] Now there's a lot of names, and we can go through every single definition. We're not going to. But I have gone through every definition. And it's interesting. There's some we'll pull out and some we'll look at that are very instructive.

[6:48] But Esau here has three wives, right? He married the two that were of the daughters of Canaan. And if you look back in Genesis 26, it tells us when he was 40 years old, he took to wife Judith, the daughter of Biri the Hittite, and Bishmath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.

[7:04] The names are a little different now in Genesis 36. But it still lines up with who they are. They just had taken different names or were called by different things, which happens quite frequently in Scripture, just as Jacob is now Israel, right?

[7:19] And he took them from the land. They were daughters of Canaan, and Canaan means the lowland is where he took them. And then, if you remember, after Jacob goes to Haran, he realizes, oh, mom and dad don't really like these girls of the world here.

[7:33] And so he goes to Ishmael, who was Abraham's other son, but not the son of promise. And he takes this other wife. And that was, I think the one we'll find out as we go.

[7:44] So, yep, Bishmath, that was the one. I'm going to butcher these names, guys. But that's okay, because so would you. So, if you remember, when it was time for Isaac to have a bride, Abraham wanted Isaac to be married.

[8:01] He said to his servant in Genesis 24 that you were to go and you were to take of the daughters of his brethren. He wasn't to take of the daughters of the land.

[8:13] And the servant then says to, he's saying this to Laban and to Laban's father and to Rebekah, and he said, But here you see Esau taking these wives.

[8:36] Ada means ornament. Her father was Elon. He was a Hittite, which means fear or terror. Hulibamah means tent of the high place. And her father was Zibion.

[8:49] And then Bishmath, she's Ishmael's daughter. In verse 3, they're the sister of Nebojoth. I don't know why that's pertinent. But it is, and her name means spice. In verse 4, it tells us the sons, And Ada bear to Esau Eliphaz, And Bishmath bear Reuel, And Ahilobamah bear Jeush and Jalem and Korah.

[9:13] These are the sons of Esau. Which were born unto him in the land of Canaan. And so you have these sons that were born to Esau. And we will look again at them a little later.

[9:26] You know, Esau, he was unwilling to maintain separation from the world. If you remember, Abraham, he went to such great length to find a wife for Isaac that was separate from the world.

[9:37] Even Jacob's sons, though they did it very poorly, they knew there needed to be separation when they went and they slaughtered the men of Shechem to keep separation from the world. But here you see Esau, he's not willing to maintain that separation.

[9:51] He doesn't have any problem with it. Esau is happy to join with any and everyone as long as it benefits him, as long as he can get something out of it. But the truth is, we must either separate from the world or the Lord.

[10:06] You can't maintain fellowship with both. It's not possible. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 17 says, The idea being, if you do not come out from among them and be separate, if you do not separate yourself from the unclean thing, then you remove yourself from a place where I can be a father unto you.

[10:33] You can't have both. You can't have fellowship with the world and fellowship with the Lord. It doesn't work that way. Esau here doesn't seem to have too much of an issue with that. Unfortunately, what we're going to see him separate from now in verse 6, he's going to separate from the place of promise and of blessing because he doesn't want to let go of the things of this world.

[10:53] And Esau took his wives and his sons and his daughters and all the persons of his house and his cattle and all his beasts and all substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob.

[11:06] And so he leaves the land of Canaan. If you remember when Jacob first comes back towards the land, he's not yet crossed the Jordan. He's by the Jabbok. He's worried about Esau coming. And then the Lord appears to him and he changes his name to Israel.

[11:18] And then in a new name and a new nature with confidence, he goes to meet Esau. And Esau says, oh man, it's good to see you, bro. Let's go back to my haunting place, my home.

[11:28] Let's go back to Seir. Come with me to Edom. And Jacob wouldn't go, which was smart. But anyway, here it says that he left Canaan to go out from the face of his brother.

[11:41] There seems to be this like attempt that they were, there was a possibility of being together or to try and cohabitate or whatever it was. At this point, Esau realizes, I can't stay here because of the amount of goods we have is conflicting.

[11:56] Esau's choice to leave the land of promise led his entire family away from that place. He took his children, he took his wife, wives, and he led them away. Where did Esau receive everything he had?

[12:09] Man, he received it by promise in the land of promise. It's because God promised him when he said to Isaac, oh, please give me, give me a blessing also. And Isaac does bless him. And Isaac, his father answered and said unto him, behold, your dwelling place shall be the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above.

[12:25] And by the sword shalt thou live and shall serve thy brother. And it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck. And so there's a promise there that Esau, you will have the fat of the earth.

[12:37] That's all he wanted. All he wanted. He was a man of the flesh and a man of desire. But where did he receive that promise? Man, that's from God. Everything he has, the blessings he has, everything came from the Lord.

[12:50] And here he's leaving the place where he received all of that. And his choice is directly affecting his family. Esau, he enjoyed the effects of the promise and he enjoyed the blessings of the promise, but he had no interest in knowing the God of the promise, did he?

[13:07] John 3.31 says, he that comes from above is above all. And he that is of the earth is earthly. It speaks of the earth. He that comes from heaven is above all. So here's Esau, a very earthy man, a man of the earth.

[13:22] And that's where he came from. That's who he was. If you remember in Genesis 33.9, when Jacob is trying to convince Esau to take the gifts he has for him, Esau uses this phrase.

[13:34] He says, I have enough, my brother. And we looked at how that word enough meant, I got a lot of stuff. I don't need any more stuff. And then Jacob's eventually gonna say, well, I have enough too. But the wording there is, I have all things.

[13:45] He's like, man, I got everything because I've got the Lord. Esau, his phrase is, I got bass boats, I got cars, I got big TVs, I got stuff. You know, I got, man, I don't need more stuff. I got a ton of stuff.

[13:55] Come here, let me show you my stuff. Jesus, speaking to his disciples in Matthew 19, responding to kind of their incredulity about a situation.

[14:08] He says to them, truly, truly, I say unto you that a rich man, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again, I say unto you, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

[14:20] When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed saying, who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, with men, this is impossible. But with God, all things are impossible.

[14:32] Why is it so hard for the rich to enter heaven? Why? I'm not rich. I don't think anybody here would be considered in that bracket of rich, especially today, as that, you know, to just live comfortably, it requires a lot more effort, a lot more funds.

[14:46] But in comparative to the rest of the world, we don't have great need. I'm not worried about next month where my food's going to come from. I'm not worried about where I'm going to be living, right?

[14:59] But riches, what their characteristic about riches is, they're part of this life, and they have only value in this life. And they do two things, unfortunately, to us. They give us a false sense of security and a false sense of control.

[15:12] I feel like if I got enough money, if I got riches, I'm secure. I can secure myself, and I can take control of the situation. Two things that have to be turned over to the Lord if we were to be part of his kingdom, right?

[15:27] So in Timothy, Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 6, he tells us to Timothy, he says, hey, charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God.

[15:42] And these are days of uncertain riches, man. These are days where what you think you have one moment could be gone the next. But trust in a living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy.

[15:52] Recognize where it comes from. That they do good. That they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate. So the things that you have that are the temporary world, they're going to pass away.

[16:03] You're going to let go of them. Man, use them to store up. Something that will not pass away. Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may hold on eternal life.

[16:16] So the things God gives us isn't because without them we can't survive because he told us he's going to provide all our needs. God gives us what we have to use as a blessing.

[16:29] To be used to store up treasure in heaven. Jesus said that we are to store up treasure in heaven where moth and rust do not corrupt and thieves do not break through and steal.

[16:40] But Esau here, he's not done that. He's taken the goodness of God and the grace of God and just consumed it upon himself. You say, what do you mean what goodness and grace? Jacob's the one under blessing. Now, Esau is also under blessing.

[16:54] In Matthew 5, Jesus speaking of how we should love our neighbors and then he says we should love our enemies. He says, You've heard it said you should love your neighbor and hate your enemies but I say unto you love your neighbors.

[17:06] Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Why? So that you might reflect the same heart of God. That you may be children of your Father which is in heaven for he makes his son to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust.

[17:24] God's grace is at work in this world and his goodness on everybody who's in existence. You know, at my job site where we are right now we're really deep in the ground to build up a foundation to build this pump station on top of this foundation so I can kind of stand at the top of it and look way down at these guys working.

[17:39] They look so small down there and I was just thinking of how the work that they're doing the fact they're moving their arms, they're breathing, their bodies continuing, the sun that's shining. This is God's grace. God's grace on a fallen world that he's not just like fine I'm just going to leave to yourselves as chaos, you know, consumes the world as nature runs amok because he's taken his hand off of it.

[17:59] It's God's grace and what would it be like if each one of those men knew their creator and everything they did they're like, man, look what I'm able to do because of God's grace. Look what my creator made me to do.

[18:11] Imagine if he made us without thumbs. That'd be miserable. You know, God is so good. It's his grace and Esau doesn't recognize that everything he has is because of God's goodness and God's grace and for him it was easier, he thought, in his mind to maintain that and leave the promised land, leave behind true blessing.

[18:35] Verse 7, for their riches were more that they might dwell together and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle.

[18:46] The cares of this world, Jesus said, and the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things will choke out the word and it becomes unfruitful. Esau left the place of blessing.

[19:00] It says he went from the face of Jacob. He went from the presence of Jacob. Jacob, our man of the covenant, Esau was willing to lead. Never let the temporal keep you from the eternal. For Esau, that's the man he was.

[19:14] But for us, we have something so much greater. We have eternity ahead of us. All of this, we're going to let go of. But before we do that, what can we do with it? What can we do with the time God's given us and the resources God has given us to lay up a blessing for time to come?

[19:30] 2 Corinthians 4.18 says, While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal. Don't let the temporal keep us from the eternal.

[19:41] But the things which are not seen are eternal. And so here's Esau as we have this last little commentary on his life. He's leaving the presence of the man of the covenant.

[19:53] He's leaving the promised land. He's leaving blessing. And he's going out to live a life in the world. Thus, Esau dwelt in Mount Seir.

[20:03] And it says, Esau is Edom. We'll come back to Seir. We're going to see him later. That just means hairy or rough. It was a rough place. Good place for Esau whose name means hairy. He was at home there.

[20:15] But I want to look real quick at Edom. It's like, well, what is Edom? I mean, we're going to see Edom and Seir. What are these? And Edom in Scripture comes up again. It's just the people of Esau.

[20:25] It's his descendants. So you have the line of promise. You had Ishmael and then you had Isaac. The promise went through Isaac. You have Jacob and Esau. The promise goes through Jacob.

[20:36] Right? Well, Abraham had other children. He had children under Keturah as well. One of them being Midian. We're going to see them come up. And then you had Ishmael. Then there's Esau. And the line of Abraham that was not according to promise was always conflicting with the seed of promise.

[20:56] And in Numbers, we see when Israel has come out of their time in slavery, they've come out of Egypt, 200 years in Egypt. And they come out of there and they're going through the wilderness. And at that time, they had the opportunity to go up through Edom.

[21:10] We saw where that was up into the promised land. And Edom said unto him, this is Numbers chapter 20, starting verse 18, you shall not pass by me, lest I come out against you with the sword.

[21:22] And the children of Israel said unto him, we will go by the highway. In other words, we won't leave the road. And if any of our cattle drink of your water, then we'll pay for it. I will only, I will only, without doing anything else, go through on my feet.

[21:37] He's like, look, all we want to do is just pass through your land. We don't want to stop and shop at your stores. We won't eat your food. We promise if anything's damaged, we'll pay for it. And he said, thou shall not go through.

[21:48] And Edom came out against him with much people and with a strong hand. Thus, Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border. Wherefore, Israel turned away from him. So at that time, the descendants of Esau refusing to let the people of Israel pass through their land.

[22:08] In Ezekiel 25, we have this prophecy against Edom. Thus saith the Lord God, because that Edom has dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance and has greatly offended and revenged himself upon them.

[22:20] Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, I will also stretch out my hand upon Edom and will cut off man and beast from it. And I'll make it desolate from Teman and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword. And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel.

[22:34] And they shall do in Edom according to mine anger, according to my fury, and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God. We know the principle of you reap what you sow. And so Edom refusing to be a help to their brother Jacob.

[22:49] Now we're going to go and see more about the five sons of Esau. And here is Esau's, what's that word, genealogy, or his family tree. He has three wives, Ada, Beshmath, Aholibamah, and then he's going to have five sons.

[23:03] Of those five sons, we're going to see ten grandsons that are listed. And those ten grandsons, plus those, the sons of Aholibamah, they're going to make up his, what they're going to be called the dukes, or whatever, the chiefs.

[23:17] And so we'll go through that, just a lot of information, but there's some instructive things in here. And these are the generations of Esau, the father of the Edomites in Mount Seir. These are the names of Esau's sons.

[23:27] Eliphaz, the son of Ada, the wife of Esau. Reuel, the son of Beshmath, the wife of Esau. And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gathom, and Kenes.

[23:39] And there's some different names in there. One of the ones, it says that Eliphaz, the son of Ada, the wife of Esau. Ada means ornament, and his name means my God is fine gold.

[23:53] It's just the idea of idolatry in there, that that's what she's passed on to her son, that hey, my God is fine gold. The things that she was enamored with.

[24:03] And Timnah was concubine to Eliphaz, Esau's son. And that's going to come back later. Timnah is actually going to be a daughter of Seir. This is how Edom, Esau, and Seir come together.

[24:15] But she was a concubine to Eliphaz, Esau's son, and she bared to Eliphaz, Amalek. That name's Ringabel, the Amalekites. This is where they come from. These were the sons of Ada, Esau's wife.

[24:28] And Timnah, her name means restrained, but the idea is like to hold someone back, to keep them back from something that they should go into. She's a restrainer. She holds you back. And that's who this girl was who had Amalek.

[24:40] Amalek means dweller in a valley, one who's content to dwell in the low places, one who's content to dwell in the dark places. And these are the sons of Reuel, his other son, Nehath, and Zerah, Shammah, and Mizah.

[24:51] These were the sons of Beshemath, Esau's wife. And these were the sons of Aholibamah, the daughter of Anna, the daughter of Zibion, Esau's wife.

[25:02] And she bared to Esau, Jeush, and Jalim, and Korah. And so these were the sons here of Esau. Mizah, there where it says, oops, lost my spot.

[25:18] His name means, here we go. His name means fear. And then Shammah means astonishment, but the idea is like a wasting, like just you're so surprised at how much destruction there is.

[25:34] Some of the names aren't so bad. Reuel means friend of God. As you know, in scripture, the name very often is the nature. You see the name when you look at the definition, it's very often the nature. Jesus, Joshua, Jehovah is salvation, right?

[25:47] When we see the word, the name Saul, we're going to see him in here. Saul means desired, just like Israel. They desired a king and they found Saul, one that fit their desires. But these were the sons of Aholibamah, the daughter of Anna, the daughter of Zibion, Esau's wife, and she bared to Esau, Jeush, Jalim, and Korah.

[26:03] Now we're going to see the dukes of Esau. I can't remember if there's 13 or 14 dukes. Anyway, it just means chief, it doesn't mean duke, it's just the way it was translated.

[26:14] And these were the dukes of the sons of Esau, the sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn son of Esau, Duke Teman, Duke Omar, Duke Zepho, Duke Kinez, Duke Korah, Duke Godam, and Duke Amalek.

[26:25] These are the dukes that came of Eliphaz. In the land of Edom, these were the sons of Adah. And these are the sons of Reuel, Esau's son, Duke Nehath, Duke Zerah, Duke Shammah, and Duke Mizah.

[26:36] These are the dukes that came of Reuel in the land of Edom. These are the sons of Beshmath, Esau's wife. And these are the sons of Ahalabamah, Esau's wife, Duke Jeush, Duke Jalom, Duke Korah.

[26:48] These were the dukes that came of Ahalabamah, the daughter of Anna, Esau's wife. These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom. And these are their dukes. And he had all of these in the land of Edom, in the place removed from the land of blessing, in the place of blessing.

[27:01] And now, in verse 20, we transition from Esau's line, we transition to the line of Seir, the Horite, or the Hivite. And the idea is how these two groups mix.

[27:14] And it'll make sense in a little bit, but stick with me. There's his family tree. It's a little confusing. Down the center is his sons, and then a line off of there to their sons.

[27:27] And then he also had, as you see, Timnah, who had Amalek. That would be his daughter. And these are the sons of Seir, the Horite, who inhabited the land, Lotan, and Shobel, and Zibion, and Anna.

[27:40] And so, as we said, Seir means hairy or rough, and being a Horite or Hivite just means cave dweller. So he lived in a very rough place. And they lived in caves at that time. And those were his sons.

[27:52] Lotan means covering, Shobel means flowing, Zibion means colored, and Anna means answer. Like, okay. The interesting thing as we go through these, the genealogy, some of the names as you pick them out, it's like, wow, that's an interesting name to name your kid.

[28:05] Like, some pretty rough names. When we get into the kings, at the end of this, there's going to be nine kings, the nine kings of Seir. And we're going to see as we continue to progress through the generations, the further they remove from that land of promise, the further we move from that place of blessing, the further they go downhill.

[28:24] And then in verse 21, in Dishon, in Ezra, and, and, and Dishon, Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan. I mean, why not? If you got a son named Dishon, name him Dishan.

[28:36] These are the dukes of the Horites, the children of Seir, and the land of Edom. Dishon means thresher, and Ezer means treasure, and then Dishan is just a derivative of Dishon, means thresher as well.

[28:49] So you name, yeah, you two boys, thresher, treasure, and thresher. Wonder which one was their favorite, which is dad's favorite here. Wow, to name your kids that. So Seir, Mount Seir, where does that come up in scripture?

[29:01] Well, it's interesting, there's a prophecy in Ezekiel 35 regarding Seir, which also involves Edom because they became one people. So, the people of, the sons of Ishmael, the sons of Keturah, one of them being Midian, which was Abraham's wife, Keturah, and the sons of Esau, they exist today.

[29:20] They're still around today just as the people of Israel are today. But they've mixed and today we know them pretty much as Arabs. Many of the countries over there, that's who populates them.

[29:31] These are still in existence today. And the Lord speaks to the people who would stand against their brother Jacob and says, moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me saying, son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it and say unto it, thus says the Lord God, behold, O Mount Seir, I am against thee and I'll stretch out my hand against thee and I'll make thee most desolate and I will lay thy cities waste and thou shalt be desolate and thou shalt know that I am the Lord because thou hast had a perpetual hatred and has shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity and the time that what?

[30:09] Their iniquity had an end. When will their iniquity be at an end? When Jesus returns and when they say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. He will come because he will make, he will bring an end to the iniquity in Israel and at that time God will judge them because they have shed blood because their perpetual hatred and the interesting thing as you continue on in Ezekiel 35 it says, and because thou hast said these two nations and these two countries shall be mine and we will possess it whereas the Lord was there because they wanted the land because they said, no, no, no, no, no.

[30:41] From the river to the sea it's all ours. The Lord says it's his land. He said, this is mine and I have given it to Jacob and there will be a day and we won't be here for that because we will be home with the Lord but when he comes to make an end of iniquity when he will judge.

[31:01] Now, as we look at this you think, well, didn't they have a choice? I mean, okay, so unless you're a son of Jacob you can't know the Lord? Not at all. Not at all. We're going to see as we get down to this there's some guys that it seems like they were walking with the Lord and they knew the Lord but it matters a lot the influence in our lives.

[31:19] It matters a lot as children what we're influenced by. It does. The truth or the lies that we ingest that we take hold of and believe are part of what makes up this world it matters a lot and so as Esau is passing on to his sons and they're passing on to his the things that they're supposed to be living for it makes it very difficult for them when they've grabbed on so tightly to the things of the world to then let go of those to grab on to the things of eternity.

[31:47] And the children of Lotan and we'll put that back up for you guys the children of Lotan were Hori and Himam and Lotan's sister was Timna that's the daughter there and then again there's some names in here Himam means exterminating and so there's just some some of these guys that seems like they're pretty rough dudes and the children of Shobol were these Elvan and Manaph and Ebal Shifo and Onam and thankfully that's Elvan and Elvin because Elvan in here means unrighteous and that wouldn't be good and these are the children of Zibion both Aja and Anah this was that Anah that found the mules in the wilderness and he fed the donkeys of Zibion his father what does that mean?

[32:33] well the idea is that he found a spring of water he was very famous for this place he found a watering hole and that was kind of what he was known for but he Zibion the father of Anah then his daughter was Aholibamah who then was Esau's wife she seems to have been much younger because when you look at when it gave them sons and then the grandsons we don't have any grandsons from Aholibamah we just have her sons so she seems to have been a younger a younger bride that Esau took anyway that's just free information and these are the children of Daishan in verse 26 Himdan and Ishban and Nithran and Chinar and the children of Esau are these Bilhan and Zavan and Achna some of these names Esau means treasure Zavan means troubled and the children of Daishan are these Uz and Aran these are the dukes that came out of the Horites or the Hivites

[33:35] Duke Lotan Duke Shobel Duke Zibion Duke Ganah Duke Daishan Duke Esau Duke Daishan Duke Daishan these are the dukes that came out of Hori among the dukes that are in the land of Seir and so you have these groups mixing you have Esau and you have Seir you have the two tribes mixing and you have their chiefs and then it goes into these kings all of a sudden it throws them in here for us in verse 31 and there's not a lot of context with this they don't actually link up to anybody that we've just read about it's not like this is so and so's son and this is so and so's son but there's nine kings here and the nine kings of Edom well I mean you think it's like nine generations right that would cover the time that Israel goes down into Egypt Israel comes out of Egypt and is in 40 years in the wilderness right it's covering these these generations and these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before they reigned any king over the children before they reigned any king over the children of Israel so at the time if you remember when Israel wants a king who's it they decide to get a king right

[34:40] Saul so that's about nine generations from when they go into Egypt and then they come out and into the promised land it's about nine generations and then you have Saul so the kings when it says that they're looking around in 1st Samuel chapter 8 and they say to Samuel well you're old and we don't trust your sons so make us a king to judge like all the nations what nations are they looking around at well this is some of them they're looking around at Edom and these kings that are there they're looking at Moab and Midian these are the nations they're looking at give us a king to judge us we want a king and these were the kings these are the kings that reigned over the land of Edom verse 32 and Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom and the name of his city was Denehaba so Bela means destruction and Beor means burning and Denehaba means master of plundering all of a sudden these names are beginning to change now as you get into these kings these are the men that were reigning at these times destruction burning master of plundering and Bela died and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead

[35:48] Jobab means a desert Zerah means rising like an uprising and then it says he reigned in Bozrah that means sheepfold or fortress do you recognize that name anybody recognize that in Isaiah 61 there's a prophecy speaking of Jesus when he's come right before he sets up his kingdom on this earth he's come to reign in righteousness and he comes and he makes all things right and it says who is this that comes from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah this is that glory that is glorious in his apparel traveling in the greatness of his strength I that speak in righteousness mighty to save wherefore art thou red in thine apparel and thy garments like him that tread the wine vat I have trodden the winepress alone and of the people there was none with me for I will tread them in mine anger and trample them in my fury and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments and I will stain all my raiment for the day of vengeance is in my heart and the year of my redeemed is come Bozrah is the Hebrew name for Petra in the Greek Petra is the rock is the rock city very famous been used in multiple movies but during the tribulation during Jacob's trouble during the seven years when God's wrath is being poured out in the world at the last half of the tribulation it says Israel will flee and they will flee down into Petra and that God will keep them there and protect them for those three and a half years and at the end of that he will go down there to get his people he will go down to bring vengeance upon his enemies and to bring his people back and so this is that this is where Jobab is currently king of in Bozrah and Jobab died in verse 34 and Husham of the land of Tamani reigned in his stead and Husham died and Hadad the son of B-dad

[37:33] I mean come on Hey dad the son of B-dad that's just awesome you know hey dad who's your dad B-dad oh that be your dad that be my dad who smoked Midian in the field of Moab so he was known for fighting against the Midianites and the Moabites he reigned in his stead and the name of his city was Avith Hey dad means mighty and B-dad means separation he was a mighty man of separation and Hey dad died and Samla of Mesrika reigned in his stead and Samla died and Saul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his stead and remember we said Saul means desired well this Rehoboth this place the name of that means wide places or streets and so here's a man living in a place of wide places and wide streets a place where he desired to live makes me think of Matthew 7 where Jesus says enter you in the straight gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be that go in thereat because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life and few there be that find it and here's a man who is content desired to live in this place of wide streets and wide places and Saul died and Baal Hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead

[38:51] Baal Hanan if you see the root there is Baal that means he was a worshiper of the false god Baal or Baal is gracious it meant the son of Achbor Achbor means mouse you know just kind of giving us an idea of who these men were and where they came from and the things they value and Baal Hanan the son of Achbor died and Hedad reigned in his stead and the name of his city was Pao and his wife's name was Machabal and here we have an interesting thing where he was given his wife the mother and grandmother of his wife his wife's name was Machatabal the daughter of Matred the daughter of Machazab Machazab yeah that's good enough anyway this is pretty neat this is the last king it's ending on but if you look at what these names mean Hadar the king his name means honor and he's living in Pao which means bleeding like the bleeding of sheep a place of sheep a place of the shepherd and he married a girl whose name was favored of God whose mother was pushing forward and whose grandmother was waters of gold this guy married good he married a woman who was favored of God and he lived in this place of the bleeding of sheep and his name meant honor so here you see even in Esau's line even in the line of Seir you see these people that mean destruction and Amalek's being born and yet God has a remnant in every nation and in every family and every people he's not a respecter of persons right there's neither Jew nor Greek bond or free male nor female in Christ as far as like categories of respect it's not like well because I'm a male Christian

[40:28] I'm much more favored than a female Christian or because you're a female Christian God loves you more no there's no categories no respecters of person and so at some point one of these guys got a hold of the truth and they're like man favorite of God yes that's where I want to be verse 40 and these are the names of the dukes that came of Esau according to their families after their places by their names now we get some dukes thrown in here but again we're not listed in the lineage Duke Timnah Duke Elva Duke Jehef Elva means evil Timnah restrained as we know Duke Aholibamah someone decided to name this guy after like his great great great great grandmother because Aholibamah was one of Esau's wives Duke Elah Duke Pinon Pinon means darkness Duke Kinez Duke Timon Duke Mibzar Duke Magdiel Duke Iram these be the dukes of Edom according to their habitations in the land of their possessions he is Esau the father of the Edomites and so as we end there these are the lineage of Esau this is what he's known for seems to be doing pretty well

[41:38] I mean other than some of these guys seems like they're kind of creepy guys possibly but as far as like man he's thriving right he's thriving he's flourishing he's blessed if you were to look at him and meet him you'd be like this dude he's done well for himself he's passed on generational wealth position in his family this is a good situation his people are living free you think well this is Esau if this is scripture tells us Jacob have I love Esau have I hated if this is how he's living then God's people must be blessed God's people must be just thriving Joshua 24 as Joshua is rehearsing the history of Israel he says that the Lord says and I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau and I gave unto Esau Mount Seir as we just saw to possess it but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt I sent them into slavery so Esau is flourishing he's blessed he's free Jacob is floundering he's oppressed during all of these kings in this lineage and he's a slave what's up with that we're God's people we're not living for the things of this world

[42:45] I'm trying the best I can to reject the things of this world that encroach on my life I'm trying to live for you Jesus and it just seems like it seems like I'm floundering like I'm oppressed and like I'm a slave Psalm 37 verse 35 I have seen the wicked in great power says David and spreading himself like a green bay tree yet he passed away and lo he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found mark the perfect man behold the upright for the end of that man is peace yeah you know what Esau he spread himself like a green bay tree but could he hold on to it he had to let it go every one of these as we step through each one of these men these kings and he died and then the next guy and he died and the next guy they're all going to have to let it go you know there's a verse in Psalm 106 it's rehearsing Israel's history and it talks about when they're in the in the wilderness and they're desiring lusting for begging for their flesh to be satisfied and the Lord had given them manna the bread of heaven but they said no no no no we want quail we want to eat good and it says that he gave them their request but sent leanness into their soul right it doesn't mean he's like well that's your punishment no it's that that if I fulfill that request your flesh will be satisfied but your soul will be lean and I see that in Esau his life he had a lean soul very lean and it is far better to receive what seems like the leanness of the things of this world and have a rich soul than to have a lean soul and have much in this world and there's a better end there's a much better end than what this world world offers for all of these men there was a better end at the time that these men are thriving and their kingdoms are being established

[44:39] Israel goes into Egypt and they're slaves there for two to four hundred years depends on what you look at but they're there for multiple generations Judah goes down as the son of Jacob and then Judah has a son and a grandson and a great-grandson and a great-great-grandson and a great-great-great-grandson and a great yeah a great-great-great-grandson and that great-great-great-grandson is the one that came out of Egypt and he would have died in the wilderness but he had a son that great-great-great-grandson of Judah who went down into Egypt he had a son whose name was Salmon and Salmon went into the promised land and he married someone named Rahab.

[45:25] And that Rahab and Solomon, they had a son named Boaz. Boaz married a girl from Moab named Ruth. And Ruth and Boaz had a son named Obed, who had a son named Jesse, who had a son named David.

[45:38] And so while it looked like royalty resided in Esau's line, in Egypt, in slaves, one of these guys, Judah's sons, or multiple of his sons or grandsons living in slavery, they were the royal line.

[45:52] They had the royal seed. Heaven looked down and said, that's royalty. That's where promise and blessing is. And while Edom was thriving and these kings were sitting on their thrones, here comes this great, great, great, great grandson who had been a slave coming into the promised land.

[46:14] Never let the temporary keep you from the eternal. 1 Corinthians 15, 19 says, If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

[46:25] If there's no resurrection, if this is all we've got, we are of all men most miserable. We don't suffer needlessly. We don't reject the things of this world needlessly.

[46:35] We do it because there's a greater hope to come. 1 Corinthians 15, 52. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

[46:51] It's the resurrection. You know, I think sometimes we stop short of the hope of the gospel. We tell people, man, if you come to Christ, if you put your faith in Christ, he will forgive your sins. When you die, you can go to heaven.

[47:03] Instead of being rejected and separated from him for all of eternity because you rejected the cross, which is called hell. But how do you get there? What is that? It's not just go to heaven.

[47:13] The hope of the gospel is the resurrection, that I will have a new body and a new life given to me, not just kind of like, oh, I'm in heaven. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

[47:25] But the dead in Christ shall rise first. Those that are with the Lord now will receive their resurrected body. Our hope is resurrection. And no matter how difficult it gets, we cannot imagine what that's going to be like.

[47:39] You know, the Esau's of the world may be thriving and vibing right now, but there's going to be a time where they're going to have to let all that go. But what we have, we have the seed.

[47:52] We have the royalty. We have the promise of the resurrection. Eye has not seen nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him. It's easy to look at the wicked who spread themselves like that great bay tree.

[48:07] It's easy to look at the person and it's like, man, they don't seem to have any trouble in their life. Every time, we always joke about that. Anytime in our life where it seems like, hey, we got a surplus financially. I wonder what's going to happen. And then it gets used.

[48:18] Oh, need a new car. You know, we need a new house. We need whatever. And it's like, okay. But man, I wouldn't trade that for anything. The Lord has been so faithful to provide all of our needs. And I cannot imagine what more he has for us in this life as we let go of the things here to store up treasure in heaven.

[48:38] So we say goodbye to Esau. You know, he comes back in Obadiah. It's a prophecy all against Edom. There's prophecies against him in Ezekiel. And then in Numbers where he rejects the bid of Israel to come through his land.

[48:55] Will we ever get to Numbers? Probably not. We'll probably be raptured before that. The amount of time it takes to go through this. So we will say goodbye to Esau. And unfortunately for Esau, his end, though it might have looked good from this view, didn't look good from the Lord's view.

[49:12] Right? Father, we just thank you so much, Lord. Thank you that your word, even in a genealogy, a long section, just reading through these genealogies, Lord. Lord, seeing your mercy in there, seeing the grace of God.

[49:24] Every one of these men were under the blessing and promise that Isaac gave to Esau. That you said, I gave Esau the land of Seir, as I gave Jacob the land of Canaan.

[49:37] But that came from you. And how few of them acknowledged you as their creator. Or how few of them recognized that the breath they have is your grace. The life they have is your goodness.

[49:50] Every single day, Lord, we live in the grace and goodness of God. Lord, let us not be like Esau. Let us not be like the man of the earth, earthy.

[50:01] Trying to grab a hold of things here, Lord. Fault security. Fault sense of control. Lord, instead, let us lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not corrupt and thieves do not break through and steal.

[50:15] Lord, we have an inheritance that's set aside for us, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for us. And Lord, we're going to get to heaven, but we're going to get there through the resurrection.

[50:26] The promise, Lord, that this world is not the end. We have a new life in Christ. So, Lord, I pray that you would fill our lives with true value, Lord.

[50:38] Lord, that we would solve the royal problem in our lives because you've solved the problem of sin, Lord. And we need to now solve that problem of who's king in our lives, who's king in my heart.

[50:50] Is it Jesus? Or is it me? Is it riches? Is it my career? Is it what I'm chasing here? Everything I'm going to let go of at some point. Am I going to chase that?

[51:00] Or am I going to use what you've given me here to store up, to store up treasure in heaven, Lord? An eternity with you dwelling in the riches of the kingdom of God.

[51:12] Thank you, Jesus. We love you. We praise you in your name. Amen.