In Genesis 36 we find a brief aside into the lineage of Esau’s descendants and those of Seir the Horite in whose lands Esau went to dwell after separating from his brother Jacob after Jacob’s return from a twenty-year sojourn among their forefathers’ descendants in Paddan-Aram. These genealogies in Genesis 36 are found wedged between two major sections of the book of Genesis – the section we have just finished studying about Jacob’s life and the birth of his heirs who became the founding patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel, and the final section that we will take up next detailing the life of Jacob’s second-youngest son Joseph.

In this lesson we examine in detail the genealogical listings of Esau’s family and their relationships with the descendants of Seir whose lands God gave to Esau/Edom just as He gave the land of Canaan to the descendants of Jacob/Israel. However, as we shall learn, little more is subsequently mentioned about Esau in God’s Word except in those instances where the histories of Edom and the Israel intertwined.