These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitant of the land Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah,
The list here turns aside from Esau's family to the sons of Seir the Horite, who held this land first. Why name a people outside the line of promise, and what does their brief power teach?
The name points to how they lived, and the land still shows it.
Descendants of Seir, and the original inhabitants of Mount Seir. It is thought that they were cave-dwellers, as the name implies. The sandstone rocks of Mount Seir are full of dwellings cut out of the rock. There are traces of the same throughout the region of Edom.
One writer links the switch to where Esau got his power, to the man who gave the mountain its name, and to what came of the two families blending.
Esau was a descendant of Abraham. God called Abraham out from his relatives and his country, to be separate from all peoples and to receive the promises. Esau returns to the people that Abraham left. Neither the call nor the promise was for him. In his sons he rises to supreme power. This may be the reason why the sons of Seir are so abruptly brought in. Seir was a Horite who lived in the land, and as a chief he may have given his name to Mount Seir. The children of Esau dispossessed the Horites. "By your sword you shall live," said Isaac to his firstborn, and Esau's line became the dominant race. Yet soon the two families were blended in Eliphaz, son of Esau, and Timna, daughter of Seir… What could come of such a connection but Amalek, the bitter and first enemy of Israel in the wilderness?
The chapter reads like a roll of titles; the quotes below use the older word "dukes" where newer translations say chiefs. One writer sees a principle in how fast it all grew.
But there is another genealogy (Genesis 36), and it is strikingly introduced in this place. The Edomite interrupts the course of God's dealings. We see at once what remarkable maturity there was here. It is always so — first what is natural, afterwards what is spiritual. Even then we find a rapid development of power in the family of Esau. They were all great people, to be sure — duke this and duke that, to the end of the chapter. Even kings, we are told, reigned there before there were any in Israel. I have no doubt this is given to us as an important sign of how rapidly what is not of God shoots up. Growth according to God is slower, but then it is more permanent.
Set the chiefs of Seir and Edom beside Jacob's family, and the contrast is the point.
The world that has turned away from God sets itself up in power, while the heirs of promise are still poor pilgrims on the earth. This last point is something God distinctly reveals.
The pattern did not stop with Edom.
They not only became "dukes" but even "kings," and that before any king appeared in Israel's line. In earthly greatness and power the children of this world have always taken precedence over the children of God.
Seir's chiefs gave way to Esau's; Esau's kings gave way again to chiefs. That churn is itself the lesson.
Seir rose to power in the earth, and the Horites had their chiefs. Esau joined himself to them, and after a time his descendants rose to what looked like greater power, for kings are named among his descendants. Violence seems to have marked them, for not one king was followed by his son… This change in the form of authority is not unknown in our day. It shows a characteristic element — we might say flaw — in human power: its instability… God lets the world show itself, and its power, or rather lack of power, first. Then come His purpose and its firm foundation. The Edomite kings are gone, but God's King remains forever.
- First the land. Seir the Horite lived in that mountain region first. He was a cave-dweller, and his rock-cut homes can still be traced. The land carried his name.
- First the newcomer. Esau had no call and no promise. He joined himself to these people, and his descendants took their land. That is why their family list sits inside his.
- First the rise. What is not of God shoots up fast: chiefs, then kings, long before Israel had either. Growth according to God is slower, but it lasts.
- First the fall. Not one Edomite king was followed by his son. Power built on violence keeps changing hands. That instability is the flaw inside all human greatness.
- Then the promise. The chapter sets the world in full power beside heirs who are still pilgrims. They hold nothing but God's word. The Edomite kings are gone; God's King remains forever.
and Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan. These are the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom.
The chapter of Esau's family stops to name a different people: the chiefs who came from Seir the Horite. Why does a list of foreign chiefs stand inside Esau's record at all?
Their name points to how they lived:
Descendants of Seir, and original inhabitants of Mount Seir. They were destroyed by the children of Esau. Genesis 14:6; Genesis 36:20-21, 29; Deuteronomy 2:12, 22. It is thought that they were cave-dwellers, as the name implies. The sandstone rocks of Mount Seir are full of dwellings cut into the rock, and there are traces of the same throughout the region of Edom.
One writer connects the sudden appearance of this family to Esau's own rise to power:
He was a descendant of the man who was called out from his family and country, to be separate from all peoples and to receive the promises. Esau returns to the people that Abraham left. Neither the call nor the promise was for him. In his sons he rises to supreme power. This may be the reason why the sons of Seir are brought in so suddenly (see Genesis 14:6; 36:6-20; Deuteronomy 2:12-22). Seir was a Horite who lived in the land, and as a chief may have given his name to Mount Seir. The children of Esau drove the Horites out.
The same writer shows Esau joining that power and then rising above it:
Seir rose to power in the earth, just as Nimrod did, and the Horites had their chiefs. Esau joined himself to them, and in time his descendants seem to have risen to greater power, for kings are named among them.
Read the chapter straight through and the impression is of title after title. William Kelly sets the Horite chiefs alongside Esau's as rival holders of rank in the same hills:
Others, too, posed as grandees — the sons of Seir the Horite, or cave-dweller, the inhabitant of the land, summarised in verses 29, 30.
That speed of advance is itself the lesson. While Esau's line and the Horite line were producing chiefs and then kings, the family that held God's promise was still living in tents:
The Edomite interrupts the course of the line of God's dealings. We see at once what remarkable maturity there was here. It is always so — first what is natural, afterwards what is spiritual. Even then we find a rapid development of power in the family of Esau… even kings, we are told, reigned before there were any in Israel. I have no doubt this is given to us as an important point, to mark how quickly what is not of God shoots up. Growth according to God is slower, but then it is more permanent.
The Horite chiefs held the land, then lost it. One writer traces why their rule kept changing hands:
Violence seems to have marked them, for no king is followed on the throne by his son… And in this change in the form of authority, still seen in our own day, there is a characteristic element — we might say a flaw — in human power: its instability. Man cannot hold supreme and sole power in himself.
If these names lead nowhere, why does Scripture keep them? One writer sees the record itself as God's reckoning:
The long list of names is therefore meant to impress on us that God has taken full account of the flesh and all it does, finding it only vanity.
Another sets this rise to power against where God's own people stood at the time:
The world that has turned away from God sets itself up in power, while the heirs of promise are still poor pilgrims on the earth.
- Inhabitants. The sons of Seir held Edom first — cave-dwellers in the sandstone hills, named for the way they lived.
- Alliance. Esau went back to the people Abraham was called out from. He joined the Horites, and his sons later drove them out.
- Speed. What is natural rises first and rises fast; what is of God grows slowly, and lasts.
- Instability. Horite chiefs gave way to Edomite kings, and no king was followed by his son — human power cannot hold its shape.
- Account. God writes the whole list down and weighs it. His full account of the flesh reads: vanity — while His heirs were still poor pilgrims on the earth.