(Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's son; she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.) These are the sons of Adah, Esau's wife.
Genesis 36 lists the family of Esau. In the middle of that list, one short note names a woman who was not a wife, and the son she bore. That son, Amalek, gives his name to the nation that fights Israel first and longest. Why does a passing line in a genealogy carry such weight?
Who the people in the verse are
The names here are all connected to Esau's firstborn line. Reference works set out the bare facts about the woman named in the verse:
Morrish Bible DictionaryConcubine of Eliphaz, son of Esau, and mother of Amalek. Genesis 36:12.
The closing clause of the verse traces everything back to Adah, and her own background is worth noting, along with what came of her son:
Morrish Bible DictionaryOne of the wives of Esau, daughter of Elon the Hittite and so "a daughter of Canaan": she bore to Esau his firstborn son Eliphaz, who became the father of seven of the chiefs of Edom. Genesis 36:2, 4, 15, 16.
Why the chapter exists at all
Readers often skip these lists. One writer explains why this one is here:
L. M. GrantThis chapter deals with the generations of Esau. Verse 6 tells us that Esau took his wives, family, and all his possessions and left the land of Canaan, going "from the face of his brother Jacob." The man "after the flesh" cannot live together with the one God has chosen. Yet Esau (Edom) prospers and grows in material things. His sons become chiefs (vv. 15-43) before Jacob's family reach such honour, except for Joseph in Egypt. So the long list of names is meant to impress on us that God has taken full account of the flesh and all its activities, finding it only vanity.
A side note that produced a nation
Timna appears only here. What came from her is another matter:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinEdom became the treacherous enemy of the people of Israel. From the concubine of Eliphaz came Amalek, one of the terrible enemies of Israel, and there was to be continual war with him (Exodus 17:8-14).
What the name suggests
The meaning of "Amalek" is debated, and one writer works through the options while linking the name to the character of the family it came from:
Numerical Bible NotesAmalek is the grandson of profane Esau, whose name Edom, earned by his actions, is almost identical with Adam. Amalek's own name has no settled meaning. It has been thought to be made up of am and laq, and so to mean "a people that licks up," or "exhausts." That would fit well enough, but Scripture points rather to a derivation from amal and laq, which would give us the thought of "labour that exhausts." … Amal is connected with the will or lust of the flesh, and Amalek may well be the offspring of the old man, Edom.
An unresolved question about the timing
Amalekites appear in Scripture long before the birth recorded here, and commentators do not claim to settle it:
Morrish Bible DictionaryThese names raise a difficulty. We read of Amalekites in Genesis 14:7, some hundred years before the birth of Amalek, the son of Eliphaz and grandson of Esau, Genesis 36:12. Does everything we read of the tribe after this refer to the descendants of Esau? Or did the older people merge with them? No one knows.
The story that runs on from this verse
Follow the name forward and it reaches from the wilderness to the book of Esther:
C. H. MackintoshHe was the grandson of Esau, who preferred a bowl of stew to the birthright. (See Genesis 36:12) He was the first who opposed Israel, after their baptism "in the cloud and in the sea." These facts fix his character very clearly; and besides these, we know that Saul was set aside from the kingdom of Israel because he failed to destroy Amalek. (1 Samuel 15) Further, we find that Haman is the last of the Amalekites mentioned anywhere in Scripture. He was hanged on a gallows because of his wicked attempt against the descendants of Israel. (See Esther) No Amalekite could enter the assembly of the Lord. And finally, in the chapter now before us, the Lord declares perpetual war with Amalek.
Summary
- Root. Timna was Eliphaz's concubine. Eliphaz was Esau's firstborn son by Adah, a Hittite woman of Canaan.
- Line. Esau's family rises fast into chiefs and wealth. God records it in full only to show it is vanity.
- Fruit. Out of that one unnamed union came Amalek, described as one of the terrible enemies of Israel.
- Character. Commentators read Amalek as a picture of the flesh. His name suggests "licking up" or "labour that exhausts" — the offspring of Edom, the old man's line.
- Reach. The trail runs from Exodus 17 to Saul's lost kingdom to Haman's gallows. The Lord declares perpetual war on Amalek. Commentators differ on whether the Amalekites of Genesis 14 come from this Amalek at all.