What is the significance of Mount Seir?

This is a very magnificent fact to keep before the mind. The great majority of men think but little of it. Emperors, kings, princes, governors, statesmen, take little account of it. They forget that God interests Himself in the affairs of nations; that He bestows kingdoms, provinces and lands as He sees fit. They act, at times, as if it were only a question of military conquest, and as if God had nothing to do with the question of national boundaries and territorial possessions. This is their great mistake. They do not understand the meaning and force of this simple sentence, "I have given mount Seir to Esau for a possession." God will never surrender His rights, in this respect. He would not allow Israel to touch a single atom of Esau's property. They were, to use a modern phrase, to pay ready cash for whatever they needed, and go quietly on their way. Indiscriminate slaughter and plunder were not to be thought of by the people of God.

And mark the lovely reason for all this. "For the Lord thy God has blessed thee in all the works of thy hand; he knows thy walking through this great wilderness; these forty years the Lord thy God has been with thee, thou hast lacked nothing." They could well afford, therefore, to let Esau alone, and leave his possessions untouched. They were the favoured objects of Jehovah's tender care. He took knowledge of every step of their weary journey through the desert. He had, in His infinite goodness, charged Himself with all their necessities. He was going to give them the land of Canaan, according to His promise to Abraham; but the self-same hand which was giving them Canaan, had given mount Seir to Esau.

Ancestor of the Horites who dwelt in Mount Seir and 'the land of Seir.' Gen. 36:20-21; 1 Chr. 1:38.

The early name of the long range of mountains, extending from about eight miles, south of the Salt Sea, to near the Gulf of Akaba. It is also called 'the land of Seir.' It was occupied at first by the Horites, and afterwards by the descendants of Esau, and acquired the name of EDOM, q.v. The Israelites had to compass the whole of this mountainous range to reach their entrance to the promised land. Gen. 14:6; Gen. 36:8-9, 30; Deut. 2:1-12; etc. The word of Jehovah announced to the prophet the perpetual desolation of Mount Seir. Ezek. 35:2-15.

Name given to Esau because he craved the red pottage of Jacob, Edom signifying red, Gen. 25:30; Gen. 36:1, 8, 19; but the name is more usually given to his tribe and the territory they possessed. This extended from the land of Moab, southward to the Gulf of Akaba, in length about 100 miles, from about 29 30' to 31 N, and about 35 30' E. It is a remarkably mountainous district with lofty peaks and deep glens, but also with very productive plains. It had been called mount Seir. Gen. 36:8. Some of the rocks were so precipitous that Amaziah killed 10,000 of the children of Seir (Edomites) by casting them down from the rocks, whereby they were dashed to pieces. 2 Chr. 25:11. Bozrah and Sela, or Selah, were its chief cities.

When Israel was approaching the land of Palestine, Moses appealed to Edom to let them pass through their country, but they refused. The Israelites therefore returned south by way of the Red Sea (Gulf of Akaba) in order to compass the land of Edom, and then kept to the east of Edom until they reached the land of Moab. Num. 21:4.

Edom is constantly referred to in the prophets as having had relations with Israel, and is judged because of its perpetual hatred against them. Ezek. 35:5. God at one time stirred up the king of Edom to punish Israel (1 Kings 11:14), and then again strengthened Israel to punish Edom. 2 Chr. 25:10-11. Some of the prophecies however extend to the future. Edom took pleasure in the punishment of Judah when judgement was falling upon it. Of Jerusalem they said, "Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof," Ps. 137:7, evincing, as also do other passages, the hatred and jealousy of the descendants of Esau.

If we trace through the Bible the history of Edom, we shall always find the same features, whether in the refusal of passage to Israel in the desert, whether in Doeg, or in the Herods — we shall always find the profane and gross worldly element together with opposition to God. Mount Seir is the stronghold of the flesh, the citadel of godless man; but Edom should be pulled down from his eyrie (see Obadiah) and at his end should be dislodged from his high perch and brought low. And so shall all proud thoughts and pretentious strongholds of the flesh be laid in the dust!

The prophet is instructed to set his face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it, and say: "Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I am against thee, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and will make thee a desolation astonishment." Mount Seir is Edom's possession, a "rough," or "rugged place," as the word means. Esau has chosen for himself; therefore he has not chosen well. Does ever any one choose well who chooses for himself? When Abram stood with Lot in the land which God had told him was to be his by divine gift, the man of faith could say in the liberality which comes from faith, "Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right: or if thou depart to the left hand, then I will go to the right," but Lot was of another mind: "Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah — even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other" (Gen. 13:9-11). Alas, they were separated by more than locality, and we know the after-history of Lot's fatal choice. In a sense, God was before him also. This plain of Jordan was it not like the Garden of God? All this that spoke so alluringly to his heart, was it not of God, and good? Why should he not enjoy what God had made so manifestly for enjoyment? Alas, how is it that we can forget how sin has disordered everything, even to the very eyes that look upon things now? And Lot chose, as we know, what did not become to him a Mount Seir only because God had mercy towards him — only that God forbade it to be that to him! Lot was to be driven out, as he was driven out, and that was God's mercy to him; but Edom, the profane person, had chosen in deliberate profaneness, and Mount Seir accordingly was his.

Alas, when God has to give according to one's own desire merely, and not according to what would be for His heart a gift! Mount Seir was Esau's choice; yet it could not, after all, remain his. The things that we choose naturally are things which cannot abide because we would have them do so; for there is a judgment of God which may follow, though we see it not, of which we may be warned and yet have no eyes to see. And Edom was to know that God is Jehovah, the true and unchanging God in what He threatens, as in what He promises. Yet the portion of Jacob invited Edom too. But the kind of craving he had for it only stirred in his heart as enmity against its possessor; and thus Edom is the typical enemy of Israel through all his history. That is the point here: "Because thou hast had perpetual enmity, and hast given over the children of Israel to the power of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time of the iniquity of the end; therefore, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I will appoint thee to blood, and blood shall pursue thee. Since thou hast not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue thee." We have already had this in brief in a former prophecy, but God returns to dwell upon it for the lesson that is in it, a lesson that we may all well ponder. He that will nurse enmity in his soul shall be himself pursued by the enmity that he nurses, and when this is enmity to God and to His grace, however he may disguise it, it will necessarily be judged as such, and the end is sure. Edom is the ancient infidel as to God. He sees Israel's land, but he does not see Jehovah's presence in it. Thus he thinks to possess himself of that in which he finds Jehovah as his adversary, and the bitter fruit of his unbelief is made good to him as what he has indeed chosen, little as he knew the character of his choice. Was there not plenty in Israel to provoke righteous wrath against them? Yes, and God had to show this as against their misdeeds.

Many a race, again, would far rather not take up the sword; but still if others do not bend who stand in their way, they do not scruple to use force. This is more perhaps what we see in Edom's conduct to others. Hence, as we know, they coveted the possessions of the Horims at mount Seir in early days (Deut. 2:22), a peculiar race that lived in caves and dens of the earth. But the sons of Edom destroyed them and succeeded in their stead. Again, they have one of the most remarkable cities in the world, consisting of what is called troglodyte habitations where the old race had dwelt, as afterwards themselves. They were dwellings, and not uncomfortable dwellings, cut out of the yielding sandstone of Petra and other places of Idumea. The climate being remarkably dry, and the stone exceedingly suited for such works, great or small — private dwellings as well as public reception rooms — they used these caves to live in. The remains are remarkable even to our own day. The Edomites coveted such a natural fortress as suiting well their destiny; for, being of a remarkably warlike character, they saw with clear instinct that, exposed as they must be in the edge of the desert to the predatory attacks of robbers, their Ishmaelite connections or others, the rocky abodes of mount Seir would prove an admirable means of easy defence against surprise. Never were the outward circumstances of a land more adapted to national characteristics and a purpose defined by prophecy, though I do not say that they were conscious of being so governed in their choice.

The chapter shows us that Esau was prospered in earthly things so that the blessing of his father was fulfilled to him (27:39-40). He occupied his own territory, became quite independent of Jacob, his descendants multiplied and became chiefs and notorious. 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.

The chapter also shows quite clearly that Esau, Edom and Mount Seir are to be identified, when we find these names mentioned in later Scripture. Otherwise the many names mentioned may convey but little to us. The New Translation prefers in verse 24 the reading "found the warm springs in the wilderness," rather than "the mules." This was doubtless at that time a memorable discovery, but what spiritual significance this may have for us we do not know.

But before the story is closed up as ended, Esau's seed is shown us for many generations, prematurely ripening into dukes and kings. Isaac's prophecy becomes, in one part of it, soon fulfilled. Esau leaves Canaan for Seir, and his posterity soon, as their names would seem to show, live by their sword in this barren region. Two texts for us here have special significance: first, that "Esau took his wives and his sons and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and his beasts, and all his substance which he had got in the land of Canaan, and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob;" while the section closes with one verse which, in its brevity, speaks volumes to the ear that hears, contrasting Jacob's portion with that of his brother, — "And Jacob dwelt in the land in which his father was a stranger — in the land of Canaan."

All thoughtful readers will understand why the purpose in hand excludes dwelling on Gen. 36 Jacob has nothing to do with the chapter. It has its own important place of sketching the earthly lot of Esau. Indirectly however it is instructive, as showing that which is natural first coming into power, afterwards what is spiritual. The family of promise remain shepherds and herdmen, wandering here and there, without the land and within it, and even grievously oppressed; while the generations of Edom rise rapidly into importance, away from Canaan, in Mount Seir. The posterity of Edom claim soon the distinction of chiefs. "These are the dukes of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau; duke Teman, duke Omar, duke Zepho, duke Kenaz, duke Korah, duke Gatam, duke Amalek. These are the dukes that came of Eliphaz, in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. And these are the sons of Reuel Esau's son; duke Nahath, duke Terah, duke Shammah, duke Mizzah. These are the dukes that came of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Bashemath Esau's wife. And these are the sons of Oholibamah Esau's wife: duke Jeush, duke Jaalam, duke Korah. These are the dukes that came of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife. These are the sons of Esau, and these are their dukes: the same is Edom" (Gen. 36:15-19).

In the next section we find Israel upon the road in their strange roundabout journey, in which we have already traced them, round Mount Seir. But the path itself is little touched upon: what we have rather is their different relation to the different nations by which they pass, — Edom, Moab, and Ammon on the one hand, and the Amorites on the other. The one, they are strictly forbidden to meddle with the other, they are bidden to make war upon, and their land becomes Israel's first possession. So, we may be sure, is it important for us to know, as we travel on, what to contend with, what simply to pass by. All this in Israel's history is still to be our lesson; we may be confident as ever, and shall find our confidence justified, that "the things that happened unto them happened unto them for types."

(1) First of these nations we have the "children of Esau, who dwelt in Seir," and we have already got more than a hint of the typical meaning. Esau and Seir have a natural connection. "Esau" means "hairy," "rough," and so does Seir; which for this reason is one of the words for "goat," — a "shaggy one." This last significance is striking enough, the goat standing in its fundamental meaning for the sinner, as in the Lord's use of it. The wild nature of Esau thus is shown in its affinity to the "far-off country" to which he belongs. Edom has thus another sign that it is Adam, if disguised, as in the child of God the flesh is often well disguised. And Edom lies here in Seir, as we have elsewhere seen, right across (as we might imagine) the whole path of progress. This is emphasized by Israel's attempt to pass through Seir, a passage which is refused and has to be given up. God's way is "round," not across it, and "by the way of the sea," under the shelter of the serpent of brass. This is the way of death, the way of the cross: "in the Arabah," God's furrow of death, cut through the land from sea to sea, we find our track, and no Mount Seir to stop us. But the truth is further emphasized for us here. Esau is not to be dispossessed, — the flesh cannot be, — nor even warred against. Mount Seir is given them for a possession. It is the lesson of the sea, which is given its place on the third day of the six in which the earth was built up; or, again, the lesson of Cain, marked by God for life, not death. The flesh abides still in the believer, and has its place from God — therefore its use, as we may boldly say. What use has Esau in his stronghold at Seir? Just as a needful barrier, to force Israel into the path by the sea; so has the flesh its use to destroy self-confidence, to make the cross a daily necessity to us, to teach us to abide in Christ, and find our sanctification in occupation with Himself. If self-occupation could in Satan change an angel to a devil, worthy is it of God to make the ineradicable evil in us a means of turning our eyes from ourselves to Him, by whom, as we behold His glory, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory!