This morning we're going to be asking ourselves
a very important question, but I think it's one
we should ask more often than we do. And the
question is this, what are we living for? You
ever ask yourself that question? What am I living
for? Before I got saved, I had a moment in the
parking lot at Long Beach City College where
I sat there and I was a brand new baby Christian
and I was like, God, what did you make me for?
Like, why am I here? You know, like... What's
the point? And it's a question I think Christians
ask. We maybe should ask often because self -review
and reflection and all that stuff is a really
important thing to do in our lives. Years ago,
I worked as a dove releaser for funerals and
weddings. You guys ever heard of that? I worked
for this company called White Dove Release, of
all things. I'll tell you a secret. They're pigeons,
not doves, but they're white. And I would have
to dress up in a suit, and I would go to mostly
funerals, but occasionally we did weddings and
other stuff. And I was the guy that got to, you
know, grab the bird out of the box and give a
little spiel about the symbolism and then open
the box and let them all fly into the sky, right?
And it was a great job. It was very regular.
But often when I would get to the cemetery or
the place where the, you know, graveside was
going to be, families were late, which that just
happens with funerals. The procession wouldn't
get there when I was told they would be there.
And so I would either sit there in the truck
or sometimes I would get out and just kind of
walk up and down the rows where the gravestones
are at. And you just look at all these different
gravestones and, you know, you'd see things like
beloved mother and, you know, dear father. And
sometimes you'd see. you know, tragic things
like a baby or something like that. But, you
know, these are people, and I'd often think,
these are people who had lives and families,
and some of them maybe were well -known in their
social circles. But now, as I'm walking here,
in many cases, they're just, they're nothing
but a fading memory on this headstone. I would
think, wow. And it would often cause me to reflect
on life and whatnot. That story came to mind
as I was studying this chapter because Genesis
36 really is a cemetery of names. It's names
that were lived. Our lives that were lived, it
was people who laughed and loved and died. And
this chapter as we study it today, if you've
already looking at it, you'll notice that it's
one of those genealogy chapters that people like
to skip, right? You go through the Bible and
you're like, wow, exciting story, exciting story.
And then you're like, a thousand names I could
barely pronounce, right? What am I going to get
out of this? And so you want to skip past it,
right? That is always the temptation, but biblical
genealogies are just like walking through a cemetery,
right? They're like walking through rows of unfamiliar
names and just kind of wondering who they were
and what they did, but in Scripture, when it
comes to Scripture, every letter, every dot,
every space, every piece of grammar is there
for a reason. It's important. God included it
for a purpose, and so this chapter, like many
other chapters that are just genealogies of names,
they're meant to make us pause and to ask ourselves
the questions, what am I living for? What will
I be known for when I leave this earth? What
will my name stand for when I'm gone? Those types
of questions are the exact questions that Genesis
36 answers for the story of one man in particular,
Esau. This whole chapter is the genealogy of
Esau's family, a man who seemed to have incredible
success in life, great, great wealth, great money,
fame, political power. His family became a nation,
but yet the reality and the application for us
is he had nothing. when it came to what really
mattered. And so we're going to be talking about
that today, but first we're going to worship
the Lord and spend some time together raising
up our individual voices as one voice to praise
Almighty God. Because it is Him that everything
is about. It is Him that existence and life is
about. He is the only one that matters. He is
the most important thing. His will, His way is
all that is going to matter and continue. And
for all of us in these lives, whether we whether
we end up leaving this world with a name that
is recognized or just a dash in between our birth
date and our death date that nobody knows anything
about, if God knows your name, you're alive forever.
Amen? Let's pray. God, we love you. We thank
you. We praise you. Lord, this whole life we
live here on this earth, Lord, is... is a process
of knowing you more, God. For those of us that
have come to know you as our Lord and Savior,
Lord, we want to know you more and more that
we would be more and more like you. God, the
deeper we come to know you, the more we come
to realize that the things of this world are
meaningless in the big picture. And so, God,
we want to read your word today and study your
word today and look at... Lord, what on the surface
is a boring list of names, but to learn from
this record of Esau's family that we would be
encouraged to do the right thing in our life
as Christians, Lord. So, God, I invite you here,
and I know all of us invite you here, Lord, to
bless us, to minister to us, to speak to us.
Lord, we even invite you here to challenge us
and rebuke us if that's what we need, God, because
Lord, we know that you discipline those that
you love, that as your children, God, you will
correct us when we need it. And at the same time,
Lord, we just want to step back and just praise
you. You're so worthy. You're so worthy, God.
And so, Lord, as your body here this morning
lifts up our voices together, God, we just pray
that you would have a smile on your face, God,
that you would be blessed as your children give
you the honor and glory that you are due. And,
Lord, that we would do it from hearts that love
you. We would do it from hearts of gratitude
for all that you've done in our lives, all that
you're going to do, and, Lord, ultimately, the
hope of heaven. God, if there's anybody here
in our sanctuary this morning or watching online
that does not yet know you as their Lord and
Savior, God, I pray that even now they would
sense your presence, to know that the God who
created this entire universe is looking at them
right now, not with anger and judgment, but with
love and compassion. That, Lord, they would sense
your almighty eye upon them, knowing that you
know how many hairs are on their head, you know
everything about their life, God. And that, Lord,
that they would come to understand today That
the most important thing to live for is you.
Because, Lord, you are the only means of salvation.
You are the only means of heaven. You are the
only means of hope. And so, God, we ask you to
do that work today. So, God, let your children
praise you. We love you. It's in Jesus' name
we pray. Amen. We are in Genesis chapter 36.
And, you know, there's a harsh reality of life
that every single one of us deals with. And it's
something that is affecting people now. It's
something that has likely affected all of us
at some point, and it will directly affect us
one day. And that's the reality that we will
all one day physically die, that death is going
to come for all of us. And, you know, biblically,
we know that that is a result of sin. That in
the beginning, the way God created the heavens
and the earth and paradise and the Garden of
Eden is that Adam and Eve were intended to live
forever in paradise with God. And yet, because
they disobeyed God's command, the Bible tells
us that death entered the world. Physical death
is what we experience physically, but then there
is the second death, as the Bible talks about
it, which is a forever separation from God. It's
an eternity in judgment for sin. And that is
why God did everything he did to solve that problem
for us, that although this physical body will
pass, that we would have the opportunity for
eternal life through forgiveness of our sin in
the work of Jesus Christ. And so, you know, for
many of us, our whole life, every deed, every
accomplishment, every success, and every failure.
will one day kind of be represented by nothing
more than that dash that's on our headstone,
right? Because as time goes on, as memory fades,
as the people who knew us immediately go on or
pass on themselves, the memories get farther
and farther in between. There's a reason why
we have these representations of names and people
who we don't recognize, whose names we don't
know, whose accomplishments we have no idea what
they are. There's a reason we have these in Scripture,
what we call genealogies, because we read these
things and it's just a list. Like I said in the
intro, it's just a list of names as if you're
walking through a cemetery and you're going,
I don't know who that is, but they were alive
at one point. Genesis 36 is that list, that genealogical
record of Esau, who is Jacob's brother, the firstborn
of Isaac. And this genealogy here in Genesis
36 is given from a secular point of view. And
it's very interesting because it's in Scripture,
but from the secular point of view that it's
presented, we see that this man was incredibly
successful. His family became very rich, very
powerful. But from the biblical perspective,
it's a really sad illustration of what Jesus
said in Mark 8, verse 36. And this is what he
said. For what does it benefit someone to gain
the whole world and yet lose his life? You see,
I titled this study, When Success Misses What
Matters. And Esau is a sad story of a life that
had great success but missed what mattered most.
And it's here for a reason, God included it,
that we would learn from it. And so we're going
to study through this chapter and this list of
names. If you'll start with me here in verse
1, it says these are the family records of Esau.
That is Edom. Now, we've met this man Esau before
in our study of Genesis. He is the brother of
Jacob. We met him first in Genesis 25 when he
was born, right? And we read that he came out
first, but Jacob was grabbing his heel. And we
read that in that chapter, he ended up selling
his rights as the firstborn to Jacob for a bowl
of stew. In Genesis 27, we saw the story where...
Jacob and his mom kind of were conniving to steal
not just the birthright that he'd already stolen,
but the family blessing as well. And so Jacob
dressed up like Esau and pretended to be him.
And Esau then lost the blessing as well. Now,
there in Genesis 27, we had read that Esau was
so mad at his brother that he wanted to kill
him. And that caused Jacob to have to flee north
to the homeland of his mother. And then that
was the last we heard of Esau until we get to
Genesis chapter 33, which was 20 years later.
As Jacob is coming back from the north, back
to the land of promise, he is met by his brother
Esau. Now, Jacob on his way back home after 20
years was still afraid. His brother was so mad
he wanted to kill him. And so, you know, he sent
all these gifts forward to kind of appease his
anger and then, you know, really to find out
that if he indeed was so angry that he wanted
to slaughter everything, that hopefully Jacob
would have time to flee. Well, there we read
that Esau met him with love and forgiveness.
And mercy and grace and kindness instead of all
of the anger. And so we see, you know, this side
of Esau that he wasn't a complete jerk, you know.
Now, back in Genesis 25, Esau is described as
what we would call the man's man. The rugged
man, the outdoor man, the guy with the big beard
and the broad shoulders and wearing the flannels.
Back when we studied this, I said, hey, he reminds
me of Pastor Rick. Then I got a lot of flack
for that because Esau is kind of a bad example
in Scripture. Likes and interests reminds me
of Pastor Rick. Character, not at all. That's
on record now. But he was this dude that was
just strong as an ox. And, you know, he had a
bow on his back and laughter in his voice and
a deer slung over his shoulder. And, you know,
this is who he was, just a powerful man with
a powerful presence. But underneath all of that
rugged charm, there was a very tragic shallowness
that was Esau. He was a man who lived by his
appetites, that if he saw it, he wanted it. And
if he wanted it, he took it. That he was the
type of man that right now is what matters most.
The tangible, the physical is what is most important
to me. His immediate pleasure, his immediate
satisfaction were his motivators. And so, you
know, the idea was, is I'm hungry now, I want
to eat. I'm sad now, I want to do what makes
me happy. You know, there was no sense to him
of future and what was before him. And that's
how he lost his firstborn rights to Jacob. Because
he was out in the field hunting and working and
he comes in and he's tired and he's sweating,
he's hungry. And Jacob had made his favorite
meal, right? And so Esau's like, give me some
of that stew. And then Jacob says, only if you'll
sell me your birthright. Right? And that birthright,
it was everything. That represented his status
as the firstborn of the family. That he was supposed
to inherit a double portion of the inheritance.
And he was supposed to get the leadership role
in the family. And that carried a lot of weight.
It was very important. Plus, it also had to tie
into with God's promise on the family. That as
God covenanted with Abraham and then it went
to Isaac, now those promises were supposed to
go down to Isaac's sons. And so Esau, as the
firstborn, was... naturally the one to inherit
all of that. But the problem was, is a delicious
stew that would satisfy his hunger now was more
valuable to him than these future promises of
God. Than this intangible stuff like, yeah, this
is God I can't see, and he's made some promises
to our family, but whatever, I'm hungry now.
I want to satisfy my physical needs now, and
so... That's who Esau was. He lived for now,
not for eternity. Now, when he sold his birthright
in Genesis 25 -34, it told us very specifically
that Esau despised his birthright. Now, that
word despised doesn't mean he hated it, right?
What it means is that he treated it as nothing
special, that it was no big deal. It didn't really
have any value to him. And so, What Esau's life
has been characterized by in everything we've
seen so far, specifically in the beginning, is
that the things that were holy, the covenant
promises of God to his family, he treated those
things as common, regular. It's not special.
There's nothing special to it, and it's a danger
that we could all run into. where we could find
ourselves treating what is holy as common, right?
Like when we gather together as the body, this
is a holy time. It really is. This is a moment
that we set aside time to come together to not
only worship God, to hear his word being taught,
but it is a time for us to fellowship and support
one another. It's a time for us to use the spiritual
gifts God has given us to pray with someone,
to give them a hug, to give them a word of encouragement,
whatever it may be. But a lot of Christians treat
this moment of gathering as common. That's no
big deal. I'll sleep in today. I can miss this
week. I'll go back next week, you know. And I
understand that there's times where we can't
make it on a Sunday and stuff. But when the attitude
is, that's no big deal. I'm going to go worship
God with my church. Eh, that's treating what
is holy is common, you know. And we have to be
very careful of falling into that. And we're
going to kind of learn how that happens through
Esau's life. So verse 2, it goes on to tell us,
Esau took his wives from the Canaanite women.
Adah, daughter of Elon the Hethite, Oholibamah,
daughter of Anna and granddaughter of Zibion
the Hivite, and Basemath, daughter of Ishmael
and sister of Nebaioth. Adah bore Eliphaz to
Esau, Basemath bore Ruel, and Oholibamah bore
Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were Esau's sons
who were born to him in the land of Canaan. Now,
I have no idea if I'm pronouncing oh -holy -bama
correctly, okay? And I told someone I was going
to tell this joke today, and they said, please
don't, but I have to do it because it's like
the best dad joke I think I've ever written,
is that I know that some people still consider
Obama holy today, but this is not where that
comes from, okay? This is some other person that
has nothing to do with him, but I'm pronouncing
it oh -holy -bama, okay? But it opens up here
with his marriages, right? Who he married and
the children born to that. And what we see is
the same story that we already know about Esau.
Instead of saying God made promises and God told
us to only marry, you know, within God's chosen
people, I'm going to go outside of that and marry,
you know, Canaanites and Hethites and Hittites.
Instead of following God's commands, instead
of valuing what God said as important, did whatever
he wanted to do. He did what was important to
him. And it might be because these women were
beautiful and appealing. It might be because
there was something about them that was more
valuable to him than following God's word. But
he marries these women and, you know, it tells
us and it reminds us that he even married someone
from the family of Ishmael. Like you couldn't
get more outside of the covenant than the son
who was the one outside of the covenant, right?
Abraham, Isaac. Ishmael was the brother that
was like, nope, that's not the one that the promise
is going to come from. And yet he still takes
a wife from Ishmael's family. And all of these
people, the Canaanites, the Hivites, the Hittites,
you know, all the ites, right? These are people
in Scripture that worshipped pagan gods. They
rejected the God of Israel. They rejected the
one true God. They worshipped pagan idols. This
is what they were all about. And it told us that
when Esau took these wives originally, that their
marriages made life bitter for his parents. That
his mother was like, please make sure Jacob doesn't
marry somebody outside the family because, man,
Esau did that and it's horrible. And it just
shows that Esau had a disregard for his spiritual
heritage. He didn't care, right? He didn't care
about the spiritual heritage. And again, it showed
that self -pleasure, convenience. covenant and
calling in his life. So, you know, it's sad how
easily believers, Christians, can trade spiritual
legacy for temporary fulfillment, right? It's
just, it's sad. You know, we might have a desire
or... an appetite or an impulse or a relationship
that is outside the will of God. And we won't
let that go and we won't give it up. And we won't,
you know, because it holds more value to us than
God's word and God's promises and God's way.
And, you know, Esau's life teaches us that the
danger in not letting those things go and the
danger in devaluing what is holy is not necessarily
that we will hate God's blessing. but simply
that will stop treating it as something special.
And I think that's a pandemic in the church today.
A lot of people that come to church, and they're
Christians, they're saved, they've professed
faith in Jesus Christ, but their walk is pretty
shallow, right? And outside of Sunday, they might
be generally good people, but... They still actively
do things they know they shouldn't. They still
say things they know they shouldn't. They're
still engaged in activities that they know they
shouldn't be, and they're going, you know, and
they justify it somehow. And that's one of the
things we start doing when we're people who are
living really outside the will of God and taking
what's pleasurable, what's physical, what's now,
what's tangible, and putting that above what
is holy. as we've made what is holy, like, it's
there, but it's not that important to us anymore.
And so, verse 6. Esau took his wives, his sons,
his daughters, and all the people of his household,
as well as his herds, all his livestock, and
all the property he had acquired in Canaan, and
he went to a land away from his brother Jacob.
Now, this is likely, I believe, that Jacob had
left Shechem, finally went to Bethel, and then
he leaves Bethel and he's traveling back to go
see his dad. And so this is likely Jacob has
gotten back now. He arrives with all of his wealth
and his herds and his family, and it's just too
much. And so verse 7, it says, For their possessions
were too many for them to live together. And
because of their herds, the land where they stayed
cannot support them. So Esau, that is Edom, which
is another name for him, lived in the mountains
of Seir. So Jacob returns to the land, comes
back home, and we're given this really kind of
polite reason why Esau left. Right? They show
up. They're like, oh, my gosh, you're rich. I'm
rich. I have herds. You have herds. And really
this land can't support both of us. It's just
kind of too much. And so it seems like Esau's
like, you know what, bro? I'll leave. It's okay.
I'll step out of the way. But what we already
know of Esau's character tells us that the whole,
oh, too many herds, not enough space, wasn't
really the reason. You know, like. He's leaving
the promised land. And it's no big deal. I'll
leave. And it tells us that he went to the mountains
of Seir. I don't know if you remember the maps,
but if you're picturing Israel, right? And, you
know, you had the southern part of Israel, which
is the Negev Desert. That's kind of, you know,
the area where Isaac was still living. And right
next to that, underneath the Dead Sea, is this
mountain range that goes from the southern part
of the Dead Sea all the way down to the Red Sea.
And it's called the Mountains of Seir. Today,
if you look at a map, it is the border of Israel
because right... On the other side of that border
is the southern part of the nation of Jordan.
So this is the area we're talking about. It was
just outside the promised land. Now, that might
be familiar to you because Lot did the same thing
back when Abraham and Lot's herds were having
a problem. Except in that case, it was Abraham
trusting that I could give away this land all
I want. God said it's mine. I'm going to have
it. So Lot, where do you want to go? And Lot
could have chosen Israel. anywhere. He chose
to go right outside the promised land, right
outside the border, where then he ended up getting
acclimated into Sodom and all of that that happened
in his life. So what happened with Lot is he
made these bad decisions because of what was
good physically, what would be good for his business,
and what would be good for, you know, his herds
and all this stuff. And he ends up just kind
of walking off the pages of salvation. Tragic
story. Esau is doing the same thing. This is
really the last we get of Esau here. After this
chapter, Esau is not a thing anymore. His people
are, Edom. But we're going to learn the application
of all that. But I do want you guys to notice
here that as Esau, as it's given us this genealogy,
it's telling us that he had so much that he left,
right? And as he leaves, it says, so Esau, that
is Edom, lived in the mountains of Seir. Important
detail because although Esau treated what was
holy as common, really ignored God, really had
no concern for God and what the Lord wanted,
God still kept his promise to Esau. That promise
was back in Genesis 25 when they were still in
the womb. And, you know, you remember their mother
was like, oh, what's going on? You know, is it
indigestion or what? You know, and these babies
are fighting and fighting. And the Lord gave
her a prophecy and said, two nations are in your
womb. Not two kids. Two nations are in your womb.
And that's why it's like, so Esau, that is Edom.
which is the name of this nation that came from
his people, started there in the mountains of
Seir. And so, again, we've said this so many
times over Genesis, but we just have to be reminded,
and I think that's why it keeps coming up, that
God is faithful to his promises. Even when we
don't understand how and why, God is faithful
to his promises. And it's because he made them.
Esau's life is a picture that if God made a promise
to a faithless person, would that promise still
come to pass if it was blessing and prosperity?
Yes, because that's what happened in Esau's life.
And so what Genesis 36 shows us again, too, is
that God is the one who makes nations rise. Esau,
godless man, that's what Hebrews tells us he
is. Yet a nation, Edom, rises up from this family
line, and God is the one who does that. But only
one nation carried his name. And that was the
line of the covenant. That was the line through
Jacob and his 12 sons. But, you know, we got
to be very important, you know, in our world,
you know, with all this stuff going on. And we
could get caught up in politics. And it's fine
to be involved in politics. I think we should
be involved in politics. We should be involved
in voting. But we need to be very careful to
not cross the line. That says, that implies God
isn't working. That, you know, yeah, but there's
corruption in the courts. Yes, there is. Do you
think God has a problem with that? Like, that
he can't work despite corruption? Yeah, but these
people are going to get into office. Well, vote.
But if God allows that person to get into office,
Romans 13 told us that God allowed them to get
into office. Well, why would God put evil people
in office? Sometimes he does that to judge the
nation. We see that with Israel over and over
again. Sometimes it's we don't know. It's in
God's providence. But the idea here is that God
is the one who raises up nations. God is the
one who takes them down. And so we can't necessarily
look at one or the other and go, that means God
is with us, and that means God is not with us,
and that means... Blessing, and that means not
blessing because that's all God's business. God
told us as His people that vengeance is His.
We talked about that. God told us as His people
to live peaceably with all people. Peaceably.
He told us that we're to obey the government,
no matter who it is, because He put them there
and we go, oh. But then at the same time, we
learn through Scripture that there is a place
where we resist. As soon as the government starts
to say it is illegal for you to worship your
God, well, then we just pull a Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego on that one, right? I'm like, sorry,
bro. You're not going to tell me not to worship
God. You don't have that authority. I don't care
who you are. But until that time comes, right,
the Word gives us instruction. Why? That our
peaceable lives would be witness and ministry
to the world around us to say, look, all this
stuff is temporary. I'm able to live peaceably
even in the midst of this difficulty because
I trust a God who is true and who is in charge,
right? And then it's all meant to come to that
place where we introduce people to a God who
dealt with the problem that causes every political
problem, and that's sin. and dealt with the problem
that causes every personal problem and relational
problem and workplace problem. It's sin, right?
That's the idea here. And so Esau just shows
us in that just quick phrase that God is the
one who raises him up as a nation. Now, the next
21 verses are going to give us wave after wave
after wave of names. Okay, and we're going to
see sons, and we're going to see chiefs, and
we're going to see clans, and it's all very impressive,
right? But again, you know, these are just names
you may or may not recognize, and yet it's here
in the Bible. So I'm going to read through it,
okay? No guarantee I'm going to pronounce them
right, but just follow along with me. So verse
9, these are the family records of Esau, father
of the Edomites in the mountains of Seir. Verse
10. These are the names of Esau's sons. Eliphaz,
son of Esau's wife Ada. Reuel, son of Esau's
wife Basemath. And the sons of Eliphaz, so that
first son of his, starts with Taman, Omar, Zepho,
Getam, and Kanaz. Now, just an interesting detail.
Like later on in the book of Job, you know, you
guys know the story that Job was a godly man
and the devil said, he only worships you, God,
because you bless him. And God said, okay. I'll
let you take away the blessing. And the devil
did, and Job lost everything. And then three
of his friends come along to try and convince
him that you must be in sin, dude. Like that's,
you know, if God's blessing you, then that's
because you're doing everything right. And if
God's not blessing you, that's because you're
in sin and done something wrong. And Job exists
to say, no, that's not how it works. But one
of his friends, if you remember, was Eliphaz
the Temanite. And so it's very likely that Job's
friend Eliphaz came from this region, that he
was from the line of this son named Teman. He's
a descendant of Esau's line, which I just think
it's an interesting connection that it's the
godless family that comes along trying to convince
the godly man that you're the one that's causing
this because you're a sinner. So anyways, we
go on. Verse 12, Timnah. A concubine of Esau's
son Eliphaz bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These are
the sons of Esau's wife Ada. These are Reuel's
sons, Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizah. These
are the sons of Esau's wife Basemath. These are
the sons of Esau's wife Oholibamah, daughter
of Anna and granddaughter of Zibion. She bore
Jeush, Jalam, and Korah to Edom. These are the
chiefs among Esau's sons. The sons of Eliphaz,
Esau's firstborn, chief Teman, chief Omar, chief
Zepho, chief Kenaz, chief Korah, chief Gatham,
and chief Amalek. These are the chiefs descended
from Eliphaz in the land of Edom. These are the
sons of Adah. Now these are the sons of Reuel,
Esau's son, chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief
Shammah, chief Mizah. These are the chiefs descended
from Reuel in the land of Edom. These are the
sons of Esau's wife, Basemath. These are the
sons of Esau's wife, Aholibamah, chief Jerush,
chief Jelam, chief Korah. These are the chiefs
descended from Esau's wife, Aholibamah, daughter
of Anna. These are the sons of Esau, that is
Edom, and these are their chiefs. So we start
out here with just this list of who gave birth
to who. And we have some names here that are
listed. Like, oh, Holy Bama is the daughter of
Anna and granddaughter of Zibion, right? We go,
so what? I don't know who any of those people
are. And, you know, and all these other people.
But what we see here in this first section, the
reason this is here is what we're being told,
is these weren't just sons of Esau. These were
men who became chiefs of their tribes, right?
Kind of in a mockery of what the 12 tribes of
Esau were. Israel were supposed to be, but they
become rulers. That word chiefs there means men
of authority, men of power, right? So it wasn't
just that his family spread out in the area,
but they became powerful people in this area.
And then in the second half of verse 19, it switches
to this line of Seir. It says, these are the
sons of Seir the Horite. Now again, it's like,
who is he? It says, the inhabitants of the land.
Remember, he went to the mountains of Seir. You
know why they were named the mountains of Seir?
Because Seir lived there. Right? Mountains of
Seir. This is where Seir and his people are.
But the idea, the reason this is including here,
and we're going to read through it right now,
is because they were already there when Esau
and all his people got there and started to populate.
So these are the inhabitants of the land. Lotan,
Shobal, Zibion, Anna. These are the chiefs among
the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of
Edom. The sons of Lotan were Hori and Heman.
Heman, right? I was like, is that where that
name came from? I have no idea. But I didn't
notice it until first service, and now I'm like,
I'm all nostalgic for Heman. Okay, Timnah was
Lotan's sister. These are Shobal's sons, Alvin.
Manahath, Ebal, Shepo, and Onam. These are Zibion's
sons, Aya and Anna. This was the Anna who found
the hot springs in the wilderness while he was
pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibion. And
you go, what's the point of that for us? Now,
the people that originally got this letter, as
it was written by Moses, some of these names
might have still been... Rememberable, right?
Oh, yeah, I remember that story and stuff. But
again, Zibion, we just read that earlier in the
line of Esau. And Anna, we've read that earlier
in the line of Esau. And so what we're being
told here is that Esau didn't just go to the
land and populate. He went to the land, populated,
and continued to intermarry with pagan people.
So these are the children of Anna, Dishon and
Aholibama, daughter of Anna. We've already read
about her. These are Dishon's sons, Hemdan, Eshban,
Ithran, and Chiran. These are Ezer's sons, Bilhan,
Zavan, and Achan. These are Dishon's sons, Uz,
and Aran. These are the chiefs among the Horites,
Chief Lotan, Chief Shobal, Chief Zibion, Chief
Anna, Chief Dishon, Chief Ezer, and Chief Dishon.
These are the chiefs among the Horites, clan
by clan, in the land of Seir. So we're told Esau's
family as it develops. And then what was already
there was this whole other line of people that
were outside the promised land. There's a few
names in there where we say, oh, this is where
Aholibama came from. And so there was this intermarriage.
And what we're seeing here is intermarriage for
Esau led to assimilation, right? They got further
separated from being a distinct people of God.
He chose to leave the Holy Land. He chose to
devalue the holiness of God in his word. And
what it led to was him becoming less and less
holy and eventually, as Hebrews calls him, an
ungodly man. That it's his attachment, his identity
as a part of the family of God is disappearing
as he just mingles into other cultures. The Edomites,
the nation of Edom, is mentioned some 130 times
in Scripture. They were a very important neighbor
to Israel in a lot of ways. When Israel was finally
coming out of Egypt and they get through the
wilderness and they're coming into the land here,
they actually asked Edom, the nation, can we
pass through your land to go up to the promised
land? Because at that time, Edom was an incredibly
powerful and prosperous nation. Some of the major
trade roads that went all the way to the east
went right through the nation of Edom. And so
they controlled some of the major roads. They
controlled a lot of the wealth and all that.
But they refused that. They said, Israel, get
out of here. Which forced Israel back into some
other problems down in the Negev region. 1 Samuel,
we read that Edom at that point is now subject
to Israel under King Saul, but they eventually
become independent. And that was according to
prophecy. If you go back to Genesis 27, when
Jacob steals the blessing, Esau comes into his
dad and he's like, Dad, come on, he's a big jerk.
He already stole the birthright. Don't you have
a blessing for me? And he's like, I'm sorry,
son. I gave the blessing away. And he's crying
and he's begging, please, dad. And dad's like,
bro, this is all I got for you. Life's going
to be hard, and you're going to serve your younger
brother. But you won't always serve him. I paraphrased
all of that, but it was a prophecy because King
Saul and Israel eventually subjugated Edom, and
then Edom rebelled and regained their independence.
And so we see that this prophecy his dad gave
him came to pass. Now, again, there's several
of the prophets of Israel spoke against Edom.
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Obadiah, he prophesied extensively
that Edom would be brought to nothing. And, you
know, that's kind of the truth of exactly what
happened. If you go to the area of Edom today,
which, again, is in South Jordan, it's pretty
much a wasteland. There's nothing there. There's
towns. There's people there. But it's pretty
much a wasteland. And then the people of Edom
are no more. There's no nation of Edom. There's
no Edomites. They're gone. They've disappeared
from the pages of history. But in the time, they
were of major importance. Notable on the list
is Amalek, right? We're familiar with the Amalekites.
They become the first super villain against Israel,
the first major enemy of Israel in the wilderness.
Again, what we've seen so far here is that there's
this growth, that Esau was so rich he had to
leave. He chose to leave the promised land. He
devalued what was holy, yet his family still
flourished, and his family became rulers and
chiefs, and then they intermingled with this
whole other people group that was there, and
there's chiefs from that, and it was just this
big nation coming out of Esau's life. And if
we look at Jacob's life and where he's at right
now in Esau, it kind of looks like Esau's winning.
Like, Jacob has wealth and stuff, but his kids
can't stop fighting. And yet Esau is becoming
a nation. Material success, secular success,
although in and of itself there's nothing wrong
with that, we can't think that that equals God's
blessing. It never does. Right? When you pour
clean water into a muddy well, the mud doesn't
clear up. It's the clear water that gets muddy.
Right? And Esau's family, this genealogy, it
just shows us that they gained the world. They
really did in their time. But they lost their
distinction. They lost their identity. They devalued
what was holy to the point where it just kind
of seeped all out of them and they became completely
corrupted people. Now verse 31. This highlights
this. These are the kings who reigned in the
land of Edom before any king reigned over the
Israelites. Before Jacob's family got it together,
before they became a nation, before there was
any king, anything positive going on over there,
Esau's family already had kings because political
power and nations had rose. Bala, son of Baor,
reigned in Edom. The name of his city was Dinhabah.
When Bala died, Jobab, son of Zerah from Bozrah,
reigned in his place. When Jobab died, Husham
from the land of the Temanites reigned in his
place. When Husham died, Hadad, son of Bedad,
Bidad reigned in his place. He defeated Midian
in the field of Moab. The name of his city was
Aveth. When Hadad died, Samlah from Masraqa reigned
in his place. When Samlah died, Shal from Rehoboth
of the Euphrates River reigned in his place.
When Shal died, Baal Hanan, son of Akbor, reigned
in his place. Now Baal there, it's a reference
to the Canaanite god Baal. So you can see where
the religious... spirit of the nation has come
by this point that people are naming their kids
after pagan gods, and that kid is now becoming
ruler and king over the land. When Baal, Hanan's
son of Akbor, died, Hadar reigned in his place.
His city was Pow, and his wife's name was Mehetabel,
daughter of Metred, daughter of Mezahab. And
so, through this intermarriage, through this
commingling, the kingdom of Edom was built. And
it was built with chiefs initially. Then it was
built with kings. And kings meant like wealth
and riding camels and herds and trade and conquering
cities, right? It keeps telling us that the capital
city of the nation kept moving around. And this
was all while Jacob's 12 sons are still squabbling
in tents. Who's winning? Looks like Esau, right?
Before Jacob's sons and even their descendants
ever even had a nation, Esau's family had kings.
What this means also is that while Jacob's sons
were slaves in Egypt, Esau's sons were building
cities. Comparatively, it truly looks like Esau
is truly the blessed between the two. And it
often looks like the ungodly are succeeding.
When we see them profiting and their businesses
are being very successful and they're succeeding.
And that's one of the things that Christians
could wrestle with, right? Why is this horrible
person being blessed and I'm trying to follow
the Lord and yet I can barely pay my bills? Why
is that guy who cheats on his contracts, his
business profiting, while mine's almost on the
verge of bankruptcy? We can't forget that God's
timeline runs deeper than the headlines of the
day. We can't even forget that our entire life,
if we just saw evil reigning our entire life,
that time is a blip on the timeline of God. And
so we have to go back to trusting the Lord and
saying, God, this is your business. I'm going
to do what I know I'm supposed to do today and
the things I don't understand. Please help me
trust you. Please help me leave that in your
hands. Because you tell me you're going to judge
the wicked. Right now, it doesn't look like it.
But that doesn't mean you're not going to. It
just means for right now, there's some reason
in your wisdom that it is happening right now.
And I just, I have to step back and trust that.
I'm going to stand for righteousness and stand
against ungodliness. But I can't lose faith in
you. I can't go, you know what? That must be
the right way. God must be blessing them because
look at all their material wealth. Look at all
their secular success. That must be, you know,
because that equates blessing. And it doesn't.
The Edomite dynasty flourished very early and
burned out very early. That's what we know archaeologically
in things. You know, the world may crown its
kings long before God ever crowns his saints.
But the only crown that lasts forever is the
one God gives. The Edomites are gone. They don't
exist as a people and a nation anymore. In fact,
the only people who even know the names of these
people Our Bible scholars and you when we teach
through Genesis 36. And then it's only a warning.
There's no story of whatever name in here, a
holy mama, teen ass. But guess whose name is
in the news almost every day? Israel. God's people.
who have been known from them until now will
be known all the way to the very end. So, don't
envy the ungodly and their early success, their
power, their rule, their success. It's but for
a season. God's people will rule forever and
have peace forever. And so verse 40, these are
the names of Esau's chiefs according to their
families and their localities by their names.
Chief Timnah, Chief Alva, Chief... Jetheth, chief
Aholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinnon, chief Kenes,
chief Taman, chief Mibzar, and chief Magdiel,
and chief Iram. These are Edom's chiefs according
to their settlements in the land they possessed.
Esau was the father of the Edomites. So the chapter
ends again with chieftains, right? Eleven rulers
of regions in this nation with land and power
and influence. And yeah, God allowed Esau and
his line to flourish materially. Yet by the time
of the prophets, this nation Edom had become
a sworn enemy of Israel, God's people. Like I
said, the entire book of Obadiah, it's God. declaring
judgment on Edom. And you know why he declares
judgment on them? Because when Jerusalem got
sacked and Jerusalem fell, they celebrated. Edom
celebrated that Jerusalem fell, God's holy city.
And God's like, nope, you're done. And they're
gone. They're gone today. Now, historically,
we know through archaeology and stuff that the
Edomites eventually migrated north and west,
and they kind of settled in what would be the
promised land. And they became known as the Idumeans.
Idumean is the Greek word for Edom. And so, if
that sounds familiar to you, this is why. Because
during the time of Jesus, one of the Roman provinces
within the boundaries of Israel was named Idumea.
And the people from there were called Idumeans.
Now, at the time, there was a king in Judah.
who was a very arrogant person, and there was
a moment where these wise men came to him and
said, hey, king of Judah, the king of the Jews
has been born. Can you tell us where he's at?
And Herod the Great, who was an Idumean, a descendant
of Esau, then went on a slaughter rampage and
did an edict that said, every baby two years
old and under, every baby boy, kill them. And
so even then, we see the ungodly line of Esau
coming against the promise of God that came through
the line of Jacob. Now, this genealogy here,
you know, a long list of boring names, it teaches
us a few things. If you pay attention, right?
One, his genealogy shows us that a great family
doesn't equal a blessed one. It doesn't. Esau's
wives were fruitful. His sons were strong. His
home was full, but God was absent. God was absent.
And, you know, success without the Spirit is
failure. Because guess what? They lived and they
died. And all their stuff and all their accomplishments,
gone. Like I said, nobody remembers their names.
Nobody's speaking of them today. And it's just
an encouragement again for parents. You know,
you have a sacred duty. And then church, as we
surround the parents, and we have children's
church and things like that, we have a sacred
duty to teach our children to valuable the intangible,
to value the unseen God and His promises. You
know, my grandson is into monster trucks right
now, and he calls them momster trucks. It's adorable.
And so I bought him these little monster trucks,
right? And he just runs them all over the house.
And then one of his grandparents bought him like
a bigger version of the monster truck. And he
was just like amazed, right? Oh, my goodness.
And then the other day, his other grandma bought
him a bigger monster truck. The wheels are like
that big around. He's just over the moon, right?
And so he, like, leans on this car and runs it
all over the house, and he likes to play bad
guys, right? Like, I'll take one of the cars,
and I'm the bad guy car, and he'll want to get
the bad guys. But if I put my hand on that big
monster truck, I've committed the unforgivable
sin. That's my monster truck, okay? You're the
bad guy. And, you know, Nobody has to teach us
how to be possessive and how to value physical
things, right? We're kind of born with that,
right? Kids go through that phase where it's
mine, mine, mine, and we have to teach them to
share, right? But it's the intangible things
that have the value. It's the intangible things
that are more than the immediate. things, the
instant gratification that it's, no, God made
promises that are not yet and are probably, you
know, you might not experience them for decades
into the future of your life, but those are more
important than I'm hungry right now and I want
this right now and I need this right now. And
we have that sacred duty to teach them that.
Because yeah, we want our kids to be successful.
I think every parent wants to do that. You want
to set your kids up to be successful in life
and achieve all that. But what's more important
than raising successful kids is raising worshipers.
People who value what is holy above everything
else. Esau's genealogy shows us that material
prosperity doesn't equal spiritual prosperity.
And again, some of us are like, well, duh, I
know that. But are you living that way? Are you
putting the spiritual things before the material
things? I mean, we've got to work. We've got
to pay our bills. There's nothing wrong with
saying, hey, I have a car I really like. There's
nothing wrong with that. But material prosperity
is not the indicator that God is blessing you.
Spiritual prosperity is the most important thing.
Esau, he was incredibly rich, but he was spiritually
bankrupt. And the danger of material prosperity
is that it dulls our hunger for God. Right? We
have the parables about that. God says it's easier
for a camel to go through the eye of the needle
than a rich man to enter heaven. Why? Because
when you're so materially blessed, you're like,
I have need of nothing. And guess what that means?
You never ask God for anything. You stop praying.
Now, again. God says material blessing is fine,
but I want you to be outrageously generous, and
that's the point of those things. But they're
not the indicators of spiritual prosperity. So
don't let spiritual prosperity dull your hunger
for God. And the inverse, don't let the lack
of prosperity cause you to think that God is
cursing you or God is judging you or God is against
you. It's quite the opposite. Go read the letter
to Smyrna in Revelation. Hey, you guys can't
work. You're being persecuted. You're being like
physically beat. The whole city is against you
and all that. And you know what God says? Good
job. And you're like, whoa, what? He says, endure.
And he doesn't say endure like, well, I hope
you endure. He goes, endure because you can because
I'm with you. And all of this doesn't matter
anyways because you have a reward in heaven.
Now, if you're in a time of suffering and stuff,
I pray that God gives you that heart to go, I
can't endure this on my own, but I can endure
this because God, the God who created the universe
is with me. Esau's genealogy shows us that political
power doesn't equal power with God. We know that,
right? Esau's descendants, they had kings long
before Israel had any, but it was only Jacob's
line. Regardless of when, That would produce
the king of kings. You can have all the influence
possible here on earth. All the power, the riches,
the fame, the political, you can have all that,
but if heaven doesn't know your name, who cares?
Who cares? And then his genealogy shows us that
temporal fame does not equate eternal recognition.
Right? In his day, Oh, Esau's family was well
-known. Chiefs, leaders, kings, political power.
But like I said, nobody knows their names today
unless you're in Bible college or here at church.
Meanwhile, Jacob's name Israel, every lip knows
that name. God is the one who writes history,
not man, not his accomplishments. It's God. He
is the author. He is the orchestrator of all
things. The book of Hebrews, I said a few times,
it calls Esau godless. And it wasn't because
he was this wicked, cruel, evil man. It's because
he valued the temporal, the material, the physical,
the instant gratification. He valued those things
more than God and his word and his promises.
And some of us are struggling today. You came
to church and you're struggling. It's not because
God has abandoned you. But maybe it's because
your own sin nature keeps sapping away the spiritual
life that is supposed to carry you. Maybe God
is speaking to you today and you're like, yeah,
you haven't denied God. You haven't, you know,
but maybe you've devalued it and you've put other
things as a greater priority for you and you
kind of feel this separation and you feel like,
you know, your spiritual walk is dull and all
that. It's reverse course. What do you do? You
know, I was praying. I'm like, okay, God, boring
name list. What's the application? And I say
boring because, yeah, it's hard to read, but
God's word is beautiful, right? So what do we
do? What do we pull from this? And I was like,
well, this is about Esau. This is about his life.
And so, you know, if you're struggling in a sense
and you think, oh, it's because I'm struggling,
God's not with me, reject that idea. Take an
inventory of your life and maybe find the red
stew in your life and you need to fast that for
a week or so. The thing in your life that is
the immediate instant gratification, right? For
some of us, it's like, man, I need to be entertained
right now so I'm going to go watch TV or watch
a movie or play video games. Nothing wrong with
either of those things depending on the content,
of course. But if you're doing that, Because
spending time in the Word and prayer is not that
big of a deal. You've got a problem. That's why
you're suffering right now. That's why you're
feeling what you're feeling. You know, sometimes
people have to miss this gathering on Sundays
for one reason or another, and there's birthdays
and important things, and that's all great and
all, but if you'll miss church in a heartbeat
because your team is playing at 10 a .m., where's
holiness on the importance scale for you? If
you'll miss fellowship, miss a prayer meeting,
miss that because, well, I'm hungry. Where's
holiness for you, you know? Part of the reason
we fast in preparation of our prayer meetings
is because it's that hunger that's supposed to
go, oh, yeah, I'm supposed to pray. Man, I'm
hungry, pray, right? That's what fasting does
to us. It drives us into this really good place
of being with the Lord and all that. But whatever
that is that's drawing you away, fast it. Parents,
families, re -aim your household. Right? The
reality is nothing ultimately matters unless
it's for the glory of God. And so as you're working
in your kids' lives and teaching and training
and discipling and raising and success is good
and all of that, but don't forget about the intangible
things, the unseen God. To teach them that we
do right because we want to glorify him, right?
And just keep that going. Re -aim the family.
At the end of Genesis 35, we read how Jacob and
Esau were both together at their father Isaac's
funeral, and they buried him together. But here
at the end of Genesis 36, Esau walks off the
pages of salvation history. One line leads to
Bethlehem, to Christ, to glory. And the other,
though powerful in their time and famous in their
time, they're nothing more than a silent dash
between the start and the end of a man's life.
The question to ask ourselves today, what are
you living for? What am I living for? What will
my name, my memory stand for when I'm gone? Am
I going to live for the stew? Or am I going to
live for the Savior? Am I going to be great and
well -known on earth but unknown in heaven? Or
is nobody going to know my name here on earth
but I'm in the Lamb's book of life? God knows
who I am. You see, this last week I had a member
of our church and a friend who passed away. And
it was sudden. And it's one of those situations
that's incredibly difficult. And some of you
know him, some of you don't. But he was a man
who had a hard life, a difficult life. And yet,
the last part of his life, the testimony was,
is he had turned to Jesus Christ as his Lord
and Savior. And he had served Jesus Christ here
in our church. And he had the opportunity to...
lead his ex -wife back to the Lord. And when
you look at a man's life like that and you go,
well, it was his name on a building? No. Right?
Did he cure cancer? No. But he did the most important
possible thing with his life. That it wasn't
about material or secular success. He had the
most greatest success in what matters. That was
knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as his Lord and
Savior, to live in service for him and then to
tell others about him, to be an example to them
of who he was. Not as a perfect man. None of
us are perfect. But he did what matters. And,
you know, if he was here with us today and we
asked him the question, hey, what did you live
for? I could tell you he'd be like, Jesus Christ.
What do you want to be known for? Telling others
about Jesus Christ and leading them to know him.
There's no greater truth, no greater meaning
in life. That's what it's all about. Because
nothing else in this life matters. Mark 8, 36.
For what does it benefit someone to gain the
whole world and yet you lose their life? And
it's not talking about the physical death. It's
talking about the eternal separation from God.
What good are the riches? What good are the cars
and the houses? What good is the fame? What good
is the, you know, well, I got to eat stew every
time I was hungry. What good is all of that if
it results in a forever separated from God? I
believe that is why God gives us this genealogy
here in Genesis 36. To see the life of an individual
who on the surface has everything any of us would
want. And yet the point is, at the end, it meant
nothing. Because he didn't know the Lord. Let's
pray. Father God, we're so grateful to you. We're
grateful for brothers like our friend Lord Robert
who knew you. trusted you, and shared you with
people, Lord. To take that truth to the people
he loved most, to understand that the thing they
need most is God. Lord, sometimes we don't understand.
Lord, we look at a life like Esau and we say,
why was he so rich and so powerful and so prosperous
and so, you know, just all these wonderful things,
Lord. And then we would look at a life of another
and say they struggled and they had difficulty
and they lost people and God doesn't the one
mean you're with them and the other means you're
not and Lord that's not at all what your word
teaches us. We know you're in charge. We know
you're God almighty and yet Lord in that we're
called to trust you. To not question you Lord
because you're God. And you're good. And you
only do and you only allow what is good. And
Lord, even when we don't feel it, that is true.
And so God, may we be people whose lives are
for you. To know you, to trust you, to take the
opportunity to love people and to minister to
them, God. Even in the difficult times, Lord,
that we wouldn't look. At tragedy and loss, Lord,
as opportunities to curse you, God. And then,
Lord, we wouldn't look at prosperity and everything
as, well, they must be doing right, God. But
we would simply understand that you are God.
You allow what you allow. And it is always good,
even when it doesn't feel that way. Lord, may
our lives not be Esau. Lord, we would all love
to be prosperous and powerful and political influence
and all of that. But Lord, to do anything, to
do any of that that isn't for the glory of God
is pointless. Lord, we know you raise up people
to do those very things, but they do it for your
glory. And God, we pray that you would give them
strength and protection. Lord, we pray for those
that are in our government that know you, God.
They're not perfect people. And that doesn't
justify sin, but I pray, God, that, Lord, you
would be glorified as they try and serve you
in those places, Lord, people with money, people
with businesses and power. But, Lord, you're
the same God in the lives of those of us who
are wondering if our SNAP benefits are going
to come through this month. You're the same God.
And so, Lord, help us. Help us to understand
that you are true no matter what the situation
is, that you are God no matter what the situation
is. And Lord, rich or poor, it doesn't matter,
Lord, that we are called to be people who live
for your glory because you're worth it. You're
just the only one worth it because you are so
pure and so loving and so just. And God, even
if nobody on this entire planet ever remembers
who we are, Lord, may we know that you know what
our name is. May we know that you know who we
are because we've put our faith in you and we've
trusted in you for our salvation. Lord, may the
only thing of value be to us really that which
is holy, to know you, to serve you, to glorify
you, to see you work, to see lives changed because
of your gospel. All the rest of it, Lord, it's
just circumstantial icing on the cake. Lord,
be glorified in our lives. We love you. We thank
you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.