Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #6 in Genesis 36, and we will read Genesis 36:7-8:

For their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle. Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom.

I will stop reading there.  God is recounting for us the journey of Esau and his family from Canaan to the land which would become known as Edom, and he dwelt in mount Seir.

Before we look at mount Seir, let us just think about verse 7 where we are told, “For their riches were more than that they might dwell together.”  This is referring to Jacob’s riches and Esau’s riches.  Again, this departure of Esau from Canaan happened while Jacob was in Haran where he obtained his great riches, including a great number of cattle, and he would later come out with great substance.  So what is this referring to?  In all likelihood, it is referring to the riches of Isaac, who was still alive.  (Yes, at the end of chapter 35 we saw that Isaac was 180 years old, and he “gave up the ghost” and died.)  We know that Isaac was born in 2067 B. C., and then he died 180 years later in 1887 B. C.  But this is recounting the time in between a 40-year period when Jacob and Esau were 60 years old up until they were 100 years old.  So when Jacob and Esau were 60, Isaac was 120, and after that 40 years, he would have been 160, and he would not die for another 20 years. 

So at the point when Esau left Canaan, Isaac was alive, and Jacob was still in Haran.  And these tremendous riches were more than likely the riches of Isaac that Jacob would inherit upon the death of his father.  It was a constant reminder to Esau that he – as the actual firstborn son – would never receive the blessing of the firstborn.  I am sure this would have gnawed at him, and it would have troubled him, so he determined, “I am leaving.”

This also has much to say about the promises that God had given to Abraham, Isaac, and now to Jacob, but not Esau, concerning the inheritance of the land itself.  Esau is letting it be known that the inheritance is not for him; the riches of Canaan are not for him.  He will seek another inheritance.  He will seek another pathway, and he will go and live a life without the blessing of God, and without the blessing of the firstborn.

And that is exactly what the people of the world have done since the fall of Adam, our figurehead, when Adam was the firstborn, or first created, son of God, as far as this world is concerned.  And he lost it all, and God drove him out from the Garden of Eden.  This is akin to that situation in that Esau is leaving Canaan, the outward representation of God’s kingdom.

The reason that was given was that “their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle.”  I do not know all the depth of spiritual meaning here, but I do know that this is very similar to what we read back in Genesis 13 when Abraham and Lot were dwelling together.  Then there was strife between the herdmen of Abram (Abraham) and the herdmen of Lot.  We read in Genesis 13:5-12:

And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. 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 right hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before JEHOVAH destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of JEHOVAH, 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. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

So, again, we see they are brethren, as Lot was Abram’s nephew, but there was strife among their herdmen.  Abram made the decision that the wisest thing they could do would be to separate, and he gave Lot the option to go whatever direction he wanted, and Abram would take the opposite.  The stated reason was that “the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.”   We see that is the stated reason, but we also see there was another issue, the strife between the herdmen.  When we went through this chapter, we saw that this really points to what happened during the church age.  During the church age, there was often strife between “herdmen.”  Or another way to say that would be that there was strive between pastors, the ones that had oversight of the congregation (the cattle or sheep), and there would arise division between this elder and that elder, or this elder and the pastor, or the pastor with a group of elders.  Then there would be a “split” of the church over a doctrine, and either the pastor would leave, or the elders would leave and form another congregation.  This happened on a small scale, and on a large scale like the Reformation when a great number of people came out of a denomination because of doctrine.  They thought the things being taught were not true and faithful, so they came out and formed their own denomination, and they would try to teach truly and faithfully on those points.  That is what happened.

So we can see that as far as the Bible reveals to us of the spiritual condition of these men,  Lot was a true child of God.  God emphasized that Lot had a “righteous soul,” so he was truly saved.  Likewise, Abram was truly saved, and that is made crystal clear in the Bible.  So these two men had herdmen under them, but there was a split.  That also reveals to us that we should not think that God only worked to save in just “one branch” or “one line” of a denomination.  No.  Here, we see there were differences and strife over those differences, and there was separation, and yet some of God’s elect went with one group, and some of God’s elect went with another group.  That teaches us that the churches that had numerous “differences” during the church age, but there were still God’s elect among them.  So that is one thing we can see.  We can see that there was strife over the differences, and I suppose that is why the statement is made, “the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.”   Maybe if they had been smaller, they may have been able to continue on together, but now the size of the herds was great, or we could relate it to the size of the congregations.  And due to the size, there would be inevitable troubles, so the best move was to separate.

This also tells us that this was according to God’s will for the churches during the church age, and it did serve to multiply the various outreaches.  There could have been an individual the Lord was drawing, but he had a dislike for the more theatrical type churches with the ministers in collars, and so forth.  But now there was another congregation, and the pastor was in a suit, and it was more acceptable to the individual.  Of course God could have worked around anything like that, but as far as multiplying the Gospel, and allowing these variations, it seems to have been according to the perfect will of God for the church age.

But what is going on in our passage in Genesis 36?  Again, it says in Genesis 36:7-8:

For their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle. Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom.

We do know that the Lord identifies Esau with the Law.  We saw that back in Genesis 33, and we will go back over some of this.  We spent a good deal of time on it, so I hope it brings it back to your memory.  In Genesis 33, Jacob has left Haran, and he is 100 years old (and his brother is 100 years old), and Esau came to meet him.  Remember the last time they saw one another was when Jacob fled Canaan because their mother told Jacob that Esau intended to comfort himself by killing him.  Jacob had heard no news since that time, and he had no idea what was happening in Esau’s life, or what his intentions were, and Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men.  Jacob was frightened, and he started sending gifts to his brothers of various livestock.  Then we read in Genesis 33:8-17:

And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord. And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself. And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me. Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it.   And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee. And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die. Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir. And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord. So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. And Jacob journeyed to Succoth…

We are amazed when we read this.  If we had read earlier, Jacob was also bowing down to Esau and calling him, “my lord,” saying, “If now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God.”  There is just an enormous amount of spiritual evidence that Esau is representing God here.  From whom do we find grace?  And Jacob had sinned against his brother with his deceitful charade of pretending to be his brother and obtaining the birthright, and now he is asking for grace.  If you remember the previous chapter, in Genesis 32 the droves of animals went before them to Esau as presents, and we can just think of animal sacrifices.  The offering up of animal sacrifices unto God is really what it is picturing, as we read in Genesis 32:18-20:

Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us. And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him. And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me.

And that is exactly what happened.  First, there were all the presents, or offerings of animals.  How can we say that Jacob was making offerings to Esau?  Is that ridiculous?  Is that nonsense?  No, it is not nonsense.  Just look at Genesis 32:20: “…I will appease him with the present that goeth before me.”  The Hebrew word translated as “appease” is the Hebrew word that is usually translated as “atonement.”  That is, “I will make an atonement with the present that goes before me, and then I will see his face.”  Is that not how each one of us comes to God?  To begin with, Christ has gone before us and performed the atonement, and then we come after, and we can enter into the presence of God, and see His face, in that sense.  And God accepts us because of the “present,” the “atonement” performed by Christ for our sakes at the foundation of the world. 

We saw in Genesis 32 and Genesis 33 that God was painting that spiritual picture of Esau, but we will have to add more to this in our next study, especially regarding mount Seir because that will provide the rationale for the separation that took place after the blessing had been given, which points to the time of the end and the separation of the wheat and tares.  Lord willing, when we get together in our next Bible study, we will look more closely at mount Seir.  The word “Seir” is an interesting word.  Curiously, it leads us right back to Esau.