Genesis 36 is all about Esau’s descendents who were known as Edomites. Esau was the one who rejected his spiritual blessing in favor of the material. He got them. Here we see a list of king after king in the lineage of Esau. They prospered in their their own land, as Jacob and his descendants went on to become slaves in Egypt. When Moses Led Israel out of slavery, Esau’s descendants wold not permit them to pass through their land. And from generation to generation the animosity between Esau’s descendants and Israel’s descendants continued.
The repetion of the naming of all the succeesive kings in Edom is interesting because the historical hatred between these two finds its final expression in the confrontation of two Great kings.
One was a descendant of Esau. His name was Herod Antipas. He was the son of Herod the Great who, as King of the Jews, slaughtered the infants in Bethelehem to protect his throne. The second king is Jesus Christ, the descendant of Jacob, who was born King of the Jews, and was called King of Kings.
Two kings. One, the descendant of Esau, the representative of those who chose the temporal over the spiritual. The other, the descendant of Jacob, the one who ruled over a spiritual kingdom. When Jesus said, you cannot serve two masters, I wonder if this was in his mind.
We all have the same choice.