361 This is the family tree of Esau, who is also called Edom. 2 Esau married women of Canaan: Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite; Oholibamah, daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite; 3 and Basemath, daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. 4 Adah gave Esau Eliphaz; Basemath had Reuel; 5 Oholibamah had Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan. 6 Esau gathered up his wives, sons and daughters, and everybody in his household, along with all his livestock - all the animals and possessions he had gotten in Canaan - and moved a considerable distance away from his brother Jacob. 7 The brothers had too many possessions to live together in the same place; the land couldn't support their combined herds of livestock. 8 So Esau ended up settling in the hill country of Seir (Esau and Edom are the same).
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Genesis 36:1-8
Chapter Contents
Esau and his descendants.
The registers in this chapter show the faithfulness of God to his promise to Abraham. Esau is here called Edom, that name which kept up the remembrance of his selling his birth-right for a mess of pottage. Esau continued the same profane despiser of heavenly things. In outward prosperity and honour, the children of the covenant are often behind, and those that are out of the covenant get the start. We may suppose it a trial to the faith of God's Israel, to hear of the pomp and power of the kings of Edom, while they were bond-slaves in Egypt; but those that look for great things from God, must be content to wait for them; God's time is the best time. Mount Seir is called the land of their possession. Canaan was at this time only the land of promise. Seir was in the possession of the Edomites. The children of this world have their all in hand, and nothing in hope, Luke 16:25; while the children of God have their all in hope, and next to nothing in hand. But, all things considered, it is beyond compare better to have Canaan in promise, than mount Seir in possession.