Esau’s Descendants (Gen 36)

Daniel L. Arter

Genesis: The Book of Beginnings • Sermon • Submitted a day ago • Presented 4 days ago

Genesis 36

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Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn to Genesis 36.

We’re in a passage of Scripture that is often overlooked by Christians today—and the reasoning for it being overlooked is rather simple. It’s actually a rather difficult passage to consider if you don’t dig into it—or, in other words, if you’re just casually reading through Genesis, you’ll get to ch. 36 and think, “oh, I should just skip this—it’s just a genealogy and I’m probably not going to get anything out of it,” but much like last week’s passage, the significance of ch. 36 is rooted in the history itself rather than just in ch. 36.

In reality, this passage is significant for at least two reasons: (1) genealogies act as transitionary passages between sections in Genesis—they’re called toledots—in the case of Genesis 36, it is its own toledot; and (2) this chapter finishes the conversation about Esau before focusing our attention on Jacob’s lineage.

Our time in Genesis 36 intentionally contrasts Esau with Jacob and Edom with Israel.

Keep this in mind as we read the text together.

Genesis 36 ESV

1 These are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). 2 Esau took his wives from the Canaanites: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, 3 and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. 4 And Adah bore to Esau, Eliphaz; Basemath bore Reuel; 5 and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan. 6 Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob. 7 For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock. 8 So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is Edom.) 9 These are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir. 10 These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau. 11 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. 12 (Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau’s son; she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.) These are the sons of Adah, Esau’s wife. 13 These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife. 14 These are the sons of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau’s wife: she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. 15 These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: the chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, 16 Korah, Gatam, and Amalek; these are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. 17 These are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: the chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah; these are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife. 18 These are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau’s wife: the chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah; these are the chiefs born of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau’s wife. 19 These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs. 20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. 22 The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan’s sister was Timna. 23 These are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. 24 These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah; he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he pastured the donkeys of Zibeon his father. 25 These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah. 26 These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. 27 These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. 28 These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. 29 These are the chiefs of the Horites: the chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 30 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, chief by chief in the land of Seir. 31 These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the Israelites. 32 Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, the name of his city being Dinhabah. 33 Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his place. 34 Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. 35 Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place, the name of his city being Avith. 36 Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. 37 Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates reigned in his place. 38 Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his place. 39 Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his place, the name of his city being Pau; his wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab. 40 These are the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their clans and their dwelling places, by their names: the chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, 41 Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, 42 Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, 43 Magdiel, and Iram; these are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of Edom), according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession.

As we study this passage, we’re going to break the sermon into two parts: (1) About Esau (also known as Edom) (1-8) and (2) About Esau’s Descendants (9-43). While it might be difficult to see the benefit of a text like this today, I think once we start working through some of the names and we start thinking about the history, you’ll understand a bit better what the purpose of a text like this is.

Ultimately, the goals for this morning is for you to (1) see the contrast between Esau’s lineage with Israel’s lineage and (2) realize that despite Esau and his family, God still kept a promise to him. Our application will primarily be focused on that contrast between the Edomites and the Israelites.

Prayer for Illumination

About Esau (also known as Edom) (1-8)

Our text starts with a familiar place marker, “these are the generations of.”

It’s familiar because every major section of Genesis includes these words.

They’re meant to provide transitions, but to also tell us who the following section is about—you see it in several different places. For instance:

Genesis 2:4 “4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.”

The following section then rehashes creation and then focuses on the creation of man before telling us the account of the fall and the sin of Cain against Abel.

Genesis 5:1–2 “1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.”

The following section then gives us the genealogy of Adam before recording the increasing corruption through Adam’s seed.

Genesis 6:9–10 “9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”

We then see what happens with his descendants—through the flood and the aftermath.

This continues in Genesis 10:1, 11:10, 11:27, and so on and so forth all the way through the book of Genesis.

It’s different in Genesis 36 because this time, the entire section is within the confines of the chapter—or, in other words, this section starts and ends within this one chapter.

And, in some ways, the text seems to do this particularly to wipe the slate clean.

Up to this point, Esau is somewhat regular as an individual in the text—we see him multiple times in various parts of the text.

After this point, Esau is no longer a regular—we don’t really see from him again whatsoever—with the exception of when the Bible later looks back and talks about him in places like Hebrews 11.

And while his descendants do play some role in the history of Israel, it isn’t a permanent role throughout the history of Israel—they show up periodically, cause significant problems, and then they fade into the backdrop again.

So, the text starts by focusing on Esau and his immediate family, v. 1, “These are the generations of Esau.”

Note that in parentheses, the text does clarify a detail it says, “that is, Edom.” Esau and Edom are the same person.

The meaning of Edom goes all the way back to the instance in which Jacob steals Esau’s birthright in Genesis 25.

Esau comes in from hunting and is hungry—and in his hunger, he asks Jacob for some of the soup that he’s making. Jacob agrees on the condition that Esau gives him his birthright—and in Esau’s focus on temporal hunger, he decides “what use is it for me to have a birthright if I die from hunger and he agrees.”

Genesis 25:30 “30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.)”

Edom sounds like the word for red, which if you really think of it isn’t the greatest nickname for Esau himself—just think about it. Giving up his birthright for soup is a rather foolish decision. Now, everyone is calling him by a nickname that reminds him of one of the most foolish decisions he had ever made, but I digress.

Because of that nickname, all of his descendants are called Edomites—so, essentially, his legacy is named after his foolish decision.

The Bible says that Esau had three wives that were from Canaan, which might seem like a minor details, but it’s actually rather significant.

Do you remember when Isaac, his father expressed multiple times that their children shouldn’t marry the locals? Rather, they should go back to their homeland and marry someone from their own land.

Isaac doesn’t really explain why that’s the case, but the narrative implies that the reasoning had to deal with the covenant between God and their people. Think even back to when Isaac is searching for a wife—his father, Abraham arranges for him to marry someone from their homeland rather than the Canaanites.

And just to clarify even more, the issue isn’t a race issue nor an ethnic issue. It’s a theological issue. The people in Canaan were not part of the covenantal family—it’s the same reason why the New Testament insists that Christians be not unequally yoked to unbelievers.

These three wives are named Adah, Oholibamah, and Basemath and through these wives, Esau has five boys, Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

After this, Esau departed completely from the land of Canaan, which is significant because it drives home this idea that he isn’t really concerned about the covenantal promises between them and God.

Canaan is the land of promise—and so there’s symbolism here.

Esau isn’t the brother through which the promise continues because he gave up the rights to that promise for a bowl of soup.

His departure from the land of promise is consistent with the realization that he isn’t an heir to the covenant.

In addition, note the similarity between Lot and Abram and Esau and Jacob here:

Lot and Abram departed from each other because their possessions were too great for them to dwell there—Abram allows Lot to chose what part of the property he wants and Lot chooses the plot closest to Sodom and Gomorrah—an area known for unrighteousness and sinful behavior—an area known for people not following the Lord.

Esau leaves the location promised to the covenant family and settles amongst other people who weren’t following the Lord.

However, notice all the choices that Esau made in this section:

Esau chose to marry foreign women who most importantly didn’t follow and obey Yahweh—he wasn’t forced to marry them, he chose to marry them. He chose to participate in their lifestyle.

Esau chose to depart from Jacob and live separate from the covenant family and really the covenant—he wasn’t forced to leave, he chose to leave, he chose to live separate from the covenant.

Esau made these choices and his descendants reflected those choices—those after him chose to continue in his ways.

Now, after talking about Esau and where his immediate family settled, the rest of chapter shifts its focus to all the generations after Esau. Now, there’s no way for us to exhaust all of the details through the remaining chapter—it would easily take us several hours to try and research every name and see the details that surround their lives—and truthfully, I’m not sure that there would be a great benefit in doing that. There would be a lot of head knowledge in doing that, but it would turn this passage—Genesis 36 into something that it really isn’t, just a list.

Rather, I want to point out some details in and from vv. 9-43, which will edify us as we reflect on the details.

About Esau’s Descendants (also known as the Edomites) (9-43)

While all this seems like its just a genealogy, what it really is is a fulfillment of God’s promise to Esau (see Gen 27; Heb 11:20)

It’s rather tempting not to even bother thinking through this, but when you consider this passage in light of the promises given to not just Jacob, but also Esau, you can see that this is a fulfillment of a promise. Back in Genesis 27, we read about this promise given to Esau through Isaac.

After Esau’s birthright is stolen by Jacob, Esau asks repeatedly from a blessing from Isaac and as part of that blessing and there are some statements spoken that clearly amount to more than just a blessing—they’re promises.

In vv. 39-40 of Genesis 27, we read: “39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him: “Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on high. 40 By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you grow restless you shall break his yoke from your neck.””

Note the promises, you will leave the promised land, you will live by your sword, you shall serve your brother—all these ideas are prevalent throughout the history of Edom.

There was a time in which Edom and Israel did dwell together briefly—more specifically, when Esau and Jacob dwelt together.

But eventually, he got restless, and he broke away—more specifically, his descendants continuously broke away from Israel.

In addition, you can trace these ideas through the genealogy of Genesis 36.

Genesis 36:6-8 told us of when he packed up his family and moved away from the promised land.

If you start looking through the names of Esau’s descendents, you’ll notice that there are some who are regularly antagonistic towards Israel—for instance, the children of Amalek become the Amalekites and they definitely don’t like the Israelites whatsoever—so much so that in Exodus 17:8-16, we see an instance in which they attack Israel despite Israel’s innocence.

The Edomites as a whole, are known throughout the Old Testament as being enemies of Israel—we see this in Numbers 20, Obadiah, and Psalm 137—all of which show us a very clear hatred from the Edomites against the Jewish people.

Numbers 20 is another instance in which the Edomites refuse to allow the Jewish people to pass through their land.

Obadiah starts with a prophecy against Edom for their violence against Israel—you see this reasoning expressed in Obadiah 1:10-14, that they did violence against Israel, and other times, when God’s people were being attacked, the Edomites just watched.

In Psalm 137, the psalmist reminds God of the wickedness of the Edomites and how the Edomites expressed desire for Jerusalem to be destroyed.

And from a simply historical perspective—the Edomites were known for violence and regularly attacked not just the Israelites, but other nations as well according to several artifacts that have been discovered throughout the years.

There’s a handful of pottery shards, which was utilized to write on during that time period in which troops were redirected to protect against the Edomites.

Some sources have suggested that the Edomites actually helped the Babylonians during their invasions of various countries—including Israel.

The Edomites hated Israel and it’s seen throughout both the biblical data as well as the extra-biblical data—and that hatred against Israel was really prophesied by Isaac to Jacob in the blessing that he gave.

Now, we do need to take a moment to discuss some contrasts between the Edomites and the Israelites because our application depends on this contrast.

Despite the fact that both Jacob and Esau were blessed only Jacob remained in the covenant—Hebrews 11 explains this.

Hebrews 11:20 states that “by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come.” (NASB) — As I said, there was an element of prophecy within Isaac’s blessing of his children.

Hebrews 11:21 states that “By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph.” (NASB) — And then the text goes straight to Joseph—notice that there’s no “by faith Esau” did such and such statement?

What can we deduce from this?

We can deduce that Jacob, despite all his foibles, shortcomings, and sins, that the primary direction of his life and then his family’s life was to follow the Lord as God’s covenant people.

We can deduce that Esau, despite some of his earthly success and the earthly success of the nations that he descended from him, that the primary direction of his life and his family’s life was to make their own way apart from the Lord.

So much so, that Israel—despite their foibles, shortcomings, and sins continued to follow the Lord (though imperfectly) throughout the rest of the Old Testament as His covenant people and the peoples of Esau (the Edomites) created for themselves idols and false gods to worship.

This idea of one people remaining in the covenant and the others distancing themselves from the covenant then shapes their future—and truthfully, it’s not hard for us to see how this all works out, is it? Because we can see the same issue in our own lives:

We see clearly in those around us whether they chose to live their lives based on their belief in God or the lack thereof and it shapes how they think, feel, and act.

In an ultimate sense, if you’re thinking in terms of worldview, we see those around us who do chose to live their lives apart from God living lives that are ultimately nihilistic, where there isn’t an ultimate purpose and thus life becomes eventually becomes pointless.

But even in a temporal sense, those who don’t live their lives based on a belief in God tend to live lives of naturalistic, moral relativism in which nothing but what we can see and feel is true and truth is dependent on what you think rather than objective as in God determines right from wrong.

There’s a large contrast between those who believe and those who don’t—in the way that we think, in the way that we feel, in the way that we act; and if there isn’t a difference, we really have to wonder whether we do believe the things that we claim to believe or not.

With all this said, in the remaining few minutes, I want us to consider how a genealogy like the one found in Genesis 36 can be used for application today. Genealogies tend to be rather difficult passages to apply, however, I think, because of the focus of this genealogy being on a family that ultimate didn’t follow the Lord, we get a decent impression for our own application.

Application

Esau made several choices throughout his life—to despise his birthright, to leave the promised land, to separate himself from the covenant family; and these decisions resulted in not only his own life being different, but the lives of those descended from him being radically different than the lives of those who accepted their birthright, stayed where God had placed them, and remained within the covenant family. The choices made, to live apart from God, to live separate from God’s people resulted in a radically different way of viewing life and a significantly different mindset concerning God and who His people are—how do we know? Because the Edomites were pagan people, they worshiped idols created by their own hands and followed gods, who weren’t truly God.

Now, I do want to clarify, because you might hear what I’m saying an think that I’m talking about the many errant beliefs that float around in Christian circles of generational curses; and I want to clarify that issue before I give our application.

There are some (and let me clarify that it is some rather than a lot), who believe that if you as a parent struggle with certain sins, that your children and grandchildren will be cursed in such a way that they will also struggle with that very same sin—and many who believe this, teach that this is really more of a given than a potential and that it’s nearly impossible to break the curse. Of course, this ideology has two primary issues—(1) it absolves people of the culpability of their sin (i.e., I only struggle with this sin because my parents did and thus I’m cursed with it) and (2) the Bible never speaks of a generational curse in this sense. Rather, this ideology of generational curses comes from misreadings of two passages both in Exodus (and let me assure you that if you’re going to develop a doctrinal teaching, it ought not be based on just two different verses especially when neither verse is saying what you’re claiming that it’s saying).

Exodus 20:5 speaks out against idolatry in the Ten Commandments and this is what God says “5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,”

First, let me clarify that God is not saying that children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren will be punished because of the father. We know this, in particular, because of Ezekiel 18:20 “20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” Each soul is responsible for their own sin and not the sins of their parents and so on.

We also know this because of the context of Exodus 20:5 itself, in which the verse says that the iniquity is on those who hate God and because of Exodus 34:6-7 where the focus is more on the fact that God forgives those who repent rather than this idea of generational curses.

Now, this doesn’t mean that children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren will never struggle with the same sins as those before them, but it does mean that it isn’t a curse. What I mean by that is this:

Many children do end up struggling with the same sins that their parents and grandparents struggle with, but it’s not because they’re experiencing a generational curse—it’s because they’ve learned behavior from their parents and grandparents.

Much like how children pick up on the habits of their parents in a general sense, it happens in a specific sense when it comes to some sins—so, if the parents struggle with addiction, often the children can struggle with addiction because the children learned addictive behaviors form the parents. If a parent struggles with unrighteous outbursts of anger, their children might struggle with unrighteous outbursts of anger. If a parent is a significant liar, the children might struggle with lying.

However, Exodus 20, 34, and Ezekiel 18 all point to the same idea, that these aren’t curses, but rather, there’s forgiveness for those who repent—while children may struggle similarly, while you may struggle similarly to your parents, don’t take the misreadings of these passage (and let’s be honest, popular psychology from Freud) over what Scripture actually says—that it isn’t a curse, it’s a learned behavior, and Jesus can break the chains of sins that hold you down and overwhelm you.

Generational curses aren’t real, they don’t actually exist in Scripture—they’re simply learned behaviors that Jesus can set you free from if you repent.

That said, let’s talk about the actual application that we have for this text.

Are you choosing to live apart form the covenant and its family? — Esau made several decisions throughout his life that practically pushed him away from the covenant itself and the covenantal family. Often in life, we have similar opportunities to do the same. Let me give you two examples:

Many proclaimed Christians today often proclaim salvation and belief without necessarily living like they do actually believe—or, in other words, they say they’re part of the covenantal family, but they don’t actually live as one who is in the covenant.

In the case of Esau, he rejected his birthright, left the Promised Land, and lived apart from God.

In the case of many who profess Christianity today, they’re Christian when it suits them, they’re more focused on today rather than eternity, and they only consider God on occasion rather than as their God.

In the case of some in this room, you’re Christian when it suits you, you’re more focused on this world rather than eternity, and you only think about God when it’s easy and not as your God—though you might claim to be part of the covenant, you aren’t living like you’re part of the covenant.

Or, for instance, there are many today who profess belief, but choose to not connect with a healthy local church—like Esau, they aren’t part of the local body looking forward to the day when we attain the Promised Land.

Those that fall into this camp are those who think that it’s possible to live a Christian life without participating in the local church. While it is true that you technically don’t need to participate in a local church to be saved, to think that you can live apart from a healthy local church is actually rather arrogant—here’s why, Jesus chose the local church as the primary means through which you experience fellowship with other believers, sanctification, and discipleship.

To say that you don’t need the local church means that you think that you can do fellowship, sanctification, and discipleship through a means other than what Jesus has ordained for you.

In other words, if you’re part of the covenant, you need to be part of the covenant family in a local expression of that family—it really isn’t optional.

Friends, if you’re part of the covenant, which is what you’re claiming when you claim to be a Christian, then actually live like you’re part of the covenant and participate in the covenant family.

Are you raising your children to live within the covenant family? — Esau’s children and his following generations continued to reject God and continue in their own way. While we don’t believe in the erroneous idea of generational curses, we do readily admit that parents are to raise their children in the love and admonition of the Lord. Part of doing this is simply by teaching them to participate within the covenant family. Let me offer three suggestions to help those with children to do this:

First, teach your children diligently at home—much like anything that is taught to a child, if it isn’t taught and reinforced in the home, it usually doesn’t stick. For a child to be raised within the covenant, they need to be raised within the covenant at home as well as everywhere else.

An example of what I mean is found in students who participate in music—any person who decides to learn how to play a musical instrument recognizes that the bulk of learning how to play is actually done at home and not during lessons.

While lessons play an important role in terms of having someone to keep you accountable and having someone skillful teach you, the reality is that if you never practice at home, you’ll never actually improve (even if you take lessons every single week).

In fact, most students need daily practice to actually improve.

Likewise, children who are to be raised within the covenant family need to be catechized more than just Sunday morning when we all gather to worship together. While Sunday morning worship is integral for believers, the reality is that if a person doesn’t make the effort to grow in their relationship with God throughout the week, they won’t really grow.

For children, their parents have to do the teaching—the catechizing—and the parents have to model these things to their children, otherwise, they won’t learn the truths of God’s Word nor will they grow spiritually.

In fact, children need to be catechized daily to actually learn and to mature in the faith.

Second, involve them deeply in the life of the local church—of course, I mean this within the bounds of their age and maturity, but I do mean this either way.

To explain, what I mean is this—particularly young children can’t do much in terms of serving the church. A five-year-old isn’t going to be preaching behind a pulpit. A ten-year-old isn’t going to be teaching Discipleship Groups. A 15-year-old isn’t going to be counseling an adult.

However, a five-year-old can learn to sing along during musical worship if they’re taught the songs ahead of time (I know because I started learning music formally at the age of three), a ten-year-old can follow along in Scripture (even if their parents need to explain some words), and a 15-year-old can volunteer in children’s ministries, as well as musical ministries.

Of course, this requires parents to be intentional during the formative years of their children’s life, which is rather difficult, but possible.

Likewise, those of us currently without children in the local church can help by encouraging parents with children—it requires humility on the parents’ behalf and love and kindness on the behalf of others in the church.

For children, their parents choose how involved their children can be within the local church. If their parents treat the local church as a chore or as a negotiable, the children will treat the local church as a chore or as a negotiable.

If their parents aren’t involved deeply in the life of the local church, the children won’t see the point of being involved deeply in the life of the local church.

Lastly, intentionally shepherd their hearts toward Christ—much like anything else that parents teach their children, parents also need to intentionally shepherd their children.

Don’t just assume that they’ll just suddenly know about Jesus, repent, and believe in Him. If over a decade of ministry has taught me anything, it’s that people have spent a lot of time assuming that everyone just knew what is true and what is the Gospel when in reality, most people simply didn’t—they had never actually been taught.

That teaching starts with parents intentionally shepherding the hearts of children at home—loving them, caring for them, and constantly pointing them towards Jesus over and over and consistently.

If the parents don’t do this, someone else will—and often that someone else will be someone who shouldn’t be shepherding your children.

Friends, if you’re a Christian, you are in the covenant—live like it and participate in the covenant family. If you’re parents with children at home—raise your children to live within the covenant family.

That’s what Genesis 36, the genealogy of Esau teaches us.

Christian, you are in the covenant—live like it, participate with your covenant family, and raise your children to do the same.

Pastoral Prayer

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