Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Chiefs of Esau: God’s Providence, Earthly Greatness, and the Covenant Line (Genesis 36:15-19)

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The Chiefs of Esau: God’s Providence, Earthly Greatness, and the Covenant Line (Genesis 36:15-19) · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome to reform thinking. Glad to be here.
• 0:02
  So imagine reading a list of, you know, the most ruthless,
• 0:06
  successful billionaires. Like the most aggressive heads
• 0:10
  of state, the top military generals in history, and then
• 0:13
  realizing, wait, this is a list of the people God rejected.
• 0:17
  Yeah, that is a wild realization.
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  It really is. Today we are bringing you into a
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  deep dive on a specific biblical text that, well, honestly, most
• 0:26
  readers just skip right over. Oh, absolutely.
• 0:28
  They skip it when they try to read the Bible in a year.
• 0:30
  Yeah. We are analyzing Genesis chapter
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  36, verses 15 through 19, and this is going to completely
• 0:36
  shatter how you measure success, how you view comfort, and how
• 0:41
  you understand the absolute sovereignty of God over the
• 0:43
  kings of the earth. And looking at our source
• 0:45
  material for this session, we have two theological sermonic
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  texts that breakdown the specific passage, right?
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  They examine a genealogy, specifically the list of Esau's
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  chiefs in the land of Edom. Which sounds pretty dry at
• 1:00
  first. It does.
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  To a modern reader, passing over these verses is almost an
• 1:05
  automatic reflex. I mean, it looks like an ancient
• 1:07
  phone book. Yeah, just a dusty catalog of
• 1:10
  hard to pronounce names. Exactly.
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  Well, precisely. It seems entirely disconnected
• 1:14
  from anything practically relevant to you or your faith
• 1:16
  today. But that initial reaction, I
• 1:19
  mean, it makes total sense because at first glance, yes, it
• 1:22
  is just a list of ancient names, right?
• 1:24
  But our mission today is to show you that these verses establish
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  a massive striking theological A.
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  Huge contrast. On one side you have the
• 1:34
  immediate earthly might and the staggering secular dominion of
• 1:39
  the reprobate line, and on the other side you have the patient,
• 1:43
  suffering, often invisible pilgrimage of God's elect.
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  Which forces you to ask a very uncomfortable question.
• 1:49
  Oh, absolutely. How do you measure the favor of
• 1:51
  God when the unbelieving world has all the visible success?
• 1:55
  That is the big question, but. Before we parse the theology of
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  that tension, we have to establish the historical and
• 2:02
  geographical reality of these verses.
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  We need to know who we are talking about, when this was
• 2:07
  written and the situation on the ground.
• 2:10
  Yeah, to really grasp the weight of this text, you have to
• 2:12
  understand its origin. Based on sound Reformed
• 2:15
  principles, we recognize that Moses wrote this text around
• 2:19
  1440 BC. OK, 1440 BC.
• 2:22
  Yes, and he wrote it for the Israelites who were actively
• 2:25
  wandering in the wilderness. Which is a huge detail.
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  It is, and we must firmly reject any liberal critical
• 2:31
  scholarship. Like the documentary Hypothesis?
• 2:35
  Yeah. We have to push back on that.
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  That specific theory attempts to claim this list is some later
• 2:41
  edition. They say it was stitched
• 2:42
  together by unknown editors centuries after the fact.
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  Just trying to project their current political borders
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  backward into history, yeah. That is their claim.
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  So wait, let's pause there for a second.
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  Why does that matter? Well, it matters a lot.
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  Like if someone says, oh, an editor added this list later,
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  why is that such a threat to how we read the text?
• 3:01
  Because it attacks the mechanism of inspiration, right?
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  If this list is just a political fabrication added by a later
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  editor, it carries no divine authority.
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  It is just human propaganda. It loses all.
• 3:12
  Its weight. We affirm the verbal plenary
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  inspiration of Scripture, which means that means every single
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  word, including this specific list of names, is breathed out
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  by God and recorded. Florida State.
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  God wanted these specific names recorded by Moses for a
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  theological reason. Absolutely.
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  Moses penned these words to a covenant community of former
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  slaves who were preparing to enter a land filled with hostile
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  nations. Yeah, one of those hostile
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  nations was Edom, founded by Esau.
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  Yeah, Esau and Edom are the same line.
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  Let's talk about where they lived, because the geography
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  sets the stage. The text centers on Mount Seer.
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  Mount Seer. Yeah, this.
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  Is the territory South and southeast of the Dead Sea where
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  Esau settled? And from all the historical and
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  archaeological data, Mount Seer was not just some barren rock
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  where a few nomads pitched tents.
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  Oh no, not at. All it was a rugged, highly
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  defensible, mineral abundant territory.
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  It was perfectly suited for building a localized empire.
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  Yeah, it had choke points that made it virtually impenetrable
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  to invading armies. And in this fortified territory,
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  the text repeatedly uses a specific Hebrew term to describe
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  Esau's descendants. Right, the word aloof.
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  Yes, aloof. Most English Bibles translate
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  this as chief. But Chief might make you think
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  of a quiet Gray haired village elder sitting around a campfire,
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  you know, dispensing wisdom to his grandchildren.
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  Yeah, that is a huge misconception.
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  The Hebrew word aloof designates something far more intimidating.
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  What does it? Actually mean.
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  It means a warlord. It refers to a commander of 1000
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  men. Wow.
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  Commander of 1000. We are talking about someone who
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  possesses massive military and economic dominion.
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  So not just a village elder. Not at all.
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  These were men who controlled lucrative trade routes,
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  commanded significant armed forces and ruled over fortified
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  dukedoms. They had ironclad social and
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  political hierarchies. When Moses writes down the names
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  of these chiefs, he is describing A formidable,
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  organized, heavily armed society that had achieved immense
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  secular success. Reading this list for the
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  ancient Israelites would be like you pick making up a magazine
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  today and reading a list of Fortune 500 CEOs.
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  Yes, great comparison. Combined with a roster of the
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  world's most aggressive military dictators, it is a catalog of
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  intimidating secular dominance. You are just reading name after
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  name of billionaires and warlords and.
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  You have to put yourself in the sandals of the original
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  audience. You really do.
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  I mean, the Israelites hearing this text were former slaves.
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  They were living in temporary desert tents.
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  Yeah, they had no permanent home, no standing army, no
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  massive wealth. They were eating mana, relying
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  on a cloud to tell them when to move.
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  Meanwhile, there are stranged relatives in Edom.
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  The descendants of Esau had already established
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  sophisticated fortified empires. You can feel the psychological
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  and spiritual tension for the original audience there.
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  Oh it is intense. Imagine being an Israelite
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  hearing Moses read this. You know God promised Abraham
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  that his descendants would be a great nation, yet you are
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  vulnerable in a harsh desert. Then you hear about Esau's line.
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  Esau was the brother of Jacob, the one who was rejected from
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  the covenant. Promise.
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  And yet Esau's line has cities. They have wealth, they have
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  copper mines, they have heavily armed warlords.
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  They have everything that looks like success.
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  The tension is palpable. The Israelites had to be
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  wondering, did God bless the wrong brother?
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  Did we miss out? Yeah, if you are an Israelite
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  freezing in a tent, hearing about these Edomite billionaires
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  is incredibly demoralizing. You would think Moses would want
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  to hide this from them to keep morale up.
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  So why does he put it front and center in chapter 36?
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  That brings us to the literary design.
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  Right. How does Moses organize this
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  historical reality within the actual book of Genesis?
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  Because he does not just drop this list randomly.
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  No, the book of Genesis is structured very deliberately.
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  Tell us about that structure. The Holy Spirit guided Moses to
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  organize Genesis around 10 distinct markers called
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  toledoth. Toledoth, yes, which translates
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  to generations or the account of OK.
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  These toledoth markers act like chapter headings or structural
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  pillars, and what you see in the literary design is a pattern
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  where the Holy Spirit uses the structure to essentially clear
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  the stage. I love that analogy.
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  It is like at the end of a movie when the screen fades to black
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  and you get that quick text on the screen saying what happened
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  to the minor character. Yeah, precisely.
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  Esau went on to found a massive empire.
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  Boom, done. The camera does not care about
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  him anymore. Right, the camera is going to
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  pan down to the main characters. The non covenantal lines, the
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  family lines that are not chosen to carry the redemptive promise
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  like Ishmael and Esau get their historical wrap up first.
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  The text gives a summary of their worldly success, their
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  genealogies, their earthly achievements, and then it closes
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  the book on them. It sets them aside so that the
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  narrative light can focus strictly and exclusively on the
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  covenantal line of promise, which is Jacob.
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  Chapter 36 is the Toledoth of Esau.
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  It is the clearing of the stage. And the contrast here is
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  staggering. Let's look at the violent
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  literary transition between Genesis 36 and Genesis 37.
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  It is a sharp turn. Chapter 36 ends with these
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  established warlords in Edom. It is an impressive resume of
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  earthly triumph. Then you turn the page to
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  chapter 37. The stage is cleared.
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  We shift to the elect line, the covenant line of Jacob, and how
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  does it open? Does it open with Jacob's sons
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  ruling massive cities? No, it opens with a 17 year old
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  boy named Joseph being betrayed by his own brothers, stripped of
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  his clothing, thrown into a pit and sold into slavery.
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  The author is forcing the reader to look at these two realities
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  side by side. You.
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  Go from the pinnacle of earthly dominion in the reprobate line
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  to the absolute humiliation and suffering of the elect line.
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  It is a jarring shift. Now I have to push back here.
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  I am struggling with this. I really AM.
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  What is the sticking point for you?
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  You were saying God is completely sovereign, yet he
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  deliberately hands the keys of the Kingdom to these hostile
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  warlords and leaves his chosen people eating dirt in the
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  desert, selling each other into slavery.
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  I see what you mean. From the outside, that does not
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  look like an exact Providence. It looks like God lost control
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  of the board. It does look that way to
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  humanize. If God loves Jacob, and if God
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  rejected Esau, why does the reprobate line get immediate
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  earthly success while the elect line gets a dysfunctional,
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  suffering family? If you were the chosen one,
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  shouldn't you get the fortified cities and the wealth while the
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  rejected line wanders in the desert?
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  It is the most natural human reaction to have.
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  We equate love with immediate comfort.
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  We really do. But to answer that, we have to
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  rely on the Reform concept of God's exact Providence.
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  OK, unpack that. Nothing happening here is an
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  accident, a delay, or God losing control of the board.
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  God is faithful to fulfill the secondary blessing that was
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  given by Isaac back in Genesis chapter 27.
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  Oh right, the blessing Isaac gave after Jacob stole the
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  Primary 1, yes. You might recall that Isaac told
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  Esau he would live by the sword and dwell away from the fatness
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  of the earth, right? God's Providence ensures that
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  even the secondary non saving blessing is fulfilled
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  accurately. Esau does live by the sword, and
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  he does build an empire in the rugged terrain of Seer.
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  So God grants the reprobate immediate temporal success, but
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  he is reserving his special saving grace exclusively for
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  Jacob. That is the key distinction.
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  The elect line goes through suffering because suffering
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  produces the holiness and reliance on God that is
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  necessary for the covenant people.
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  Wow. Yeah.
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  Worldly success, on the other hand, often acts as a spiritual
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  anesthetic. That is a great way to put it.
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  If Jacob's lion had been given massive cities and warlord
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  status immediately, they would have trusted in their own
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  Chariots and forgotten the God of the promise.
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  And we see that played out historically.
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  When we look directly at Genesis 36 verses 15 through 19, we see
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  how this worldly success is texturally structured.
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  Moses does not just give a vague summary.
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  No, he details the specific family groupings to show the
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  organization of the society. We see the line of Eliphaz, who
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  was the first born, we see the line of Roel, and we see the
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  sons of Ahul Obama. This is not biological
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  multiplication. It is social and political
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  consolidation. Moses is documenting the
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  establishment of rigid institutions.
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  And as you read through it, there is this rhythmic
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  repetition of the word chief. Chief Tabernan.
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  Chief Omar. Chief Sepho.
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  Chief Canaz. It happens over and over.
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  It feels like the steady, intimidating drum beat of a
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  marching army. It really does.
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  It is designed to instill awe. You can hear the heavy boots
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  hitting the ground. And the terrifying part about
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  that drum beat is that verse 16 names Chief Amalek.
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  Chief Amalek. That is a name that causes
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  anyone familiar with the Old Testament to pause.
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  The Amalekites were not just another group of neighbors
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  wanting to trade livestock. No, they were the perpetual
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  violent enemy of Israel. The Amalekites were the First
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  Nation to attack the Israelites after the exodus from Egypt.
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  And we need to understand the psychology of that attack.
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  Yeah, they did not attack the strong soldiers at the front of
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  the Israelite column. They cowardly attacked the weak,
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  the weary, the elderly and the children at the rear of the
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  camp. They represented the absolute
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  peak of hostility against the Covenant people.
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  So Moses is listing Chief Amalek here, and the Israelites,
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  hearing this in the wilderness, are probably shivering.
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  Absolutely. They know who the Amalekites
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  are. They've already faced their
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  terror. This proves that God is setting
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  up a necessary redemptive historical conflict.
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  A massive conflict. The seed of the serpent,
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  represented here by Amalek, is organizing and preparing to war
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  against the seed of the woman. Right.
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  God ordained the rise of Edom not just to give Esau a place to
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  live, but to stage the great cosmic battle between the
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  Kingdom of the flesh and the Kingdom of the promise.
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  So, since the text clearly establishes Esau's structured
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  might, what does this teach the Reformed believer about God's
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  eternal decrees? It teaches us first and foremost
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  about the total sovereignty of God.
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  Explain that. The God of Abraham is not a
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  localized tribal deity. He is not just the God of the
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  Israelites sitting in a tent in the wilderness, hoping the
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  Edomites do not get too strong. Right, he is not up there
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  wringing his hands. No, he meticulously governs the
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  rise and fall of all secular leaders and nations, including
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  Edom. Every single one of those chiefs
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  attained their position because the Sovereign Lord decreed it.
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  That completely shatters the idea of dualism, where God is
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  fighting a neck and neck battle with evil forces.
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  Yes. Completely.
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  God is the one who drew the borders for Edom and appointed
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  their warlords. And this brings us to a very
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  heavy doctrine, the doctrine of reprobation.
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  It is a sobering doctrine. Esau's line receives immense
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  common grace. What is common grace for the
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  listener who might not know? Common grace refers to the non
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  saving blessings God bestows on humanity.
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  Think of it like rain falling on a farmer's field.
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  OK, the rain falls on the field of the righteous farmer and the
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  field of the wicked farmer. Equally, it brings crops,
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  wealth, societal structure, intelligence and military might.
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  And Esau's descendants have this in abundance.
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  Yes, but they are entirely devoid of special grace, which
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  is the electing saving grace that brings a person into
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  covenantal union with God. So God gives the reprobate good
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  things. Yes, but disconnected from
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  special grace, those good things become a mechanism of their own,
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  hardening their wealth and their fortified cities convince them
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  they do not need a savior. Election is not based on natural
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  inheritance. I mean, Esau was the older
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  brother. He was.
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  He was physically stronger. He had the natural claim to the
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  birthright. He even had proximity to the
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  Covenant family. He grew up in the same tent as
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  Jacob. Right, he had all the visible
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  advantages. But election ignores all of
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  that. It ignores visible strength.
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  If election were based on who looked the most impressive, Esau
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  would have been chosen. But God's choices are
• 15:15
  unconditional. And modern culture frequently
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  equates Wellman influence with divine favor.
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  We see a billionaire or a massive political figure and we
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  assume God must be smiling on them.
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  That is a very common trap. Even within the church, there's
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  this subtle belief that if you are wealthy, healthy, and your
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  business is thriving, you must be right with God.
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  How does this specific passage completely dismantle that false
• 15:43
  assumption? It dismantles it by showing the
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  massive difference between temporal greatness and
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  redemptive privilege. Say more about that.
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  You can have all the temporal greatness in the world.
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  You can be a chief of Edom commanding thousands living in a
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  fortified city, and still be entirely outside the family of
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  God. Temporal greatness is a fleeting
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  vapor. Redemptive privilege is eternal.
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  That really humbles human pride and magnifies divine freedom.
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  It aligns perfectly with the Westminster Confessions view of
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  unconditional election. God chooses whom He will choose,
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  not based on foreseen merit, wealth, or structural success,
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  but solely out of His free grace and love.
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  So we have this intimidating list of reprobate chiefs.
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  If Esau's line is outside the covenant, how does a list of
• 16:30
  dead warlords point you to Jesus Christ today?
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  What is the connection? The connection is found in the
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  vacuum of mediation. Vacuum of mediation.
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  Yes, look closely at Esau's line.
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  It features commanders of thousands, men of immense
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  authority. Yet for all their might, they
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  have no mediator. No one to stand between them and
• 16:48
  God. Right.
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  They have no priest to reconcile them to a holy God.
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  They have wealth, but they have no sacrifice for their sins.
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  The text highlights a glaring absence.
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  It shows us that human dominion, no matter how impressive, cannot
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  solve the fundamental problem of human rebellion.
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  They can conquer a neighboring Fribe, but they cannot conquer
• 17:04
  their own sin. And that traces the biblical
• 17:06
  theme of the seed of the woman versus the seed of the circuit.
• 17:11
  Amalek represents the perpetual enmity of the flesh against the
• 17:15
  Spirit. It is a conflict that started in
• 17:17
  the Garden of Eden and climaxes at the cross.
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  The contrast between the way Esau's line operates and the way
• 17:24
  Christ operates is startling. It really is night and day.
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  Esau's chiefs operate on a will to power.
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  It is about dominance, asserting strength and ruling by the
• 17:34
  sword. But contrast that with Christ.
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  We look at Christ's active and passive obedience.
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  Wait, what does passive obedience mean?
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  That sounds like an oxymoron, yeah.
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  How can obedience be passive? It is a theological term.
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  It means yielding to the penalty of the law.
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  OK, give me an analogy. Of active obedience as earning
• 17:52
  the perfect score on the test for us.
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  Christ lived a perfect, sinless life, fulfilling every
• 17:58
  requirement of God's law. Right passive obedience is
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  taking the detention we deserved.
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  He willingly submitted to the suffering, the wrath of God, and
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  the cross. Esau's warlords would never take
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  a detention for someone else. Never they shed the blood of
• 18:12
  their enemies to secure their own status.
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  Christ achieves eternal victory by shedding His own blood for
• 18:19
  His enemies. Christ is the true king.
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  His domain is everlasting. The rulers of Seer.
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  These Edomite chiefs were transient.
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  They were here today, gone tomorrow.
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  They had their moment in the sun and now they are just hard to
• 18:32
  pronounce names in a genealogy. That is all that is left of
• 18:35
  them. I like to think of it like a
• 18:37
  builder constructing a massive, gorgeous mansion over a
• 18:39
  sinkhole. It looks incredibly impressive
• 18:42
  today. You walk by and marvel at the
• 18:44
  architecture. Yeah, but it's destruction is
• 18:46
  guaranteed because the foundation is doomed.
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  Christ, conversely, is the unshakable foundation.
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  We must be careful here, though, to avoid speculative allegory.
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  What? Do you mean by that?
• 18:57
  We are not trying to take the name Chief Omar and twist the
• 19:01
  Hebrew letters to find a hidden code about Jesus.
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  All right, Yeah, No secret codes.
• 19:05
  We read these names biblically. Theologically, the passage
• 19:08
  narrows the redemptive line. It makes it a abundantly clear
• 19:11
  that salvation does not come from earthly warlords.
• 19:14
  It sweeps away the false hope of human government and points us
• 19:19
  toward the necessity of a suffering savior.
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  That is the core message here. Let's bring this down to the
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  ground, though. How do we take these ancient
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  historical realities and apply them directly to you sitting in
• 19:30
  your car or at your desk right now?
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  1st we must call out and absolutely reject the prosperity
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  gospel. The prosperity gospel looks at
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  Edom and says that is what God wants for you.
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  It tells you that if you just have enough faith, you will be a
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  chief. You will get the wealth, the
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  health and the worldly dominance.
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  But this text shows that worldly dominance is often given to the
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  reprobate as a common grace, not as a sign of salvation.
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  We also have to critique modern evangelical pragmatism and
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  seeker sensitive movements. Those are everywhere right now.
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  These are movements that attempt to build a church using secular
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  marketing, corporate metrics, and worldly authority.
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  They are essentially borrowing Edom's playbook.
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  Yeah, they want to structure the church like a Fortune 500
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  company to achieve visible success, but the church is not
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  called to be a chiefdom of Seer. The Church is called to
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  cultivate holy contentment. Believers must not envy the
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  wicked when they flourish financially or politically.
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  As a Christian, you have to reinforce your identity as part
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  of a Pilgrim people. You are wandering in the
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  wilderness, looking toward a heavenly city just like the
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  Israelites. Let me ask a very practical
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  question for you. Monday morning you walk into the
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  office and the Co worker who openly mocks your faith just got
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  a massive promotion, a huge salary bump and the VP spot.
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  That happens all the time. Meanwhile you are are struggling
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  to pay the bills and feeling completely overlooked.
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  How do you process that without becoming incredibly bitter?
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  That is where the rubber meets the road.
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  We use what Reformed theology calls the third use of the law
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  to guide the believer in grateful obedience.
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  What is the third use? Well, the law has three primary
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  uses. The 1st is a mirror to show us
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  our sin right. The second is a curb to restrain
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  evil in society. OK, So what is the third?
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  The third use is a guide for the justified believer.
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  It shows us how to live a life pleasing to God out of
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  gratitude, not out of fear of condemnation.
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  So how does that apply to the Co worker on Monday morning?
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  In that moment, the law guides you to rest in the exact
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  Providence of God and not to covet.
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  You must remember that God has meticulously ordained that
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  promotion for your Co worker, just as He ordained the chiefs
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  of Edom. But more importantly, you must
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  remember what you possess. You possess an eternal
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  inheritance purchased by the blood of Christ.
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  Your Co workers, new chiefdom, their corner office and their
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  title is a fading vapor. Yes, it is a mansion built on a
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  sinkhole under divine judgment. Your joy does not come from
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  earthly status, it comes from your secure status as a
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  justified Sinner in the sight of a holy God.
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  That is the truth that sustains you.
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  We look at the vanishing glory of Edom versus the eternal,
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  unshakable Kingdom of Christ. Edom had its warlords, its
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  wealth and its fortified cities, but it was blown away by the
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  winds of history. Christ's Kingdom started with
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  suffering a cross and an empty tomb, and it will endure
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  forever. I think that is a wrap on this
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  deep dive. I want to offer a final word of
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  comfort to you, the listener. Please do.
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  God's decrees are precise. They are flawless.
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  He does not make mistakes when he distributes earthly wealth or
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  when He permits suffering in your life.
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  I Amen to that. Every detail of history, from
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  the ancient chiefs of SER to the events of your life today, is
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  designed for the good of His elect.
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  You can rest completely in His sovereign care.
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  Think about this while you are driving right now or finishing
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  up your work. Consider what modern chiefdoms,
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  be it your career trajectory, your financial portfolio, your
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  social status, or even your political affiliations, you
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  currently rely on for security. If all your earthly influence,
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  every last drop of it, evaporated tomorrow, would your
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  citizenship in the covenant line of Christ be enough to sustain
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  your joy? Because when the true reality of
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  eternity is held up to our lives, the only thing that will
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  matter is not the empire you built, but the Savior who bought
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  you.