Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Genesis, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
God, Humanity, and Creation
Mistrust, Disobedience, and Death
Covenants and Faith in God’s Promises
The Role of Women
Summary
Analysis
The descendants of Esau, or Edom, are listed, all of them born to Esau’s Canaanite wives, Adah, Oholibamah, and Basemath. Esau and his household move to the hill country of Seir since the land could not support both his and Jacob’s possessions. Esau has several sons, Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah, from whom Edomite clans and kings descend. These Edomite kings reign before the Israelites have kings of their own.
Esau’s line is an offshoot from the direct line (Jacob’s) to which God’s promises are directly entrusted. Still, Genesis gives an overview of the descendants of Isaac’s firstborn, who come to make up the Edomites. Edom, in what’s now southern Israel and Jordan, was an ancient kingdom located to the south and east of the land of Canaan.
Themes
