Genesis 36:1 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

These are the generations of Esau Esau has the honour of having an account of his posterity recorded, for the sake of his progenitors, Abraham and Isaac, and because the Edomites, his descendants, were neighbours to Israel, and their genealogy would be of use to cast light on the following relations of what passed between them. Hereby also is shown more fully the performance of the promise to Abraham, that he should be the father of many nations, of that declaration made to Rebekah, when she inquired of the Lord, “Two nations are in thy womb,” and of the blessing given to Esau by Isaac, Thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth. Who is Edom That name perpetuated the remembrance of the foolish bargain he made when he sold his birthright for that red pottage.