SEV Biblia, Chapter 36:31
ΒΆ Y los reyes que reinaron en la tierra de Edom, antes que reinase rey sobre los hijos de Israel, fueron estos:
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Genesis 36:31
Verse 31. Before there reigned any king over-Israel.] I suppose all the verses, from ver. 31-39 inclusive, have been transferred to this place from 1 Chron. i. 43-50, as it is not likely they could have been written by Moses; and it is quite possible they might have been, at a very early period, written in the margin of an authentic copy, to make out the regal succession in Edom, prior to the consecration of Saul; which words being afterwards found in the margin of a valuable copy, from which others were transcribed, were supposed by the copyist to be a part of the text, which having been omitted by the mistake of the original writer, had been since added to make up the deficiency; on this conviction he would not hesitate to transcribe them consecutively in his copy. In most MSS.sentences and paragraphs have been left out by the copyists, which, when perceived, have been added in the margin, either by the original writer, or by some later hand. Now, as the margin was the ordinary place where glosses or explanatory notes were written, it is easy to conceive how the notes, as well as the parts of the original text found in the margin, might be all incorporated with the text by a future transcriber; and his MSS., being often copied, would of course multiply the copies with such additions, as we have much reason to believe has been the case. This appears very frequently in the Vulgate and Septuagint; and an English Bible now before me written some time in the fourteenth century, exhibits several proofs of this principle. See the preface to this work. I know there is another way of accounting for those words on the ground of their being written originally by Moses; but to me it is not satisfactory.
It is simply this: the word king should be considered as implying any kind of regular government, whether by chiefs, dukes, judges, &c., and therefore when Moses says these are the kings which reigned in Edom, before there was any king in Israel, he may be only understood as saying that these kings reigned among the Edomites before the family of Jacob had acquired any considerable power, or before the time in which his twelve sons had become the fathers of those numerous tribes, at the head of which, as king himself in Jeshurun, he now stood.
Esau, after his dukes, had eight kings, who reigned successively over their people, while Israel were in affliction in Egypt.
Matthew Henry Commentary
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 u the remembrance of his selling his birth-right for a mess of pottage Esau continued the same profane despiser of heavenly things. In outwar 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 in 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 tha look for great things from God, must be content to wait for them; God' 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 wa in the possession of the Edomites. The children of this world have their all in hand, and nothing in hope, Lu 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 __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
ואלה 428 המלכים 4428 אשׁר 834 מלכו 4427 בארץ 776 אדום 123 לפני 6440 מלך 4427 מלך 4428 לבני 1121 ישׂראל׃ 3478
