But there is another genealogy in Genesis 36, and strikingly introduced in this place. The Edomite interrupts the course of the line of God’s dealings.
We discern at once what remarkable maturity there was here. It is always so – first that which is natural, afterward that which is spiritual. Even then we find a rapid development of power in the family of Esau. They were all great people, to be sure – duke this and duke that, to the end of the chapter – even kings, as we are told, reigned before there were any such in Israel.
I have no doubt that this is given us as an important element to mark how rapidly what is not of God shoots up. Growth according to God is slower, but then it is more permanent.