These are the sons of Esau’s son Reuel: Chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. They are the chiefs descended from Reuel in the land of Edom, and they are the grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.
Observe here, 1. That only the names of Esau's sons and grandsons are recorded, only their names, not their history; for it is the church that Moses preserves the records of, not the record of those that are without. Those elders that lived by faith alone obtained a good report. It is Sion that produces men of renown, not Seir, Psa 87:5.
Commenting on Genesis 36:9-19
And Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan,.... These were three others of the sons of Seir, which with the other four before mentioned made seven: these are the dukes of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom; these were in the land of Edom before it was so called and possessed by the Edomites, and whose posterity afterwards became tributary to them.
Gen 36:15-19 The Tribe-Princes Who Descended from Esau. - אלּוּפים was the distinguishing title of the Edomite and Horite phylarchs; and it is only incidentally that it is applied to Jewish heads of tribes in Zec 9:7, and Zec 12:5. It is probably derived from אלף or אלפים, equivalent to משׁפּחות, families (1Sa 10:19; Mic 5:2), - the heads of the families, i.e., of the principal divisions, of the tribe.
Commenting on Genesis 36:15-19