Armenia in comments -- Book: Genesis (tGen) Ծննդոց

Searched terms: amalek

Adam Clarke

tGen 36:12 Timna was concubine to Eliphaz - As Timna was sister to Lotan the Horite, Gen 36:22, we see how the family of Esau and the Horites got intermixed. This might give the sons of Esau a pretext to seize the land, and expel the ancient inhabitants, as we find they did, Deu 2:12.
Amalek - The father of the Amalekites, afterwards bitter enemies to the Jews, and whom God commanded to be entirely exterminated, Deu 25:17, Deu 25:19. Genesis 36:15

Adam Clarke

tGen 36:16 Duke Korah - This Dr. Kennicott pronounces to be an interpolation. "It is certain, from Gen 36:4, that Eliphaz was Esau's son by Adah; and from Gen 36:11, Gen 36:12, that Eliphaz had but six sons, Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, Kenaz, and Amalek. It is also certain, from Gen 36:5, Gen 36:14, that Korah was the son of Esau (not of Eliphaz) by Aholibamah; and as such he is properly mentioned in Gen 36:18 : These are the sons of Aholibamah, Esau's wife: duke Jeush, duke Jaalam, Duke Korah. It is clear, therefore, that some transcriber has improperly inserted duke Korah in Gen 36:16; from which interpolation both the Samaritan text and the Samaritan version are free." - Kennicott's Remarks. Everything considered, I incline to the opinion that these words were not originally in the text. Genesis 36:20

(KAD) Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch

tGen 36:9 (cf. Ch1 1:36-37). Esau's Sons and Grandsons as Fathers of Tribes. - Through them he became the father of Edom, i.e., the founder of the Edomitish nation on the mountains of Seir. Mouth Seir is the mountainous region between the Dead Sea and the Elanitic Gulf, the northern half of which is called Jebl (Γεβαλήνη) by the Arabs, the southern half, Sherah (Rob. Pal. ii. 552). - In the case of two of the wives of Esau, who bore only one son each, the tribes were founded not by the sons, but by the grandsons; but in that of Aholibamah the three sons were the founders. Among the sons of Eliphaz we find Amalek, whose mother was Timna, the concubine of Eliphaz. He was the ancestor of the Amalekites, who attacked the Israelites at Horeb as they came out of Egypt under Moses (Exo 17:8.), and not merely of a mixed tribe of Amalekites and Edomites, belonging to the supposed aboriginal Amalekite nation. For the Arabic legend of Amlik as an aboriginal tribe of Arabia is far too recent, confused, and contradictory to counterbalance the clear testimony of the record before us. The allusion to the fields of the Amalekites in Gen 14:7 does not imply that the tribe was in existence in Abraham's time, nor does the expression "first of the nations," in the saying of Balaam (Num 24:20), represent Amalek as the aboriginal or oldest tribe, but simply as the first heathen tribe by which Israel was attacked. The Old Testament says nothing of any fusion of Edomites or Horites with Amalekites, nor does it mention a double Amalek (cf. Hengstenberg, Dissertations 2, 247ff., and Kurtz, History i. 122, 3, ii. 240ff.).
(Note: The occurrence of "Timna and Amalek" in Ch1 1:36, as coordinate with the sons of Eliphaz, is simply a more concise form of saying "and from Timna, Amalek.")
If there had been an Amalek previous to Edom, with the important part which they took in opposition to Israel even in the time of Moses, the book of Genesis would not have omitted to give their pedigree in the list of the nations. At a very early period the Amalekites separated from the other tribes of Edom and formed an independent people, having their headquarters in the southern part of the mountains of Judah, as far as Kadesh (Gen 14:7; Num 13:29; Num 14:43, Num 14:45), but, like the Bedouins, spreading themselves as a nomad tribe over the whole of the northern portion of Arabia Petraea, from Havilah to Shur on the border of Egypt (Sa1 15:3, Sa1 15:7; Sa1 27:8); whilst one branch penetrated into the heart of Canaan, so that a range of hills, in what was afterwards the inheritance of Ephraim, bore the name of mountains of the Amalekites (Jdg 12:15, cf. Gen 5:14). Those who settled in Arabia seem also to have separated in the course of time into several branches, so that Amalekite hordes invaded the land of Israel in connection sometimes with the Midianites and the sons of the East (the Arabs, Jdg 6:3; Jdg 7:12), and at other times with the Ammonites (Jdg 3:13). After they had been defeated by Saul (Sa1 14:48; Sa1 15:2.), and frequently chastised by David (Sa1 27:8; Sa1 30:1.; Sa2 8:12), the remnant of them was exterminated under Hezekiah by the Simeonites on the mountains of Seir (Ch1 4:42-43). Genesis 36:15

John Gill

tGen 36:1
Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom. Who was surnamed Edom, from the red pottage he sold his birthright for to his brother Jacob, Gen 25:30; an account is given of him, and his posterity, not only because he was a son of Isaac, lately made mention of as concerned in his burial; but because his posterity would be often taken notice of in the sacred Scriptures, and so their genealogy would serve to illustrate such passages; and Maimonides (m) thinks the principal reason is, that whereas Amalek, a branch of Esau's family, were to be destroyed by an express command of God, it was necessary that all the rest should be particularly described, lest they should all perish together; but other ends are answered hereby, as partly to show the fulfilment of the promise to Abraham, concerning the multiplication of his seed, and the accomplishment of the oracle to Rebekah, signifying that two nations were in her womb, one of which were those Edomites; as also to observe how the blessing of Isaac his father came upon him with effect, Gen 22:17. (m) Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 50. p. 510. Genesis 36:2

John Gill

tGen 36:12
And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz, Esau's son,.... She is said to be the sister of Lotan, the eldest son of Seir the Horite, Gen 36:22; in Ch1 1:36 mention is made of Timna among the sons of Eliphaz, and of Duke Timnah here, Gen 36:40; and Gerundinsis (y) is of opinion, that Timnah the concubine of Eliphaz, after she had bore Amalek, conceived and bore another son, and she dying in childbirth, he called it by her name to perpetuate her memory: but Jarchi says, that Eliphaz lay with Lotan's mother, the wife of Seir the Horite, of whom was born Timna, and when she grew up she became his concubine, and so was both his daughter and his concubine: and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek; from whence the Amalekites sprung, often mentioned in Scripture, whom the Israelites were commanded utterly to destroy, Sa1 15:18, these were the sons of Adah, Esau's wife; that is, her grandsons. (y) Apud Menasseh ben Israel, conciliator in Gen. Quaest. 57. p. 81. Genesis 36:13

(Treasury) R. A. Torrey

tGen 36:16 Duke Korah: As it is certain from Gen 36:4, that Eliphaz was Esau's son by Adah, and from Gen 36:11 and Gen 36:12, that Eliphaz had but six sons, "Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, Kenaz, and Amalek;" as is is also certain, from Gen 36:5 and Gen 36:14, that Korah was the son of Esau (not Eliphaz) by Aholibamah; and as the words duke Korah are omitted by both the Samaritan text and version, Dr. Kennicott pronounces them to be an interpolation.
duke: Exo 15:15 Genesis 36:17