Genesis 36:16

Duke Korah, duke Gatam, and duke Amalek: these are the dukes that came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these were the sons of Adah.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16) Duke Korah.—The Samaritan Pentateuch rightly omits this name. He was a son of the Horite wife, Aholibamah.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

36:1-43 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 up the remembrance of his selling his birth-right for a mess of pottage. Esau continued the same profane despiser of heavenly things. In outward 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 it 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 that look for great things from God, must be content to wait for them; God's 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 was 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The first dukes of Edom. The Alluph or duke is the head of the tribe among the Edomites, like the Nasi or prince among the Israelites. The ten grandsons of Esau by Adah and Basemath take rank with his three sons by Oholibamah. This favors the presumption that she was his fourth and latest wife. "Duke Corah." This appears to be inserted by a slip of the pen, though it occurs in the Septuagint and Onkelos. It is missing, however, in the Samaritan Pentateuch. It would make twelve dukes, whereas it appears from the closing verses of the chapter that there were only eleven. It is possible, however, that there may have been a Corah descended from Eliphaz who attained to a dukedom; and that Amalek separated himself from the rest of the Edomites and asserted his independence. In the absence of explanatory testimony we must leave this point undecided as we find it.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15-19. dukes—The Edomites, like the Israelites, were divided into tribes, which took their names from his sons. The head of each tribe was called by a term which in our version is rendered "duke"—not of the high rank and wealth of a British peer, but like the sheiks or emirs of the modern East, or the chieftains of highland clans. Fourteen are mentioned who flourished contemporaneously.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Korah is not mentioned among the sons of Eliphaz, and therefore is thought to be his grandson. There is another Korah, Genesis 36:14,18.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Duke Korah,.... Only among the sons of Eliphaz is reckoned Duke Korah, not before mentioned among his sons, and is left out in the Samaritan version; See Gill on Genesis 36:7; to which it may be added, that according to Gerundinsis (a), this is the same with Timna, related among the sons of Eliphaz, 1 Chronicles 1:36; who was called by his father Korah: or this might be a grandson of Eliphaz.

(a) Apud Menaasseh ut supra. (conciliator in Gen. Quaest. 57. p. 81.)

Geneva Study Bible

Duke Korah, duke Gatam, and duke Amalek: these are the dukes that came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these were the sons of Adah.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16. duke Korah] This name is out of place. It has come in from Genesis 36:18. The other names in Genesis 36:15-16 are drawn from Genesis 36:11-12, while Korah, which occurs in Genesis 36:14, is mentioned again in Genesis 36:18.

Genesis 36:16

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

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 Zechariah 9:7, and Zechariah 12:5. It is probably derived from אלף or אלפים, equivalent to משׁפּחות, families (1 Samuel 10:19; Micah 5:2), - the heads of the families, i.e., of the principal divisions, of the tribe. The names of these Alluphim are not names of places, but of persons-of the three sons and ten grandsons of Esau mentioned in Genesis 36:9-14; though Knobel would reverse the process and interpret the whole geographically. - In Genesis 36:16 Korah has probably been copied by mistake from Genesis 36:18, and should therefore be erased, as it really is in the Samar. Codex.