1 These are the descendants of Esau (that is, Edom).
Metaphysically, Esau symbolizes the body or physical vigor.
2 Esau took his wives from the Canaanites: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the son of Zibeon the Hivite,
He took wives from among the daughters of Canaan ("lowland"), which represents the body consciousness.
His first wife was Adah ("beauty," "comeliness," "adornment," "ornament," "pleasure"), who represents a phase of the human soul or love nature. Love, even in its limited expression in personal consciousness, adorns a person with a certain beauty of character and a grace and comeliness not found in those lacking in love.
Another of Esau's wives was Oholibamah, whose name means "tent of the high place," "my tabernacle is exalted." Oholibamah was the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite. Oholibamah signifies the lifting up and exalting of materiality by the carnal phase of the soul. The name Zibeon means "wild robber," and the Hivites represent thoughts belonging to the carnal consciousness in man.
3 and Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nebaioth.
Another of his wives was Basemath, whose name means "fragrant," "sweet," "pleasant." Basemath represents the soul or feminine element in man in the fineness of its ability to perceive or receive intuitively.
4 And Adah bore to Esau, Eliphaz; Basemath bore Reuel;
Adah bore to Esau a son, Eliphaz, whose name means "God is purification," "God is dispenser," "God of Strength." Eliphaz denotes the understanding that all strength has God\Spirit as it’s source and comes from the practices associated with spiritual purification.
Basemath bore Reuel, whose name signifies "led of God," "shepherded of God," "companion of God." Reuel denotes a thought of divine guidance and care; also a sense of mutual understanding, comradeship, fellowship existing between God and Man.
5 and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.
The name Jeush means "he will bring together." Jeush represents strong, unifying, attracting, accumulating thoughts in consciousness; also the final lifting up and unifying of the entire man in spiritual life and wholeness.
The name Jalam means "whom God hides." Jalam denotes the purest and innermost part of consciousness. It is often hidden by the outer personality and other influences in the subconscious.
The name Korah means "ice," "bald." Korah denotes the coldness, the crystallization ("ice"), and the barrenness (baldness) of consciousness that result from dominance of the "mind of the flesh" (Esau) in the individual.
6 Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his cattle, all his beasts, and all his property which he had acquired in the land of Canaan; and he went into a land away from his brother Jacob.
7 For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together; the land of their sojournings could not support them because of their cattle.
The original separation between mind (Jacob) and body (Esau) was caused by the cunning mind taking advantage of the stupid body; also the lusts and weaknesses of the body appetite played their part. Here is illustrated a further separation because of the physical possessions of Esau. Those who cultivate the physical grow physically and require so much room that the mental is crowded out, and they exalt the things of the flesh.
8 So Esau dwelt in the hill country of Seir; Esau is Edom.
Esau dwelt in Mount Seir. The name Seir means "shaggy," "rough," "tempestuous," "hairy," pointing to the deep-seated emotions in carnal consciousness. Eventually the two states of consciousness represented by Jacob and Esau must be merged.
9 These are the descendants of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir.
These are the influences\forces created by physical vigor when focused on the deep seated emotions in animal consciousness.
10 These are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau.
From the union of Love and physical vigor comes the understanding that all power comes from God, that pure, divine consciousness that is within everyone, through the practices associated with spiritual purification.
From the union of intuitive ability and physical vigor comes the sense of divine guidance and care, as well as the understanding of the proper relationship between Man and God.
11 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.
The name Teman means "prosperity," "abundance," "good faith." Teman denotes the realm of the subconscious, with its inherently rich stores of substance and good. Here this realm is under the influence of the Esau-Edom state of mind in the individual; in other words, under the influence of material thought.
Omar represents the ability of the outer man to receive the higher Truth ideals ("mountaineer," "summit") and to express them ("bringing forth," "bearing into the light").
The name Zepho (Zephi) means "outlook," "watchtower." Zepho represents an expectant state of mind that seemingly belongs to the outer or physical man but whose desire is toward Spirit.
The name Gatam means "puny," "exhausted," and the like. (Eliphaz, father of Gatam, represents an active thought of strength.) Strength is from God, while that represented by Eliphaz is of the physical consciousness and does not lay hold of the truth about strength. The meanings attributed to Gatam's name --"puny," "greatest fatigue," "burned field"--clearly indicate the results of believing in material strength. Until man realizes that his strength is spiritual it cannot become abiding, unfailing, and enduring.
The name Kenaz means "spear thrower," "lancer," "archer," "hunter." A "hunter," in the sense of a Kenaz, denotes a thought that is connected with the animal forces of the organism. Kenaz symbolizes the thought of man engrossed in the animal phase of his nature, in animal strength and activity ("spear thrower," "lancer," "archer").
12 (Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's son; she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.) These are the sons of Adah, Esau's wife.
Timna was Eliphaz's concubine. Timna represents a restricting, curbing influence ("withheld," "restrained," "forbidden") that is ever at work in the soul of man and in his body consciousness. If there were no restraint on the carnal Mind in man and its activities, man would destroy himself utterly.
Timna bore Amalek, whose name means "warlike," "dweller in the vale," "that licks up or consumes." Amalek symbolizes lust, the base desire that, once established in the animal forces of the subconscious mind of man, is the begetter of destructive, rebellious, perverted appetites and passions. Amalek's father was Eliphaz, whose name means "God of strength," "God is purification." Thus, desire, at its origin, is good and is of God; but when it is misinterpreted by the carnal man it becomes lust (Amalek).
13 These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife.
The name of another son, Zerah, means "sunrise," "germination of a seed." "splendor." Zerah denotes the rise of new light or understanding in the consciousness; the first conscious awakening to the presence of this new inner light or understanding. (The sun rises in the east; and the east signifies the within.)
Shammah, a third son, represents a destructive, fearful tendency in consciousness that leads to inharmonies of mind and body. The outer man, apart from the dominion of Spirit, is very likely to swing from one extreme to the other, from the height of noble thinking and feeling ("fame," "renown") to the depths of fear, desolation, emptiness, and error. By consciously laying hold of Universal Truth and making it practical in his life, this outer man must come into a better balance, greater stability and poise.
Mizzah, the fourth son, represents a steady tearing down and wearing away of the consciousness and organism ("flowing down," "disintegration," "exhaustion") as the result of fear, fear being one of the most subtle and destructive errors that the carnal Mind in man contains. The destructive element is redeemed through divine love, which knows only the good.
14 These are the sons of Oholiba'mah the daughter of Anah the son of Zibeon, Esau's wife: she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
15 These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz the first-born of Esau: the chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz,
16 Korah, Gatam, and Amalek; these are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; they are the sons of Adah.
17 These are the sons of Reuel, Esau's son: the chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah; these are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; they are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife.
18 These are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau's wife: the chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah; these are the chiefs born of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife.
19 These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs.
20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,
Metaphysically, the Horites, like the Edomites, represent forces having their seat of action in the physical organism. The Horites denote more especially the deep-seated, subconscious errors (cave dwellers) and fleshly tendencies and activities of the physical in man, while the Edomites designate forces in the outer or animal consciousness.
The name of Lotan, the son of Seir the Horite, means "covered," "secret," "dark." Metaphysically, Lotan represents a secret, hidden, ignorant ruling thought in the realm in man symbolized by the Horites.
Shobal, the name of another son, means "way," "traveling." Each individual is "traveling" the pathway of life. To a great extent the race has been and still is "wandering" about in ignorance and darkness as to the true source of man's being. The "way" that each takes in his thoughts, beliefs, and expressions determines whether that which he brings forth shall be the fruit of the "mind of the flesh" or the fruit of the Spirit ("growing," "producing ears," "rain").
The name Zibeon means "immersed," "ravenous devourer," "wild robber," "dyed." Metaphysically, Zibeon symbolizes a wild, lawless animalistic thought that has the capacity of adapting itself to the varying ideas and moods of the individual, and that thus remains in his consciousness robbing his body of its energy and substance, until it is cast forth by Truth.
The name Anah means "answering." Metaphysically, Anah denotes error tendencies or strongly influencing thoughts deep within the subjective life forces in the individual consciousness that cause these life forces to respond to the desires of the flesh or sense man ("answering") instead of listening to Spirit.
21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom.
The name Dishon means "fatness," "opulence," "fertile," "ashes." Metaphysically, Dishon symbolizes richness and seeming fertility on the physical plane.
The name Ezer means "envelop," "help," "unite," "treasure." Metaphysically, Ezer symbolizes man's innate belief in a substance, a wisdom ("treasure"), an established oneness with All-Good (unity), and a power to aid and to protect ("envelop," "help") that comes from something higher, stronger, and more real and lasting than sense consciousness can give.
The name Dishan means virtually the same thing as Dishon. Metaphysically, Dishan represents a very active, rich, or fertile controlling thought belonging to the Horite consciousness in the individual.