Read Genesis 36 at Bible Gateway.
The chapter takes pains to establish that Esau left Canaan with his wives and sons, and established his family in the mountain land of Seir the Horite. His children intermarried with the children of Seir, and the two peoples became one people—the people of Edom—as can be seen by Comparing the names of their chiefs, and the places over which they were chiefs, as the Genesis 36:1-43 Chiastic Structure shows.
The nation of Edom (for the central axis of the record of kings establishes that the people came to have their own national identity and territory) then has Esau as its father.
Why This Matters: Why spend so much space establishing this record? Esau despised his birthright (Gen 25:34), which was the covenant of his fathers Abraham, and Isaac, with God. Esau and Edom are Prophetic Types throughout Scripture, and their history with Israel speaks a prophecy of things yet to come.
The Hebrew paragraphs for this chapter:
36:1-19 {s} The seed of Esau
36:20-30 {p} The seed of Seir
36:31-43 {p} The kings of Edom
36:1-43 {s+p+p} Strong Theme: The seed of Esau and Seir became the nation of Edom.
If there are questions, these are good resources:
What is the Significance of Edom in the Bible? – Got Questions
The Tares Among the Wheat – Brad Scott (If God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who is the god of Cain, Ishmael, and Esau?)
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