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Genesis 36 · a question people ask

How could Genesis speak of the time "before any king reigned over the children of Israel"?

Interpretation

The verse (36:31) speaks of Edom's kings from a point where Israel's kings are in view. Genesis doesn't name its writer. Protestants who hold that Moses wrote Genesis explain the verse in two main ways.

How Christians read it

Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.

Written looking ahead

Those who hold this view note that God had already promised Jacob, "kings will come out of your body" (35:11), and that the law looks forward to Israel having a king (Deuteronomy 17:14-15). On this reading, "before any king reigned over the children of Israel" (36:31) means before Israel had the king God promised.

Genesis 35:11 · Deuteronomy 17:14-15

A note added later

Those who hold this view take the verse as an inspired note added after Israel had kings. They compare the end of Deuteronomy, which records Moses' death and burial and says, "no man knows where his tomb is to this day" (Deuteronomy 34:5-6).

Deuteronomy 34:5-6

The verses

“These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the children of Israel.”
Genesis 36:31 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Genesis 36

Genesis 36: Esau is Edom

Genesis gives Esau, who is Edom, a full record: his wives, sons and chiefs, the Horites who lived in Seir, and eight kings who reigned in Edom "before any king reigned over the children of Israel." The Bible's first use of the verb reign is here, and Amalek, the name of Israel's later enemy, is first the name of Esau's grandson.

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Last reviewed September 25, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions