What Does Genesis 36:22 Mean?
And the children of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan's sister was Timna.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the children of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan’s sister was Timna.THE KEY
This family line is drawn through kinship, not only through sons: Timna stands within it by name as Lotan’s sister.
THE MEANING
A family’s shape includes more than descendants; it includes the ties between named people. Here, Lotan’s sons and his sister Timna are held in one line, with each relationship stated plainly.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a family line only counts those who continue it as descendants: Timna is named as part of the same family record.
THE ROOT
בְּנֵי
benei
GROWS FROM
בנה
banah
build, build up
The Hebrew word for children belongs to a word family linked with building. That connection gives the list a structural feel: names and relationships form the shape of a family, and Timna is named within it alongside the sons.
ALSO GROWS
banah: to build or build up
בָּנָה
This verb makes the building image within the family word visible.
binyan: a building or structure
בִּנְיָן
This branch echoes the verse’s presentation of kinship as a structure made legible through names and relations.
תִּמְנָע
Timna
GROWS FROM
מנע
manaʿ
withhold, restrain, keep back
Timna’s name is commonly connected with the root for withholding or restraint. That possible name-echo sits beside her clearly stated place as Lotan’s sister; the verse preserves her relationship without telling us why she bears this name.
ALSO GROWS
manaʿ: to withhold, prevent, or keep back
מָנַע
This verb carries the root’s active sense of restraint.
nimnaʿ: withheld, prevented, or refraining
נִמְנַע
This form shows the root’s sense as something held back or restrained.
THE PATTERN
A family line preserves its shape by naming relationships and the people within them, including women alongside descendants.
And Lamech took to himself two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife. And when he went in to her, the LORD gave her to conceive, and she bore a son.Judah brought forth Perez and Zerah out of Tamar, and Perez brought forth Hezron, and Hezron brought forth Ram.THE THREAD
And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz, Esau's son; and she bore to Eliphaz Amalek; these were the sons of Adah, Esau's wife.Genesis 36:12 repeats Timna’s name but places her in another relationship: concubine to Eliphaz and mother of Amalek. Read together, the verses trace how one named woman stands at the crossing of Lotan’s family and Eliphaz’s line.
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