36:31–39 These eight kings . . . reigned in Edom before Israel had a king. Since their succession was not by genealogy, Edom apparently did not have a dynasty. After performing a heroic act of deliverance, such as Hadad’s defeat of the Midianites (v. 35), a leader was invested with authority similar to that of the judges in Israel, but by contrast he was called a king. Then that king ruled from his own town. The mention of a second Hadad (v. 39) leads to the conjecture tha…