Genesis 36: Edom, the Land of Esau
Edom is the land southeast of the Dead Sea. Edom means red and may have come from Esau’s selling of his birthright for red soup or it could have come from the red limestone hills of Edom. Edom was populated by the Horites before he moved there and he eventually assimilated and displaced them. His genealogy is presented here to possibly show that his children were not the promised lineage leading to Jesus. Edom had chiefs, dukes and kings. Eventually Edom produced the Idumaen (in Greek) line of Herods.
What happened to the Edomites? They persecuted and fought against Israel. Eventually they were absorbed by the middle eastern countries and disappeared as a cultural identity.
Esau possessed his land in his lifetime but his posterity would die out, Jacob would never see the fulfillment of his promise which was long in coming but resulted in the coming of the Messiah and the adoption of the Gentiles into a world-wide family.
God fulfills his promises but in timelines that no single human can anticipate or experience themselves. The only way I will ever be able to fully appreciate God's master planning and redemption of the world is to participate through Jesus Christ as the apostle John tells us. If I am a child of promise, I will inherit His kingdom. If I am not a child of promise, I will die out to history just as Esau’s descendants did.