פירוש על בראשית 36:26

AND THESE ARE THE CHILDREN OF DISHAN: HEMDAN AND ESHBAN. This Dishan is identical with Dishon, the fifth son of Se’ir,²⁹⁹Verse 21 here. it being of no consequence whether he is called Dishan or Dishon, except when both names are mentioned in one verse²⁹⁹Verse 21 here. in order to distinguish between them. Similarly, And Hirom made the pots…³⁰²I Kings 7:40. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work.³⁰³In the same verse. Since Hirom and Hiram refer to the same person, there is no objection even if both names are used in the same verse. The case is different with Dishon and Dishan, who are two persons. It was necessary for Scripture to call him Dishan here so that it should not be thought that he is identical with Dishon the son of Anah mentioned nearby [in Verse 25] for the purpose of ascribing his children to him, for so it would have appeared.

ואלה בני דישון, חמדן וגו', “and these are the sons of Dishon, Chemdon, etc.” This refers to Dishon the fifth son of Seir, and it does not matter that once he is referred to as דישון and another time as דישן. These two spellings would refer to different people only if they would appear in the same verse. In that instance, the difference in the spelling would alert us to the fact that the Torah refers to two different people whose names sound alike. We encounter a similar situation in Kings I 7,40 ויעש חירום, “Chirom constructed etc,” and ויכל חירם, “Chiram completed.” In this verse the Torah had to refer to Dishon once with a letter ו and once without it, in order to make sure that we understand that these are two different people and not the Dishon son of Anah who had been mentioned before, unless, of course, he had changed his name.

ואלה בני דישן, “these are the sons of Dishan, etc.” This is the same Dishan mentioned earlier in verse 21, the fifth son of Seir HaChori. Sometimes the Torah spells his name דישון; other times it spells the name דישן. It is the same person each time. We find such differences in the spelling of the names of one and the same person elsewhere, such as in Kings where Chirom is sometimes spelled חירם other times חירום (compare Kings I 7,9). This principle applies only when these names appear in different verses. When both spellings appear in the same verse, however, it is clear that two different people of similar names are meant. The spelling is changed so that we become aware that the Torah refers two separate people.