The Torah lists the kings of Edom in a dry procession: Bela died, Jobab reigned, Jobab died, Husham reigned, and so on. It is one of those passages readers tend to skim.
But Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 36:39) stops short at the last king — Hadar, the son of Baal Hanan, ruling from the city of Pahu, married to Mehetabel the daughter of Matred. Most Targum verses say only that much. This one does not stop there.
Hadar, the Targumist explains, was a man who laboured with perseverance and vigilance. He worked hard. He climbed the long ladder from obscurity to wealth. He built a palace. He accumulated silver and gold.
And then something broke in him. He turned to become more lofty in his heart, saying: What is silver and what is gold? It sounds, at first, like wisdom. A king who sees through money. A king who has risen above material things. But read it again. This is not humility speaking. This is a man so swollen with self-importance that he dismisses the very wealth he fought for. He has become the kind of rich man who sneers at riches — not because he is holy, but because nothing now seems worthy of him.
Judaism has a sharp eye for this particular corruption. The Mishnah teaches: who is rich? He who rejoices in his portion (Pirkei Avot 4:1). Hadar had everything, and rejoiced in nothing. The Targumist places him at the end of Edom's king list deliberately. This is how a kingdom dies — not from poverty, but from the contempt that wealth breeds when it forgets its Giver.