Esau’s wives - Genesis

Genesis 26:34–35 KJV (WS)

34 And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite: 35 Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.

Genesis 28:6–9 KJV (WS)

6 When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padanaram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; 7 And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram; 8 And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father; 9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.

Introduction

Isaac and Rebekah endure terrible heartbreak.

Isaac is finally at peace with the Philistines.

He has found a place to dwell where there is room for his family and his herds.

He has water.

He has a place of worship.

He should be able to rest.

But, there is terrible development within his home that will be the cause of much hurt.

Esau, who is not a young man, goes out and selects 2 wives from among the women of Canaan.

Esau is the same age that his father was when he married Rebekah.

If Esau was 40 when he got married, then Isaac would be 100 when this took place.

Both of the women that Esau marries are Canaanites.

Hittites to be exact.

Hittites were descendents of Canaan.

They would develop an empire that rivaled the Egyptians

They worshipped a variety of gods mostly associated with the weather.

It’s sad that Esau throughout his life displayed a lack of concern, not only for spiritual things, but also for his family.

If you go back to the beginning of our study of Isaac, you will remember the care that Abraham took in finding a wife for Isaac.

Why was it so important for Isaac not to marry a Canaanite?

God was giving Abraham’s family the land of Canaan.

If Isaac would have married a Canaanite, then the claim on the land would have been weakened.

Abraham was so careful about Isaac’s wife that he went to great lengths to find Rebekah.

Esau, though, is just like of here are two good looking women (I guess) I’ll marry them.

Now several commentators have tried to pin this on Isaac.

As though it is his fault that Esau married these Hittites.

Was Isaac a perfect parent?

I’m sure he was about as close to a perfect father as you and I…which is to say, no…

Remember the ages we are talking about here, though.

Isaac is 100 and Esau is 40.

Esau’s choice in women is his own responsibility by this point in his life.

From what I see of Esau, he didn’t want his parents help in choosing a wife.

Also, the critics of Isaac should notice, it’s not like Isaac and Rebekah are rejoicing over Esau’s choices.

Instead, the Bible says the wives were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.

The phrase is meant to express a consistent torture of Isaac and Rebekah by their daughter-in-laws.

Grief of mind = bitterness of spirit.

Isaac and Rebekah were extremely discouraged by Esau’s decisions.

Esau’s wives caused many hours of bitterness for his parents.

2 Chapters later and we see another interesting episode concerning Esau and his choice of wives.

This passage is after the story of the blessing.

Where Isaac thinks he is dying so he tells Esau to go prepare venison so he can bless him.

Rebekah hears him and tells Jacob to go fix some food for his dad so he can be blessed.

Jacob listens to his mom and goes into his dad and receives the blessing.

Esau is furious and says that as soon as his dad is dead, he’s going to kill Jacob.

So the decision is made to send Jacob away.

Before he leaves, an important conversation takes place between Isaac and Jacob.

Isaac cautions his son not to marry a wife from the canaanites.

It’s hard not to imagine this counsel having found inspiration in the actions of Esau.

To me it also shows that had Esau bothered to seek his father’s counsel, Isaac would have counseled his son not to marry those Canaanite women.

Esau found out about Isaac’s counsel to Jacob.

I don’t know how else to read this.

It sure seems like Esau had a revelation regarding his dad’s feelings toward the Canaanite women.

This prompts Esau to do something, that I have an opinion about but I will let you decide.

After hearing the counsel of his father to his brother.

Esau goes to his uncle, Ishmael and marries one of his daughters.

Ishmael is actually dead by this point.

While Jacob was looking for a wife among the daughter’s of his Uncle Laban; Esau goes and finds another wife among the daughters of his uncle Ishmael.

Here are some takes on this that I found in my study.

“Esau married his 3rd wife just to provoke his family.”

“Esau probably intended to regain the full regard of his father by this act.”

“Perhaps he thought this would qualify him to receive some kind of blessing from God.”

“Esau forgot that Ishmael had been cast off by God.”

Was Esau’s decision an attempt to rebel or was it an attempt repair.

Application

Conclusion