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:
34, 35 (P). Esau’s Hittite Wives
34. forty years old ] The same age as Isaac, when he married Rebekah, Gen 25:20.
Judith Basemath Hittite ] See Gen 36:2-3. Judith and Basemath are here described as “Hittites,” by which name were known, according to P, some of the principal inhabitants of the land; cf. note on Gen 23:3. Groups of Hittites doubtless had come from the north and settled in Canaan. But in P there is little difference between Canaanites and Hittites.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 26:34-35
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: which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.
Esaus wives
I. Esau was forty years old when he married. A sin is aggravated sometimes by the age of the sinner. Some men learn nothing by age: they are forty years old on the books of the registrar; they are no age at all in the books of wisdom.
II. Esaus wives were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah. Sin has consequences. Actions are not solitary and uninfluential; they have relations to other actions and to influences simply innumerable and incalculable.
III. A sin does not confine itself to one line of punishment. Esau went against the law of his country and his people in marrying Canaanitish women. What was the punishment? Endless, ubiquitous, complete–
(1) Esau was alienated from his family;
(2) he was a rebel against the laws of organised society;
(3) he forfeited his hereditary rights. The law of the land was: To marry a Canaanitish woman is to lose your primogeniture. Esau supplanted himself. Find out the roots and beginnings of things, and you will always discover that a man is his own supplanter, his own enemy. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Esaus marriage
I. IT WAS IN ACCORDANCE WITH HIS CHARACTER. Prodigal, and careless of consequences.
II. IT WAS IRRELIGIOUS.
1. Against the interests of the Church of God.
2. A transgression of duty towards his parents. (T. H. Leale.)
Lessons
1. Wicked children usually increase sin with their age.
2. Reprobate spirits take all the wage of sin, to put away blessing and bring on the curse.
3. Idolatrous wives and multiplicity of them hasten ruin to them who take them. Lust loves idolatrous yoke-fellows.
4. Bigamy and unholy matches prove greatest griefs to gracious parents. (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Esau supplants himself
To marry thus was to drop out of the entail, to forfeit position, and to commit hereditary suicide. It was then that Esau sold his birthright. How we have felt for him as an injured man I How often we have sentimentally said we prefer Esau to Jacob, the child of the mountains to the plain man dwelling in tents, the rough shaggy hunter to the hairless man who stayed at home! It was too bad of Jacob to treat his brother so. Find out the roots and beginnings of things, and you will always discover that a man is his own supplanter: his own enemy. You will find far back–ten years ago, twenty, and more, yea, a quarter of a century–that a man did something which has been following him all the time. When the crises come that the public can look at, they pity him within the four corners of the visible crisis itself: they do not know how judgment has been tracking the man, watching him with pitiless, critical eye, waiting for its turn to come. We read over such little verses as these as though they were related to an ancient anecdote, and have really no immediate concern to the public of our own century. We come upon a second line, and say, Poor Esau! that was too bad! Let us be just! No man can injure you so much as you can injure yourself. If you have not injured yourself you may defy the world; the world will come round you in due time. Keep substantially right–that is, right in purpose, right in motive, right in the centre of the mind;and slips and misadventures notwithstanding, God will have regard to the uppermost meaning of your life, and if you have been true to Him in the intent of your heart, the world cannot take your birthright, cannot break your spiritual primogeniture. An awful thing is this searching into the past. Long ago, in some unsuspected way, we sold our birthright. When we omitted, in the first instance, our religious duty, the whole battle was lost; when we shortened the prayer by two minutes, the birthright was gone; when we haggled with the enemy, instead of smiting him in the face with the lightning of God, our birthright passed from us; when we first lost standing in our mothers heart we slipped away from the hand of God. Verily, in such instances, the mother and the God are very close to one another. When the mother lets us go for moral reasons, I do not see how God can help us. (J. Parker, D. D.)
.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 34. He took to wife – the daughter, &c.] It is very likely that the wives taken by Esau were daughters of chiefs among the Hittites, and by this union he sought to increase and strengthen his secular power and influence.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Both Hittites, the worst of the Canaanites, Eze 16:3; which, from his grandfather Abrahams severe charge, Gen 24:3, he must needs know would be highly displeasing both to God and to his parents. And as Esau had several names, being called also Edom and Seir; so it seems these women and their parents had, by comparing this with Gen 36:2, which was usual in those times and places. Or Esau had more wives than these.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
34. Esau . . . took to wifeIfthe pious feelings of Abraham recoiled from the idea of Isaac forminga matrimonial connection with a Canaanitish woman [Ge24:3], that devout patriarch himself would be equally opposed tosuch a union on the part of his children; and we may easily imaginehow much his pious heart was wounded, and the family peace destroyed,when his favorite but wayward son brought no less than two idolatrouswives among theman additional proof that Esau neither desired theblessing nor dreaded the curse of God. These wives never gained theaffections of his parents, and this estrangement was overruled by Godfor keeping the chosen family aloof from the dangers of heatheninfluence.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Esau was forty years old,…. The same age his father was of when he married, Ge 25:20:
when he took to wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite; Josephus m makes her to be the same with Aholibamah; but her father’s name was Zibeon, and an Hivite, and must therefore be another person, not only the name being different, but the tribe, Ge 36:2:
and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; whom Aben Ezra takes to be the same with Adah, and so does Josephus; and in this they may be right, since the name of her father, and his nation or tribe, agree,
Ge 36:2. The fathers of these two women are represented by Josephus as men of great power and authority among the Canaanites, as very probably they were. Esau had another wife of the same name with this last, but she was daughter of Ishmael, and sister of Nebajoth, Ge 36:3; for he had more wives than those; these were his two first, who very probably were not taken together, but one after another, though it may be but at a short distance from each other.
m Antiqu. l. 1. c. 18. sect. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Esau’s Marriage. – To the various troubles which the Philistines prepared for Isaac, but which, through the blessing of God, only contributed to the increase of his wealth and importance, a domestic cross was added, which caused him great and lasting sorrow. Esau married two wives in the 40th year of his age, the 100th of Isaac’s life (Gen 25:26); and that not from his own relations in Mesopotamia, but from among the Canaanites whom God had cast off. On their names, see Gen 34:2-3. They became “ bitterness of spirit, ” the cause of deep trouble, to his parents, viz., on account of their Canaanitish character, which was so opposed to the vocation of the patriarchs; whilst Esau by these marriages furnished another proof, how thoroughly his heart was set upon earthly things.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Esau’s Foolish Marriage. | B. C. 1760. |
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.
Here is, 1. Esau’s foolish marriage–foolish, some think, in marrying two wives together, for which perhaps he is called a fornicator (Heb. xii. 16), or rather in marrying Canaanites, who were strangers to the blessing of Abraham, and subject to the curse of Noah, for which he is called profane; for hereby he intimated that he neither desired the blessing nor dreaded the curse of God. 2. The grief and trouble it created to his tender parents. (1.) It grieved them that he married without asking, or at least without taking, their advice and consent: see whose steps those children tread in who either contemn or contradict their parents in disposing of themselves. (2.) It grieved them that he married the daughters of Hittites, who had no religion among them; for Isaac remembered his father’s care concerning him, that he should by no means marry a Canaanite. (3.) It should seem, the wives he married were provoking in their conduct towards Isaac and Rebekah; those children have little reason to expect the blessing of God who do that which is a grief of mind to their good parents.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 34. 35:
At age forty, Esau married two wives. The Scriptures do not indicate how much if any time elapsed between these two weddings. Isaac and Rebekah were grieved because of Esau’s actions, partly because the women were Canaanites, and party because in this Esau became a polygamist. Esau appears to have not been concerned over the attitude of his parents toward his family affairs.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
34. And Esau was forty years old. For many reasons Moses relates the marriages of Esau. Inasmuch as he mingled himself with the inhabitants of the land, from whom the holy race of Abraham was separated, and contracted affinities by which he became entangled; this was a kind of prelude of his rejection. It happened also, by the wonderful counsel of God, that these daughters-in-law were grievous and troublesome to the holy patriarch (Isaac) and his wife, in order that they might not by degrees become favorable to that reprobate people. If the manners of the people had been pleasing, and they had had good and obedient daughters, perhaps also, with their consent, Isaac might have taken a wife from among them. But it was not lawful for those to be bound together in marriage, whom God designed to be perpetual enemies. For how would the inheritance of the land be secured to the posterity of Abraham, but by the destruction of those among whom he sojourned for a time? Therefore God cuts off all inducements to these inauspicious marriages, that the disunion which he had established might remain. It appears hence, with what perpetual affection Esau was loved by Isaac; for although the holy man justly regarded his son’s wives with aversion, and his mind was exasperated against them, he never failed to act with the greatest kindness towards his son, as we shall afterwards see. We have elsewhere spoken concerning polygamy. This corruption had so far prevailed in every direction among many people, that the custom, though vicious, had acquired the force of law. It is not, therefore, surprising that a man addicted to the flesh indulged his appetite by taking two wives.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Gen. 26:34. The daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.] These were the children of Heth, with whom Abraham dealt in the purchase of Machpelah.
Gen. 26:35. Grief of mind.] Greek, Were contentious with. Chald. Were rebellious and stubborn against. Jer. Targ. They served God with a strange servicewere idolaters. Heb. They were a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and to Rebekaha standing grief, not only because of their heathen descent, but also because of their uncongenial tempers. They brought only trouble into the family. (Jacobus.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Gen. 26:34-35
ESAUS MARRIAGE
I. It was in accordance with his character. The manner in which he disposed of his birthright showed a man prodigal and careless of consequences. He carried this disposition with him thoughout life, and his marriage was no exception to the general course of his conduct. Given certain dispositions and propensities, and answering circumstances, and a mans actions may be predicted with tolerable certainty. Esau in the matter of his marriage did what we might naturally expect such a man to do.
II. It was irreligious.
1. It was against the interests of the Church of God. He married women who belonged to a heathen nation,the Hittites whom God had cursed, and who were steeped in crime and corruption. This was an unholy alliance, most certain to lower the tone of his own character and to injure the prospects of the Church of God. As a fact of history he was the father of a nation who through long centuries were the perpetual enemies of Israel.
2. It was a transgression of duty towards his parents. He was old enough to be free from the direct control of his parentsto act and choose for himself. But he ought not to have acted contrary to their wish, especially when that wish was reasonable and righteous. His conduct was a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah. It may truly be said, that one of the greatest griefs of this sad world is the grief caused by children to their parents.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen. 26:34-35. Esau had got acquainted with this tribe in his hunting expeditions. They belonged to a family gone in transgression and apostacy from God. The two wives chosen from such a stock were a source of great grief to the parents of Esau. The choice manifested his tolerance at least of the carnal, and his indifference to the spiritual.(Murphy.)
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
10. Esaus Hittite Wives (Gen. 26:34-35). At the age of forty, Esau took as wives two young women of Hittite stock who no doubt were well contaminated with prevailing Canaanite vices. According to Rashi, Esau had been living a dissolute life until then, but now he hypocritically said he would follow his fathers example and marry at the same age he had married (SC, 148). These alliance were contrary to the will of God (Exo. 34:16, Deu. 7:3, Jos. 23:12, Ezr. 9:1-3, Neh. 13:23-27, 2Co. 6:14-15, 1Co. 7:39; and of his grandfather and parents (Gen. 24:38; Gen. 27:46; Gen. 28:1-2; Gen. 28:6; cf. Gen. 6:2). Esaus incapacity for spiritual values is further illustrated by this step. He is not concerned about conserving the spiritual heritage of the family (EG, 733). These marriages of Esau were a grief of mind to his parents, possibly because the young womens personal characters, but chiefly because of their Canaanitish descent, and because in marrying them Esau had not only violated the Divine law which forbade polygamy, but also evinced an utterly irreligious and unspiritual disposition (PCG, 332). (Cf. Act. 17:30). If the pious feelings of Abraham recoiled from the idea of Isaac forming a matrimonial connection with a Canaanitish woman, that devout patriarch himself [Isaac] would be equally opposed to such a union on the part of his children; and we may easily imagine how much his pious heart was wounded, and the family peace destroyed, when his favorite but wayward son brought no less than two idolatrous wives amongst theman additional proof that Esau neither desired the blessing nor dreaded the curse of God. These wives never gained the affections of his parents; and this estrangement was overruled by God for keeping the chosen family aloof from the dangers of heathen influence (CECG, 194). Note that these wives were a grief of mind (according to the Septuagint, contentious or obstreperous) to Isaac and Rebekah. How could it have been otherwise? one might well ask. To the various troubles which the Philistines prepared for Isaac, but which, through the blessing of God, only contributed to the increase of his wealth and importance, a domestic cross was added, which caused him great and lasting sorrow. Esau married two wives in the 40th year of his age, the 100th of Isaacs life (Gen. 25:26); and that not from his own relatives in Mesopotamia, but from among the Canaanites whom God cast off. . . . They became bitterness of spirit, the cause of deep trouble, to his parents, viz., on account of their Canaanitish character, which was so opposed to the vocation of the patriarchs; whilst Esau by these marriages furnished another proof, how thoroughly his heart was set on earthly things (BCOTP, 273).
REVIEW QUESTIONS ON PART THIRTY-EIGHT
1.
Where was Isaac tenting when he married Rebekah?
2.
Where was the Philistine maritime plane geographically?
3.
Who were these Philistines who infiltrated the region around Gerar in earliest times? From what region did they come? By what name are they otherwise known in the ancient records?
4.
Name the five cities of Philistia? Of what special significance was Gerar?
5.
What was the meaning of the word Philistine? What was the origin of the name Palestine?
6.
What Divine assurance was vouchsafed Isaac at this time? What did God prevent his doing and why?
7.
To what place did God tell Isaac to go?
8.
How did Isaacs experience with Abimelech in regard to his wife Rebekah differ from Abrahams experience with the kings predecessor in regard to Sarah?
9.
What reasons have we for accepting these stories as two separate accounts of two separate episodes?
10.
What was the result of Isaacs venture into agriculture?
11.
What did Isaac do about the wells which had been dug by Abraham?
12.
What were the names of the new wells dug by Isaac and what did each name signify?
13.
What was the substance of the Divine communication at Beersheba?
14.
How many times in Isaacs life did Yahweh appear to him?
15.
What was the probable significance of the terms Abimelech and Phicol?
16.
What was the substance of the covenant of Isaac with Abimelech?
17.
Distinguish what was Scripturally known as profane swearing and what was known as judicial swearing? Cite scriptures to authenticate this distinction.
18.
What was the character of the oaths exchanged between Isaac and Abimelech?
19.
What was the other feature of the covenant ceremony? What light does this incident throw on Isaacs character?
20.
What was the name given to the last well brought in by Isaacs servants?
21.
How may we relate the naming of this well to the similar naming in Gen. 21:31?
22.
Cite other instances of twofold naming in the Old Testament. How is this to be explained?
23.
What was the location of the ancient city of Beersheba? Does it still exist? What role did this city play in the geography of Palestine?
24.
At what age did Esau first marry? From what ethnic group did Esau select these two wives?
25.
What do these facts of Esaus marriage indicate as to his character?
26.
How did Esaus marriage affect his parents?
27.
Name and describe the essentials of life as specified in Gen. 26:25.
LIFE OF ISAAC
1.
Gerar
a.
Birth: Gen. 20:1; Gen. 21:1-22.
b.
Rejection of Ishmael; Gen. 21:8-21.
2.
Beersheba
a.
Command to sacrifice Isaac; Gen. 21:32 to Gen. 22:2.
3.
Moriah
a.
Sacrifice of Isaac; Gen. 22:3-20.
4.
Beersheba
a.
Death of mother; Gen. 23:1-20.
5.
Beerlahairoi
a.
Marriage to Rebekah; Ch. 24.
6.
Trip to Hebron and back
a.
Death and burial of Abraham; Gen. 25:7-10.
7.
Beerlahairoi
a.
Birth of twin sons; Gen. 25:11; Gen. 25:19-26.
Birthright sold; Gen. 25:27-34.
8.
Gerar
a.
Lie about Rebekah.; Gen. 26:1-11.
b.
Great crops and herds; Gen. 26:12-17.
c.
Disputed wells; Gen. 26:18-21.
9.
Rehoboth
a.
Undisputed wells; Gen. 26:22
10.
Beersheba
a.
Covenant with Abimelech; Gen. 26:26-33.
b.
Esaus wives; Gen. 26:34-35.
c.
Blessing given to Jacob; Genesis 27.
d.
Jacob sent away Gen. 28:1-5.
11.
Hebron
a.
Reunion with Jacob: Gen. 35:27.
b.
Death and burial of Isaac; Gen. 35:28-29.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
ESAUS MARRIAGE WITH CANAANITISH WOMEN.
(34) Esau was forty years old.He was there fore of exactly the same age as Isaac was when, sixty years before, he married Rebekah. But by thus inter marrying with idolaters Esau violated the great principle laid down by Abraham (Gen. 24:3), forfeited thereby his birthright, and, as such marriages were illegal, is even called a fornicator in Heb. 12:16. As his conduct was regarded by his parents with grief of mindHeb., bitterness of spirit: that is, with mingled anger and sorrowEsau partially repented, and took as a third wife a daughter of Ishmael (Gen. 28:9). In the Tldth Esau (Gen. 36:2-3) the names are different, and a fourth wife, of the inhabitants of Seir, takes the place of Judith.
Judith.The names are remarkable, as showing that the Hittites spoke a Semitic tongue. Judith is the feminine form of Judah, and means praised. Beeri can scarcely be the original name of her father, as it means well-finder, but was probably gained by his skill in discovering water. We find it, however, in the genealogy of Hosea (Hos. 1:1). Bashemath or Basmath, the fragrant, was the name also of a daughter of Solomon (1 King 4:15); and Elon, oak-grove, was the name of a judge (Jdg. 12:11).
As this conduct of Esau prepares the mind for his final rejection and loss of the birthright, the place of these two verses would rightly be at the beginning of Genesis 27. The Jews arrange them as a separate section.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
ESAU’S MARRIAGE, Gen 26:34-35.
34. Judith and Bashemath Two wives, and both Hittites, and both married in the same year, was polygamy equal to Lamech’s, (Gen 4:19,) and led an apostle to call him a fornicator, (Heb 12:16,) and might well have caused his parents a great “grief of mind,” (Gen 26:35,) and bitterness of spirit . See further on Gen 28:9; Gen 36:2-3.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Blessing of Esau and Jacob ( Gen 26:34 to Gen 27:45 ).
This passage was recorded in writing because it records the blessings given to Jacob and Esau which were in the nature of a binding covenant that could not be changed. They thus testified to the will of Isaac as declared in those blessings. Such a solemn blessing, made with death in view, was often looked on as most sacred and irreversible (compare Deuteronomy 23). That is how Isaac clearly saw it (Gen 27:33).
Gen 26:34-35
‘And when Esau was forty years old he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. And they were a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and Rebekah.’
Esau further demonstrates his contempt for his status when he marries two Hittite women. The tradition of marrying within the family meant little to him, and his acts brought great grief to Isaac and Rebekah. But as the eldest son he would have been expected to marry within the family. In the writer’s eyes this introductory sentence is a silent commentary on why Esau loses his firstborn’s blessing.
“When Esau was forty years old.” Again a round number indicating full maturity. If we take the numbers literally this would make Isaac about one hundred years old. But Isaac also married at forty. This would suggest that this round number is used to indicate marriageable age.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The marriage of Esau
v. 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. v. 35. Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Gen 26:34. And Esau, &c. There are numberless places in which it is easy to point out the impropriety of the divisions in our chapters, &c. It is palpable that this chapter should end at Gen 26:33. In the rendering of particles, much of the perspicuity of a translation, and more of its elegance, consist: perhaps the present would be better rendered, Now Esau was forty years old, and he took, &c. So it is in the French. Esau’s intermarriage with the devoted Canaanites gave great pain and affliction to his parents; not only because of the knowledge they had of the curse hanging over those people, but probably because they saw the women given to levity and folly, and unfit for a connection with a holy and religious family. This seems to be the meaning of Rebekah’s words in Gen 27:46 of the next chapter, such as those which are of the daughters of the land. In espousing two women to satisfy his passions, in contempt of what he owed to his religion, Esau shewed himself wholly impure and profane.
REFLECTIONS.Esau’s profaneness appeared before, but it is aggravated here. He takes two wives at once, both bad ones, and of a different religion from himself; not only without the consent, but to the great grief of his parents. Note; In choosing a wife, it is a principal concern, 1. That we agree in religious opinions. 2. That it be done with consent of parents.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
FIFTH SECTION
Isaacs sorrow over Esaus marriage with the daughters of Canaan
Gen 26:34-35
34And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith [celebrated?] the daughter, of Beeri7 [heroic son? Fontanus?] the Hittite, and Bashemath [lovely, , fragrance, spicy] the daughter of Elon [oak-grove, strength] the Hittite: 35Which were a grief of mind8 [a heart-sorrow] unto Isaac and Rebekah.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Esau was forty years old.Isaac, therefore, according to Gen 25:26, was about 100 years.According to Gen 28:9, he took Mahalath as his third wife, together with the two mentioned here. These names are mostly different, as to form, from those of Gen 36:2, etc. The points of resemblance are, first, the number three; secondly, the name of Bashemath; third, the designation of one of them as the daughter of Elon, the other as a daughter of Ishmael. In respect to the dissimilarities and their solution, see Knobel, p. 278, on Genesis 36; Delitzsch, 505; Keil, 229.Which were a grief of mind.Lit.: a bitterness of spirit. Their Canaanitish descent, which, in itself, was mortifying to Esaus parents, corresponds with the Canaanitish conduct. It is characteristic of Esau, however, that, without the counsel and consent of his parents, he took to himself two wives at once, and these, too, from the Canaanites. Bashemath, Ahuzzath, Mahalath (Gen 28:9) are Arabic forms.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Esaus ill-assorted marriage a continuance of the prodigality in the disposal of his birthright.
2. The threefold offence: 1. Polygamy without any necessary inducement; 2. women of Canaanitish origin; 3. without the advice, and to the displeasure of his parents.
3. The heart-sorrow of the parents over the misalliance of the son.How it produced an effect in the mind of Rebekah, different from that produced in the mind of Isaac.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
See Doctrinal and Ethical paragraphs.
Starke: Lange: Children ought not to marry without the advice and consent of their parents.Cramer: Next to the perception of Gods wrath, there is no greater grief on earth than that caused by children to their parents.Gerlach: Esau may be regarded as a heathen, already and before his expulsion from the line of blessing.Calwer Handb.: Took two wives. Opposed to the beautiful example of his father.In addition to the trials undergone up to this time, domestic troubles are now added. It is very possible that this act of disobedience toward God and his parents, of which Esau became guilty by his marriage, matured the resolution of Rebekah, to act as related in Genesis 27.Schrder: The notice respecting Esau, serves, preminently, to prepare for that which follows (Esaus action). A self-attestation of his lawful expulsion from the chosen generation, and, at the same time, an actual warning to Jacob.Lamentation and grief of mind appeared when he was old, and had hoped that his trials were at an end (Luther).
Footnotes:
[7][Gen 26:34.Beeri, of a well.A. G.]
[8][Gen 26:35.The margin, lit., bitterness of spirit.A. G.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Heb 12:16 ; Deu 7:3
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Marriage of Esau
Gen 26:34-35
This is not a personal matter, beginning and ending with Esau, Judith, Bashemath, Isaac and Rebekah: this is a little piece of the universal history a line or two taken almost at random from the daily tragedy of social intercourse and experience. To think that a man’s age is set down as an element in the moral reckoning of his life! Esau was forty years old when he did this. A sin is aggravated, sometimes, by the age of the sinner. We excuse the young; we try to account for them; we assign a certain period of young life within which it seems to be not right but natural that certain seeds should be sown and that certain influences should come and go. If we can say regarding the accused one, “He was but eighteen”; “Certainly he was under twenty,” we touch something in the human heart which answers the appeal on behalf of the young. We do not lower the standard of righteousness; we do not accommodate the terms of virtue so as to involve in any complacent manner or degree the actions of vice; yet far away back in the heart we say, “He was but a child, he will learn better; give him time, and all may yet come right.” But Esau was forty years old when he did this. Some men learn nothing by age; they are only forty years old on the books of the registrar: they are no age at all in the books of wisdom. Forty years old! Some men are patriarchs by that time, and other men have not begun to know that they are alive in a responsible state in society. Age is a variable term. You must find out the spiritual quality of a man before you can determine with moral precision what age he is, and almost the degree of responsibility that attaches to him. But do not excuse yourselves too easily. When you do the sin, think of the age; think of everything that can set forth the action in its most solemn and expressive meaning; think of the fine day, the insulted sunshine, the offended flowers, the summer blasphemed against; yea, if there is one thing you can think of that will show what the reality of the deed is, keep it steadily before the mind for the sake of its possibly restraining moral influence Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith and Bashemath and there the matter ended. No: matters do not end so. The next verse contains part of the consequence: “Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.” You cannot shut up your sin within the four corners of your own life, or house, and say, “What matters it to anybody beyond?” Sin has consequences. A motion made in the middle of the lake sends its palpitations to the shore. We do not think of this. You do not know sufficiently the effect of any unhappy, unwise, or unrighteous thing you do. You did not see your mother put her hand to her failing eyes to dry out the tears when she heard that you had made that moral slip; when she met you the tears had all gone, but there was a significant redness you might have interpreted, if you had not already put out the eyes of your own heart. Poor young fool! you have forgotten the old folks at home; you are making the old man ill, you are doubling his age, you are battering down his very last little pleasure; and as for your mother, you have taken a thousand lives out of her; only a woman who is a mother could have survived the butchery. Do not yield to the wicked sophism that what you do nobody has anything to do with. We have a right to do with everything that is done. I have a right to stop any man who is cruelly treating any beast upon the street that cannot defend itself. It is my beast he strikes. We have the right of criticism in relation to actions that touch the general human heart, that interfere with the general moral temperature, and that involve the happiness or unhappiness, perhaps, of countless generations. You cannot do injury to yourself without in some way injuring the generation following. Actions are not solitary and uninfluential: they have relations to other actions and to influences simply innumerable and incalculable. I passed today a poor ill-shapen thing on the streets, and watched him as he hobbled his uneven way down the road. Was he to blame for the misshapenness, the deformity, the ungainliness? What history was there in that decrepitude! a history stretching back twenty, fifty years and more; and there he personally innocent thing was carrying the burden of life-long guilt on the part of his progenitors. What a sacred thing is life! What an unbuilt temple, so far as hands are concerned. But how shapely, how visible, how solemn to the eyes that can see it, and to the heart that can respond to its inner meanings!
Thus should the preacher bring from every quarter, points, circumstances, suggestions, facts, reflections, and possibilities which can shape his argument into a powerful and tremendous appeal which he shall lodge against the iniquity and the vileness of his age.
A sin does not confine itself to one line of punishment Esau went against the law of his country and his people in marrying Canaanitish women. What was the punishment? Endless, ubiquitous, complete. All heaven shuts itself against the violation of heaven’s law. No star opens its door of light as if to guide the evildoer: every star, contrariwise, takes up arms for its Creator, and denounces the doer of wrong. Esau was, in the first instance, alienated from his family. His father and mother did not want to see him as they used to do. They were not going openly to shut the door in his face, and say “You shall not come within these doors any more.” The mother did not assume that violent form, but assumed consequences far more pathetic and in one sense far more terrible. A grief of mind is far greater sorrow than mere excitement of resentful temper. The mother still opened the door to the hunting son, but it did not go back with the old swing; the mother still looked upon that well-built, noble form, but she wished that the interior of his nature had been in this instance equal to the mould and fashion which nature had bestowed upon his physical frame. A wounded spirit who can bear? This alienation is not a matter of arms, and revenge, and bitter speeches, and reproaches, which ease the very heart that launches them upon its object; this was an instance of grief of mind, sorrow of heart, a wounded spirit for which there is no balm.
Esau committed an offence against organised society. He took the matter into his own hands, saying, “I know I am forbidden to marry into Canaanitish families, but I will marry when I please, where I please, how I please; I am a man, and I will stand upon my individual rights.” Take care how you accept that reasoning! What are individual rights? Who is the individual? Is it the solitary unit that bears the name of one individuality? or is it the social unit, the sum total, the great humanity? Tell me one individual right. Have I any right to blaspheme? to assert myself at the expense of the feelings of others? to occupy more space than is due to me? Have I a right to shut my eyes when misery goes past my windows, that I may not see the bent and tearful figure, or be moved by the spectacle of distress? Have I a right to involve other people in my actions to use their money, to prostitute their influence, to trade upon their credit which has never been given, to heap up riches to myself, without regarding the cry of the poor and the helpless? There are no such rights. Wrong can never be right; selfishness can never be right; the man whose policy is figured upon the surface of one world only can never be right. Right is a large term, a most comprehensive expression. Our actions should be weighed and measured as to their social influence upon those near at hand and those who have yet to come.
Esau was not only alienated from his family and a rebel against the laws of his organised society: Esau forfeited his hereditary rights. That is a point to which our attention may not have been sufficiently called. The law of his land was: To marry a Canaanitish woman is to lose your primogeniture. Where now your many tears for Esau, the fainting hunter, who was taken at a disadvantage by his supplanting brother? Esau supplanted himself. To marry thus was to drop out of the entail, to forfeit position, and to commit hereditary suicide. It was then that Esau sold his birthright. How we have felt for him as an injured man! How often we have sentimentally said we prefer Esau to Jacob, the child of the mountains to the plain man dwelling in tents, the rough shaggy hunter to the hairless man who stayed at home! It was too bad of Jacob to treat his brother so. Find out the roots and beginnings of things, and you will always discover that a man is his own supplanter: his own enemy. You will find far back ten years ago, twenty, and more, yea, a quarter of a century that a man did something which has been following him all the time. When the crises come that the public can look at, they pity him within the four corners of the visible crisis itself: they do not know how judgment has been tracking the man, watching him with pitiless, critical eye, waiting for its turn to come. We read over such little verses as these as though they were related to an ancient anecdote, and have really no immediate concern to the public of our own century. We come upon a second line, and say, “Poor Esau! that was too bad!” Let us be just! No man can injure you so much as you can injure yourself. If you have not injured yourself you may defy the world; the world will come round to you in due time. Keep substantially right that is, right in purpose, right in motive, right in the centre of the mind; and slips and misadventures notwithstanding, God will have regard to the uppermost meaning of your life, and if you have been true to him in the intent of your heart, the world cannot take your birthright, cannot break your spiritual primogeniture. An awful thing is this searching into the past. Long ago, in some unsuspected way, we sold our birthright. When we omitted, in the first instance, our religious duty, the whole battle was lost; when we “shortened the prayer by two minutes, the birthright was gone; when we haggled with the enemy, instead of smiting him in the face with the lightning of God, our birthright passed from us; when we first lost standing in our mother’s heart we slipped away from the hand of God. Verily, in such instances, the mother and the God are very close to one another. When the mother lets us go for moral reasons, I do not see how God can help us. She has a firm grip upon us; she is inventive in arguments on our behalf; she knows that we were not so much sinners as sinned against; she says that if we had been in another town we should not have misbehaved ourselves; she says that if our lodgings had been more comfortable our morals had been more complete; and, drying the very biggest, hottest tear out of her eyes, she is quite sure that if we knew all about it we should form a gentler judgment respecting the sin. When she gives up her evangelical logic that has no logic in it, but only one great outburst of motherly love, and says, “I cannot defend him any more,” I do not see that Omniscience can invent another excuse. Many an Esau thinks himself an injured man, but forgets that long ago he sowed the seed with his own hand which he reaps today. There are not so many injured men, in the sense of men who have been really maliciously used and unrighteously wronged, as there might seem to be at the first blush of things. Life is wonderfully complicated and intertangled: it is not one thread or one straight line, but an infinite complexity, and God only can disentangle it and set in order its component and related parts. Long ago you broke a heart: do you suppose that event will be without influence, if unrepented of, during the remainder of your lifetime? I believe in ghosts of that kind dropping poison into the wind; swiftly changing the glasses ay, when we do but blink, the exchange is completed by a marvellous magic. The air is full of ghosts. You refuse a benefit your bread shall choke you! You treated a law as if you had a right to trample it underfoot; you set at defiance the God who ordained it, and the men to whose trust it was committed you cannot think to do such things and hear no more about them. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
The law does not operate on one side only: it has its genial aspect and its happy outgoings. “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” “Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward” It is an impartial ordinance, a law with two sides moving with equalness of administration, of reward, and penalty, along all the lines of human life. Providence takes up our separate, and, apparently, unrelated acts, and makes a chain of them, and hangs it on the criminal in the sight of the universe; or Providence gathers up our separate and, apparently, unrelated acts, and finds heaven in them, saying to its own gracious heart, “Nothing but heaven can complete this process.” “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” When? we do not know it: this is mistaken identity. “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” So the law is no onesided ministry: it is impartial; but from its hell there is no escape, and they who have endeavoured to obey the law will find that heaven is the prepared consummation for a life spent in the Spirit of the Lord. How awful, how dreadful is this place! this is none other than the house of God! The subject has been severe with me: it has cleft me in twain; but it is right; I was wrong when I pitied Esau sentimentally; I ought to have known the case before judging it, and as for the wounds and bruises we have suffered, they have a moral explanation.
Now, preacher, say some other word: we cannot break up thus. or we shall take out with us broken hearts. I will say this word not my own: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Can the blood of Christ act retrospectively, so as to take in all the black yesterdays? Every one of them. Is there any text that speaks upon this matter with a comprehensiveness all-inclusive? Yes. What is it? This is it: “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.” “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Parting with that word, we part under fair skies and with the music of a benediction singing in our hearts.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Gen 26:34 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:
Ver. 34. And Esau was forty years old. ] In an apish imitation of his father, who married not till that age; keeping under his body, and bringing it into subjection, as Paul, 1Co 9:27 being inured by good education, to hard labour, prayer, and pious meditation. But Esau did not so, a pleasure monger; he was a profane person, and, as the Hebrews say, a filthy whore master. So much also the apostle seems to intimate, when he sets them together, and saith, “Let there be no fornicator, or profane person, as Esau”. Heb 12:16
He took to wife. NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Gen 26:34-35
34When Esau was forty years old he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; 35and they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
Gen 26:34-35 These two verses really set the stage for chapter 27, particularly Gen 27:46. The author is weaving elements into this account that will later have great theological significance (i.e., cause Isaac and Rebekah to send Jacob back to Haran to find a wife).
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.
1. Is the Abimelech of Genesis 21 the same as the one in Genesis 26?
2. What is the origin of the Philistines?
3. Why did both Abraham and Isaac claim that their wives were their sisters?
4. What is the purpose of so many wells being alluded to in this chapter?
5. Explain the ancient rites of a covenant feast and how it impacts biblical revelation.
These names exhibit the Figure of speech. Polynyrmia. App-6.
Judith, She had a second name, Aholibamah (Gen 36:5, Gen 36:14, Gen 36:25).
Beeri. His name was also Anah, but he had acquired the name “Beeri” (or the spring-man) from his having discovered the hot springs. See on Gen 36:24.
Hittite = the general name. See note on 1Ki 10:29.
Bashematti had a second name, Adah. The name Bashemath dropped in Gen 36:2 to avoid confusion with the daughter of Ishmael. In Genesis 26: we have general history, but in Genesis 36 precise genealogy.
am 2208, bc 1796
And Esau: Gen 36:2, Gen 36:5, Gen 36:13
the daughter: Gen 24:3, Exo 34:16, 1Co 7:2, Heb 12:16
Bashemath: Gen 36:2
Reciprocal: Gen 21:21 – a wife Gen 27:46 – because Gen 28:1 – Thou shalt Gen 28:8 – the daughters Gen 34:1 – the daughter Gen 34:9 – General Num 12:1 – married Pro 17:21 – that Mal 2:15 – That he
Section 1. (Gen 26:34-35; Gen 27:1-46; Gen 28:1-22.)
God the unchanging Blesser, but the righteous God.
We have first, then, to consider Jacob as Jacob, blessed in the purpose of God, but the blessing yet barren, because he is this. Let us remember that he does not really gain the blessing through deceit, but that God had already destined him to it. By his deceit he only gets driven from the land, twenty years a fugitive. That the blessing could not be Esau’s we are first of all reminded here. At the end of forty years (the period of perfect probation), he marries at once two Canaanitish wives, chooses in self-will the people of the curse. How could the blessing go with this? Yet Jacob too fails, and would supplement God’s assurance of blessing by his own craft; thus he is blessed, indeed, but delays the enjoyment of the blessing. Esau’s blessing is not really such, and though living by his sword, not by the soil, he is to serve his brother, though not without slipping his neck at times out of the yoke. We are all quite conscious that the flesh does this. For the present, indeed, Jacob has to give way before Esau, -the necessary fruit of his own doing. And between Jacob merely and Esau the victory is ever with Esau. So the Jew sought the blessing, but in carnal ways which drove him from the land. The applications of this are many and various.
The dream at Bethel takes place when Jacob is just about to leave the land, and we are all aware of how the Lord applied this vision to Himself. He, as the Son of Man, in fact, secures to Israel Jehovah’s care and ministrations while outcast from their inheritance, and when they shall, with Nathanael’s faith, confess Him Son of God and King of Israel, they shall have, in a more blessed way than ever yet, their house of God on earth. Meanwhile, only the faith of a little remnant has answered to the glorious vision, and it could not hinder their present banishment out of their land. Jacob’s covenant with God shows the low and legal spirit which is incapable of rising to the height of God’s grace here.
Beautiful it is to see how, the moment he is under chastening, and a wanderer, God can appear to Jacob. But the dwelling of God with man implies the holiness which becometh His house forever. We must stoop our necks to the yoke and accept the fruit of our own ways. God can assure Jacob of no escape from this, but that in it and through it all the blessing shall be attained.
Isaac Still Loved Esau More Than Jacob
Esau married two Hittite women. Both Isaac and Rebekah were troubled by his selection of a mates for life. After all, they did not worship the God of heaven. He might be led astray by their false worship. As William Cline noted in a lecture, “In so marrying wives from a people which God had cast off, Esau again furnished proof as to how thoroughly his heart was set upon earthly things” ( Gen 26:34-35 ).
Gen 26:34. He took to wife Contrary to the command of his father, mother, and grandfather, he marries Canaanites, who were strangers to the blessing of Abraham, and subject to the curse of Noah.
Esau’s marriage 26:34-35
We can identify three purposes for this brief section.
1. Moses explained and justified the reason for Jacob’s later departure for Paddan-aram (Gen 27:46 to Gen 28:2).
2. Moses identified the ancestors of the Edomites who later played a major role in Israel’s history.
3. Moses revealed Esau’s carnal character again.
Esau showed no interest in the special calling of his family but sought to establish himself as a great man in the world by marrying Canaanite women (cf. Gen 11:4). These were evidently the daughters of Canaanite lords. [Note: Josephus, 1:18:4. See K. Luke, "Esau’s Marriage," Indian Theological Studies 25:2 (June 1988):171-90.] The Canaanites were, of course, under God’s curse (Gen 9:25-27). Contrast Esau’s method of securing wives with Abraham’s plan to identify God’s choice of a wife for Isaac.
"These preliminary notices [in Gen 26:34-35] put into perspective the cunning deed of Jacob and Rebekah. They demonstrate that Esau was not fit to inherit the blessing." [Note: Sailhamer, "Genesis," p. 189.]
5. Jacob’s deception for Isaac’s blessing 26:34-28:9
Reacting to Isaac’s disobedient plan to bless Esau, Jacob and Rebekah stole the blessing by deception. Esau became so angry with Jacob over his trickery that Jacob had to flee for his life.
Two reports of Esau’s marriages (Gen 26:34-35 and Gen 28:6-9) frame the major account (Gen 27:1 to Gen 28:5) providing a prologue and epilogue. Esau’s marriages are significant because Rebekah used them to persuade Isaac to send Jacob away to get a wife (Gen 27:4 b) and because they were the reason Isaac did so (Gen 28:1).
The main account centers on Isaac giving the blessing.
"A Isaac and the son of the brkh/bkrh (=Esau) (Gen 27:1-5).
B Rebekah sends Jacob on the stage (Gen 27:6-17).
C Jacob appears before Isaac and receives blessing (Gen 27:18-29).
C’ Esau appears before Isaac and receives antiblessing (Gen 27:30-40).
B’ Rebekah sends Jacob from the stage (Gen 27:41-45).
A’ Isaac and the son of brkh/bkrh (=Jacob!) (Gen 27:46 to Gen 28:5)." [Note: Ross, Creation and . . ., p. 474. Cf. Fokkelman, p. 101.]
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)