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.
9. unto the wives ] i.e. in addition to Judith and Basemath (Gen 26:34).
Mahalath the sister of Nebaioth ] Nebaioth was the firstborn son of Ishmael (Gen 25:13). In Gen 36:3, the name of Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebaioth, appears as Basemath. Here she is called Mahalath; while Basemath, in Gen 26:34, is the name of one of Esau’s Hittite wives.
Ishmael is mentioned in this verse as the uncle of Esau. The reference is personal, though it may also denote tribal kinship. According to P’s chronology, it would appear that Ishmael was at this time 114 years old, and lived for 23 years more. Cf. Gen 17:24-25, Gen 25:17; Gen 25:26, Gen 26:34.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 9. Then went Esau unto Ishmael] Those who are apt to take every thing by the wrong handle, and who think it was utterly impossible for Esau to do any right action, have classed his taking a daughter of Ishmael among his crimes; whereas there is nothing more plain than that he did this with a sincere desire to obey and please his parents. Having heard the pious advice which Isaac gave to Jacob, he therefore went and took a wife from the family of his grandfather Abraham, as Jacob was desired to do out of the family of his maternal uncle Laban. Mahalath, whom he took to wife, stood in the same degree of relationship to Isaac his father as Rachel did to his mother Rebekah. Esau married his father’s niece; Jacob married his mother’s niece. It was therefore most obviously to please his parents that Esau took this additional wife. It is supposed that Ishmael must have been dead thirteen or fourteen years before this time, and that going to Ishmael signifies only going to the family of Ishmael. If we follow the common computation, and allow that Isaac was now about one hundred and thirty-six or one hundred and thirty-seven years of age, and Jacob seventy-seven, and as Ishmael died in the one hundred and thirty-seventh year of his age, which according to the common computation was the one hundred and twenty-third of Isaac, then Ishmael must have been dead about fourteen years. But if we allow the ingenious reasoning of Mr. Skinner and Dr. Kennicott, that Jacob was at this time only fifty-seven years of age, and Isaac consequently only one hundred and seventeen, it will appear that Ishmael did not die till six years after this period; and hence with propriety it might be said, Esau went unto Ishmael, and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael to be his wife. See Clarke on Ge 26:34, &c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
1760
Esau went unto Ishmael; either to his person, or rather to his family, called Ishmael by their fathers name, as David is sometimes put for Davids posterity; for Ishmael seems to have been dead before this, from Gen 25:17, though that may possibly be a prolepsis, and then this may be Ishmael himself.
Mahalath, called also Bashemath, Gen 36:3. He thought by this means to ingratiate himself with his father, and so to get another and a better blessing; but he takes no care to reconcile himself to God, nor observes his hand in the business. Besides, he mends one fault by committing another, and taking a third wife when he had one too many before, and her too he unwisely fetcheth out of that stock which was begotten to bondage, and was utterly uncapable of the inheritance.
Nebajoth was Ishmaels eldest son, Gen 25:13, who alone is here mentioned, either in the name of all the rest, whose sister she is by consequence supposed to be; or because peradventure she and Nebajoth were Ishmaels children by the same mother, and the rest by another.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Then went Esau unto Ishmael,…. Not to Ishmael in person, for he was now dead, Ge 25:17, and had been dead as is reckoned about fourteen years before this, but to the house of Ishmael:
and took unto the wives which he had; the daughters of Heth, and who seem by this to be both alive at this time:
Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son; the same with Bashemath, Ge 36:3; as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it, this person having two names, and is further described,
the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife; who was the eldest son of Ishmael, and, his father being dead, was the principal in the family; and this woman Esau took to wife was his sister by his mother’s side, as the above Targum expresses, as well as by his father’s; whereas he might have other sisters only by his father’s side, he having had more wives than one. This Esau seems to have done in order to curry favour with his father, who was displeased with his other wives, and therefore takes one of his father’s brother’s daughters; but in this he acted an unwise part, on more accounts than one; partly as it was taking to wife the daughter of one that was cast out of his grandfather’s house, and had been a persecutor of his father, and therefore not likely to be agreeable to him; and partly as being a daughter of the bondmaid’s son: children born of her could not inherit the land promised to Abraham and Isaac.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
9. Then went Esau unto Ishmael That is, unto the family of Ishmael, who, himself, had been dead many years . Gen 25:17. Nebajoth was Ishmael’s firstborn . Gen 25:13. Here we discern, again, in Esau’s action, the wild, impetuous child of nature . He already has two wives and they have borne him children; but noticing how Jacob is blessed, and commanded not to take a Canaanitish wife, he speeds away to marry Ishmael’s daughter .
“Esau is the representative of natural kindliness and honesty, but these qualities are joined to rudeness, and to a want of susceptibility for what is higher. He is void of all anticipation and longing. He is satisfied with what is visible; in short, he is a profane person. Heb 12:16. Such persons, even if grace reaches their hearts, which was not the case with Esau, are not adapted for heading a religious development . ” Hengstenberg .
Gen 28:9. Then went Esau unto Ishmael That is, to the country or family of Ishmael: see ch. Gen 36:3. Ishmael himself had now been dead several years. Esau began now to see his rash choice, and fain would mend it by a match more to his father’s mind: in order to which he takes a daughter of Ishmael; and thus, instead of mending the matter, he, if possible, but more confirmed the exclusion of his seed from the grand promise, for the bond-woman had been solemnly cast out and rejected. Note; They who have only an eye to please men in what they do, will often meet with bitter disappointments.
Gen 28:9 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.
Ver. 9. Then went Esau unto Ishmael. ] Stulta haec fuit , et hypocrisis , saith Pareus rightly. Apes will be imitating men: spiders have their webs, and wasps their honeycombs. Hypocrites will needs do something, that they may seem to be somebody: but, for want of an inward principle, they do nothing well: they amend one error with another, as Esau here; and as Herod prevents perjury by murder. Thus, while they shun the sands, they rush upon the rocks, and while they keep off the shallows, they fall into the whirlpool. a Sed nemo ira perplexus tenetur inter duo vitia, quin exitus pateat absque tertio , saith an ancient.
a Incidit in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim .
Mahalath. She had a second name, Bashemath, See Gen 36:3.
Mahalath
Gen 36:3 is called Bashemath:
unto Ishmael: Gen 25:13-17, Gen 36:3, Gen 36:13, Gen 36:18
Mahalath: called also, Bashemath, Gen 36:3, the sister.
Reciprocal: Gen 16:3 – his Gen 16:15 – Ishmael 1Ch 1:29 – Nebaioth
Gen 28:9. Esau went unto Ishmael That is, the family of Ishmael, for Ishmael himself, no doubt, was dead before this time, (see Gen 25:17,) and took Mahalath to be his wife. It is probable that he thought by this means to ingratiate himself with his father, and so to get another and a better blessing. But, alas! he mends one fault by committing another, and taking a third wife, when he had one too many before.
28:9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of {c} Ishmael Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.
(c) Thinking by this to have reconciled himself to his father, but all in vain: for he does not take away the cause of the evil.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes