Loading... TOOK TO WIFE - Genesis 26:34
Saturday, January 31st, 2009Genesis 26:34 And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Berri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:
Esau is the same age as his father Isaac when Isaac and Rebekah were married. It was Abraham who sent his servant out to find a wife for Isaac and because of the faith of the servant, there was great joy when Isaac and Rebekah were married. We know that on the day that Isaac and Rebekah met, Isaac was out in the field meditating. Isaac was putting his relationship with God first, and God blessed him with a virtuous woman.
Esau on the other hand chose to go out and find a wife for himself. He apparently did not have any qualifications - all that was important to him was that he would be satisfied. Esau chose two Hittite women. The Hittite people were the locals. The fact that Esau married a couple of Canaanite women shows how little regard he had for his spiritual heritage. The Canaanites were cursed of God because of the lack of temperance shown by Ham and his son right after the flood.
It could be that Esau married these women because they were daughters of local leaders. Esau may have desired to increase his earthly power. What Esau was missing by marrying women of the world was that he was a descendant of Abraham. God had called Abraham to sojourn in the land. Esau was to be in the land but he was not to intertwine himself so closely with the Canaanites that the world would not know the difference.
The intermarrying with the Canaanites was one reason God brought Jacob and his entire family out of the promise land and sent them to Egypt. God desired to eventually utterly destroy the Canaanites. Esau had met Abraham, he was fifteen years old when his grandfather finally died. Esau had probably heard all the stories, but Esau simply refused to take hold of the promises of God and he decided he was going to fight for what he wanted.
Esau was out marrying for his own selfish interest. Esau took not only one wife, but he took two at the same time. It was traditional for kings and great leaders to have many wives. Leaders would often marry another leader’s daughter so as to consummate a peace agreement. By marrying two women from two different families, Esau was making it clear to all around that he was pursuing all that he could obtain that the world would offer him.
The actions of Esau grieved his parents. They knew the heart of their son and they understood that it was contrary to the purposes of God. Why his parents had not taken a more active role in pursuing a wife for their son, we do not know? Abraham sent for a wife for Isaac after the death of Sarah, and it could have been that Isaac and Rebekah were simply content with their family that they failed to see the needs of their son and thus guide him in a way to help him make a decision that would have been pleasing to God. Isaac and Rebekah, several years later, when they were about to lose both sons finally took an active role in finding a spouse for Jacob.
Esau needed to add temperance to his life. Yes it is a good thing to marry as God created marriage and God called it good. However, God did not create man to marry multiple wives; God made one man and one woman and called them one. Furthermore, God destroyed the earth with a flood when the sons of God were marrying the daughters of men. God had chosen Abraham and his descendants but Canaan had been cursed and as such, Esau should not have been pursuing anyone with whom he would be unequally yoked.