Genesis 28:6-9

3. Esau Takes Another Wife (Genesis 28:6-9). Isaac blessed Jacob that the blessing which he had given him previously, viz., God gave thee of the dew of heaven, etc. (Genesis 27:28) might be fulfilled in the land which God had promised to Abraham; but his blessing to Esau, of the fat places of the earth shall be thy dwelling (Genesis 27:39), would be fulfilled in a different country (SC, 157). Esau saw that Isaac did not want Jacob to have a Canaanite wife. He assumed that he had lost the blessing because he had married a Canaanitish woman, since Isaac, when blessing Jacob, had impressed upon him not to do so. He consequently thought that by not marrying another of these women, he would win back his father's favor and possibly secure the revocation of Jacob's blessing.. Although he did not marry any more women of Canaan, he was not willing to send away those he already had, in spite of their unsuitability and wickedness (SC, 158). Desirous to humor his parents, and if possible to get the last will revoked, he became wise when too late (Matthew 25:10), and hoped, by gratifying his parents in one thing, to atone for all his former delinquencies. But he only made bad worse; and though he did not marry -a wife of the daughters of Canaan,-' he married into a family [that of Ishmael] which God had rejected; it showed a partial reformation, but no repentance, for he gave no proofs of abating his vindictive purposes against his brother, nor cherishing that pious spirit that would have gratified his fatherhe was like Micah: see Judges 17:13, also ch. Genesis 36:1-5 (CECG, 198). Cf, especially Genesis 26:34, Genesis 28:9, Genesis 36:1-5. How account for these apparent differences in the lists of Esau's wives? Some critics think that Esau had six wives; others, five; and still others, three. It will be noted that all the wives in the second list have names different from those in the first. Keil, Lange, et al, account for this by the fact that women at their marriage received new names. On this hypothesis, Bashemath, daughter of Ishmael, is the same with Mahalath; Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite is the same with Bashemath; and Aholibamah, daughter of Anah and (grand-) daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, is identical with Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite. Anah is also called -Beeri-' (-man of the springs-'), from the fact he had found certain -warm springs-' in the wilderness [cf. Genesis 36:24] (Haley, ADB, 336). The account given of the parentage of these wives has seemed to many equally obscure and perplexing as that of their names, But all these difficulties admit to an easy and satisfactory solution. Thus, with regard to the number of Esau's wives, although it is not expressly said that he had three wives, the several passages in which they are enumerated comprise only three; and these, as shall be presently shown, the same three throughout. As to the names of the wives, it has been remarked, that while these, in Eastern countries, as elsewhere, are sometimes changed on account of some memorable circumstances in the course of life, women assume new names more frequently than menthey do so particularly on their marriage; and as in this genealogical record all the wives of Esau are distinguished by different names from those which they formerly bore, the change is to be traced partly to their entrance into the matrimonial relation, and partly to their settlement in a foreign land, where Esau himself assumed the permanent designation of Edom (Genesis 36:8). The import of their names was founded probably on some conspicuous attribute of character or feature of personal appearance or habit, as Judith or Jehudith (the praised one) was changed into Aholibamah (tent-height, i.e., tall, stately); Bashemath, Hebrew, Basemath (fragrance, the perfumed one) into Adah (ornament, beauty, the adorned one); Mahalath (hard, the musical one) into Basemath (fragrance, perfume, the perfumed one). If Esau had obtained the name of Edom from his red hair, or the red pottage, his wives might as well have derived their new appellatives from such trivial circumstances as peculiarity of appearance and dress, or a love of strong-scented unguents. With regard to the names of their respective fathers, Elon the Hittite, and Ishmael stand in both lists; while Anah is not the mother and Beeri the father, of Aholibamah, as has been supposed by Ranke and others; but as has been demonstrated with great ingenuity by Hengstenberg, is identical with Beeri. Anah, being the proper name of the individual, is given in this genealogical record (Genesis 36:2; Genesis 36:14; Genesis 36:24); while Beeri (man of springs), a surname properly applied to him by his contemporaries (see Genesis 36:24), was naturally preferred in the general narrative (Genesis 26:34). There is another difficulty connected with the name of Anah. He is called (Genesis 26:34) a Hittite, here (Genesis 36:2) a Hivite, and (Genesis 36:20) a Horite. But there is nothing contradictory in these statements. For in the historical relation he is styled, in a wide sense, a Hittite, a term which is frequently used as synonymous with Canaanite (Joshua 1:4, 1 Kings 10:29, 2 Kings 7:6); while in his tribal connection he was a Hivite, just as a man may be described in general history as a native of Great Britain, while specifically he is a Scotchman. The word Horite does not imply either a geographical or national distinction, but simply a dweller in caves; Zibeon, on emigrating to Mount Seir, having become a Troglodyte. These difficulties, then, which encompass the domestic history of Esau having been removed, a clear view of the names and parentage of Esau's wives may be exhibited in the following table:

Ch. Genesis 26:34

Ch. Genesis 36:2-3

Father

Name at birth Judith, or Jehudith

Name after marriage = Aholibamah

Daughter of Anah (Beeri), Hittite, Hivite, and Horite, and Granddaughter of Zibeon, Hivite and Horite

Bashemath

= Adah

Daughter of Elon, Hittite

ch, Genesis 28:9 Mahalath

= Bashemath

Daughter of Ishmael, and sister of Nebajoth

In this table, -the daughter of Zibeon-' is taken in connection, not with Anah (a man's name), but with Aholibamah; and consequently we must interpret -daughter-' in the wider sense it sometimes bears of granddaughter. It may be interesting to add, that Dr. Wilson (Lands of the Bible, Vol. I, p. 33) found that these names are still common in Idumea and among the Arabs. When conversing with the Fellahin, of Wady Musa, he says -It is worthy of notice that the first name of a man which they mention to us as current among them was that of Esau; and that Matshabah, one of their female names, seems, by a bold anagram, not unusual in the formation of Arabic words from the Hebrew, to resemble Bashemath, wife of Esau. Aidah, too, one of the female names, is like that of Adah, another of Esau's wives-' (Jamieson, CECG, 226, on ch. 36). Esau's marriage was another attempt to regain the blessing, by trying to please his parents in Jacob's absence. But his choice showed he had no sense of spiritual realities. He does not do exactly what God requires but something like it. But at heart he was unchanged (TPCG, 55). Esau belongs to the great army of substitutes, like Cain, i.e., those who substitute their own way of doing things for God's way of doing things. For the opposite note the attitude of Jesus in regard to his own baptism (Matthew 3:13): to fulfil all righteousness is to do God'S will to the full.

Review Questions

See Genesis 28:20-22.