And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padan-Aram, to take a wife thence, blessing him, and giving him a charge saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;
Esau watched Jacob receive the family blessing and leave to find a wife among their own relatives, not among the Canaanites. What Esau did with what he saw shows the difference between faith and copying.
Esau watched Jacob receive more than a kind farewell. The blessing carried the birthright itself.
Here we see Isaac in a much more favourable light, speaking as a man of faith. He charges Jacob to go to Padan-aram and find a wife among his own people. He blesses him in a way that shows he now accepted the purpose of God about his two sons. That purpose overruled and cancelled out his own natural leanings. He calls on God to give him "the blessing of Abraham." That blessing brought with it the coming of the "Seed," in whom all nations should be blessed. It was the very essence of the birthright Esau had coveted.
Esau noticed three things: the blessing, the charge about marriage, and Jacob's obedience. Each one pushed him toward a plan of his own.
Esau learned that Isaac had given Jacob his blessing and sent him away with a charge not to take a wife from the Canaanites. He also learned that Jacob had accepted his parents' charge and obeyed (vv. 6-7). Then it stirred Esau up that his two wives had not pleased his father (v. 8). Yet how sad was his effort to fix the situation! He seems to have thought his parents would be more pleased if he added another wife, so long as she was related to Abraham! So he took the daughter of Ishmael, the son of the slave woman (v. 9)… He knew his father had only one wife. How could he expect Isaac to be pleased that Esau now had three! But "those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8:8).
Esau copied the outward shape of his brother's obedience. One thing was missing.
Scripture tells us in verses 6-9 that Esau imitated his brother as far as appearance allowed. He did this because his Canaanite wives displeased his father. But God was not in his thoughts; and his imitation fell miserably short. For along with his Hittite wives he took a daughter of Ishmael as wife. She was the child of the slave woman sent away from Abraham's house. There was no faith, only a natural and useless effort after better ways. Apart from faith it is impossible to please God. Anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists, and that He rewards those who seek Him out. This was true of Jacob, in no way of Esau.
Esau's move looked like reform. But the moment for it had already passed.
God made clear the character He put on this transaction with Jacob. Then came Esau's imitation of conduct directed in this way. We must expect this. But in fact it only revives the earlier lawlessness towards God. It does not remedy the evil; it increases it. God had already passed sentence. When there had been any opportunity for it, or good in it, he did not do God's will but his own. Now this imitation was too late.
Ishmael was Abraham's son, so his daughter looked closer to the family line than Esau's Canaanite wives.
In the eyes of God there was no difference between Ishmael's daughter and the daughter of Canaan. She was a sorrow to Esau's parents and to God, in nature and in practice. In his second choice Esau came near to the right line. But he stopped short of the mind of God for the descendants of Abraham, the friend of God. How often Christians form close friendships with people who look connected to the Christian faith, but who turn out to be no different from the world.
Esau's whole story runs on one settled character. The New Testament names it with a word older translations give as "profane."
The apostle calls him "a profane person, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright"… So we learn what a profane person is. He is one who would like to hold both worlds. He would like to enjoy the present without losing his title to the future. This is by no means an uncommon case. It pictures for us the worldly person who only claims faith. His conscience has never felt the action of divine truth, and his heart has never felt the influence of divine grace.
- Saw. Esau watched the blessing, the charge, and Jacob's obedience. He saw it all and received none of it.
- Copied. He imitated his brother's course as closely as appearance allowed, but God was not in his thoughts.
- Missed. Without faith the copy is worthless. Anyone who comes to God must believe He exists, and that He rewards those who seek Him out.
- Late. God had already passed sentence. When obedience would have counted, Esau did his own will.
- Near. A daughter of Ishmael came close to the right line and stopped short of God's mind. Friendships built on Christian appearance without Christian reality miss in the same way.
and [that] Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padan-Aram.
This verse is part of what Esau saw: his younger brother leaving home at his parents' word. Two questions follow — what exactly was Jacob obeying, and what did Esau do about what he watched?
Jacob's obedience was about marriage. His father shut one door and pointed him through another.
Jacob must not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. They were accursed in the Lord's eyes, though the carrying out of that sentence waits until the sin of the Amorites is full. For Jacob the wanderer there was to be as clear a refusal of alliance with the Canaanite as there was for Isaac. Only Isaac was forbidden, in the strictest terms, to leave the land. His bride had to come to him. Jacob, by contrast, goes to look for a wife at the house of his mother's father. So Jacob's earthly place and relationships are as plain as Isaac's heavenly ones. Isaac's story pictures sovereign grace calling a bride to the Heir of all things in heavenly places.
Paddan-aram was a real place, and Jacob's family already had roots there.
A farmed district in Mesopotamia, holding the city of Nahor. Terah and his family moved there from Ur of the Chaldees. Rebekah, Leah and Rachel, the wives of Isaac and Jacob, all came from there. The name is strictly Paddan-aram, meaning "table land of Aram."
Jacob obeyed a father whose own leanings had run the other way. The charge and the blessing came from a changed man.
Indeed at this point we see him in a much more favourable light, and speaking as a man of faith. He charges Jacob to go to Padan-aram and find a wife among his own people. He then blesses him in a way that surely shows he now accepted God's purpose for his two sons. That purpose overruled and cancelled out his own natural inclinations. He calls on God to give him "the blessing of Abraham." That blessing carried with it the coming of the "Seed," in whom all nations should be blessed. It was the very heart of the birthright Jacob had wanted so badly.
The same road that carried Jacob into his father's blessing carried him out of the land of promise.
He became an exile from the land of promise. In a strange land his own relatives cheated him. It was the sad repayment of his own crooked ways in gaining what the Lord had given him. The Lord would have secured it for him in His holy way of faithfulness and truth.
Esau watched all this and set out to copy it. The copy failed at the one point that mattered.
Verses 6-9 tell us that Esau copied his brother's appearance as closely as he could, because his Canaanite wives displeased his father. But God was not in his thoughts, and his imitation fell miserably short. Besides the daughters of Heth he took a daughter of Ishmael as a wife — the offspring of the slave woman, cast out of Abraham's house. There was no faith, only a natural and useless effort after better ways. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Whoever comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. This was true of Jacob, and in no way of Esau.
Esau's new wife came from Abraham's line, not Canaan's. One writer points out what the record later does with her name.
Esau saw that Jacob had been sent away with his father's blessing, and told not to take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. So he went to Ishmael and took his daughter Mahalath for a wife. Later the Spirit of God, giving the genealogy of Esau, said that he took Bashemath, Ishmael's daughter, for a wife. Historians say the writer of Genesis made a mistake by mixing up the names! We suggest the revised name had deliberate significance. In God's eyes there was no difference between Ishmael's daughter and a daughter of Canaan. So in the record she was given a name of Canaan... In his second choice Esau came near to the right line, but stopped short of the mind of God. How often Christians form close friendships with people who outwardly claim the Christian faith. Those people prove to be no different from the world.
- Charge. Jacob's orders were a refusal. He must take no wife from the daughters of Canaan, a people already under God's sentence.
- Blessing. The father who gave that charge had bowed at last to God's purpose for his two sons. He handed Jacob "the blessing of Abraham," the real substance of the birthright.
- Cost. Obedience sent Jacob out of the land as an exile. There his own relatives cheated him — repayment, one writer says, for his crooked way of seizing what God meant to give him.
- Copy. Esau watched, and copied the look of it as closely as he could. But God was not in his thoughts, and without faith no one can please Him.
- Near. A daughter of Ishmael brought Esau near the right line and still short of God's mind. Close friendships with people who claim the faith but live like the world end in the same place.
And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the sight of Isaac his father.
Esau noticed something at last: his Canaanite wives had never sat well with his father. What he did next is the whole weight of this verse. Commentators call it a failure, not a repentance.
Esau's facts were right. He had watched Jacob leave under his father's charge. But knowing what displeases a father is not the same as asking what pleases God.
Verses 6-9 show Esau imitating his brother in appearance, as closely as he could. He did this because his Canaanite wives displeased his father. But God was not in his thoughts, and his imitation fell miserably short. He already had the daughters of Heth. Now he also took a daughter of Ishmael as a wife — the child of the slave woman, cast out of Abraham's house. There was no faith, only a natural and useless effort after better ways. Apart from faith it is impossible to please God. Anyone who draws near to God must believe that He exists, and that He rewards those who seek Him. This was true of Jacob, and in no way of Esau.
His fix was arithmetic, not repentance. Add a wife with better ancestry, and the account should balance. One writer shows how that sum fails on its own terms.
Esau saw that Jacob had obeyed his parents and left with his father's blessing (vv. 6-7). Then Esau took it to heart that his two wives had not pleased his father (v. 8). How sad was his effort to fix it! Apparently he thought another wife would please his parents more, as long as she had some link to Abraham! So he took the daughter of Ishmael, the son of the slave woman (v. 9). This is, of course, the foolish reasoning of the flesh. He knew his father had only one wife. How could Esau expect three wives to please him? In fact, even the third wife on her own would not have pleased Isaac. His half brother Ishmael had persecuted him. But "those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8:8).
Ishmael was, after all, Abraham's son. So the choice looked like a step toward the family of promise. God's verdict was different.
In God's eyes there was no difference between Ishmael's daughter and a daughter of Canaan. Genesis 28:9 calls her Mahalath, but the record of Esau's family calls her Bashemath (Gen. 36:3) — the name of one of his Canaanite wives. So Scripture gave her a name of Canaan. She was a sorrow in nature and practice, both to Esau's parents and to God. In his second choice Esau came near the right line. But he stopped short of the mind of God for the descendants of Abraham, the friend of God. How often Christians form close ties with people who carry the outward Christian name. Yet those people prove to be no different from the world.
God directed Jacob's journey through his father's charge. Esau received no such charge, yet he copied the outward move.
God had made plain the character He put on this dealing with Jacob. Then we see Esau imitating conduct that God had directed. We must expect this. But in fact it only revives his earlier lawlessness away from God. It does not remedy the evil; it increases it. The sentence had already been passed. Back when there was any opportunity for obedience, or any good in it, he did his own will and not God's. Now this imitation was too late.
The previous chapter showed Esau ready to kill his brother. One writer reads these verses against that background.
Verses 6-9 are sadly revealing as to Esau's mind. He takes yet another wife. That marriage was bound to displease his parents, and it also went against the purpose of God. In the previous chapter he appears as a would-be murderer. Now he shows himself again as a deliberate and high-handed despiser of God and His word. We saw this contrary spirit in him at the end of Genesis 26. Now we see it break out even more decisively and openly. So it is not hard to understand the words in the last book of the Old Testament: "Esau I have hated."
- Pleasing whom. Esau aimed at his father's taste. He never asked what pleased God. God was not in his thoughts.
- Pleasing by sight. He acted on what he saw: his father disliked the Canaanite wives. So he copied the outward shape of Jacob's obedience, without the faith behind it.
- Pleasing by flesh. A third wife with a link to Abraham was the reasoning of the flesh. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
- Pleasing that misses. He came near the right line, then stopped short of the mind of God. In God's eyes Ishmael's daughter was no different from a daughter of Canaan.
- Pleasing too late. The imitation did not cancel the sentence already passed, and it did not mend the evil. It showed a man who despised God's word, not a son who had repented.
And Esau went to Ishmael, and took, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.
Esau sees Jacob sent away with a blessing and a charge about marriage, and he decides the problem was the kind of wife. So he turns to Ishmael's line, the other branch of Abraham's family, and adds a third wife; the commentators ask whether that is a change of heart or only a change of appearance.
Esau copied his brother's step, but the copy went no deeper than appearance.
Scripture tells us in verses 6-9 that Esau imitated his brother as closely as he could in appearance. He did it because his Canaanite wives displeased his father. But God was not in his thoughts, and his imitation fell far short. Besides the daughters of Heth, he took a daughter of Ishmael as a wife. She was the child of the slave woman, cast out from Abraham's house. There was no faith, only a natural and useless effort after better ways. Apart from faith it is impossible to please God. Anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists, and that He rewards those who seek Him. This was true of Jacob, and in no way of Esau.
Esau kept the wives he had and added one more. Count them, and the effort falls apart.
How sad was his effort to fix the situation! He seems to have thought his parents would be happier if he just added another wife, as long as she had some link to Abraham! So he took the daughter of Ishmael, the son of the slave woman (v. 9). This is, of course, the foolish reasoning of the flesh. He knew his father had only one wife. How could three wives please him? In fact even the third one on her own would not have pleased Isaac. His half brother Ishmael had persecuted him. But "those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8:8).
Esau acts after the blessing is already gone. One writer says the move made things worse, not better.
Here God made plain the character of His dealing with Jacob. Then Esau imitated the conduct God had directed. We should expect this. But in fact it only revives the old lawless independence from God. It does not remedy the evil but rather increases it. God had already passed sentence. When there had been any opportunity for it, or any good in it, he did his own will and not God's. Now this imitation was too late.
Genesis lists Esau's family later, and this wife appears there under a different name.
One of the wives of Esau, the daughter of Ishmael and the mother of Reuel (Gen. 36:3-4). In the earlier account, Gen. 26:34 and Gen. 28:9, the names of Esau's wives differ from those given in Gen. 36:2-3. The women may have had two names, or they may have received another name at their marriage. It seems likely that Bashemath, daughter of Ishmael, is the same as Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael.
Commentators read the two names in very different ways. One takes the change to Bashemath as God's verdict on the marriage.
We suggest the changed name had deliberate significance. In God's eyes there was no difference between Ishmael's daughter and a daughter of Canaan. So the record gives her a name of Canaan. She was a sorrow by name, and no less a sorrow in nature and practice, to the parents and to God. In his second choice Esau came near to the right line. But he stopped short of the mind of God for the descendants of Abraham, the friend of God. How often Christians form close ties with people who are linked to Christian profession only on the outside. Those people turn out to be no different from the world.
Another writer looks at the same marriage from Ishmael's side, and starts with what his daughter's name means.
How lovely it is to find that the name of Ishmael's daughter Mahalath (Gen. 28:9) means "forgiven"! … Through God's amazing grace, Genesis 28:9 shows this very daughter of Ishmael, Mahalath, brought back as a bride. She returns to the very home her father had lost through his sin.
- Near. Esau moved closer to the right family line, but "stopped short of the mind of God" — the whole verse turns on that gap.
- Copy. He matched his brother's outward step, but God was not in his thoughts. Imitation without faith cannot please Him.
- Count. Three wives could never please a father who had one. Adding one more wife is the reasoning of the flesh.
- Late. God had already passed sentence. A fix that comes after the blessing is gone revives the old self-will instead of undoing it.
- Grace. Commentators read the names differently. One hears "sorrow" in Bashemath. Another hears "forgiven" in Mahalath, and sees a daughter of the cast-out line brought home.