Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon the Hivite,
Genesis 36 opens the record of Esau's family, and the very first thing God notes about him is whom he married. Both women named here were Canaanites, the people Esau's family was to stay clear of. The chapter that follows traces what came of that choice.
One writer shows the pattern Genesis follows when it records two branches of a family:
The section called "The generations of Esau" runs from Genesis 36:1 to Genesis 37:1. As with Ishmael and Isaac, Scripture puts the rejected line first and treats it briefly. It does not follow the dates in that line. The chosen line comes second, with enough dates for us to follow the passing years. This foreshadows a principle of God's ways that is stated so clearly: "He does away with the first in order to establish the second" (Heb. 10:9).
One writer sets these marriages beside what Esau had already thrown away:
Esau formed the closest possible connection, marriage, with two Hittite women. He brushed aside the thought of taking a wife from their own relatives. He tied himself to the people of the land, whose wickedness was mounting until judgment fell on them three or four hundred years later. He had already despised the birthright. Now he despised a restriction backed by God's own authority. The call of God meant nothing to him.
Another writer looks at where Esau settled as well as whom he married:
After the announcement of Esau's descendants, we notice that he married wives who were Canaanites, Hittites and Hivites — bitter enemies of God's people. We see too that he lived in Mount Seir. That land was cursed later, and the curse would remain on it even in millennial days, when the wilderness will blossom like the rose. It illustrates the flesh, which cannot be improved even under the very best influence.
The wives listed here do not carry the names given earlier in Genesis. Commentators differ on why. One treats it as simple double naming:
In the earlier account, Genesis 26:34 and 28:9, the names of Esau's wives differ from those given in Genesis 36:2-3. The women may have had two names, or another name may have been given them at their marriage. It seems likely that Bashemath, daughter of Elon, is the same as Adah, daughter of Elon. Bashemath, daughter of Ishmael, is likely the same as Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael. Judith, daughter of Beeri, may be the same as Oholibamah, daughter of Anah, if Beeri is her father's name and Anah her mother's.
Another writer looks at the wife Esau took from Ishmael's family and argues her new name carries a verdict:
Historians say the writer of Genesis made a mistake by mixing up the names! We suggest the revised name had deliberate meaning. In God's eyes there was no difference between Ishmael's daughter and the daughter of Canaan. So in the record she was given a name of Canaan. In his second choice Esau came near the right line, but stopped short of God's mind for the descendants of Abraham, the friend of God.
The chapter traces the chiefs of Edom back to these women. Adah, named first in the verse, is described this way:
One of the wives of Esau. She was the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and so "a daughter of Canaan." She bore Esau his firstborn son Eliphaz, who became the father of seven of the chiefs of Edom.
One writer sets Edom's quick greatness beside God's slower way of building:
The Edomite interrupts the course of God's dealings. It is always so — first that which is natural, afterwards that which is spiritual. Even then we find power developing fast in Esau's family. They were all great people, to be sure — this chief and that chief, right to the end of the chapter. Kings, we are told, even reigned before there were any in Israel. I have no doubt this is given to us to mark how quickly what is not of God shoots up. Growth according to God is slower, but it is more lasting.
Israel's law later turned this principle into a national command:
From the start, God commanded the nation of Israel to keep His way carefully in the matter of marriage. They were on no account to give their daughters to the sons of the Canaanites. They were not to take the Canaanites' daughters for their sons (Deut. 7:3). If they did, it would cost them being owned by the Lord any longer (Joshua 23). In keeping with this, Solomon's days of turning from God are marked by disobedience in this very thing (1 Kings 11). Afterwards, no real recovery to God could be accepted without a return to this principle in their marriages (Ezra 10; Neh. 10).
- Listed first, set aside first. Esau's line is recorded before Jacob's and in brief — "He does away with the first in order to establish the second."
- The choice. Marrying into Canaan was contempt, not carelessness. Esau had already despised the birthright. Now he despised a restriction backed by God's own authority.
- The name. Where the record renames a wife, one writer sees simple double naming. Another sees God's verdict: Esau came near the right line, but stopped short of God's mind.
- The yield. Those marriages bore chiefs and kings fast. What is not of God shoots up quickly; growth according to God is slower and lasts.
- The warning. Israel's later law made this a national test. There was no way back to God without a return to it.
and Basmath Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nebaioth.
Genesis 36:3 names a third wife of Esau. Her name here is not the name the earlier account gave her, and that small difference — with the reason Esau chose her — opens up what this list is doing in the middle of Jacob's story.
The earlier account of this marriage gives the bride a different name. One reference work sees nothing strange in that:
One of the wives of Esau, the daughter of Ishmael and the mother of Reuel, Genesis 36:3-4. In the earlier narrative, Genesis 26:34 and Genesis 28:9, the names of Esau's wives differ from those given in Genesis 36:2-3. The women may have had two names, or someone may have given them another name at their marriage. It seems likely that Basemath, daughter of Ishmael, is the same person as Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael.
Others read the switch as deliberate, carrying a verdict on the marriage itself:
Later, in the genealogy of Esau, the Spirit of God says that Esau took Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, as a wife. Historians say the writer of Genesis made a mistake in mixing the names. We suggest the revised name had deliberate significance. In God's eyes there was no difference between Ishmael's daughter and the 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 his parents and to God.
Commentators differ on whether this is simply a second name or a verdict on the marriage.
The verse names her brother as well as her father. Nebaioth led an Ishmaelite line that Scripture follows into the future:
Eldest son of Ishmael and one of the chiefs of the Ishmaelites. Isaiah 60:7 names the rams of Nebaioth, with the flocks of Kedar his brother, as serving the prosperity of Israel in the future day of blessing.
Esau already had two Canaanite wives. When he saw that these marriages displeased his father, he added a wife from Ishmael's family. The motive was appearance, not faith:
Scripture tells us in Genesis 28:6-9 how Esau copied his brother as far as appearance went, because his Canaanite wives displeased his father. But God was not in his thoughts, and his imitation fell far short. Besides his Hittite wives he took a daughter of Ishmael as wife — 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.
The numbers alone gave him away:
He seems to have thought his parents would be happier if he 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. This is of course the foolish reasoning of the flesh. He knew his father had only one wife. How could a son with three wives please him?
The verse records the company Esau chose, and a man's company tells you what he is:
It is a sign of the times that so little is thought of the character of a man's associations. In truth, nothing gives us our character so much. To say of Enoch, or of Noah, that "he walked with God" describes the man fully in the fewest words. If a man freely joins himself to God's enemies, can he truly want a walk like that?
The list of Esau's descendants breaks into the story of Jacob and Joseph. Its place there is no accident:
At first reading, this account of Esau's descendants might seem like a stray fragment. Someone could just as well have placed it a few chapters earlier, or a few later, than where it now stands. But you cannot move a chapter or a word without spoiling the perfection of God's word. There is divine wisdom in placing it just where it is.
Set here, the chapter shows how fast the natural line rises:
The Edomite interrupts the course of God's dealings. We see at once what remarkable maturity there was here. It is always so — first the natural, then the spiritual. Even then we find a rapid development of power in the family of Esau. They were all great people, to be sure — chief after chief, right to the end of the chapter. Kings reigned among them before Israel had any king at all. Growth according to God is slower, but then it is more permanent.
- Named — Basemath is Ishmael's daughter and Nebaioth's sister. The earlier account calls her Mahalath: a second name, or a renaming that shows the marriage for what it was.
- Chosen — Esau picked her to look obedient after his first two marriages grieved his parents. He copied Jacob's outward path without Jacob's faith.
- Exposed — a third wife could never please a father with one. The fix was the reasoning of the flesh, and a man's company tells you what he is.
- Multiplied — from these wives came chiefs and kings, a line rising fast into power, while growth on God's timing went slower.
- Placed — the chapter sits just where it belongs: the natural comes first and grows fast, the spiritual comes after and lasts.