Genesis 36:2

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).