Key Verse Spotlight
Genesis 26:34 - Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing and how to apply it today
Translation: World English Bible — Catholic Edition
" When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. "
Genesis 26:34
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
32 The same day, Isaac’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.”
33 He called it “Shibah”. Therefore the name of the city is “Beersheba” to this day.
34 When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
35 They grieved Isaac’s and Rebekah’s spirits.
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Here we see, first, Esau’s foolish marriage. Some think the foolishness was in taking two wives at the same time, and for that reason he is called a “fornicator” in Hebrews 12:16. More likely, the chief fault was that he married Canaanite women, people outside the blessing promised to Abraham and under Noah’s curse. For that reason he is called “profane,” meaning he treated holy things as common. By this choice, he showed that he neither wanted God’s blessing nor feared God’s curse.
We also see the grief and trouble this caused his tender parents. It hurt them that he married without asking, or at least without taking, their advice and consent. Children should think carefully about the path they follow when they ignore or oppose their parents in such serious matters.
It also grieved them that he married the daughters of the Hittites, among whom there was no true religion. Isaac remembered his own father’s care, that he must not marry a Canaanite woman. And it appears these wives were troublesome in their behavior toward Isaac and Rebekah. Children have little reason to expect God’s blessing when they do what deeply pains their godly parents.
From This Chapter
Genesis 26:1
"There was a famine in the land, in addition to the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar."
Genesis 26:2
"The LORD appeared to him, and said, “Don’t go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about."
Genesis 26:3
"Live in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For I will give to you, and to your offspring, all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father."
Genesis 26:4
"I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and will give all these lands to your offspring. In your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed,"
Genesis 26:5
"because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”"
Genesis 26:6
"Isaac lived in Gerar."
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