Genesis 26:34 - Meaning and Application

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.