(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)
“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. They grieved Isaac’s and Rebekah’s spirits.”
(Genesis 26:34-35)
Esau, the elder son of Isaac, was still living in his father’s camp at forty years old. He took a wives from the people around them. He married Judith, daughter of Beeri and Basemath, daughter of Elon. However, in Genesis 36:2 it says that he married Adah, the daughter of Elon. That means he might have married sisters, although they may have been different names for the same person. The later reference to Esau’s wives also mentions another woman (instead of Judith) named Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, the Hivite. Different scholars think different things, but it is clear Esau had no issues taking wives from the peoples they lived among.
Isaac was around a hundred years old when this happened.
Neither Isaac nor Rebekah approved of these girls. There is no mention of them converting, so if there was no other issues there would have been the issue of idolatry. The parents of Esau had no peace with his choice of wives. They were a grief and not a blessing. Since the next incident happens almost forty years later, Esau still lived in his father’s camp doing nothing to regulate his wives for forty years. No wonder his parents had grief. He had no real respect for them or their household. He could have separated and still had good relations through visiting. He chose to stay and let his home be a source of strife. Esau doesn’t seem to care about anything beyond his own personal comforts.
The Torah: A Women’s Commentary writes: ‘The marriage of Esau brings consternation to both his parents. In 27:46, Rebekah claims that Esau’s marriages cause her despair. Isaac does nothing. One gathers that the fact the women are Canaanite is problematic (see at 28:1). Is this marriage one of the reasons why Rebekah chooses the drastic measures to pass the blessings to Jacob? Is it Isaac’s passivity in the face of what both consider a problem that moves her to take action? Judith. This name’s debut in Esau’s family is surprising in light of its subsequent use: The masculine form, Judah, will come to designate the main tribe in Israelite history, becoming the basis of the Hebrew word for “Jew.” (The enduring popularity among Jews of the name Judith comes from a different source: the heroic central character in an ancient Jewish post-biblical book of the same name.)’
The sage Rav Hirsch writes: ‘V. 34 With this marriage with two Hittite girls Esau set the seal on his complete unfitness to be the one who was to carry on the mission of Abraham. In a home where even two daughters of Heth ruled, the Abrahamitic principle was just buried. We have just seen how Isaac and Rebecca recognized the necessity of isolating themselves, and then, just think: Isaac builds an altar and ויקרא בשם ה׳, proclaims the great Name ה׳, even as his great father had done, and his eldest son brings ע״ז into the home. Small wonder that it says then that they were מורת רוח etc. V. 35 מרה ,מורת רוח has the basic meaning “to counter, to act in opposition”, hence מורה, a razor which has to run against the hair at the right angle (Similarly מול over against, opposite and also to cut off, to clip). Used for feelings and behaviour it accordingly has the meaning, to want to do something, or not to do something just because the other does not want it. Both of them, Isaac and Rebecca, were arrogantly, defiantly opposed, although in general, they were not of one mind in their sympathies towards their two children, and significantly Isaac even first. That daughters-in-law do not always see eye to eye with their mother-in-law is nothing so unusual, especially when the latter is not too favourable inclined to the son. But here it puts ליצחק in the first place, for here it was nothing that was contrary in immaterial matters. They were in complete opposition to the spirit that dominated Isaac and Rebecca. These two verses are a highly significant introduction to the story that now follows.’
The sage Radak writes: ‘ויהי עשו, the reason why he did not marry until he was 40 years of age was that he wanted to emulate his father who had married at the age of 40. He wanted to create the impression that he was walking in the footsteps of his father. However, he did not observe his father’s ways who had not been allowed to marry a woman of Canaanite descent. In that respect he followed his eyes, judging by external appearances, not ancestry, and personal virtues. He had not bothered to consult with his father. He was guided by the influence the family of his wives wielded in the land of Canaan, for after mentioning the names of the wives it becomes clear that the father of each was a well known personality. Seeing Esau appeared a great man to the fathers of these girls, they consented to let him marry them. ותהיין מורת רוח, they angered their in-laws and opposed them in every way. They even reversed the customs practiced by Rivkah in her household. מרת, a noun, just as מרת נפש in Proverbs 14,10. The root of the word is מרר, embitter, the only difference between the word here and that in Proverbs being the vowel under the letter מ. Here we have the vowel cholem, whereas in Proverbs it is written with a kametz chataf, abbreviated vowel kametz. It is also possible that the root of the word here is מרה, in the sense of Isaiah 63,10 מרו ועצבו את רוח קדשו, “they rebelled, and grieved His Holy Spirit.” This too is a variation of the theme of bitterness. If we accept this word as the root of the word מרת in our verse, the meaning would be that these women actively engaged in causing anger, frustration to Yitzchok and Rivkah. The whole story would then have as its purpose to show how disdainful Esau was of the sensitivities of his parents. He did not even protest his wives’ behaviour or move them out of the patriarchal home.’
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