Devotion for Wednesday, August 5th
Kevin Peterson
[Originally from Wednesday, April 29th]
Devotional Text: Genesis 36 (To read and even listen to this text for free, click here.)
Verse in Focus: “These are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). Esau took his wives from the Canaanites: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. ... Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob. For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock. So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is Edom.)” (Genesis 36:1-3, 6-8).
Related Verses: “When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah” (Genesis 26:34).“Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth” (Genesis 28:9).
Devotional Thought:
The beginning of chapter 36 has been the cause of much consternation and head-scratching on the part of scholars and simple readers of Genesis alike. The reason for this is that two significant discrepancies in the Biblical become apparent here. The first involves the identity of the wives of Esau, for the names given here do not match names given for these women previously in Genesis. The second problem to be solved is the reason given here for Esau’s relocation to the land of Seir. Was Esau already living in Seir when Jacob returned or did he only move there later because the two brothers’ herds were too large to keep using the same pastures and wells?
Many modern critical scholars solve these two dilemmas rather simply. The Genesis account contradicts itself. The editors who assembled it grafted together, in our particular case, two different documents detailing the origin and background of the nation of Edom. In their view, the primary account is largely negative where Esau is concerned. Instead, it casts Jacob in the positive light. The second source, on the other hand, with all of the genealogical information and the listing of the Edomite kings, seems to be much more pro-Esau.
So what’s the problem with this view? Let me ask one question: Why didn’t these editors “edit out” these glaring contradictions? The simplest answer to this, of course, is that they did not believe them to be contradictory. And here’s how. We’ll begin by looking at the divergent names for Esau’s wives. First of all, it is rather obvious that two women in each list are actually the same. Both Basemath and Adah are the same daughter of Elon the Hittite, while Mahalath and Basemath are the same daughter of Ishmael and sister to Nebaioth. And following this pattern, I would make the case that—despite the differences in familial names—Judith and Oholibamah are also the same person. So how did these three wives of Esau end up with different names?
Here is one very reasonable explanation. The names given in chapter 36 were their actual names. The names of the first two wives—Adah and Oholibamah—seem to have meanings related to their idolatrous Canaanite background. Though it is never explicitly mentioned, it is most likely that this paganism was the main reason behind the bitterness of life experienced by Esau’s parents. When the reason for this bitterness was finally revealed through sending Jacob to get a wife in Paddam-Aram, Esau’s likely first move was to eliminate every vestige of idolatry from his family, including the names of his wives. Judith means “I will praise Yahweh” and Basemath means “sweet-smelling” as with incense.
When this didn’t seem to ease the conflict with his parents, Esau decided to follow Jacob’s example and retrieve a kinswoman—the daughter of his uncle Ishmael—to be his wife. One problem, though. It seems she too had the name Basemath, hence another name change—this time to Mahaleth. It’s an intriguing choice, since it seems to be the Hebrew equivalent for Basemath, as well as sounding similar to another Hebrew word, “mahal,” meaning “to forgive.” Perhaps one last plea to his parents? More tomorrow. Blessings on your day!
Vaya con Dios!
Pastor Peterson
REMINDER: You can check out previous email devotions from Shepherd of the Valley Devotions by going to http://groups.google.com/group/salmonlutheran
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