May 23, 2008
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The Book of Isaiah Chapter 1 V.1 Part 4.5
The Book of Isaiah
Chapter 1 V.1 Part 4.5
Now notice that it was in Gen 31:3 in which God told Jacob to return to the land of his fathers, and to his relatives, and that God would be with him. Between Genesis 32 and 33, Jacob sent 5 gifts ahead of him to Esau; a herd of goats, ewes, camels, cows and donkeys, each with both males and females.
It seems to me that this was a wise move on Jacob’s behalf, particularly because it seems apparent that Esau has a tendency towards a materialistic mindset versus a spiritual one, so these gifts, and the wealth they represented, quenched the fire of Esau’s anger against Jacob. The problem I see, which continued, is one of reliving or repeating the situation or story of the loss of both his birthright and his blessings to his generations, who inherited the “outcast” status of their progenitor. It’s a problem of ongoing, generational resentment.
How do you figure, you ask? Well, let’s look at his generations. First, let’s look at who he married.
Gen 36:1 Now these [are] the generations of Esau, who [is] Edom.
Esau = “hairy”
Edom = “red”
Gen 36:2 Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan; Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite;
Canaan = “lowland”
1) the 4th son of Ham and the progenitor of the Phoenicians and of the various nations who peopled the seacoast of Palestine
2) the land west of the Jordan peopled by the descendants of Canaan and subsequently conquered by the Israelites under Joshua
3) merchant, trader
Adah = “ornament”
2) a Hittitess, 1 of the 3 wives of Esau and mother of Eliphaz
a) also called ‘Bashemath’
Elon = “terebinth, mighty”
Terebinth: ( 3.) ‘Elon, Jdg 4:11; 9:6 ( R.V., “oak; ” A.V., following the Targum, “plain”) properly the deciduous species of oak shedding its foliage in autumn.
1) Hittite, father-in-law of Esau
2) second son of Zebulun
3) Zebulonite judge of Israel
4) town in Dan
Hittite = “descendant of Heth”
1) the nation descended from Heth, the 2nd son of Canaan; once inhabitants of central Anatolia (modern Turkey), later in north Lebanon
This caught my attention, as a few nights ago on TBN, there was a travel/historical program on about the Hittites and whether or not they actually existed. On the program they showed these interesting sphere-shaped rocks that these people lived in. They actually carved these rocks into homes. The program mentioned that they were decendants of Heth, and that one of them was a major warrior that King David had murdered on the front lines of a battle so that he could take his wife, Bathsheba.
What I’ve also noted, is that these people were descendants also from Zebulun, which was the 10th of Jacob’s sons…one of the twelve tribes of Israel. So in essence, what I see here is that the bible is the history of one family, and the ongoing war between the siblings and their generations based upon the acceptance or rejection they received from God.
Gen 36:2 Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan; Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite;
Aholibamah = “tent of the high place”
1) wife of Esau
2) an Edomite chieftain
Adah = “answer”
1) son of Zibeon and father of Aholibamah, a wife of Esau
2) a Horite chief
3) daughter of Zibeon
Zibeon = “coloured”
1) father of Anah, whose daughter Aholibamah married Esau
2) son of Seir the Horite
Hivite = “villagers”
1) 6th generation of descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham, who were living in northern Canaan near Mount Hermon at the time of the conquest
Gen 36:3 And Bashemath Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebajoth.
Bashemath or Basmath = “spice”
1) Hittite wife of Esau, daughter of Ishmael, sister of Nebaioth
Ishmael = “God will hear”
1) son of Abraham and Sarah’s handmaid Hagar and the progenitor of the Arabian peoples
Nebaioth or Nebajoth = “heights”
1) a son of Ishmael
2) people descended from 1 called the Nabateans with their capital at Petra
What I see here is that one rejected son took to himself wives from other “rejects.” First, he took from the descendants of Canaan, who was the grandson of Ham, upon which the curse was placed. Then, he takes an “ornament” from a “mighty oak” which descended from another rejected son of the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he takes an African tribal chieftain’s princess as apparently part of an “answer” from among “villagers.” Again, these were descendants of Ham the one who fell due to sexual sin. Finally, he takes a “spice” from the “heights” in the hopes that “God will hear.”
