Genesis 27:46
‘Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. Which were a grief of mind to Isaac, and to Rebekah…. It came to pass that when Isaac was old…, his eyes were dim so that he could not see…. He said…: “I am old. I do not know the day of my death”…. Rebekah said to Isaac: “I am weary of my life, because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as those which are of the daughters of the land — what good shall my life do me?”‘ Genesis 26:34f & 27:1,2,46.
Calvin commented: “Esau…mingled himself with the inhabitants of the land, from whom the holy race of Abraham was separated — and contracted affinities by which he became entangled. This was a kind of prelude of his rejection…. These daughters-in-law were grievous and troublesome to the holy patriarch Isaac and his wife…. It was not lawful for those to be bound together in marriage, whom God designed to be perpetual enemies….
“The holy man (Isaac) justly regarded his son’s wives with aversion, and his mind was exasperated against them. (Yet) he never failed to act with the greatest kindness towards his son…, a man addicted to the flesh (who) indulged his appetite by taking two wives….
“‘Isaac was old’…. Isaac now, being worn down with age, imagines himself to be shortly about to depart this life — and wishes to bless his first-born son (Esau).” He said: ‘”I am old. I do not know the day of my death!”‘….
“Death was every moment pressing so closely upon him, a decrepid and failing man — that he dared not promise himself life any longer…. Every one, even in the full vigour of age, carries with him a thousand deaths…. But as it urges the old more closely…, they ought to place it more constantly before their eyes — and should pass…through the world…as those who have already one foot in the grave….
“Rebekah…truly affirms that she was tormented, even to weariness of life — on account of her Hittite daughters-in-law. But she prudently conceals (this)…, lest she should inflict a mortal wound on her husband. And also, lest she should the more influence the rage of Esau. For the wicked often, when their crime is detected — are the more carried away with desperation.
“Now, although in consequence of the evil manners of her daughters-in-law, affinity with the whole race (of the Hittites) became hateful to Rebekah — yet in this again the wonderful providence of God is conspicuous…. Jacob neither blended nor entangled himself with the future enemies of the Church.” Rebekah, however, did!
‘What good shall my life do me?’ — she asked. Her husband Isaac too was grieved in his mind by Esau’s polygamous marriages to strangers. But Rebekah voiced her concerns to Isaac. And then, ‘Isaac called Jacob and blessed him…and said to him: “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan!”‘ (Genesis 28:1). Thus Rebekah influenced her husband — even in their old age!
