Commentaire de citation sur La Genèse 26:34

עשו לקח את נשיו מבנות כנען וגו, “Esau had taken his wives from the daughters of the Canaanites, etc.;” here the Torah fails to mention the daughter of Beeri, although in Genesis 26,34 we have been told that Esau took Yehudit who was a daughter of Beeri, a Hittite as a wife. We must therefore assume that the reason she is not mentioned here is that she died without having provided Esau with any sons. All the sons mentioned in this chapter therefore must have been born by עדה בת אלון, who is identical with the wife called בשמת בת אלון, in Genesis 6,34 She had changed her name, just as had the daughter of Yishmael, which has now been called בשמת, whereas when she had first been introduced she had been called מחלת. (Compare 28,9.)

עשו לקח את נשיו מבנות כנען, people who read the text carefully cannot help noting that when Esau’s wives’ names are mentioned for the first time in 26,34 they were referred to as יהודית בת בארי החתי and בשמת בת אלון החתי, as well as מחלת בת ישמעאל. In our paragraph no one by the name of בת בארי is mentioned at all, neither the woman’s name nor her father’s name. However אלון as well as ישמעאל the fathers of two of Esau’s wives have been mentioned here also. The names of the daughters have been inverted as happens in many instances. בשמת daughter of אלון is here referred to as עדה בת אלון whereas. It is therefore reasonable to assume that יהודית בת בארי died childless, whereas the other two wives of Esau bore children for him as is enumerated here. Esau took אהליבמה בת ענה בת צבעון החוי as a wife after his move to Seir, when he wanted to strengthen his political ties with the local inhabitants through intermarriage with them. This is why the Torah gave such a detailed account of Oholivamah’s genealogy. Timnah, concubine of Eliphaz, Esau’s firstborn, was also from the original inhabitants of the region of Mount Seir, The reasom why she is mentioned ast, is that the marriage of Esau to Oholivamah occurred last. Chronologically, she belonged to an earlier generation.

In order to mislead his father. Question: Why did Eisov not call Bosmas, [too,] by a good name in order to trick his father? In Parshas Toldos (26:34), it should have mentioned that name, if she had it. The answer is: Eisov indeed called her by another, non-idolatry name. But [in Parshas Toldos], Scripture itself calls her Bosmas, denoting idolatry. This is because Scripture goes on to say (27:1), “Yitzchok’s eyesight faded and he could not see.” Rashi there explains that this was due to the smoke of these wives [who burned incense to idols]. And if Scripture would have called her by a different name there, we would ask: Where do we find [any hint] that they burned incense [to idols]? Thus Scripture calls her by the name of Bosmas (incense), to indicate this. See there. (Maharshal) [You might ask]: Yehudis was the daughter of Be’eri the Chittite (26:34), while Oholivomoh was the daughter of Anoh the Chivite, [as it says here. How then could Rashi say that Yehudis and Oholivomoh are the same? The answer is:] Anoh and Be’eri is the same person with two names. Although Scripture connects him here to the Chivites and there to the Chittites, it is possible that his father was a Chittite, and his mother, a Chivite. You might ask: How does Rashi know that Yehudis is Oholivomoh? Perhaps Yehudis died, and Oholivomoh is another wife? Re’m answers: Because it is written, “Eisov took his wives,” rather than, “Eisov took wives.” This implies they were the same wives who were mentioned before.

Intensifying increasingly. Very vexing, contrarios, in O.F., as in, “who will rebel [יַמְרֶה] against your command,”¹³Yehoshua 1:18. [and as in,] “You have been contrary [מַמְרִים],”¹⁴Devorim 9:24. [and as in,] “and they were a source of spiritual bitterness [מֹרַת רוּח].”¹⁵Bereishis 26:38. Others interpret מוֹרֶה מְאֹד as “very low,” an expression of, “He hurled [יָרָה] into the sea.”¹⁶Shemos 15:4.