Genesis 26:35

_WHICH WERE A GRIEF OF MIND UNTO ISAAC AND TO REBEKAH._ Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah. [The Septuagint has: kai eesan erizousai too Isaak, kai tee Rebekka, and were contentious or obstreperous to Isaac and Rebekah]....

34,35 Esau was foolish in marrying two wives together, and still more in marrying Canaanites, strangers to the blessing of Abraham, and subject to the curse of Noah. It grieved his parents that he married without their advice and consent. It grieved them that he married among those who had no religion. Children have little reason to expect God's blessing who do that which is a grief of mind to good parents....

Verse Genesis 26:35. _WHICH WERE A GRIEF OF MIND_] Not the _marriage_, though that was improper, but the _persons_; they, by their perverse and evil ways, brought bitterness into the hearts of Isaac and Rebekah. The Targum of _Jonathan ben Uzziel_, and that of _Jerusalem_, say they were addicted to idol worship, and rebelled against and would not hearken to the instructions either of Isaac or Rebekah. From _Canaanites_ a different conduct could not be reasonably expected. Esau was far from being _spiritual_, and his wives were wholly _carnal_. THE same reflections which were suggested by Abraham's conduct in denying his wife in Egypt and Gerar, will apply to that of Isaac; but the case of Isaac was much less excusable than that of Abraham. The latter told no _falsity_; he only through fear suppressed a part of the truth

- The Events of Isaac’s Life 5. משׁמרת _mı̂shmeret_, “charge, ordinance.” מציה _mı̂tsvâh_, “command,” special order. חק _choq_, “decree, statute,” engraven on stone or metal. תירה _tôrâh_, “law,” doctrine, system of moral truth. 10. עשׂק _‛__êśeq_, ‘Eseq, “strife.” 21. שׂטנה _śı̂ṭnâh_, Sitnah, “opposition.” 22. רחבית _r__e__chobôt_, Rechoboth, “room.” 26. אחזת...

EXPOSITION GENESIS 26:23 AND HE (viz; Isaac) WENT UP FROM THENCE (Rehoboth, where latterly he had been encamped) TO BEER-SHEBA—a former residence of Abraham (Genesis 21:33), situated "near the water-shed between the Mediterranean and the Salt Sea" (Murphy), hence approached from the low-lying wady by an ascent. GENESIS 26:24 AND THE LORD APPEARED UNTO HIM THE SAME NIGHT (_i_._e_. the night of his arrival at Beersheba), AND SAID (in a dream or vision), I (the pronoun is emphatic) AM THE GOD (the Elohim) of Abraham t

WHICH WERE A GRIEF OF MIND UNTO ISAAC, AND TO REBEKAH. The marriage of them itself was a trouble to them, it being contrary to their will that any of their children should marry with the Canaanites, and those the worst sort of them, the Hittites; it having been the care of Abraham, the father of Isaac, that his son should not marry with them, and laid a strict injunction on his servant not to take a wife for his son from among them; and which was an example to be followed in later times, and which Esau very likely was not ignorant of: and besides this, the women themselves he took for wives were very disagreeable on all accounts, partly because of their religion, being idolaters, and partly by reason of their temper and behaviour, being proud, haughty, and disobedient; as all the three Targums intimate....

CHAPTER 26 ISAAC IN GERAR _ 1. The famine (Genesis 26:1)_ 2. Jehovah appears unto Isaac (Genesis 26:2) 3. Isaac in Gerar where he denies Rebekah (Genesis 26:6) 4. Isaac's prosperity and the digging of wells (Genesis 26:12) 5. Jehovah appears at Beersheba (Genesis 26:23) 6. Isaac and Abimelech (Genesis 26:26) 7. The wives of Esau ...

GENESIS 26. ISAAC AND THE PHILISTINES. Apart from Genesis 26:34 f. this chapter belongs to J. The original has been expanded in Genesis 26:1, and Genesis 26:15; Genesis 26:18 are harmonistic insertions. Apart from Genesis 26:12 the incidents are parallel to incidents recorded of Abraham. On the relation to the earlier adventures of Sarah in Egypt and Gerar, see Genesis 26:20 *. The incident is misplaced; obviously it is earlier than the birth of Esau and Jacob.

GRIEF. Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Effect), grief put for that which caused it. No wonder it caused "bitterness of spirit" when we remember who the Canaanites were. MIND. spirit. Hebrew. _ruach._ See App-9....

_a grief of mind_ Heb. _bitterness of spirit_. Cf. Genesis 27:46; Genesis 28:8. Isaac and Rebekah regarded a mixed marriage with the people of the land as a source of dishonour to the race; cf. Genesis 24:3. By "a grief of mind" we should understand soreness and disappointment; cf. Proverbs 14:10. The LXX ἐρίζουσαι, Lat. _offenderant animam_, took the meaning to be that Judith and Basemath were quarrelsome, and had given offence to Esau's parents....