The Bible makes several mentions of Esau’s wives in Genesis. Unfortunately, these accounts were far from happy reading as Esau disobeyed his parents by marrying Canaanites instead. These decisions caused immense grief for Isaac and Rebekah who had to endure Esau’s foolish decisions as their offspring.
Genesis 26:34 lists Esau’s wives as Judith, daughter of Beeri and Basemath as Hittite wives of Elon, as well as Adah the daughter of Zibeon and Oholibamah the daughter of Heth, Hivite wives. Furthermore, Scripture also provides insight into these differences between these women.
Some of Esau’s sons were leaders in Edom. For instance, descendants of Judith gave rise to Jeush, Jalam and Korah; Bashemath gave rise to Amalek who became one of Israel’s fiercest foes; Timna gave rise to Gatam who would go on to form another powerful tribe within Israel’s borders; Gatam bore Amalek his younger brother Gatam.
Esau was blessed with another daughter named Mahalath; according to Jewish rabbis, Mahalath means ‘forgiveness’ in Hebrew; her name could represent Esau’s hope that his father forgive him for marrying Canaanite wives.
Rabbinic scholars also believe Mahalath was part of Jacob’s plan to kill Jacob and inherit both families, freeing himself from Abraham and Isaac’s obligations, by marrying her – known as poetic license (Bava Batra 16b). For this reason alone, Canaanite marriages were prohibited as violations against halakhah law and considered unacceptable practices by Jewish rabbis.