“Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” Genesis 25:30
Esau wasn’t a great thinker or planner. He tended to go with the flow and live for the moment. When he felt hungry, all that really mattered to him was getting some food.
This wasn’t the only time he acted on impulse. It seems that he probably did the same thing when it came to getting married. The Bible records a long story about how Abraham sent out a servant to find a wife for Isaac, and another long story about how Jacob found his wife. But with Esau, all we are told is that “he married two Hittite women” (26:34).
One of the Hittite women was named Judith, and the other was Basemath. You would have to be impulsive to marry a woman named Basemath! Imagine Valentine’s Day: “To my dearest darling, Basemath!” The only comment we find in the Bible on this marriage is that these two women were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah (26:35).
It does not seem that there was a great deal of thought that went into these marriages. Certainly, Esau did not act on the principle of finding a wife from among God’s people. It appears that he met a couple of women who were real stunners, and he didn’t stop to think. He acted on impulse and asked them both to marry him.
Here was a man whose whole approach to life is: I have to have what I want, and I have to have it now. He operated on the level of impulse.
Do you consider yourself more of a planner or more of an impulsive person?
