March 5, 2026

Why were Isaac and Rebekah grieved that Esau married Hittite wives? I used to think that marrying outside of the covenant was grievous because you and your spouse don't share the same believes and won't be able to teach your children the gospel in a unified manner. While that is still absolutely true, a better understanding of "covenant" reframes this for me.

In the church, we often talk about covenants as two-way promises - a contract. But the Hebrew translation and meaning was more akin to "relationship", hence the term covenant relationship. It is much less a contact that you honor, but your relationship you enter into with the Lord. This also adds greater intimacy to the phrase "keeping our covenants" - keeping and nurturing our relationship with our Savior in fidelity.

Marrying outside of the covenant is marrying outside of one's relationship with the Lord. A marriage is a relationship that includes wife, husband, and the Lord. Cutting the Lord out of that relationship (and there are many ways to do this besides marrying outside of the covenant) creates a conflict of interest and will generate infidelity to either the Lord or the spouse. Either way, there will be sorrow.

Symbolic comparison of Esau vs Jacob. Esau spent his time in the "field", which is symbolic of the world. Jacob spent his time in "tents", which symbolize tabernacles or temples. The text says Jacob was "plain", and the footnote says "perfect". He was perfect in following the gospel. We must be in the world, but not of the world.

Do I throw away blessings by cutting my fast short to scarf down a mess of pottage?