Genesis 28:6-9 (New International Version 2010)
6 Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman,” 7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan Aram. 8 Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac; 9 so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.
Esau knew how his father disliked Canaanite women. So what did he do? Of course, he married a Canaanite woman. This is spite:
spite: noun – a malicious, usually petty, desire to harm, annoy, frustrate, or humiliate another person; bitter ill will; malice.
Now let’s look at this from the actions of Esau’s father Isaac. Somehow, at sometime, in some way, he made it clear to Esau how much he disliked Canaanite women. We aren’t told how Isaac did this, but Esau knew it well. Note to parents:
Sometimes children will do the one thing that we despise the most in an effort to gain our attention the most.
I have heard parents say things like:
- if my son ever wore an ear ring, I would rip it right out of his head
- if I ever caught my kid smoking, I would shove those cigarettes down their throat
- the ugliest thing in the world is a yellow car
- kids who drop out of school are the laziest animals on earth
These are hateful things to say. I seem to recall the Bible talking about hating and saying hateful things. Generally, the Bible was “agin” (against) such hate. And yes, in time I saw children of people who said the above things doing just those things. Call it spite, call it seeking attention, whatever, but I think of it as leading our children to our hate. I discourage people from such. Please, let us as parents and leaders watch what we say.
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