Esau’s wives and the question of cross-ethnic marriage in Genesis

Abstract

Esau‘s marriage to Hittite women has been explained by many as a wrongful act that placed him outside the chosen family. By this interpretation, commentators over the years have overtly and covertly endorsed ethnocentrism. As African readers, what are we to make of such interpretations, in the complex context of multiple ethnicities in Africa? In this paper, I interrogated the issue of crossethnic marriages in the Old Testament, using the case of Esau and his wives. Isolating three texts that focus on Esau‘s marriage (Gen 26:45, 27:46, and 28: 1-9), and using literary analysis, I read the texts in a way that suppresses the ethnocentric overtones of the narrative. This was achieved mainly through exploring the gaps within the narratives. My reading revealed that there was no explicit condemnation by the narrator of Esau’s marriage to Hittite women. It was also revealed that the behaviour of Esau’s wives towards their in-laws, not their ethnic background, was the source of strife. Since a poor management of the high ethnic and cultural diversities in African countries can lead to conflicts, African biblical scholars need to interrogate ethnocentric narratives through a constructive engagement with the Bible.