“You Shall Not Commit Adultery” – Esau’s Wives, Samson’s Women, and the Battle for Covenant Seed
You think the Seventh Commandment is about sex.
It’s not.
It’s about whose seed will carry the covenant.
And the Torah plants it centuries before Sinai. It seems to be in two tents. There are two betrayals. Two women almost destroyed Abraham’s promise.
Genesis 26:34-35: “When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite. He also married Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite. And they were a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and Rebecca.”
Judges 14:1–3: “Samson went down to Timnah. He saw a woman there, a daughter of the Philistines. His father and mother said to him, ‘Is there no woman among your brothers’ daughters? Why do you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?’”
Two men. Two foreign women. Two grieving parents. One commandment screaming beneath the surface: Do not commit adultery with the covenant.
Rabbi David Fohrman discusses this concept in the Aleph Beta series on Samson and Toldot. He calls it the mirror of betrayal. Esau’s Hittite wives are akin to Samson’s Philistine women. Both threaten the seed of Abraham. Both turn the bedroom into a battlefield for Israel’s future.
The Chiastic Mirror – Wives, Women, and Covenant Seed
| Level | Toldot (Genesis 26–28) | Covenant Seed Threat | Samson (Judges 14–16) | Covenant Seed Threat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A – Foreign Wives | Esau marries two Hittite women (26:34–35) – “bitterness of spirit” to Isaac & Rebecca | Covenant seed polluted | Samson demands a Philistine wife from Timnah (14:1–3) – parents grieve | Covenant seed polluted |
| B – Parental Grief | Rebecca: “I loathe my life because of the Hittite women” (27:46) | Mother fears loss of Jacob’s line | Manoah & wife beg Samson not to take Philistine (14:3) | Parents fear loss of Nazirite line |
| C – Deception & Betrayal | Rebecca orchestrates Jacob’s deception to save the blessing (27) | Esau’s wives = indirect betrayal | Delilah betrays Samson for silver (16:5–18) | Philistine woman = direct betrayal |
| D – Loss of Strength | Esau loses blessing → vows to kill Jacob (27:41) | Covenant power stolen | Samson loses hair/strength → captured (16:19–21) | Nazirite power stolen |
| C’ – Redemption Path | Jacob sent to Laban to find proper wife (28:1–2) | Covenant seed protected | Samson’s hair regrows → final victory (16:22–30) | Nazirite power restored |
| B’ – Parental Legacy | Isaac blesses Jacob to become nations (28:3–4) | Parents secure the line | Samson’s death delivers Israel (16:30) | Parents’ vow fulfilled |
| A’ – Foreign Threat Ended | Esau’s line becomes Edom – perpetual enemy | Covenant seed preserved | Philistines crushed (16:30) | Covenant seed preserved |
The Chiastic Mirror
The Chiastic Mirror – Wives, Women, and Covenant Seed
| Level | Toldot (Genesis 26–28) | Covenant Seed Threat | Samson (Judges 14–16) | Covenant Seed Threat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A – Foreign Wives | Esau marries two Hittite women (26:34–35) – “bitterness of spirit” to Isaac & Rebecca | Covenant seed polluted | Samson demands a Philistine wife from Timnah (14:1–3) – parents grieve | Covenant seed polluted |
| B – Parental Grief | Rebecca: “I loathe my life because of the Hittite women” (27:46) | Mother fears loss of Jacob’s line | Manoah & wife beg Samson not to take Philistine (14:3) | Parents fear loss of Nazirite line |
| C – Deception & Betrayal | Rebecca orchestrates Jacob’s deception to save the blessing (27) | Esau’s wives = indirect betrayal | Delilah betrays Samson for silver (16:5–18) | Philistine woman = direct betrayal |
| D – Loss of Strength | Esau loses blessing → vows to kill Jacob (27:41) | Covenant power stolen | Samson loses hair/strength → captured (16:19–21) | Nazirite power stolen |
| C’ – Redemption Path | Jacob sent to Laban to find proper wife (28:1–2) | Covenant seed protected | Samson’s hair regrows → final victory (16:22–30) | Nazirite power restored |
| B’ – Parental Legacy | Isaac blesses Jacob to become nations (28:3–4) | Parents secure the line | Samson’s death delivers Israel (16:30) | Parents’ vow fulfilled |
| A’ – Foreign Threat Ended | Esau’s line becomes Edom – perpetual enemy | Covenant seed preserved | Philistines crushed (16:30) | Covenant seed preserved |
What Adultery Really Means
The Seventh Commandment is not about desire. It is about whose children will inherit the promise.
Esau’s Hittite wives threaten to dilute Abraham’s seed with Canaanite blood. Samson’s Philistine women threaten to hand Abraham’s promise to uncircumcised enemies.
Both are adultery against the covenant — sleeping with the wrong future.
Rebecca doesn’t complain about sex. She complains about the bitterness of spirit — the spiritual death of her grandchildren.
Delilah doesn’t just betray Samson’s body. She betrays his seed — the Nazirite calling meant to birth Israel’s deliverance.
The Torah’s message is brutal: Adultery is not private. It is treason against the next generation.
Why This Matters for Jewish Chosenness
Why This Matters for Jewish Chosenness
Every time a religion claims the Torah’s commandments while rejecting the Jewish people, they commit the Seventh Commandment in Toldot.
They spiritually sleep with foreign gods and birth a covenant that belongs to someone else.
But the Torah says the seed belongs to the children of the promise. It belongs to the family that grieved over Hittite wives in a tent in Beersheba.
As Rabbi Dr. Akiva Tatz teaches: “The Jewish people survive because we guard the purity of the seed — not racial, but covenantal.”
Internal Links – Continue the Series
- Essay 1: The Ten Commandments in Toldot – They Began with Rivkah, Not Sinai
- Essay 2: The Second Commandment in Toldot – Esau’s Rage and “No Other Gods”
- Essay 3: The Third Commandment in Toldot – “Why Should I Lose Both of You in One Day?”
- Essay 4: The Fourth Commandment in Toldot – The First Shabbat in Exile
- Essay 5: Shabbat for All Mankind – The Rainbow Sign
- Essay 6: The Sixth Commandment in Toldot – Hair That Binds Esau & Samson
Next in this 10-part series: Essay 8 – The Eighth Commandment in Toldot: “You Shall Not Steal” – The Blessing That Was Never Esau’s
His mothers never stopped guarding the seed. [Your Name] Beit HaShoavah – Return, Repent, Rejoice https://beithashoavah.org
Shalom from Hazan Gavriel ben David.