Marriage: Uniting with a Curse? or with a Blessing?

In this passage we continue to trace the family with which God had established His covenant, and through which He has promised to bring the Messiah. But sadly, we see them in the condition that God’s people so often are in - living far too much by their senses rather than by God’s word. It is not that they entirely ignore God’s word though - they live with reference to His promises for the most part... but they try to handle spiritual responsibilities by the light of nature and often follow their own desires rather than God’s word.
The whole story about Jacob and Esau contending for the blessing is framed by this account about the kind of woman they each marry. At the beginning we see Esau’s improper marriage to two Hittite women, who were among those God nations that God had cursed. At the end we see the plans laid for Jacob to marry women who were not among the people of Canaan that God had cursed. The Holy Spirit has surrounded the account of Jacob and Esau’s pursuit of the blessing with this talk about the kind of women they marry. One son unites in marriage to God’s curse, the other to God’s blessing. This is a matter of great concern for all of us in the church.
We should all be doing our part to encourage those who marry among us to marry only in the Lord. The heart of the matter goes beyond marriage - it has to do with what you join yourself to every day. Do you join yourself to that which brings blessing and fruitfulness in God’s kingdom; or that which brings cursing and death?