Why did God regulate who the covenant people of Israel married?
God regulated marriage because He was preparing and preserving the covenant people of Israel and keeping them under His sovereign control. Canaanite wives were not to be taken for Isaac, and Esau’s Canaanite marriages brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
Les explains that Abraham sent his servant back to the land of his relatives—now known as Syrians—to get a bride for Isaac, even though there were women in Canaan. The reason was that Isaac was not to take a Canaanite wife. Later Esau married two Canaanite women, and Scripture says they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah. Les ties this to God preparing everything for the covenant people of Israel and keeping them under His thumb. Even today, Israel in unbelief remains the covenant people under God’s sovereign watch, so He had to make sure who they married.