Esau in the
Hebrew BibleThe Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
, is the oldest son of
IsaacIsaac as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and was the father of Jacob and Esau. Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites...
. He is mentioned in the Book of Genesis, and by the
minor prophetMinor prophets is a book of the Hebrew Bible, so named because it contains twelve shorter prophetic works. In Christian Bibles the twelve are presented as individual books...
s,
ObadiahObadiah is a Biblical theophorical name, meaning "servant of Yahweh" or "worshipper of Yahweh." It is related to "Abdeel", "servant of God", which is also cognate to the Arabic name "Abdullah". Turkish name Abdil or Abdi. The form of Obadiah's name used in the Septuagint is Obdios; in Latin it is...
and
MalachiMalachi, Malachias or Mal'achi was a Jewish prophet in the Hebrew Bible. He had two brothers, Nathaniel and Josiah. Malachi was the writer of the Book of Malachi, the last book of the Neviim section in the Jewish Tanakh...
. The
New TestamentThe New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
later references him in the Book of Romans and the Book of Hebrews.
Esau is the progenitor of the Edomites and the twin brother of
JacobJacob "heel" or "leg-puller"), also later known as Israel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Qur'an was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.In the...
, the patriarch of the Israelites. Esau and Jacob were the sons of Isaac and Rebekah, and the grandsons of
AbrahamAbraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
and
SarahSarah or Sara was the wife of Abraham and the mother of Isaac as described in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. Her name was originally Sarai...
. Of the twins, Esau was the first to be born with Jacob following. Isaac was sixty years old and Rebekah is believed to have been much younger when the boys were born. The grandfather Abraham was supposedly still alive, being about 160 years old at that time.
Esau, a "son of the desert" became a hunter who had "rough" qualities that distinguished him from his twin brother. Jacob was a shy or simple man, depending on the translation of the Hebrew word "Tam" (which also means "relatively perfect man"). Throughout Genesis, Esau is frequently shown as being supplanted by his younger twin Jacob (Israel).
Birth of Esau
narrates Esau's birth, "Now the first came forth, red all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau." In
HebrewHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, the name Esau means "hairy" (Heb:
se’ir) a wordplay on
SeirSeir . It is sometimes used as an alternative term for a goat, as in Seir La'Azazel .* Seir - "Prince" in Ancient Egyptian, a name used by the Egyptians to refer the god of the dead known to the Greeks as Osiris...
, the region he settled in
EdomEdom or Idumea was a historical region of the Southern Levant located south of Judea and the Dead Sea. It is mentioned in biblical records as a 1st millennium BC Iron Age kingdom of Edom, and in classical antiquity the cognate name Idumea was used to refer to a smaller area in the same region...
after being 40 years of age where he became the progenitor of the Edomites. The name
Edom is also attributed to Esau, meaning "red" (Heb:
`admoni); its location being a mountainous region abundandant with red rock.
Genesis parallels his redness to the "red pottage" that he sold his birthright for.
Birthright
In Genesis, Esau returned to his brother Jacob being famished from the fields. He begged his twin brother to give him some "red pottage". (paralleling his nickname,
`Edom, meaning "Red". Jacob offered to give Esau a bowl of stew in exchange for his birthright (the right to be recognized as firstborn), and Esau agreed. Thus Jacob fairly buys/exchanges Esau's birthright.
In , Jacob uses deception, motivated by his mother Rebekah, to lay claim on his father Isaac's blessing that was inherently due to the firstborn, Esau.
In , Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for venison to bring home, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Behold, I heard thy father speak to thy brother Esau, saying: 'Bring me venison and prepare a savory food, that I may eat, and bless thee before the Lord before my death.'" Rebekah then instructs Jacob in an elaborate deception through which Jacob pretends to be Esau, in order to steal from Esau Isaac's blessing and birthright—which in theory Esau had agreed to give to Jacob. As a result, Jacob becomes the spiritual leader of the family after Isaac's death and the heir of the promises of Abraham .
Esau, naturally, is furious and vows to kill Jacob . Once again Rebekah intervenes to save her youngest son Jacob from being murdered by her eldest son, Esau.
Therefore, at Rebekah's urging, Jacob flees to a distant land to work for a relative, Laban . Jacob does not immediately receive his father's inheritance after the elaborate deception aimed at taking it from Esau. Jacob having fled for his life, leaves behind the wealth of Isaac's flocks and land and tents in Esau's hands. Jacob is forced to sleep out on the open ground and then work for wages as a servant in Laban's household. Jacob, who had deceived and cheated his brother, is in turn deceived and cheated by his relative Laban concerning Jacob's seven years of service (lacking money for a dowry) for the hand of Rachel, receiving Leah instead. However, despite Laban, Jacob eventually becomes so rich as to incite the envy of Laban and Laban's sons.
tells of Jacob and Esau's eventual reconciliation. Esau showed forgiveness in spite of this bitter conflict. Jacob sends multiple waves of gifts to Esau as they approach each other in hopes of Esau sparing his life. Esau refuses the gifts, as he is now very wealthy and does not need them. Jacob never apologizes to Esau for his actions through the sending of these gifts. Jacob nevertheless bows down before Esau and insists on his receiving the gifts. (After this, God confirms his renaming of Jacob as "Israel".
Family
describes Esau's marriage at the age of forty to two
CanaaniteCanaanite may refer to:*Canaan and Canaanite people, a historical/Biblical region and people in the area of the present-day Gaza Strip, Israel, West Bank, and Lebanon.*Canaanite languages*Canaanite religion...
women:
JudithJudith , the feminine form of Judah.Judith is the name of one of the two Hittite wives of Esau in the Book of Genesis 26:34. Reportedly, Esau's two wives were a great deal of annoyance to his parents Isaac and Rebekah. As with in-laws in contemporary times, it is not uncommon for a few families to...
the daughter of Beeri the
HittiteThe Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...
, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. This arrangement grieved his parents. Upon seeing that his brother was blessed and that his father rejected the union of a Canaanite, Esau went to the house of his uncle
IshmaelIshmael is a figure in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, and was Abraham's first born child according to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Ishmael was born of Abraham's marriage to Sarah's handmaiden Hagar...
and married his cousin,
MahalathMahalath was the third mentioned wife of Esau, a daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebajoth. Esau took Mahalath from the house of Ishmael to be his wife, after seeing that his Canaanite wives displeased his father, Isaac...
the daughter of Ishmael, and sister of Nebajoth. Esau's family is again revisited in , this passage names two Canaanite wives; Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite and
AholibamahAholibamah , is a minor biblical person in the Book of Genesis....
the daughter of Anah daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, and a third: Bashemath, Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebajoth. Some scholars equate the three wives mentioned in Genesis 26 with those in Genesis 36. Casting his lot with the Ishmaelite tribe, he was able to drive the Horites out of
Mount SeirMount Seir formed the south-east border of Edom and Judah, it may also echo the older historical border of Egypt and Canaan.-Tanakh:Mount Seir is specifically noted as the place that Esau made his home . It was named for Seir, the Horite, whose sons inhabited the land...
to settle in that region.
Esau had five sons.
By Adah:
- Eliphaz
Eliphaz was the first-born son of Esau by his wife Adah. He had six sons, one of whom was Amalek, born to his concubine Timna, who was the ancestral enemy of the Israelite people ....
By
AholibamahAholibamah , is a minor biblical person in the Book of Genesis....
:
- Jeush
- Jalam
- Korah
Korah or Kórach Some older English translations, as well as the Douay Bible), spell the name Core, and many Eastern European translations have Korak...
By Bashemath:
- Reuel
Minor prophet references
Esau was also known as Edom, the progenitor of the Edomites who were established to the south of the Israelites. They were an enemy nation of Israel. The minor prophets, such as
ObadiahObadiah is a Biblical theophorical name, meaning "servant of Yahweh" or "worshipper of Yahweh." It is related to "Abdeel", "servant of God", which is also cognate to the Arabic name "Abdullah". Turkish name Abdil or Abdi. The form of Obadiah's name used in the Septuagint is Obdios; in Latin it is...
, claim that the Edomites participated in the destruction of the First Temple by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 B.C. Exactly how the Edomites participated is not clear. Psalm 137 ("By the waters of Babylon") suggests merely that Edom had encouraged the Babylonians: The Lord is asked to "remember against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said 'raze it, raze it to its foundations'" (Psalm 137: 7). But the prophecy of Obadiah insists on the literal "violence done" by Esau "unto your brother Jacob" when the Edomites "entered the gate of my people..., looted his goods..., stood at the parting of the ways to cut off the fugitive,... delivered up his survivors on his day of distress." (Obadiah 10, 13-14). By the intertestamental period, Edom had replaced Babylon as the nation that actually burned the Temple ("Thou hast also vowed to build thy temple, which the Edomites burned when Judah was laid waste by the Chaldees" [1 Esdras 45]).
New Testament references
depicts Esau as unspiritual for thoughtlessly throwing away his birthright.
Jewish tradition
Jewish commentaries have shed a negative view on Esau because of his rivalry with Jacob. He is considered to be a rebellious son who kept a double life until he was 15, when he sold his birthright to Jacob. According to the
TalmudThe Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
, the sale of the birthright took place immediately after Abraham died. The Talmudic dating would give both Esau and Jacob an age of 15 at the time. It is also suggested that the death of Abraham on the same day was appropriate, so that he would not witness the demise of his grandson Esau. The lentils Jacob was cooking were meant for his father Isaac, because lentils are the traditional mourner's meal for Jews. Jacob coerced Esau to sell his birthright, because he knew that Esau was not sufficiently responsible to receive it.
Jubilees
In the
Book of JubileesThe Book of Jubilees , sometimes called Lesser Genesis , is an ancient Jewish religious work, considered one of the pseudepigrapha by Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox Churches...
, Esau's father, Isaac, compels Esau to swear not to attack or kill Jacob after Isaac has died. However, after the death of Isaac, the sons of Esau convince their father to lead them, and hired mercenaries, against Jacob in order to kill Jacob and his family and seize their wealth (especially the portion of Isaac's wealth that Isaac had left to Jacob upon his death). In the ensuing battle, then the brothers come and make peace.
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