Esau

According to the Hebrew Bible, Esau is the progenitor of the Edomites and the elder brother of Jacob, the patriarch of the Israelites. Jacob and Esau were the sons of Isaac and Rebecca, and the grandsons of Abraham and Sarah. Of the twins, Esau was the first to be born with Jacob following, holding his heel. Isaac was sixty years old when the boys were born.

Esau, a "man of the field", became a hunter who had "rough" qualities that distinguished him from his twin brother. Among these qualities were his redness and noticeable hairiness. Jacob was a plain or simple man, depending on the translation of the Hebrew word tam (which also means "relatively perfect man"). Jacob's color was not mentioned. Throughout Genesis, Esau is frequently shown as being supplanted by his younger twin, Jacob (Israel).

The Christian New Testament alludes to him in the Epistle to the Romans and in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

According to the Muslim tradition, the prophet Yaqub, or Israel, was the favorite of his mother, and his twin brother Esau was the favorite of his father, prophet Ishaq, and he is mentioned in the "Story of Ya'qub" in Qisas al-Anbiya.

Esau in the Hebrew Bible

In Genesis

The story of Esau and Jacob reflects the historical relationship between Israel and Edom, aiming to explain why Israel, despite being a younger kingdom, dominated Edom.

Birth

Genesis 25:21-23 reports that Rebecca for a long time was unable to conceive. Eventually she became pregnant with twins, who struggled with each other in her womb. Genesis 25:25 narrates Esau's birth: "Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau." The meaning of the word esau itself is not entirely certain. Others have noted the similarity to Arabic: عثا, romanized: ʿaṯā, lit. 'hirsute'. The name Edom (Hebrew: אדום, romanized: ʾĔḏōm) is also attributed to Esau, meaning "red"; the same color is used to describe the color of his hair. Genesis parallels his redness to the "red lentil pottage" that he sold his birthright for. Esau became the progenitor of the Edomites in Mount Seir.

Birthright

In Genesis, Esau returned to his twin brother Jacob, famished from the fields. He begs Jacob to give him some "red pottage" (a play on his nickname, Edom.) This refers to his red hair. Jacob offers Esau a bowl of lentil stew (Hebrew: נְזִיד עֲדָשִׁ֔ים, romanized: nəziḏ ʿăḏāšim) in exchange for Esau's birthright (Hebrew: בְּכֹרָה, romanized: bəḵorā), the right to be recognized as firstborn son with authority over the family, and Esau agrees. Thus Jacob acquires Esau's birthright. This is the origin of the English phrase "to sell one's birthright for a mess of pottage".

In Genesis 27:1–40, Jacob deceives his blind father Isaac, motivated by his mother, Rebekah, to lay claim to the blessing that was inherently due to the firstborn, Esau. Rebekah overhears Isaac speaking to Esau. When Esau goes to the field to hunt for venison to bring home, Rebekah says to 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 exercise in which Jacob pretends to be Esau, in order to steal from Esau his blessing from Isaac and his inheritance, which in theory Esau had already agreed to give to Jacob. Jacob follows through with the plan to steal his brother's birthright by bringing the meal his father Isaac requested and pretending to be Esau. Jacob pulled off his disguise by covering himself in hairy kid goat skin so that when his blind father went to touch him, his smooth skin did not give him away as an imposter of his hairy brother. Jacob successfully received his father Isaac's blessing (Genesis 27:27–29). As a result, Jacob became the spiritual leader of the family after Isaac's death, and the heir of the promises of Abraham (Genesis 27:37).

When Esau learns of his brother's deception, he is livid and begs his father to undo the blessing. Isaac responds to his eldest son's plea by saying that he only had one blessing to give and that he could not reverse the sacred blessing. Isaac promises Esau a life of service to his brother instead (Genesis 27:39–40). Esau is furious and vows to kill Jacob (Genesis 27:41). Once again Rebekah intervenes to save her younger son from being murdered by his elder twin brother, Esau. At Rebekah's urging, Jacob then flees to a distant land, Paddan-aram (towards Harran) to work for his uncle Laban (Genesis 28:5). Jacob does not immediately receive his father's inheritance after the impersonation aimed at taking it from Esau. Having fled for his life, Jacob has left the wealth of Isaac's flocks, 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 uncle. Jacob asks to marry Laban's daughter Rachel, whom he has met at the well, and Laban agrees, if Jacob will give him seven years of service. Jacob does so, but after the wedding finds that beneath the veil is not Rachel but Leah, Laban's elder daughter. He agrees to work another seven years and Jacob and Rachel are finally wed. However, despite Laban, Jacob eventually becomes so rich as to incite the envy of Laban and Laban's sons.

Genesis 32–33 tells of Jacob's and Esau's eventual reconciliation. Jacob sends multiple waves of gifts to Esau as they approach each other, hoping that Esau will spare his life. Esau refuses the gifts, as he is now very wealthy and does not need them. Jacob bows down before Esau and insists on his receiving the gifts. Esau shows forgiveness in spite of this bitter conflict. He then asks Jacob to follow him to the South but Jacob decides later to move to the North.

Family

Genesis 26:34–35 describes Esau's marriage at the age of forty to two Canaanite women: Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. This arrangement grieved his parents. Later, upon seeing that his brother was blessed and that their father rejected Esau's unions with the Canaanites, Esau went to the house of his uncle Ishmael and married his cousin, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, and sister of Nebaioth.

Esau's family is again revisited in Genesis 36. This passage names two Canaanite wives; Adhah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, and a third: Bashemath, Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebaioth. Some scholars equate the three wives mentioned in Genesis 26 and 28 with those in Genesis 36. Casting his lot with the Ishmaelites, he was able to drive the Horites out of Mount Seir to settle in that region. According to some views, Esau is considered to be the progenitor not only of the Edomites but of the Kenizzites and the Amalekites as well.

Esau had five sons:

• Eliphaz, whose mother was Adah
• Jeush, Jaalam, Korah, whose mother was Aholibamah
• Reuel, whose mother was Basemath.

Family tree

Minor prophets

Esau was also known as Edom, the progenitor of the Edomites who were established to the south of the Israelites. They were an ancient enemy nation of Israel. The minor prophets, such as Obadiah, claim that the Edomites participated in the destruction of Solomon's Temple in the siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. Exactly how the Edomites participated is not clear. Psalm 137 ("By the waters of Babylon") suggests merely that Edom had encouraged the Babylonians: God is asked to "remember against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said 'raze it, raze it to its foundations'" in Psalm 137:7. However, the prophecy of Obadiah insists on the literal "violence done" by Esau "unto [his] 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".