Esau

Esau is the elder son of Isaac in the Hebrew Bible. He is mentioned in the Book of Genesis and by the prophets Obadiah and Malachi. The story of Jacob and Esau reflects the historical relationship between Israel and Edom, aiming to explain why Israel, despite being a younger kingdom, dominated Edom. The Christian New Testament alludes to him in the Epistle to the Romans and in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

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 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.

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.

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. Others have noted the similarity to . The name Edom () is also attributed to Esau, meaning "red"; Upon seeing that his brother was blessed and that their father rejected Esau's union to 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 , 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.

Esau had five sons:

By Adah: Eliphaz
By Aholibamah: Jeush, Jaalam, Korah
By Basemath: Reuel

Family tree

Other references

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 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".

By the intertestamental period, Edom had replaced Babylon as the nation that burned the Temple ("Thou hast also vowed to build thy temple, which the Edomites burned when Judah was laid waste by the Chaldees").

Jubilees

thumb|Isaac kills Esau

In the Book of Jubilees, 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 hire mercenaries against Jacob 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). "Then Ya'aqov bent his bow and sent forth the arrow and struck Esau, his brother on his right breast and slew him (Jubilees 38:2) . . . Ya'aqov buried his brother on the hill which is in Aduram, and he returned to his house (Jubilees 38:9b)."

New Testament references

depicts Esau as unspiritual for thoughtlessly throwing away his birthright. states, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated," based upon .

In Islamic tradition

According to Islamic scholars, the prophet Ayyub was the great-grandson of Esau's son Reuel.

Rabbinic Jewish sources

The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan connects the name Esau to the Hebrew asah, stating, "because he was born fully completed, with hair of the head, beard, teeth, and molars." Other traditional sources connect the word with .

Jewish commentaries have a negative view of Esau because of his rivalry with Jacob and likewise viewed the apparent reconciliation between the brothers described in Genesis 32–33 as insincere on Esau's part. The midrash says that during Rebecca's pregnancy, whenever she would pass a house of Torah study, Jacob would struggle to come out; whenever she would pass a house of idolatry, Esau would agitate to come out.

He is considered to be a rebellious son who kept a double life until he was fifteen when he sold his birthright to Jacob. According to the Talmud, the sale of the birthright took place immediately after Abraham died. The Talmudic dating would give both Esau and Jacob an age of fifteen at the time. The lentils Jacob was cooking were meant for his father Isaac because lentils are the traditional mourner's meal for Jews. On that day before returning, in a rage over the death of Abraham, Esau committed five sins; he raped a betrothed young woman, he committed murder (Nimrod), he denied God, he denied the resurrection of the dead, and he spurned his birthright.

Haman's lineage is given in the Targum Sheni as follows: "Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, son of Srach, son of Buza, son of Iphlotas, son of Dyosef, son of Dyosim, son of Prome, son of Ma'dei, son of Bla'akan, son of Intimros, son of Haridom, son of Sh'gar, son of Nigar, son of Farmashta, son of Vayezatha, (son of Agag, son of Sumkei,) son of Amalek, son of the concubine of Eliphaz, firstborn son of Esau".

According to Rashi, Isaac, when blessing Jacob in Esau's place, smelled the heavenly scent of Gan Eden (Paradise) when Jacob entered his room and, in contrast, perceived Gehenna opening beneath Esau when the latter entered the room, showing him that he had been deceived all along by Esau's show of piety.

In Jewish folklore, the Roman emperor Titus was a descendant of Esau.

Death

According to the Babylonian Talmud, Esau was killed by Hushim, son of Dan, son of Jacob, because Esau obstructed the burial of Jacob into the cave of Machpelah. When Jacob was brought to be buried in the cave, Esau prevented the burial, claiming he had the right to be buried in the cave; after some negotiation Naphtali was sent to Egypt to retrieve the document stating Esau sold his part in the cave to Jacob. Hushim (who was hard of hearing) did not understand what was going on, and why his grandfather was not being buried, so he asked for an explanation; after being given one he became angry and said: "Is my grandfather to lie there in contempt until Naphtali returns from the land of Egypt?" He then took a club and killed Esau, and Esau's head rolled into the cave. This means that the head of Esau is also buried in the cave.

Jewish sources state that Esau sold his right to be buried in the cave. According to Shemot Rabbah, Jacob gave all his possessions to acquire a tomb in the Cave of the Patriarchs. He put a large pile of gold and silver before Esau and asked, "My brother, do you prefer your portion of this cave, or all this gold and silver?" Esau's selling to Jacob his right to be buried in the Cave of the Patriarchs is also recorded in Sefer HaYashar.

Reputed grave on the West Bank

South of the Palestinian town of Sa'ir on the West Bank there is a tomb reputed to be that of Esau – El 'Ais in his Arab name.

The PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) wrote:

The SWP stated this identification was false and that Esau's tomb was in the Biblical Mount Seir.

Gallery

File:Holman esau going for venison.jpg|Esau Going for Venison (illustration from the 1890 Holman Bible)

File:Giotto di Bondone 080.jpg|Isaac upon Esau's Return (fresco circa 1292–1294 by Giotto di Bondone)

File:Maitre Birth of Esau and Jacob (detail).jpg|Birth of Esau and Jacob (illumination circa 1475–1480 by François Maitre from Augustine's La Cité de Dieu, at the Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum)

File:Master of Jean de Mandeville The Birth of Esau and Jacob.jpg|The Birth of Esau and Jacob (illumination by Master of Jean de Mandeville, Paris, from a Bible Historiale c. 1360–1370)

File:Jan van den Hoecke - Jacob and Esau are reconciled.jpg|The reconciliation of Jacob and Esau (1640 painting by Jan van den Hoecke)

File:Esau Sells His Birthright for Pottage of Lentils (5752683).jpg|Esau Sells His Birthright (from the 1728 Figures de la Bible)