Esau (/[invalid input: 'icon']ˈiːsɔː/; Hebrew: Template:Hebrew; Standard Hebrew: Esav; Tiberian Hebrew: ʿĒśāw; ISO 259-3 ʕeśaw; Greek: Ἡσαῦ; Arabic: عِيسُو "Hairy"^[1] or "Rough"^[2]), in the Hebrew Bible, is the oldest son of Isaac. He is mentioned in the Book of Genesis, and by the minor prophets, Obadiah^[3] and Malachi.^[4] The New Testament later references him in St Paul's Letter to the Romans^[5] and in the Letter to the Hebrews.^[6]

Esau is the progenitor of the Edomites and the twin brother of Jacob, the patriarch of the Israelites.^[7] Esau and Jacob were the sons of Isaac and Rebekah, and the grandsons of Abraham and Sarah. 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 ^[1] who had "rough"^[2] 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").^[7] Throughout Genesis, Esau is frequently shown as being supplanted by his younger twin Jacob (Israel).^[8]

Esau in Genesis

Birth of Esau

Genesis 25:25 narrates Esau's birth, "Now the first came forth, red all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau." <http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Genesis-25-25/> In Hebrew, the name Esau means "hairy" (Heb: se’ir) a wordplay on Seir,^[8] the region he settled in Edom 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);^[8] the same color describing Esau's skintone.<http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Genesis-25-25/> Genesis parallels his redness to the "red pottage" that he sold his birthright for.^[1] (Genesis 25:30)

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, Hebrew: אדום`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. This is believed to be the origin of the English phrase "mess of pottage".

In Genesis 27:1–40, 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 Genesis 27:5–7, 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 (Genesis 27:37).

Esau, naturally, is furious and vows to kill Jacob (Genesis 27:41). 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 (Genesis 28:5). 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.

Genesis 32–33 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".)

Ancient Background of Esau

The original homeland of the tribe of Esau was in the Mount Seir region, southeast of the Dead Sea. The term Mount Seir was used to describe Esau’s descendants who lived there. The term Edom is also used to describe the descendants of Esau in any geographical location. Edom, meaning “red,” is interchangeable with Esau or any of the House of Esau. Another term to describe Esau or Edom is Idumea. Sometimes the name of the leading tribe of Esau, “Teman,” is used to address all of Esau, just as Ephraim is sometimes used in prophecy to describe the House of Israel.

The following verses tell of Esau’s migration from Canaan: “And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob. For their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle. Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom” (Gen. 36:6-8).

Esau took three wives: “Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom. Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan; Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite; and Bashemath [the same person as Mahalath of Gen. 28:9] Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebajoth. And Adah bare to Esau Eliphaz; and Bashemath bare Reuel; And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these are the sons of Esau, which were born unto him in the land of Canaan” (Gen. 36:1-5).

Esau had five sons. Eliphaz, the firstborn, also had six sons, each constituting a major tribe of the House of Esau. By his concubine, Eliphaz had another son, named Amalek. Together with the sons of Esau’s other sons, there were 14 dukes or sovereign princes. Each of these became tribes that grew into nations—some of which mixed with other peoples, others remaining as cohesive nations. The most notable of the lineages was the Esau-Eliphaz-Teman line, from which sprang the Ottoman Turks.

Some Bible students assume that these tribes somehow remained in Mount Seir for over two millennia, until they migrated north to conquer Asia Minor—known today as Turkey. The name Turk is derived from Turkestan, where the Turks had settled. Many Caucasian Osmanli Turks of modern Turkey had settled in western Turkestan before the eleventh century. The ruling family of the Osmanli Turks was the Ottomans, a leading tribe descended from Teman/Teoman (Gen. 36:11, 15).

No known bloodline exists between the Mongoloid Turks of Turkestan and the descendants of Esau who intermixed with the Oriental lineages of Japheth. However, there is a definite tie between the Osmanli Turks and Esau. A connection to the Esau bloodline with the warlike Tartars probably existed in some major branches or tribes, but to a lesser extent with the Mongols. In the Middle Ages, while the Ottoman Turks threatened European civilization in the West, the Tartars and related tribes were an ongoing threat to the civilizations bordering the steppes of Central Asia.

The Seljuk Turks had conquered most of Asia Minor by about 1070 A.D. The Caucasian Osmanli Turks gained control of the Turkish movement in the 1200s, actually gaining control of the Holy Land from that time until they surrendered it to the British in 1917—about 700 years! Before the Ottomans gained control, the Seljuk Turk advance had been in progress for nearly three centuries. After conquering Asia Minor, the Ottomans moved into southeastern Europe, and, by the early 1400s, conquered a number of countries in that region. Their relentless drive continued for centuries, only to be stopped by Charles V, who was backed by the united factions of Germans at Vienna (Austria), about 1532.

Even though the descendants of Esau were denied the birthright from Isaac, they always maintained a great desire to control the Holy Land—and much more! They continued to vie for control of all Europe until their failed attempt to take Vienna in 1683. After the 1700s, their struggles in Europe were defensive, as the Europeans gradually reclaimed much of their land.

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 Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. This arrangement grieved his parents.^[9] 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 Ishmael and married his cousin,^[10] Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, and sister of Nebajoth. Esau's family is again revisited in Genesis 36, this passage names two Canaanite wives; Adah 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 Nebajoth. Some scholars equate the three wives mentioned in Genesis 26 with those in Genesis 36.^[11][12] Casting his lot with the Ishmaelite tribe, he was able to drive the Horites out of Mount Seir to settle in that region.^[1]

Esau had five sons. (Genesis 36:4–5)

By Adah:

1. Eliphaz

By Aholibamah:

1. Jeush
2. Jalam
3. Korah

By Bashemath:

1. Reuel

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 enemy nation of Israel.^[13] The minor prophets, such as Obadiah, 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

Hebrews 12:15–16 depicts Esau as unspiritual for thoughtlessly throwing away his birthright. Romans 9:13 references the "hatred" for Esau.

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 Talmud, the sale of the birthright took place immediately after Abraham died.^[14] 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 thought that Esau was not sufficiently responsible to receive it.^{[citation needed]}

Jubilees

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 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.

References

• Metzeger, Bruce M. (ed) (1993). The Oxford Companion to the Bible. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504645-5. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

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