The UNchosen – Esau/Edom – A Second Look

 [First posted in 2012.  This series ‘Journey of Faith’ features the Sinaite perspective on characters who figure prominently in the biblical narratives that trace the lineage of the chosen people of Israel. There are persons outside of ‘the chosen line’ who are interesting studies of character, often misrepresented or unfairly judged—one such is Esau.  We’ve added this post to our current series on THE OUTSIDERS or THE OTHER, in effect THE UNCHOSEN, those who were not in the chosen line of Jacob.  We belong to their category, you know?  Here are the others belonging to the same category as Esau:

• The UNchosen: What if you were a gentile slave in Egypt?
• The UNchosen – My servant Caleb – a different spirit
• The UNchosen — “Call me Ishmael”

Related posts:  

• Revisit: Becoming Israel – Esau and ‘Israel’
• Genesis/Bereshith 36 – “That is Esav, the tribal-father of Edom.”
• Genesis/Bereshith 35 – “Esav and Yaakov his sons buried him.”

 Translation is Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.–Admin1.]

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Image from bigfootevidence.blogspot.com

At first glance, all one sees in Esau is his physical appearance.  His name means “hairy,” Edom means “red.”  A description such as “hairy red” hardly justifies this artist’s sketch of what Yitzhak’s firstborn twin must have looked like which has been added to the articles about Esau on the web.  

If Yaakov was his twin, could he have looked like this? The answer is:  scripture confines this description to Esau. But could he have really looked like a stone age caveman or the hairy ape? 

•  Identical twins result when the egg splits into two embryos after it has been fertilized; they have to be of the same sex;
• fraternal twins result when the mother has two eggs that are fertilized at the same time (they can be boy-boy, girl-girl or boy-girl). 

If Esau and Yaakov were identical twins, then Rivka would not have gone to such lengths to disguise her son, all Yaakov had to do was talk and act and smell like Esau.   

• Jacob’s elder brother (Gen. xxv. 25-34, and elsewhere; comp. Josh. xxiv. 4). 
• The name alternates with “Edom,” though only rarely applied to the inhabitants of the Edomitic region (Jer. xlix. 8-10; Obad. 6; Mal. i. 2 et seq.). In Genesis (xxv. 25, 30) “Edom” (red) is introduced to explain the etymology of the name. The real meaning of “Esau” is unknown, the usual explanation “densely haired” (= “wooded”) being very improbable. “Usöos,” in Philo of Byblos (Eusebius, “Præparatio Evangelica,” i. 10, 7), has been identified with it, while Cheyne (Stade’s “Zeitschrift,” xvii. 189) associates it with “Usu” (Palai-Tyros).
  • The “sons of Esau” are mentioned as living in Seir (Deut. ii. 4, 5).
  • The “mountain of Esau” (Obad. 8, 9, 19, 21) and the “house of Esau” (Obad. 18) are favorite expressions of Obadiah,
  • while by others as a rule “Edom” is employed to denote the country or the people.

• Even before birth Esau and Jacob strove one against the other (Gen. xxv. 22), which led to the prediction that the “elder shall serve the younger” (ib. 23). The first, coming forth “red, all over like an hairy garment,” was called “Esau.” 
• He grew up to be a “cunning hunter, a man of the field” (ib. 27). One day coming home from the field, Esau, hungry unto death, sells his birthright to Jacob for a mess of porridge, which event is turned to account to explain his name (ib. 30 et seq.). 
• When forty years old Esau married Judith and Bashemath, the daughters of the Hittites Beeri and Elon (Gen. xxvi. 34, 35). 
• The favorite of Isaac, he is called to receive the father’s last blessing, but Rebekah treacherously substitutes Jacob for him (Gen. xxvii. 1-24). 
• Discovering the fraud, Esau by much weeping induces the father to bless him also (Gen. xxvii. 38-40). 
• Hating his brother Jacob, he vows to slay him as soon as the father shall have passed away. At his mother’s advice Jacob takes refuge with Laban, his departure being explained to the father as an endeavor to prevent a repetition of marital alliance with the daughters of Heth, so great a source of grief in Esau’s case (Gen. xxvii. 41-46). Esau thereupon takes a daughter of Ishmael to wife (Gen. xxviii. 9). After the return of Jacob the brothers make peace, but separate again, Esau passing on to Seir (Gen. xxxiii. 1-16, xxxvi. 6-8). No mention is made of his death.

We have learned from experience in checking out Jewish sources that one has to learn to distinguish “Biblical” from “Rabbinical” [please refer to a previous article  on this website Jewish vs. Biblical].  We rely on and consult Jewish resources heavily and have learned much from them; in fact the articles we write pale in comparison with the insights and wisdom they dispense, we’re in kindergarten, they’re on Ph. D level. They have been studying their own scriptures for millennia not just centuries, so who are we to question their writing?  However, just like any interpretation—whether Christian, Jewish or Sinaite—it is a good habit to always check out any teaching against scripture.

Here’s one more helpful tip from the Jewish encyclopedia:

Critical View: “Esau” (= Edom) later represents Rome.

• Esau is assumed to be the progenitor of the Edomites. 
• His character reflects the disposition of this warlike people. 
• The stories in Genesis purpose to account for their relations with the Israelites (Gen. xxv. 27, xxxii. 4, xxxiii. 1 et seq.), as well as to throw light on the fact that the “younger brother”—that is, the tribe or tribes that gained a foothold in the country at a later date—crowded out the “older,” and thus acquired the “birthright” (Gen. xxv. 29 et seq., xxvii. 28 et seq.). 
• These narratives belong to both the Elohist and the Jahvist writers, as does Gen. xxxvi., which reflects, in the form of a genealogy, the historical fact of Esau’s mixture with Canaanites (Hittites) and Ishmaelites. 
  • To the priestly writer is due the statement that Esau’s marriage, distasteful to his parents, leads to Jacob’s being sent away (Gen. xxvi. 34, 35). 
  • The same authority is partly responsible for other names connected with Esau in Gen. xxxvi. 2, 3; xxvii. 46; xxviii. 1 et seq. 
  • Esau, according to this source (P), remains with his parents (Gen. xxxv. 29), and, after Jacob’s return, leaves only because of the lack of room (Gen. xxxvi. 6, 7).

Our previous article “Yaakov/Jacob, the Heel” ended with Esau’s lament upon discovering he had lost his birthright; it’s a very poignant scene between shocked father and displaced son; in fact heart-wrenching to read so that despite our knowledge that Yaakov is the divinely-ordained heir, he doesn’t come through as deserving of it at all, not at this point of the narrative anyway.  
As for Esau, he is left with bleak future prospects as he is told he will have to work hard for his survival.  At least in the case of Ishmael who was sent away, YHWH Yireh blessed him beyond Abraham and Hagar’s expectations. But Esau?  Read vs. 39:

Sibling rivalry, a recurring motif since Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, now Jacob and Esau, will be a thread running through scripture and straight into our times and our own family situations.  Is it not unfortunate that the family as the most basic social unit is often rife with strife, and what is the most likely cause? In most cases, inheritance.