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Easton's Bible Dictionary
hairy, Rebekah's first-born twin son ( Genesis
25:25 ). The name of Edom, "red", was also given to him from his conduct in
connection with the red lentil "pottage" for which he sold his birthright ( Genesis
30 , 31).
The circumstances connected with his birth foreshadowed the enmity which afterwards
subsisted between the twin brothers and the nations they founded ( Genesis
25:22 , 25:23
, 25:26
). In process of time Jacob, following his natural bent, became a shepherd; while
Esau, a "son of the desert," devoted himself to the perilous and toilsome life
of a huntsman. On a certain occasion, on returning from the chase, urged by the
cravings of hunger, Esau sold his birthright to his brother, Jacob, who thereby
obtained the covenant blessing ( Genesis
27:28 , 27:29
, 27:36
; Hebrews
12:16 , 12:17
). He afterwards tried to regain what he had so recklessly parted with, but was
defeated in his attempts through the stealth of his brother ( Genesis
27:4 , 27:34
, 27:38
).
At the age of forty years, to the great grief of his parents, he married ( Genesis
26:34 , 26:35
) two Canaanitish maidens, Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Bashemath, the daughter
of Elon. When Jacob was sent away to Padan-aram, Esau tried to conciliate his
parents ( Genesis
28:8 , 28:9
) by marrying his cousin Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael. This led him to cast
in his lot with the Ishmaelite tribes; and driving the Horites out of Mount Seir,
he settled in that region. After some thirty years' sojourn in Padan-aram Jacob
returned to Canaan, and was reconciled to Esau, who went forth to meet him ( Genesis
33:4 ). Twenty years after this, Isaac their father died, when the two brothers
met, probably for the last time, beside his grave ( Genesis
35:29 ). Esau now permanently left Canaan, and established himself as a powerful
and wealthy chief in the land of Edom (q.v.).
Long after this, when the descendants of Jacob came out of Egypt, the Edomites
remembered the old quarrel between the brothers, and with fierce hatred they warred
against Israel.
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
he that acts or finishes
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(hairy) The eldest son of Isaac, and twin-brother of
Jacob. The singular appearance of the child at his birth originated the name.
( Genesis
25:25 ) Esaus robust frame and "rough" aspect were the types of a wild and
daring nature. He was a thorough Bedouin, a "son of the desert." He was much loved
by his father, and was of course his heir, but was induced to sell his birthright
to Jacob. Mention of his unhappy marriages may be found in ( Genesis
26:34 ) The next episode in the life of Esau is the loss of his fathers covenant
blessing, which Jacob secured through the craft of his mother, and the anger of
Esau, who vows vengeance. ( Genesis
27:1 ) ... Later he marries a daughter of Ishmael, ( Genesis
28:8 , 28:9
) and soon after establishes himself in Mount Seir, where he was living when Jacob
returned from Padan-aram rich and powerful, and the two brothers were reconciled.
( Genesis
33:4 ) Twenty years thereafter they united in burying Isaacs body in the cave
of Machpelah. Of Esaus subsequent history nothing is known; for that of his descendants
see EDOM.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
e'-so ('esaw, "hairy"; Esau):
Son of Isaac, twin brother of Jacob. The name was given on account of the hairy
covering on his body at birth: "all over like a hairy garment" (Genesis 25:25).
There was a prenatal foreshadowing of the relation his descendants were to sustain
to those of his younger brother, Jacob (Genesis 25:23). The moment of his birth
also was signalized by a circumstance that betokened the same destiny (Genesis
25:26).
The young Esau was fond of the strenuous, daring life of the chase - he became
a skillful hunter, "a man of the field" ('ish sadheh). His father warmed toward
him rather than toward Jacob, because Esau's hunting expeditions resulted in meats
that appealed to the old man's taste (Genesis 25:28). Returning hungry from one
of these expeditions, however, Esau exhibited a characteristic that marked him
for the inferior position which had been foretokened at the time of his birth.
Enticed by the pottage which Jacob had boiled, he could not deny himself, but
must, at once, gratify his appetite, though the calm and calculating Jacob should
demand the birthright of the firstborn as the price (Genesis 25:30 - 34). Impulsively
he snatched an immediate and sensual gratification at the forfeit of a future
glory. Thus he lost the headship of the people through whom God's redemptive purpose
was to be wrought out in the world, no less than the mere secular advantage of
the firstborn son's chief share in the father's temporal possessions. Though Esau
had so recklessly disposed of his birthright, he afterward would have secured
from Isaac the blessing that appertained, had not the cunning of Rebekah provided
for Jacob. Jacob, to be sure, had some misgiving about the plan of his mother
(Genesis 27:12), but she reassured him; the deception was successful and he secured
the blessing. Now, too late, Esau bitterly realized somewhat, at least, of his
loss, though he blamed Jacob altogether, and himself not at all (Genesis 27:34
, 27:36). Hating his brother on account of the grievance thus held against him,
he determined upon fratricide as soon as his father should pass away (Genesis
27:41); but the watchful Rebekah sent Jacob to Haran, there to abide with her
kindred till Esau's wrath should subside (Genesis 27:42 - 45).
Esau, at the age of forty, had taken two Hittite wives, and had thus displeased
his parents. Rebekah had shrewdly used this fact to induce Isaac to fall in with
her plan to send Jacob to Mesopotamia; and Esau, seeing this, seems to have thought
he might please both Isaac and Rebekah by a marriage of a sort different from
those already contracted with Canaanitish women. Accordingly, he married a kinswoman
in the person of a daughter of Ishmael (Genesis 28:6 , 28:9). Connected thus with
the "land of Seir," and by the fitness of that land for one who was to live by
the sword, Esau was dwelling there when Jacob returned from Mesopotamia. While
Jacob dreaded meeting him, and took great pains to propitiate him, and made careful
preparations against a possible hostile meeting, very earnestly seeking Divine
help, Esau, at the head of four hundred men, graciously received the brother against
whom his anger had so hotly burned. Though Esau had thus cordially received Jacob,
the latter was still doubtful about him, and, by a sort of duplicity, managed
to become separated from him, Esau returning to Seir (Genesis 33:12-17). Esau
met his brother again at the death of their father, about twenty years later (Genesis
35:29). Of the after years of his life we know nothing.
Esau was also called Edom ("red"), because he said to Jacob: "Feed me, I pray
thee, with that same red pottage" (Genesis 25:30). The land in which he established
himself was "the land of Seir," so called from Seir, ancestor of the Horites whom
Esau found there; and called also Edom from Esau's surname, and, it may be, too,
from the red sandstone of the country (Sayce).
"Esau" is sometimes found in the sense of the descendants of Esau, and of the
land in which they dwelt (Deuteronomy 2:5 ; Obadiah 1:6 , 1:8 , 1:18 , 1:19).
E. J. Forrester
Tags:
bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, brother of jacob, define, edom, esau, hairy, red, sold birthright, son of isaac and rebekah
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