What happened to Esau?? (part one)

We will continue to learn about what happens to Jacob and his sons and his lineage all the way through to Christ, but what happened to Esau - the oldest son of Isaac? What happens to the man who should have received the birthrite and the inheritance of his father?

The story begins in Genesis 25:23 a prediction is made to Rebekah while the twins, Jacob and Esau, were still in her womb,
“The LORD said to her,
"Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger."

Esau was the first-born, but his brother Jacob was grasping his heel – hence Jacob’s name “he grasps the heel” which is an idiomatic expression for deceit. (This is interesting as this naming seems to parallel Jacob’s renaming in Genesis 32:22-29.) Traditionally, the older brother should have inherited most of his father’s holdings: land, animals, social position, etc. In this case through deceit, just as he was named, Jacob stole from Esau the inheritance of the older brother through two different tricks.

The first deception also gives us insight to what will later be Esau’s lineage – primarily that he was called ‘Edom’ which means red. In this instance Jacob made Esau ‘sell’ his birthright for a bowl of soup. (Side note, this is intriguing b/c the passage said the stew was red lentil stew and at that point the passage explains that Esau was also called Edom.) Genesis 25:27-34 Red man, red stew, red name? I dunno, sometimes the Bible tends to expound upon a particular point in three’s – I would be interested to know what red symbolized to the ancient Israelites.

Jacob’s second act of deceit robbed Esau of his blessing from Isaac, his father. Genesis 27:1-40 At this point we learn a little more of Esau’s future. Isaac’s blessing given to Jacob tells us that Jacob’s relatives (Esau’s offspring) will be in submission to Jacob. The second blessing which Isaac bestows on Esau affirms that Esau’s lineage will indeed serve Jacob’s but that at some point they will grow weary of the bondage and will break free.

Understandably, Esau was not pleased with Jacob and at the behest of his mother, Jacob fled to stay with his Uncle Laban (Rebekah’s brother.) Esau swears that upon his father’s death he will kill Jacob for his act of treachery. Isaac had sent his son to take a wife from family and not from the villages of the Canaanites that surrounded Isaac’s dwelling. Esau, seeking to attain his father’s favor sent to Ishmael (Abraham’s first son) for a wife and married her in addition to the Canaanite wives he already had.

I am still working on the timeline of when events happened, but to the best of my ability to track Isaac died around the same time that Jacob was busy marrying/sleeping with his various wives and concubines and having a plethora of children. This means that even though we are not told of Isaac’s death until Chapter 35 – this is confusing to me because it mentions that Jacob and Esau buried Isaac ( Genesis 35:27-29) which would seem to mean that they met prior to the meeting we read about in Chapters 32 & 33. But in the beginning of Chapter 32 when Jacob is giving instruction to his servants on preparations to meet Esau it sounds as though Jacob had not left Laban in this long time and was only now being reunited with his brother. Perhaps, given the tradition of carrying an ancestors bones back to the place of their birth or their ‘home land’ it is possible that Isaac was not laid to rest until both brothers were there to complete the burial (much as Joseph’s bones waiting through generations for the Israelites to take them back to Canaan.)

Jacob and Esau meet, and make a peace of sorts. Genesis 36 then tells us about Esau & his immediate descendants. Esau had three wives – 2 canaanite and one Ishmael’s granddaughter – Adah, Ohilibamah, & Basemath. He had 5 sons: Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam and Korah. They all moved to a land away from Jacob and prospered – living in a region known as Seir and later Edom.
Esau prospered.

We do not hear Esau mentioned again until Deuteronomy 2 when the Israelites are about to pass through Seir and are given very strict instructions to leave the Edomites alone, to treat them with respect and to pay them for their food and water. Thus it is restated that Isaac’s blessing of Esau was carried out and though the Edomites were subject to the strength of the Israelites, God spoke specifically about how they were to be treated. That chapter goes on to mention how God had given Esau the land of the Horites and had driven out the opposing people much as he was doing for the Israelites as they entered the land promised to them. Numbers 20 also mentions a disagreement between Israel and Edom about the Israelites going through their land, so Israel went around Edom.

It is interesting as well that the Edomites were not slaves in Egypt as the Israelites had been. The land they chose in Seir was inhabited but the Edomites were given victory over the people of Seir. In Numbers 24 during an oracle of Balaam (who we will read about later) Edom's destruction is again predicted, though in Deuteronomy 23:7 the Israelites are told not to abhor the Edomites, for they are their brothers.

From this point the situation between Edom and Israel appears to be mostly contentious. See part two for the continuing struggle.