E'SAU ( Iek Esau, hairy). According to the narrative of Genesis (chaps. xxv.-xxxiii•), the elder son of Isane and twin brother of .Tacob. The narrative is regarded by many seholars as symbolizing the history of Edon' and Esau is viewed as the ancestor of the Edoniites, and hence is with Mom. while daeob is identified with Israel. Both Esau and (iamb are types of the Bedenin, the former (if the wilder speeies, the latter of the pastoral nomad. The narrative rMOVIA am t he fini• hand the common origin of the Edomilos and Hebrews, and on the ether hand their hostility to one another, which is represented as beginning while both any still in the wend) (Gen. XXV. ). If goes on to say that as Esau grew up he beenme a 'man (if the field.' as opposed to Jaeob, who 'dwelt in times 11 'XXV 27). \ s the elder son lie was entitled to preeeden•e over Jacob, but sold his birthright to his brother (id., 29, 34). In spite of this he attempted to secure Isaac's dying blessing, which pertained to the birthright ; but Jacob, disguising himself as Esau, circumvented him, and Esau received but a secondary blessing (Gen. xxvii. 1-41)). Esau. now greatly enraged, resolved to kill his brother, and Jacob fled to escape him (id., 41, 45) ; but on Jacob's return from sojourn ing with Laban, twenty years after, Esau became reconciled to him (Gen. xxxiii. 1-15), and the two brothers later hurled their father together (Gen. xxxv. 29).
This narrative is regarded by the critical scholar as a compilation of the two sources, Yahwist and Elohist, one of which at least took on the whole a more honorable view of Esau than of Jacob. 'Inca's Dame is interpreted by Esau
as the 'deceiver,' and the story of •lacob's decep tion of his father is told in a manner which, de spite all endeavors to the contrary, arouses sym• pathy for Esau. That Jacob as the younger son secures the birthright and the blessing not only reflects the national pride which strove to give Israel the preference over Edon', but may, in a form of the story produced by a writer of the southern kingdom, have been intended to cast a reproach on the more powerful northern kingdom —which was Israel par excellence—by suggesting the dishonest manner in which the north obtained its more prominent position. The •udieans were closer to the Edomites than the northern tribes, and since at times the relations between the two were friendly, a form of the old story of Esau and Jacob may have arisen at this period in which the points more favorable to Esau were brought out. Naturally, when the final shape was given to the combination of the Yah•ist and Elohist, the conventional view regarding Esau and Jacob was already established, and the conduct of Edom at the destruction of Jerusalem, in aiding the Babylonians (see Enom and ef. Psa. exxxvii. would be a sufficient reason for the attempt to put Esau in the most unfavorable light.