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Esau

Portrait of Esau

In the retellings of Israel's ancestral stories preserved in the Book of Jubilees and the Book of Jasher, the elder son of Isaac emerges as a figure whose choices illuminate themes of inheritance, divine election, and the perils of disregarding covenantal boundaries. These texts expand the concise Genesis account by portraying him as a skilled hunter whose impulsive nature leads to lasting consequences for his descendants, the Edomites. Jubilees in particular frames his story within a broader chronology of sacred time, emphasizing how personal decisions ripple through generations under the watchful order established since creation. The sale of the birthright receives notable elaboration in Jubilees 24, where famine drives the transaction during a period of scarcity, underscoring the elder son's undervaluation of his primogeniture in exchange for immediate sustenance. The Book of Jasher adds vivid detail to his expeditions in the field, depicting him as a man of the outdoors whose associations with Canaanite women further distance him from the line of promise. This portrayal contrasts sharply with his younger twin's preference for tents and study, highlighting a tension between worldly prowess and spiritual fidelity that resonates through the pseudepigraphal literature. Within the Enochian tradition, his narrative gains added weight through Jubilees' integration of Enochic motifs concerning judgment and the separation of the righteous seed. References to his marriages and the resulting conflicts in Jubilees 25 and 27 illustrate the dangers of exogamy warned against in earlier Enochic works, positioning him as a cautionary example of how straying from ancestral purity invites strife. Such expansions invite readers to consider the patriarchs not merely as historical forebears but as archetypes in the ongoing struggle between obedience and inclination.

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Biography

Occupation
Hunter
Father
Isaac
Mother
Rebekah
Era
Patriarchal

Family

Parents
Esau
Patriarch Jubilees Jasher

Did You Know?

1

Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage when faint from hunting.

2

He lost the blessing to Jacob and later sought to kill him.

Key Chapters

Key Passages

Esau Sells His Birthright

The Book of Jubilees 24:1-7

Esau returns faint from the field and sells his birthright to Jacob for red pottage. He despises his birthright.

A1nd it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that the Lord blessed Isaac his son, and he arose from Hebron and went and dwelt at the Well of the Vision in the first year of the third week of this jubilee, seven years. And in the first year of the fourth week a famine began in the land, besides the first famine, which had been in the days of Abraham. And Jacob sod lentil pottage, and Esau came from the field hungry. And he said to Jacob his brother: 'Give me of this red pottage.' And Jacob said to him: 'Sell to me thy birthright and I will give thee bread, and also some of this lentil pottage.' And Esau said in his heart: 'I shall die; of what profit to me is this birthright 'And he said to Jacob: 'I give it to thee.' And Jacob said:

2 'Swear to me, this day,' and he sware unto him. And Jacob gave his brother Esau bread and pottage, and he eat till he was satisfied, and Esau despised his birthright; for this reason was Esau's name called Edom, on account of the red pottage which Jacob gave him for his birthright. And Jacob became the elder, and Esau was brought down from his dignity. And the famine was over the land, and Isaac departed to go down into Egypt in the second year of this week, and went to the king of the Philis- tines to Gerar, unto Abimelech. And the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him: 'Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land that I shall tell thee of, and sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee and bless thee. For to thee and to thy seed will I give all this land, and I will establish My oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all this land. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thy father obeyed My voice, and kept My charge and My commandments, and My laws, and My ordinances, and My covenant; and now obey My voice and dwell in 12,13 this land.' And he dwelt in Gelar three weeks of years. And Abimelech charged concerning him, and concerning all that was his, saying: 'Any man that shall touch him or aught that is his shall surely die.' And Isaac waxed strong among the Philistines, and he got many possessions, oxen and sheep and camels and asses and a great household. And he sowed in the land of the Philistines and brought in a hundred-fold, and Isaac became exceedingly great, and the Philistines envied him. 3 Now all the wells which the servants of Abraham had dug during the life of Abraham, the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham, and filled them with earth. And Abimelech said unto Isaac: 'Go from us, for thou art much mightier than we', and Isaac departed thence in the first year of the seventh week, and sojourned in the valleys of Gerar. And they digged again the wells of water which the servants of Abraham, his father, had digged, and which the Philistines had closed after the death of Abraham his father, and he called their names as Abraham his father had named them. And the servants of Isaac dug a well in the valley, and found living water, and the shepherds of Gerar strove with the shepherds of Isaac, saying: 'The water is ours'; and Isaac called the name of the well 'Perversity', because they had been perverse with us. And they dug a second well, and they strove for that also, and he called its name 'Enmity'. And he arose from thence and they digged another well, and for that they strove not, and he called the name of it 'Room', and Isaac said: 'Now the Lord hath made room for us, and we have increased in the land.' And he went up from thence to the Well of the Oath in the first year of the first week in the forty-fourth jubilee. And the Lord appeared to him that night, on the new moon of the first month, and said unto him: 'I am the God of Abraham thy father; fear not, for I am with thee, and shall bless thee and shall surely multiply thy seed as the sand of the earth, for the sake of Abraham my servant.' And he built an altar there, which Abraham his father had first built, and he called upon the name of the Lord, and he offered sacrifice to the God of Abraham his father. And they digged a well and they found living water. And the servants of Isaac digged another well and did not find water, and they went and told Isaac that they had not found water, and Isaac said: 'I have sworn this day to the Philistines and this thing has been announced to us.' And he called the name of that place the Well of the Oath; for there he had sworn to Abimelech and Ahuzzath his friend and 4 Phicol the prefect Or his host. And Isaac knew that day that under constraint he had sworn to them to make peace with them. And Isaac on that day cursed the Philistines and said: 'Cursed be the Philistines unto the day of wrath and indignation from the midst of all nations; may God make them a derision and a curse and an object of wrath and indignation in the hands of the sinners the 5 Gentiles and in the hands of the Kittim. And whoever escapes the sword of the enemy and the Kittim, may the righteous nation root out in judgment from under heaven; for they shall be the enemies and foes of my children throughout their generations upon the earth. 6 And no remnant shall be left to them, Nor one that shall be saved on the day of the wrath of judgment; For destruction and rooting out and expulsion from the earth is the whole seed of the Philistines (reserved), And there shall no longer be left for these Caphtorim a name or a seed on the earth. 7 For though he ascend unto heaven, Thence shall he be brought down, And though he make himself strong on earth, Thence shall he be dragged forth, And though he hide himself amongst the nations, Even from thence shall he be rooted out; And though he descend into Sheol, There also shall his condemnation be great, And there also he shall have no peace.

Read full chapter: The Book of Jubilees 24 →

Esau Loses the Blessing

The Book of Jasher 27:1-20

Isaac sends Esau to hunt venison for the blessing. Rebekah and Jacob deceive Isaac; Esau returns too late and weeps bitterly for the lost blessing.

A1nd the sons of Meshech were Dedon, Zaron and Shebashni.

2 And the sons of Tiras were Benib, Gera, Lupirion and Gilak; these are the sons of Japheth according to their families, and their numbers in those days were about four hundred and sixty men. 3 And these are the sons of Ham; Cush, Mitzraim, Phut and Canaan, four sons; and the sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raama and Satecha, and the sons of Raama were Sheba and Dedan. 4 And the sons of Mitzraim were Lud, Anom and Pathros, Chasloth and Chaphtor. 5 And the sons of Phut were Gebul, Hadan, Benah and Adan. 6 And the sons of Canaan were Zidon, Heth, Amori, Gergashi, Hivi, Arkee, Seni, Arodi, Zimodi and Chamothi. 7 These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, and their numbers in those days were about seven hundred and thirty men. 8 And these are the sons of Shem; Elam, Ashur, Arpachshad, Lud and Aram, five sons; and the sons of Elam were Shushan, Machul and Harmon. 9 And the sons of Ashar were Mirus and Mokil, and the sons of Arpachshad were Shelach, Anar and Ashcol. 10 And the sons of Lud were Pethor and Bizayon, and the sons of Aram were Uz, Chul, Gather and Mash. 11 These are the sons of Shem, according to their families; and their numbers in those days were about three hundred men. 15 12 These are the generations of Shem; Shem begat Arpachshad and Arpachshad begat Shelach, and Shelach begat Eber and to Eber were born two children, the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the sons of men were divided, and in the latter days, the earth was divided. 13 And the name of the second was Yoktan, meaning that in his day the lives of the sons of men were diminished and lessened. 14 These are the sons of Yoktan; Almodad, Shelaf, Chazarmoveth, Yerach, Hadurom, Ozel, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah and Jobab; all these are the sons of Yoktan. 22.

Read full chapter: The Book of Jasher 27 →

Esau's Wives and Hatred

The Book of Jubilees 29:1-10

Esau takes wives from the daughters of Canaan, which grieve Isaac and Rebekah. He hates Jacob for the blessing and plans to kill him after their father's death.

A1nd it came to pass when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Laban went to shear his sheep; for they were distant from him a three days' journey. And Jacob saw that Laban was going to shear his sheep, and Jacob called Leah and Rachel, and spake kindly unto them that they should come with him to the land of Canaan. For he told them how he had seen everything in a dream, even all that He had spoken unto him that he should return to his father's house, and they said: 'To every place whither thou goest we will go with thee.' And Jacob blessed the God of Isaac his father, and the God of Abraham his father's father, and he arose and mounted his wives and his children, and took all his possessions and crossed the river, and came to the land of Gilead, and Jacob hid his intention from Laban and told him not. And in the seventh year of the fourth week Jacob turned (his face) toward Gilead in the first month, on the twenty-first thereof. And Laban pursued after him and overtook Jacob in the mountain of Gilead in the third month, on the thirteenth thereof. And the Lord did not suffer him to injure Jacob; for he appeared to him in a dream by night. And Laban spake to Jacob. And on the fifteenth of those days Jacob made a feast for Laban, and for all who came with him, and Jacob sware to Laban that day, and Laban also to Jacob, that neither should cross the mountain of Gilead to the other with evil purpose. And he made there a heap for a witness; wherefore the name of that place is called: 'The Heap of Witness,' after this heap. But before they used to call the land of Gilead the land of the Rephaim; for it was the land of the Rephaim, and the Rephaim were born (there), giants whose height was ten, nine, eight down to seven cubits. And their habitation was from the land of the children of Ammon to Mount Hermon, and the seats of their kingdom were Karnaim and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, and Misur, and Beon. And the Lord destroyed them because of the evil of their deeds; for they were very malignant, and the Amorites dwelt in their stead, wicked and sinful, and there is no people to-day which has wrought to the full all their sins, and they have no longer length of life on the earth. And Jacob sent away Laban, and he departed into Mesopotamia, the land of the East, and Jacob returned to the land of

2 Gilead. And he passed over the Jabbok in the ninth month, on the eleventh thereof. And on that day Esau, his brother, came to him, and he was reconciled to him, and departed from him unto the land of Seir, but Jacob dwelt in tents. And in the first year of the fifth week in this jubilee he crossed the Jordan, and dwelt beyond the Jordan, and he pastured his sheep from the sea of the heap unto Bethshan, and unto Dothan and unto the forest of Akrabbim. And he sent to his father Isaac of all his substance, clothing, and food, and meat, and drink, and milk, and butter, and cheese, and some dates of the valley. And to his mother Rebecca also four times a year, between the times of the months, between ploughing and reaping, and between autumn and the rain (season) and between winter and spring, to the tower of Abraham. For Isaac had returned from the Well of the Oath and gone up to the tower of his father Abraham, and he dwelt there apart from his son 3 Esau. For in the days when Jacob went to Mesopotamia, Esau took to himself a wife Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, and he gathered together all the flocks of his father and his wives, and went 4 Up and dwelt on Mount Seir, and left Isaac his father at the Well of the Oath alone. And Isaac went up from the Well of the Oath and dwelt in the tower of Abraham his father on the mountains of Hebron, And thither Jacob sent all that he did send to his father and his mother from time to time, all they needed, and they blessed Jacob with all their heart and with all their soul.

Read full chapter: The Book of Jubilees 29 →