ESAU e’ sô (עֵשָׂ֛ו, hairy), son of Isaac and Rebekah, and elder twin brother of Jacob. He is also named Edom, meaning Red. As Esau grew up he became an outdoor man who enjoyed hunting. He brought venison home to his father and became his father’s favorite. At the same time his brother Jacob won the favor of his mother by remaining indoors and learning to work in the house.

On one occasion Esau returned from the hunt to find his brother cooking some red pottage. Esau asked for some of the pottage, but his brother took advantage of the situation by asking Esau’s birthright in exchange. Esau, reasoning that his birthright would be meaning-less if he were to die of starvation, sold his birthright (Gen 25:29-34). Although Jacob took advantage of his brother’s weakness, Esau is censured for the little value he placed on the birthright. He did not trust God to provide for him in his need.

Esau showed his lack of concern for the covenant promises by marrying two local girls who were not related to the people of Abraham (Gen 26:34, 35; 36:1, 2). The mixed marriages caused grief to Esau’s parents, particularly his mother. When Isaac was old and feeble he decided to confer his blessing on Esau, his favorite son. Rebekah, however, determined to fool her husband into blessing Jacob instead. Esau was sent out to find the game which his father enjoyed eating. Rebekah, in the meantime, placed Esau’s clothes on Jacob and induced Jacob to go to his father with the meat that she had prepared, to get the blessing intended for Esau. The deception was successful. Jacob received the blessing meant for Esau, and Esau was angered. He planned to kill Jacob, but Jacob—with his mother’s aid—fled to the ancestral home in northern Mesopotamia where he married and began to raise his family. With the principal blessing given to Jacob, Esau had to be content with a lesser blessing. He would continue to be a man of the open spaces (Gen 27:39, 40), and while he would be subject to his brother, the time would come when he would regain his independence. This reflects the fact that the Edomites, descendants of Esau, were subject to Israel during times of Israelite strength. In Israelite weakness, however, Edom became an independent state. Jacob remained in northern Mesopotamia twenty years, and on his way back he sought means of appeasing Esau. Esau, however, had prospered in the region of Mt. Seir during Jacob’s absence. They had an amicable reunion, after which Jacob went on to Canaan, and Esau back to the region of Edom. The Biblical account of Jacob and Esau seeks to show that the line of promise went from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob-Israel, and that the later Israelites are the descendants of Jacob. Esau, who lost his birthright and blessing, forfeited the rights of the first-born. He ha d, however, a satisfying life in the region of Mt. Seir. His descendants are the Edomites.