WHERE IS ESAU?

By Don Robson, USA

Editor’s Note: While the Jewish Encyclopedia confirms that Esau was  incorporated into Jewry, there  are scholars who claim his descendants also migrated into other nations, primarily Turkey and from there into the Khazarian nation, which later converted to Judaism. Nevertheless, we must remember that a characteristic of Esau was  that  he was  “cunning ‘: So, considering that Jacob  used trickery  by pretending to be Esau to gain God‘s blessing through the blessing by Isaac, it is very likely that Esau can be found throughout Christianity and Islam  as well. After all,  if Jacob  could pretend to be Esau, then Esau can pretend to be Jacob? Interestingly, considering the clarification by the Jewish Encyclopedia that Esau was ab sorbed into Judaism, are they not pretending to be the ‘ people of the book “?

The struggle  between Esau and  Jacob began  in the womb. Genesis 25: 22 – 23, ”And the  children struggled  together within her; and  she said,  If it be so, why am  I thus? And she went  to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are within thy  womb, and  two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and  the one people  shall  be stronger than  the  other  people; and the elder shall  serve  the  younger.” Esau was born like a red hairy garment; the name Esau means “red”. Then Jacob was  born and  his hand  took hold of Esau’s heel.

It is obvious that these two were not identical twins, (they certainly did not behave like identical twins!) but two ova were  fertilized at conception.

Esau displeased his parents in two ways. First, at age 40, he married two Canaanite women. Genesis 26: 34 & 35, ‘‘And  Esau was  forty years  old  when he took  to wife  Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite  and  Bashemath the  daughter of Elon the Hittite;  which  were  a grief of mind  to  Isaac  and to  Rebekah.” To find the  other  cause for concern, we consult  the book  of Jasher which  adds  detail  to the Bible story. Isaac sent Jacob to live with Noah and Shem  (he stayed  32 years)  to learn  the ways of the Lord. Esau refused to go, being a hunter and leading the  rough life.  Esau  married another Canaanite woman, Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah  the daughter of Zibeon  the Hivite. This resulted in all of Esau’s progeny being  of mixed  blood  which  was contrary to the law of the Lord.

After the sale  of the birthright and  the stolen blessing, a distraught Esau decided to kill Jacob when Isaac was dead  and  buried. But Rebekah intervened, sending Jacob to her relative Laban. Esau countered by sending his son  Eliphaz to kill Jacob on the road. Jacob  bought off Eliphaz with the money he had been given  for  the  trip.  When he  returned to  his  own countr y with his two wives Leah and  Rachel, he met and  gave  presents to Esau ,  who  had  with  him  400 men. Because their flocks were too great to share  the avai labl e  pasture,  Esau  moved on  to  Mount  Seir. Genesis 36:8 makes a  very  important statement , “Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir; ESAU IS EDOM.” Now the  Lord ‘s  prophets had  a  lot  to say  about  Edom (which  also  means “red”); therefore, it is important to recognize that Edom is Esau.

When  the  children  of Israel  were  travelling through  the desert, they were  attacked by Amelek , the son of Eliphaz, the grandson of Esau. Amelek was defeated at that time; you will recall  that Joshua led the  forces  of Israel  and  they  prevailed against th e Amalekites so long as Moses’ arms  were lifted up by Aaron and  Hur. Exodus  17:14  ”And the  Lord said unto  Moses, Write this  for a memorial in a book, and  rehearse  it in the  ears  of Joshua; for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek  from under  heaven.” So, the Lord is taking a very strong position against Edom (Amalek) to utterly destroy him and  any  remembrance of him.  So  throughout the Bible story, we have Esau/Edom  living in mount Seir, to be heard  from later on in the story of Israel.

“Jacob will lose the dominion” Genesis 27:40

Now, a lot of history  occurs. The  judges of Israel are followed by  the   kings . The   nation,  under Rehoboam, is split into two nations, Israel and Judah, and   beca use  of  idolatry,  BOTH  NATIONS ARE CARRIED into captivity in ASSYRIA. leaving ONLY the city of JERUSALEM to be taken  by Nebuchadnezzar and carried into Babylon. Under Cyrus’ decree, 42,360 returned from Babylon to rebuild  the temple and the walls of Jerusalem under  Nehemiah and Ezra. Ezra 9:1 & 2 records  a very unfortunate occurrence, the sort of thing that caused the exile in the first place. “Now when these things were done, the princes came to me saying,  The  people  of Israel,  the  priests  and the  Levites  have  not  separated themselves  from the  people of the lan,ds, doing  according to their abomination even of the Caraanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the  Jebusites, the  Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites.For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons; so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with  the  people  of those lands; yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.” So, these people called Jews, were not exclusively of the holy seed. Some  were  of the holy seed, and  they later  accepted Christ because, “His sheep knew  His voice.”  Edom  ceased to be a nation  in 126 B.C. when John  Hyrcanus of Judah finished his conquest of Edom and forcibly converted the remaining Edomites to Judaism.

Never again  was  there  a nation  called  Edam  or ldumea (the Greek equivalent). This story was related by Josephus, the historian, in great  detail.  Consider the  following; “Hyrcanus subdued all the Idumeans and  permitted them  to stay  in that  country,  if  they would  be circumcised, and  make  use of the laws of the Jews, and  they were  so desirous of living in the country of their  forefathers, that  they submitted  to the use of circumcision and the rest of the Jews’ way of living, at which  time therefore, this befell them

THAT THEY WERE HEREAFTER NO OTHER THAN JEWS.”

So, Esau/Edom is contained in modern  Jewry. Do the  prophecies concerning Esau and  Edom  still apply? They certainly do! The whole book of Obadiah deals with prophecies concerning Edom,  and  being two  pages  long deserves a read  and  study.  A good part  of the  condemnation of Edom  concerns  their behaviour at the time of the deportations, because they assisted  the invaders and rejoiced  to see the land vacated because they had their own wish to occupy the land.

“Jacob will regain the dominion” Ezekiel 34:27

So; our question was, “Where is Esau?” He is in Palestine to-day and  a recent article in our magazine offered  in-sight,  “Esau, time  is  running out.”

Courtesy of  ‘The Association of  the Covenant People’ -USA.