Esau

3 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  Esau
       n : (Old Testament) the eldest son of Isaac who would have
           inherited the Covenant that God made with Abraham and
           that Abraham passed on to Isaac; he traded his birthright
           to his twin brother Jacob for a mess of pottage



From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Esau
     hairy, Rebekah's first-born twin son (Gen. 25:25). The name of
     Edom, "red", was also given to him from his conduct in
     connection with the red lentil "pottage" for which he sold his
     birthright (30, 31). The circumstances connected with his birth
     foreshadowed the enmity which afterwards subsisted between the
     twin brothers and the nations they founded (25:22, 23, 26). In
     process of time Jacob, following his natural bent, became a
     shepherd; while Esau, a "son of the desert," devoted himself to
     the perilous and toilsome life of a huntsman. On a certain
     occasion, on returning from the chase, urged by the cravings of
     hunger, Esau sold his birthright to his brother, Jacob, who
     thereby obtained the covenant blessing (Gen. 27:28, 29, 36; Heb.
     12:16, 17). He afterwards tried to regain what he had so
     recklessly parted with, but was defeated in his attempts through
     the stealth of his brother (Gen. 27:4, 34, 38).
     
       At the age of forty years, to the great grief of his parents,
     he married (Gen. 26:34, 35) two Canaanitish maidens, Judith, the
     daughter of Beeri, and Bashemath, the daughter of Elon. When
     Jacob was sent away to Padan-aram, Esau tried to conciliate his
     parents (Gen. 28:8, 9) by marrying his cousin Mahalath, the
     daughter of Ishmael. This led him to cast in his lot with the
     Ishmaelite tribes; and driving the Horites out of Mount Seir, he
     settled in that region. After some thirty years' sojourn in
     Padan-aram Jacob returned to Canaan, and was reconciled to Esau,
     who went forth to meet him (33:4). Twenty years after this,
     Isaac their father died, when the two brothers met, probably for
     the last time, beside his grave (35:29). Esau now permanently
     left Canaan, and established himself as a powerful and wealthy
     chief in the land of Edom (q.v.).
     
       Long after this, when the descendants of Jacob came out of
     Egypt, the Edomites remembered the old quarrel between the
     brothers, and with fierce hatred they warred against Israel.
     

From Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's) [hitchcock]:

  Esau, he that acts or finishes