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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] The Meaning of the Name "Esau"
  • Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2008 10:55:22 EST


The Meaning of the Name “Esau”

Genesis 25: 25 explains the meaning of the name “Esau”:

“And the first [of Rebekah’s twin sons] came forth ruddy
[aleph-dalet-mem-vav-nun-yod], all over like a hairy [sin-ayin-resh] mantle;
and they called his
name Esau.”

As with the names of Jacob’s most prominent sons, (i) the name “Esau” is a
double pun, and (ii) it foreshadows this character’s most important action
later in life. As a linguistic pun, “hairy”, which is sin-ayin-resh/seir, is
a
play on “Esau”: ayin-sin-vav. The two most prominent sounds in the name
“Esau
” are ayin-sin, and reversing the order gives us sin-ayin, which are the two
most prominent sounds in seir/sin-ayin-resh. The text explicitly insists
upon
this particular play on words. As we will soon see, both of these words are
variants of the town name “Seir”/sin-ayin-yod-resh.

Though not related linguistically, “Esau” and “Edom” are related as to
meaning, because each means “ruddy” or “red”. At Genesis 36: 8, “Edom” is
spelled aleph-dalet-vav-mem. This is a variant of
aleph-dalet-mem-vav-nun-yod at
Genesis 25: 25. The three-letter root word in both cases is aleph-dalet-mem,
meaning either “red” or “to show blood in the face, flush”.

As we will now see, the name “Esau” foreshadows that Jacob’s older twin
brother will, at age 47 regular years (when Jacob returns to Canaan), spend
the
rest of his life sojourning in Udum/Edom in the land of Seir, from Seir/Jazer
in
southern Gilead in the south, to the town of Udum/Edom, just east of the Sea
of Galilee, on the north. Thus Esau will be identified in the Patriarchal
narratives with the northern half of the Transjordan. In the Patriarchal
narratives, unlike in the rest of the Bible, Esau has nothing to do with the
later
historical kingdom of Edom, south of the Dead Sea, or with that geographical
area.

As to “Seir”, one of the most important towns in southern Gilead in the rest
of the Bible is “Jazer”. See Numbers 32: 1. But archaeologically, we know
that the ruins near Jazer are called “Seir”. See the old scholarly article
referenced at:
_http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-6682(191110)2%3A2%3A2%3C241%3AJAIS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-K_

(http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-6682(191110)2:2:2<241:JAIS>2.0.CO;2-K)
Thus in the Patriarchal Age, this prominent town
in southern Gilead was called “Seir”, though its later name was “Jazer”.
Genesis 25: 30 refers to the “land of Seir”. That identical phrase appears
in
Amarna Letter #288: 26. (As usual with the Akkadian cuneiform of the Amarna
Letters, a U is added at the end, so it comes out “land of Seru”.) That
Amarna
Letter was written by the ruler of Jerusalem, whose name in part honors a
Hurrian goddess. It is doubtful that the tiny desert oasis of Seir-Tamar
south
of the Dead Sea was inhabited at this time. And even if it was, a reference
to
the “land of the tiny desert oasis of Seir-Tamar south of the Dead Sea”
would make no sense. There was no kingdom of Edom south of the Dead Sea in
the
Patriarchal Age. Rather, the phrase the “land of Seir”, both in the Amarna
Letters and in chapter 36 of Genesis, must in context be referencing instead
either southern Gilead or all of Gilead.

As to “Edom”, there are at least three references to “Edom” or “Udum” in
truly ancient times. In the 15th century BCE, Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep II
won an important battle at Shamesh-Edom, near the Sea of Galilee. The most
famous myth from Ugarit features the Ugaritic hero Keret going south from
Ugarit,
past Sur (“Tyre”) in southern Lebanon on his way to the mythical kingdom of
Udum. That mythical kingdom of Udum is either the northern half of the
Transjordan, or the entire Transjordan. Finally, Amarna Letter #256: 24
refers to
the town of Udumu (adding a U at the end, as per usual), in the context of
referencing cities that mostly are located just east of the Sea of Galilee,
in the
northern Transjordan. Thus in the Patriarchal Age, “Udum”/“Edom” meant
either a town in the northern Transjordan, or the northern half of the
Transjordan
(or possibly the entire Transjordan).

Now we can understand the repeated identifications in Genesis chapter 36 of
Esau both to the land of Seir and to Edom. “So Esau settled in the hill
country of Seir -- Esau being Edom. This, then, is the line of Esau, the
ancestor
of the Edomites, in the hill country of Seir.” Genesis 36: 8, 9 (1985 JPS)
Gilead, north of ancient Seir/later Jazer, is definitely hill country. We
know
this geologically, and also we read concerning Jacob, shortly before Jacob
meets Esau: “Soon he [Jacob] was across the Euphrates and heading toward the
hill country of Gilead. …[Laban caught] up with him in the hill country of
Gilead.” Genesis 31: 21, 23 If “hill country” is the right translation
here,
instead of “mountain” (following the 1985 JPS instead of the 1917 JPS as to
the
translation of this phrase), then we know where the “hill country” was in
greater Canaan: (1) from Hebron to Bethel is the Hill Country of Judah; (2)
from Bethel to the Jezreel Valley is the Hill Country of Ephraim; and (3) in
the
Transjordan (not in Canaan proper), from just north of the Dead Sea (a little
south of ancient Seir/modern Jazer) on the south, to the Sea of Galilee on
the north, is the Hill Country of Gilead. By contrast, the Arabah south of
the
Dead Sea, where the historical kingdom of Edom would eventually come into
being centuries after the end of the Patriarchal Age, is not hill country.

Prior to Jacob’s return to Canaan, Esau had been sojourning for 27 regular
years in Canaan proper after Esau’s marriages. “These are the sons of Esau,
that were born unto him in the land of Canaan. And Esau took his wives, and
his
sons, and his daughters, and all the souls of his house, and his cattle, and
all his beasts, and all his possessions, which he had gathered in the land of
Canaan; and went into a land away from his brother Jacob.” Genesis 36: 5-6
(1917 JPS) The “land away from his brother Jacob” is the Transjordan, where
Esau will sojourn the rest of his life, after Jacob has returned to Canaan
proper. Esau had probably spent many years sojourning in the hill country of
Canaan proper (as do all three Patriarchs). So it would be natural for Esau,
upon
leaving Canaan as a middle-aged man, to commence sojourning in the similar
hill country of Gilead, from Seir/Jazer on the south, to the Sea of Galilee
on
the north. Since Esau has a large flock and 400 men at his disposal (Genesis
32: 7), it would make no sense for Esau to move to the desolate area south of
the Dead Sea. Thus when the text says that “Esau settled in the hill country
of Seir -- Esau being Edom”, that means that after Jacob returned to Canaan,
Esau sojourned in the hill country of Gilead/Seir/Udum/Edom, from the town of
Seir/Jazer on the south, to the town of Udum on the north, near the Sea of
Galilee. “Udum”/“Edom” and the “land of Seir” reference the same precise
geographical area in the Patriarchal narratives -- the hill country of
Gilead, being
the northern half of the Transjordan. By contrast, in the rest of the Bible,
which was composed after the historical kingdom of Edom later emerged south
of the Dead Sea as an important rival to Judah, “Edom” refers to a very
different locale: the area south of the Dead Sea (which is not hill country,
and
which would not have been a suitable locale for Esau, his large flock, and
his
400 men).

In the Patriarchal narratives, as in the Amarna Letters, “Udum”/“Edom” and
the “land of Seir” mean the northern half of the Transjordan: the hill
country of Gilead.

The name “Esau” references both “Seir” (linguistically) and “Edom” (by
substantive meaning). Thus the name “Esau” deftly foreshadows that when
Jacob
returns to Canaan, his older twin brother Esau will leave Canaan and
thereafter
sojourn in “Udum”/“Edom”/the “land of Seir”, between Seir/Jazer in
southern Gilead on the south, and Udum at the Sea of Galilee on the north.
Thus Esau
is identified with the northern half of the Transjordan, where the
Horites/Hurrians historically lived in the mid-14th century BCE, as
accurately
referenced in chapter 36 of Genesis in describing Esau’s lines of
descendants.

The apparent reference to the Euphrates River (“the river”) at Genesis 36:
37, and to “Rehoboth”, which suggests a generic great city on the Euphrates
River, may be referencing Assyria’s successful campaigns in the mid-14th
century
BCE against the only Hurrian state, which itself was located on the upper
Euphrates River. The Hurrian state of Mitanni/Midyanni/Nahrima/Naharim had
claimed sovereignty over all of Syria and all Hurrians. The northern
Transjordan
was the part of greater Canaan that was closest to the upper Euphrates River,
which was the Hurrian heartland, and there were more Hurrians in the northern
Transjordan than in any other part of greater Canaan. Genesis 36: 35 refers
to
the defeat of mem-dalet-yod-nun; that may be referencing the defeat in the
mid-14th century BCE of the Hurrian state of Mitanni (Midyanni; called
“Nahrima
” by the Egyptians, which is “Naharim” at Genesis 24: 10)). At Genesis 36:
35, the temporary victor in an apparent civil war has a capital city named “
ruins”/Avith, which may reference the fact that not long thereafter, part of
the
Hurrian state succumbed to Assyria (Rehoboth on the Euphrates River). The
references to 8 kings who one by one claimed sovereignty over “Edom”/“Udum”,
with each king’s succession seeming to be entirely irregular, with not a
single
son succeeding his father to the throne, well describes the chaos into which
the Hurrian state of Mitanni/Midyanni/Nahrima/Naharim descended in the
mid-14th century BCE, as the former overlord of all Syria and all Hurrians
effectively disintegrated in the face of civil war and outside attacks.
While nicely
describing the fatal chaos of the Hurrians in the mid-14th century BCE (with
the
Hurrians being the dominant ethnic group in the northern half of the
Transjordan, for the last time, in the mid-14th century), none of this
material has
the slightest relevance to either (i) the geographical area south of the Dead
Sea, or (ii) the much later kingdom of Edom located south of the Dead Sea.
Genesis 36: 35, 38 refer to the Syrian gods Hadad and Baal. Syria (which was
dominated, for the last time, by Hurrians in the mid-14th century BCE) was
the
neighbor of the northern Transjordan, whereas Syria had no contact with the
area
south of the Dead Sea. These textual references to Horites/Hurrians and the
Euphrates River and Rehoboth and Syrian gods and a chaotic succession of
kings,
and the possible textual reference to the Hurrian state of Mitanni being
defeated, make no sense at all in the context of the arid land south of the
Dead
Sea, where no Hurrians ever lived, and which would never have attracted the
attention of any ruler of a great city on the Euphrates River. Rather, this
portion of chapter 36 of Genesis is reflecting the Hurrians’ swan song in the
mid-14th century BCE, the last time the Hurrians were an important factor in
world
history. The reason why the author of the Patriarchal narratives is so
concerned about all these many details is because the demise of the Hurrians
in
Syria and greater Canaan seemed to open the pathway for the dreaded Hittites
to
have a golden opportunity to invade Canaan.

As we have seen, the name “Esau” is telling us from the very beginning that
eventually Jacob will be the twin son who will inherit Canaan, whereas Esau,
by contrast, will have to leave Canaan and live amongst the Hurrians in the
hill country of Gilead -- the land of Seir/Udum/Edom, in the northern half of
the
Transjordan.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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  • [b-hebrew] The Meaning of the Name "Esau", JimStinehart, 03/04/2008

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