Jacob vs. Esau, Part I: The Two Roles by Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld Unraveling one of the most cryptic episodes of the entire Torah.
The story of Jacob and Esau is one of the most perplexing sagas of the entire Torah. From a young age, Jacob developed into the diligent Torah student, dwelling in the tents of study. Esau, by contrast, is described as an idler and hunter, a man of violence who lived by his might and conquest. Our Sages describe him as a murderer, idolater and womanizer all rolled into one. Reading the opening account of their lives (Genesis 25:27), we would have little question who should be the progenitor of the Jewish people.
Yet the story almost immediately takes a peculiar turn. Whereas their mother Rebecca favors Jacob, their father Isaac favors Esau – “because his venison was in his mouth” (v. 28). Isaac wanted to give the firstborn blessings to Esau, presumably to make him the primary heir. Was Isaac some clueless old man, taken in by Esau’s tasty food and outer show of piety? How could Isaac be so easily misled? And likewise, why didn’t Rebecca simply
tell him of Esau’s true nature? Couldn’t she have easily influenced him to favor the deserving brother? Why this unnecessary rift in the family?
As Isaac approaches old age, he asks Esau to hunt and prepare him a meal so he may bless him before his passing. Isaac specially warns Esau not to steal an animal and to slaughter it properly (see Rashi to 27:4). Isaac knew full well the wickedness his son was capable of. Yet even at this late stage, Isaac still favored Esau as the more deserving son and attempts to give him the blessings.
Rebecca overhears her husband’s instructions and conceives her plan. She dresses Jacob in furs to resemble Esau’s hairy exterior and hands him cooked foods she prepared herself. She then sends him in to receive the blessings in Esau’s stead. Thus, again, rather than leveling with her husband Isaac, telling him the wicked truth about Esau, Rebecca simply tricks him into blessing the deserving son.
Jacob does as he was told and successfully receives the blessings, but with one significant twist. He nearly gives himself away. This does not occur because Jacob was a poor impersonator, but because he did something Esau would never have done: he spoke gently to his father. As the Sages point out, unlike Esau who later says “My father should get up” (v. 31), Jacob said “Please get up” (v. 19), and he attributes his quick arrival (after allegedly catching his hunt) because “the Lord your God chanced [the prey] before me (v. 20). He acknowledged that God was behind his success. And Isaac’s suspicions were immediately aroused. This did not sound like the harsh and uncouth Esau. He asked to feel Jacob’s arms, which – thanks to Rebecca’s disguise – felt exactly like Esau’s.
Thus, the well-known story of Jacob and Esau contains several surprising details. Isaac was well-aware (if not fully aware) of Esau’s evil ways, yet he still favored Esau to become father of the Jewish people. Rebecca, for her part, does not explain to Isaac his error but simply manipulates him into blessing Jacob. And Jacob seems to purposely do a poor job of concealing his true identity – prompting Isaac to pronounce in reaction, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, yet the hands are the hands of Esau.”
There is one very simple – albeit surprising – key to understanding the story – as well as the continuation of the story of Israel’s creation: Isaac was right. Esau really should have been an integral part of the Jewish nation. How can that be? Where is the place for such wickedness in the Jewish people?
The answer is that the nation of Israel really has two roles in the world – a “Jacob” role and an “Esau” role. The Jacob role is to be internally righteous people – to study Torah, to become more spiritual, and to develop a relationship with God. The studious, tent-dwelling Jacob was clearly grooming himself for such a role from his earliest years.
But that is only a part of Israel’s mission. Israel is not only to be a secluded nation of saints. We are to be the leaders of mankind, a “light unto the nations” (Isaiah 42:6). We must see that all mankind recognize and devote themselves to God. We must go out to the nations and oversee their development – and if necessary, wage war.
The nation of Israel thus has a dual mission to fulfill: a private role led by Jacob – developing their internal relationship with God, and a universal one led by Esau, the public, strongman of the world – leading mankind to full submission to God. Isaac rightly recognized that ultimately, Esau’s role would be a critical one in Israel. He would bring the entire world – not just the Jewish people – to salvation. Thus, in spite of all of Esau’s personal failings, Isaac knew that his abilities were needed for the development of a true nation of God.
Isaac was right to be sure. It was not simply a matter of Rebecca explaining to him that Esau was wicked. Isaac was well aware (even if not entirely aware) of that, yet he still favored his elder son.
Rather, Rebecca devised an alternate plan – risky, but which would ultimately prevail. Esau was too wicked to fulfill his role. Therefore, rather than pinning their hopes on the recalcitrant Esau, Jacob would have to assume two roles. He would have to fulfill not only his own personal role within Israel, but Esau’s as well. Not only would he be the private man of letters, but he would have to deal with the rough and tumble of the outside world, and take arms against his foes.
This is precisely what Jacob intended to convey when he entered Isaac’s tent, feigning to be Esau. While pretending to demonstrate his newly-acquired role as man of the field, he also spoke gently, invoking the name of God. For he was not simply trying to imitate his brutish brother Esau. He was projecting himself as the son who truly deserved Esau’s blessings. He would possess the hands of Esau, yet speak with the voice of Jacob. He was the new composite brother, who would fulfill both roles, a kinder and gentler Esau. And Isaac, after realizing his error, concluded “so too will he be blessed” (Genesis 27:33).
As we will see God willing in the next installment, ultimately Jacob would be successful, assuming a dual role and mission in the world.
Based primarily on lectures given by my teacher Rabbi Yochanan Zweig.
In the
previous article we discussed the disagreement between Isaac and Rebecca regarding the roles of Jacob and Esau. Isaac rightly knew that a man of Esau’s qualities is needed within the Jewish people. The nation of Israel is not supposed to be a secluded nation of saints, studying Torah and striving towards God, wholly unconcerned with the fate of mankind. That is Israel’s
internal role of self-perfection, embodied in Jacob. But ultimately, Israel’s mission is to be a worldly people, a “light unto the nations” (Isaiah 42:6). Israel would oversee the world’s spiritual development and ensure – by force if necessary – that they live up to God’s mission for them. This was the role of the worldly, aggressive Esau – one which he utterly failed to live up to.
Rebecca understood this as well, but she realized Esau was not about to live up to his cosmic calling. Thus, Rebecca devised an alternate plan. Jacob would feign to be Esau – receiving the blessings for physical prosperity Isaac intended for him. He would thus not only be the cloistered Torah scholar. He would go out into the world, taking evil head on. He would have to fulfill two roles at once. The continuation of the Book of Genesis outlines his evolution into his new position.
As soon as Jacob receives the blessings, he is forced to flee, joining the household of his wicked and devious uncle Laban. For the first time, Jacob would depart the study hall, having to hold his own against Laban’s trickery – and eventually learning to outsmart him.
Laban has two daughters, Leah and Rachel. Jacob instantly takes a liking to the younger one, Rachel. Leah, however, had “soft eyes” (Genesis 29:17). The Talmud (Baba Batra 123a) asks: Why should the Torah make mention of a person’s defect? Because it was not a defect at all; it was an indication of her greatness. Leah’s eyes were “soft” because she cried incessantly. Why? Because people used to say, Rebecca has two sons and Laban two daughters – the older for the older, and the younger for the younger. Leah cried to God that she not fall to Esau’s lot – so much so that her eyelashes fell out.
Leah was not crying because of an inconsiderate wisecrack people used to make. She knew that there was truth to it. She really was designated for Esau: she was his soulmate. Yet he was wicked, and she didn’t want to fall to him. She prayed to God to change her fate, and as we’ll see shortly, God ultimately heeded her prayers.
Jacob offers to serve as Laban’s shepherd for seven years for Rachel’s hand in marriage. Laban outwardly agrees, yet when the time comes, secretly replaces Rachel with Leah, only agreeing to give Rachel in exchange for another seven years of labor.
This is thus the first step in Jacob’s assuming Esau’s role: He married Esau’s wife – reluctantly, but God allowed Laban’s deception to succeed. In fact, Jacob married two women: his own wife Rachel, and Esau’s. And as we’ll see shortly, Leah’s children had the same violent, aggressive tendencies as their uncle Esau. Esau’s capabilities would now enter the Jewish nation.
The marriage between Jacob and Leah was not an idyllic one. Leah saw herself as the hated wife, and as a result was especially blessed with children – the first three of whom she named in the prayer that she at last be granted her husband’s affections. Now it’s hard to believe that a righteous man like Jacob would actually “hate” his wife – regardless of the trickery involved in bringing them together. Wouldn’t Jacob at least fulfill “You shall love your fellow as yourself” (Leviticus
19:18) as he would towards any human being?
No doubt Jacob treated Leah properly and caringly. But she was really not his “type.” She wasn’t his soulmate. She had the forward nature of Esau. She later openly asks for his marital attention which Rachel “traded” her in exchange for the mandrakes found by Leah’s son (30:16). Jacob treated her well, to be sure, but their marriage lacked the love-bond of true soulmates. Compared to how one
should feel towards his beloved spouse, Jacob “hated” Leah.
Further, Leah’s older children were all little “Esaus.” They all possessed his forward, aggressive nature – at times to their detriment. Reuben took liberties in moving his father’s bed (35:22). Simeon and Levi singlehandedly wiped out the city of Shechem (34:25). Judah too was a natural leader, taking responsibility for Benjamin when they descended to Egypt to buy food, and standing up to Joseph when they were in trouble. (Rachel’s son Joseph, by contrast, was a studious little Jacob. The Sages describe him as having absorbed all of his father’s wisdom (Bereishit Rabbah 84:8). He was also a dreamer (in many senses) rather than a man of the world.)
Judah’s prime descendant was King David, whom the Sages compare to Esau. David, as Esau, had a red complexion, signifying a taste for blood. But whereas Esau killed maliciously and capriciously, David directed his violence against the enemies of God (Bereishit Rabbah 63:8). It was the same inner nature – for our natures we can never change – but David used it properly, becoming leader of a holy nation, while Esau was destroyed by it.
Finally, the Messiah will descend from Judah and King David. His mission will be the one Esau refused to do – bringing the entire world to salvation.
There is a second key event in Jacob’s evolution into his new role. After he successfully contends with Laban and Esau, Jacob is granted a new name – Israel (35:10). Israel –
Yisrael – implies a
sar – a master and leader of others: “for you have striven with an angel and with men and you have persevered” (32:29). Jacob – Israel – was no longer the passive Torah scholar, withdrawing into his own little world of wisdom and ideas. He was now the man of the world, who had taken on the best and prevailed.
Unlike Abraham and Sarah whose new names replaced their old, Jacob is still known by his original name as well (e.g. Gen 46:2). God did not
change Jacob’s name. He gave him a second one. This implies that Jacob now had two roles to fulfill, two names to live up to – his original one as inwardly-focused Torah scholar, and a second one as temporal authority. The second role was the one he had wrested from Esau. Thus, by awarding him his second name, God formally appointed Jacob to fulfill Esau’s mission. His transformation into a dual person with a dual role was complete.
God Himself gave Jacob his new name, but it was foreshadowed during a very mysterious episode in the Torah. When Jacob is on the way back to the Holy Land, about to meet his brother Esau, he finds himself alone on the far side of the Jabbok River. A “man” struggles with him the entire night. As dawn breaks, the man insists he must leave. Jacob refuses to let him go, demanding that the man bless him first. He does so – by informing Jacob that his name would shortly become Israel. Jacob asks the man his name, but he refuses to give it. Jacob afterwards names the place
Peniel (“my face towards God”), “for I have seen a divine being face to face and my soul was saved” (32:30).
The Sages explain that the shadowy stranger Jacob battled was an angel. Which one? The guardian angel of Esau (Bereishit Rabbah 77:3). Before Jacob was officially given Esau’s mission, one person had to acquiesce – Esau himself. His very angel came to oppose Jacob and all he stood for. In a battle as much spiritual as physical, the angel failed to overcome Jacob’s strength and fortitude. He conceded. He informed Jacob that he would soon be granted a new name – the one Esau had just lost.
This in a nutshell is the story of Jacob and Esau. Originally, both brothers were to have significant roles in Israel – as Isaac wished. Esau was not worthy to fulfill his role, so Rebecca initiated a procession of events in which Jacob would assume Esau’s mission in addition to his own. He did so successfully, eventually marrying Esau’s soulmate and earning a new name.
But there is an important sidebar to the story. What happened to Esau in all this? He was left out, no longer to play a decisive role in world history. When he first discovers that Jacob took his blessings, he cries out – “a very great and bitter cry” (Gen. 27:34). The Sages teach us that his cry was heard; it would reverberate throughout the ages. Certainly he could not deny that Jacob was the more deserving brother. Yet he resented bitterly his loss and awaited the day he could avenge it.
If the Children of Israel would live up to its role, Esau’s cry would be unheard. His resentment would be ungrounded. But if they would fail, Esau’s bitter cry would reverberate. Isaac blessed him that he would live by his sword. He would serve his brother Jacob, but when he would justifiably resent Jacob’s dominance, he would rebel against it (27:40).
This is thus the continuation of Israel’s story. Jacob and his descendants would have two missions to fulfill. Yet there is also a hurting Esau out to avenge his lost prestige. If Israel would fulfill its mission, it will lead all mankind – even Esau – to salvation. If not, Esau and his sword would be there at the ready.
Based primarily on thought heard from my teacher Rabbi Yochanan Zweig.
The Emblem of Jerusalem
