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In Genesis, Esau returned to his brother, Jacob, being famished from the fields. He begged his twin brother to give him some "red pottage" (paralleling his nickname, Hebrew: אדום, adom, meaning "red"). Jacob offered to give Esau a bowl of stew in exchange for his birthright (the right to be recognized as firstborn) and Esau agreed. [6]
Although this phrase is often used to describe or allude to Esau's bargain, the phrase itself does not appear in the text of any English version of Genesis. Its first attested use, [2] already associated with Esau's bargain, is in the English summary of one of John Capgrave's sermons, c. 1452, "[Jacob] supplanted his broþir, bying his fader blessing for a mese of potage."
Esau [a] is the elder son of Isaac in the Hebrew Bible.He is mentioned in the Book of Genesis [3] and by the prophets Obadiah [4] and Malachi. [5] The story of Esau and Jacob reflects the historical relationship between Israel and Edom, aiming to explain why Israel, despite being a younger kingdom, dominated Edom. [6]
Jacob offering a bowl of stew to Esau for his birthright, 18th-century painting by Zacarias Gonzalez Velazquez. Genesis 25:29–34 tells the account of Esau selling his birthright to Jacob. [18] This passage tells that Esau, returning famished from the fields, begged Jacob to give him some of the stew that Jacob had just made.
(Genesis 12:11-13 and Genesis 20:11-12) In chapter 25, Jacob tricks Esau into selling his birthright for a pot of lentil stew. In chapter 27, Isaac is tricked by Rebekah into giving Jacob the superior blessing instead of Esau. In chapter 29, Jacob believes he is marrying Rachel but is tricked into marrying her sister.
The earliest account of primogeniture to be widely known in modern times involved Isaac's son Jacob being born second (Genesis 25:26) and Isaac's son, Esau being born first (Genesis 25:25) and entitled to the birthright, but eventually selling it to Jacob for a small amount of food (Genesis 25:31–34).
Rav Huna taught that the words of Genesis 28:10 mean "out of the well of the birthright." Rav Huna taught that Jacob reasoned that he did not wish to allow Esau to confront him and assert that Jacob had cheated him by taking his birthright, and thus lose the advantage of Esau's oath (when Esau conveyed his birthright in Genesis 25:33).
[27] [28] The third burial was that of Isaac, by his two sons Esau and Jacob, who died when he was 180 years old. [29] There is no mention of how or when Isaac's wife Rebecca died, but she is included in the list of those that had been buried in Machpelah in Jacob's final words to the children of Israel. Jacob himself died at the age of 147 ...