Greek word · G2269

Ἠσαῦ

ēsau

Esau

The firstborn son of Isaac and Rebekah, ancestor of Edom (Genesis 25; 36:1, 8). In prophetic writing 'Esau' is regularly a name for the nation of Edom (Obadiah 6, 8–9, 18–21; Jeremiah 49:8–10; Malachi 1:2–4).

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

Ἠσαῦ, ὁ

indecl. (Heb. עֵשָׂו, Genesis 25:25),

Esau: Romans 9:13 (LXX) Hebrews 11:20 12:16.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Romans 9:13

Range of meaning

The firstborn son of Isaac and Rebekah, ancestor of Edom (Genesis 25; 36:1, 8). In prophetic writing 'Esau' is regularly a name for the nation of Edom (Obadiah 6, 8–9, 18–21; Jeremiah 49:8–10; Malachi 1:2–4).

Against the English

English readers usually picture the individual from Genesis, the hungry hunter who sold his birthright. Malachi is speaking of the nation, more than a thousand years after the man.

How it drifted

Reading the verse on its own, without Malachi 1, collapses the nation back into the individual.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 25:23: 'Two nations are in your womb, two peoples will be separated from within you.' Already at their birth the twins stand for peoples. Edom's hostility when Jerusalem fell in 587 BC (Psalm 137:7; Obadiah 10–14) made 'Esau' a byword. In Paul's day the Edomites' descendants, the Idumeans, had been forcibly brought into Judaism by John Hyrcanus (c. 125 BC; Josephus, Antiquities 13.257–258), and the Herodian dynasty was Idumean.

Where it appears

Romans · 1

  1. Romans 9:13 Ἠσαῦ Esau

    So it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

    Here: The older twin. In Malachi, also the nation of Edom that came from him (Genesis 36:1, 'Esau, that is, Edom'). Like 'Jacob,' it is placed first in its half of the line for emphasis.

Hebrews · 2

  1. Hebrews 11:20 Ἠσαῦ.¶ Esau.

    By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning the future.

  2. Hebrews 12:16 Ἠσαῦ, Esau,

    See to it that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his birthright.

    Here: Isaac's elder twin, Jacob's brother and ancestor of Edom (Genesis 25–28). Hearers would recall the stew scene at once (Genesis 25:29–34). Many would also know a Jewish tradition that painted Esau as a man ruled by appetite.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.