A Revisionist Reading of the Esau-Jacob Stories in Genesis 25-36: Understanding Esau in a Positive Light

Traditional interpretations of Esau in Jewish and early Christian literature have provided a negative portrayal of Esau and contemporary "Genesis" commentators tend to interpret Esau as cruel, stupid, and impulsive, having no concern for the family tradition or the future legacy. The present book revisits these negative perceptions of Esau and rereads the texts according to the sequence of the Jacob-Esau narrative. This book examines the characterisation of Esau in the book of "Genesis" and offers a favourable reading of the Esau story as a corrective to the usual negative readings. The present book counterbalances this generally hostile view of Esau by emphasising the full potential in "Genesis" for a positive and favourable reading of Esau by examining a series of textual cruxes. Where more positive readings of Esau are suggested, this is not necessarily a claim that such readings are to be adopted, but rather to demonstrate that the negative interpretations are not the only option. The negative image of Esau in the text of "Genesis" itself is demonstrably less strong than that of contemporary "Genesis" commentaries.