from the frontier to Memphis, being thrice defeated with heavy loss; while I'Lrhakah, their king, was wounded. On the 22nd of Tammuz, Memphis sur- rendered, Tirhakah and his son tied to Ethiopia, and Egj-pt became an Assyr. province. In B.C. 668 it revolted, and while on the march to punish it Esar-haddon fell ill, and died on the luth of Marcheshvan (October). His empire was divided between two of his sons, Samas-sum-ukin having Babylonia, while the rest of the empire passed to an older son, Assur-bani-pal, whose suzerainty Samas-sum-ukin was called upon to acknowledge. A third son, Assur-mukin-paliya, was raised to the priesthood, while a fourth became priest of the moon-god at Harran.
Literature. — Records of the Pagt, new series, iv. ; Knudtaon, Assyrische (jcbete an den Sonnengott (18Uy); Meyer, tiftrch. i. 47;i tr. ; Budge, History of Esarhaddi/n ; Kagozin, Assyria, 331-346 ; Plumptre in Exjws. 2nd ser. iv. 448-401 ; Driver, Isaiah'' ('Men of Bible'), 220; Buxton, Side-Lights, 207-213; McCurdy, Hist., Proph., and the Hon. ii. 33:!-35i).
A. H. Satck. ESAU. — 1. (ly'y), elder of Isaac's t^vin sons. The name (' hairy ') * is said to have been suggested by his appearance at birth (Gn 2')-", .1). The surname Edom ('red'), applied chielly to his posterity, commemorated, according to Gn 25* (J), the in- cident there related, but referred also, possibly, to his red hair. Sa3'ce [see Edom, p. 644''] derives the name from the red colour of the .sandstone dill's of Idumoea. The struggle between E. and Jacob, prior to birth,t foreshadowed subsequent relations between the brothers as well as their descendants (see Edom), and was oracularly declared to signify that 'the elder shall serve the younger.' The premature tokens of manly strength were
f)remonilory of E.'s future. When he grew up, le preferred the wilder life of the chase to the quieter routine of sheep-farming at Beersheba. He became a 'man of the field,' an expert hunter, and eventually chief of a tribe occupying the hilly land of Seir, who.so Horite inhabitants were dis- placed or subdued by E., his followers, and their I)osterity (Gn 25=' 32»-« 36, Dt 2'-).
The lu.iin incidents of E.'s life are (1) Sale of birthrUjht. — Hungry, faint, .and feeling as if about to die, he arrives one day, J after a (presumably) unsuccessful hunt, at the patriarchal camp, finds his brother cooking lentils, and cries, ' Let me devour some of that same red food.'§ Jacob, taking mean advantage of E.'s condition, and aware probably of the oracle in his own favour, demands, as price of the pott.'ige, || a renunciation of the birtliriglit. The latter included precedence, and authority after his father's death (Gn27'-") ; per- haps, also, as in later times, a double portion of the patrimony (Dt 21"), and the domestic priest- hood (Nu 3''-'). Along therewith wouhl naturally, in the case of the chosen family, be transmitted the covenant blessing, which secured for its pos- sessor the divine special favour, with ])romise of Canaan for his posterity, and the honour of convey- ing a blessing, through future .seed, to ' all the families of the earth' (Gn 1'2^ 22"'-). In E.'s eyes the temporal advantages of the birthright were distant and sh.adowy ; to spiritiuil jirivilcge he was api)arently insensible. ' What profit shall the birthright do to me?' he cries, and barters it away
•Oe«., Kftlisch, etc. Ace. to Paeudo-Jon.'s Targ. ' refuly made,' from n^'y to make, or make ready, beaiuuu E. ' was born with hair of bead, beard, and t«eth.'
t Cf. the Hlxjry of the twins Acrisius and Proetus, related by Apollodorus, lie Deor, Ori'i, ii. 2. 1.
I I's.-Jnn.'s Tar)(. recorus a tradition that it wu the day of Abraham's dealti.
; So Gc«. (EV'?). I.ll. ' that red, red thing,' as if he could not wait lo recall the proper word.
II Farinaceous fooil may have been a tempting luxury owing to * famine in the land ' (On '2U1, aasitfued lo Oie same J docu- ment OS •a'"").
734
ESAU
ESCHATOLOGY
with a levity which even the oath exacted by Jacob fails to turn into gravity. (2) E.'s marnnge^. — One who 'despisea his birthright,' as heir of Abraham, was not likely to value highly con- nexion vdth Abraham's kindred. He associated freely with Canaanites, who were ' strangers from the covenants of promise,' and, at the age of 40, married two Hittite wives, Judith and Basemath, to the grief of his parents, who could not forget Abraham's anxiety to avoid such alliances. After- wards, when Jacob had been directed by Isaac to seek a wife among their kinsfolk in Paddan, E., in hope of propitiating his parents, married, in the lifetime of liis first two wives, his cousin Malialath, daughter of Ishmael.* Of these wives five sons were boru (Gn Sd**-)- (3) Loss of patriarchal blessing. — When Isaac's death apparently approached, E. seems to have realized tlie temporal profit of the benediction. Not for<;ettuig (Gn 27'*), but ignor- ing his bargain with Jacob, be enters readUy into Isaac's plan for the bestowal of the blessing on his favourite first-born. When the blessing is lost through Jacob's repulsive artifice, and E. receives a lower benediction,t indicating that he would live by the spoils of war and chase (27"), he resolves to sJay his brother after Isaac's death, and thus regain all he has lost. (4) Reconciliation with Jacob and Jinal departure from Canaan. — During Jacob's sojourn in Paddan, E., while retaining connexion with Canaan (Gn 36°), seems to have become a ' duke ' in Seir (Gn 32'). J When Jacob is on his way back to the S. of Pal., E. meets him with 400 men. It is not clear that his purpose was hostile, as Jacob supposed : the men may have been mustered for war against Horites. Twenty years had intervened since J.'s departure ; time is a great healer ; and E.'s wrath may have been mollified by success. Any remaining ani- mosity was appeased by Jacob's abundant gifts (which had the aspect of tribute), and vanished at the sight of the prostrate brother. ' E. ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him ' (Gn 33*). They met once more, in peace, at Isaac's funeral, after which E., partly ' because their substance was too great for them to dwell together,' severed his connexion with Canaan, and made Seir his permanent abode (36*). The epithet p4^v^os 'profane' (He 12"), § i.e. unconsecrated, secular (Lv 10'", 1 S 21'', Soph. CEd. Col. 10), rather than blasphemous, supplies a key to E.'s character and history. Frank and manly, affectionate and impulsively generous, irascible but not implacable, E. is naturally lovable, and exhibits materials out of whicli a fine character might have been developed. But he discloses no spiritual aspiration or God-ward bent ; no sense of unworthiness or devout surrender to divine ^idance, such as Jacob, amid grave faults, exemplifies. This lack of consecration leaves E. subject to animal appetite ; leads him into secularizing, if not demoralizing, alliance with Canaanites ; renders him careless of spiritual blessing and insensible to high ideals ; causes his conduct to be dominated by impulse, not regulated by principle ; and prevents that moral