Toldot | Yitzchak's Love of Esav

 

 

According to the conventional understanding, Rivka loves Yaakov because of his righteousness and innocence. It is possible, however, that her love for him stems from the prophecy that she has received:

 

 

This prophecy would certainly not dull the natural love of a mother for each of her sons, but it might move her to work on advancing the destiny of the son whom God chose to continue the path of his forefathers, and this might be the meaning of the verse.

 

It seems that Yitzchak is unaware of the prophecy received by Rivka, as we find in many places that without God's explicit permission, a prophecy cannot be revealed to another person who has not received it.[1] Yitzchak sees Esav as his legitimate firstborn, and therefore nurtures him toward his destiny. The fact that the Torah, and even more so Chazal, present Esav as a sinner, is not known to Yitzchak, and apparently, in light of his behavior, is not self-evident, as we shall see below. Even if Yitzchak knows that Esav is not exactly a righteous man, it is possible that by showing him special love, Yitzchak is trying to keep Esav in his family's framework and to do everything within his power to restore him to the proper path. 

 

It is, however, possible to find a better and more positive reason for Yitzchak's love of Esav. Let us examine the verses:

 

 

 

 

Yitzchak arrives in the land of the Pelishtim in a period of famine, purchases for himself land and sows it. Despite the years of famine and the difficult terrain, in the western Negev, Yitzchak finds in his fields a hundredfold. Yitzchak is the first and only "settler" in the Torah.[2] Avraham and Yaakov are primarily wandering shepherds, and they do not pose a threat to the landowners. Yitzchak, who is also a diligent and successful farmer, poses a threat to them in his fields and wells, and they harass him and uproot him from place to place.

 

For lack of any alternative, Yitzchak abandons his fields and wells, and he journeys to more desolate places. He arrives at Rechovot in the Negev (identified today with the Halutza sands), and he will still have to travel further south to Be'er La-chai Ro'i (west of today's Nitzana). Yitzchak is portrayed in our parasha, despite his diligence, ability and agricultural successes, as a weak and persecuted Jew who is unable to defend himself, his family and his property.

 

Suddenly, we are painted the opposite picture:

 

 

 

Yitzchak is depicted here as a military and political power against the Pelishtim. The king of the Pelishtim comes with his general to Yitzchak's tent, and pleads with him not to harm his people. This is not an alliance of love, as was Avimelekh's pact with Abraham. This is an alliance that broadcasts the Pelishti fear of Yitzchak. What causes such a radical change in the balance of power?

 

Our answer in one word: Esav!

 

Esav grows up in the house of a hungry and persecuted man who has been dispossessed of his assets, and it is there that he grows into a young man and an adult. In this house, the idea of revenge against the Pelishtim and the need to teach them a lesson is his daily bread. As a hunter, he develops combat knowledge and ability, gathering around him "vain fellows" (compare to the story of Yiftach; Shofetim 11:3), and turning them into a high-quality foreign legion living on their swords. Backed by a battalion of four hundred men (Bereishit 32:7), Esav sets out on assault raids in the land of the Pelishtim.

 

Can four hundred people, with no landed property, support themselves on their swords? It turns out that they can. A very similar episode reported elsewhere in the Bible takes place in the same area in the western Negev:

 

 

What David and his men do to the desert bandits in the area southwest of the land of the Pelishtim, Esav does to the Pelishtim themselves. Afterwards, when his father Yitzchak moves southwest to Rechovot and Be'er La-chai Ro'i, he does this to the desert bandits that harass him. Esav and his men are good soldiers, and Esav exploits this not only to support himself and his men, but also to take revenge against the Pelishtim, the oppressors of his childhood in the valley of Gerar. Avimelekh the king of Gerar and Pikhol his general are forced to go to Yitzchak in Be'er Sheva and plead before him not to harm them, and to remember their acts of kindness toward him (about which we have never heard before!) when they hosted them in their country.

 

This is how the covenant of blood is made, the covenant between the sickle and the sword, between Yitzchak, the farmer and the shepherd, and Esav, the head of a fighting battalion.[3] The result of this covenant is: "Now Yitzchak loved Esav, because he did eat of his venison."

 

 

As was already mentioned above, Chazal present Esav as a totally wicked man: 

 

 

From a linguistic perspective, this exposition is based on the fact that "cunning hunter" stands in contrasting parallelism to "quiet man," implying that Esav is cunning and deceptive. In another midrash, Chazal explicitly express their doubts about Yitzchak's love for Esav:

 

 

It is possible that Chazal are alluding here in this midrash to a comparison between Yitzchak and Eli the Priest. Both of them fail to rebuke their sons for their evil deeds, and thus, as it were, they "justify the wicked." For this they are both punished with the loss of their eyesight.[4]

 

According to what we said above, Yitzchak's love for Esav stems from the fact that Esav protects his agricultural lands. If so, why do Chazal criticize Yitzchak for his alliance with Esav?

 

Let us examine another midrash:

 

 

What brings Chazal to attribute such serious offenses to Esav on the basis of verbal analogies that could easily be refuted?

 

It seems that Chazal consider the comparison between Esav's battalion and that of David. At the head of each battalion of four hundred men stands a red-haired general:

 

 

 

The life of such a battalion, and especially its commander, is not easy. We see above the war of survival waged by David and his men in Tziklag. A cruel life of bloodshed (against cruel desert bandits), a life steeped in lies and the cunning of the wisdom of survival, in a life of danger and struggle. Another example of the life of David's battalion is his struggle against Naval the Carmelite, who holds back the wages of and humiliates his soldiers: 

 

 

 

David nearly destroys the entire house of Naval the Carmelite, young and old, but Avigayil arrives and appeases him with her wisdom.

 

Military might, life in the desert without law and order, daily life-or-death battles with enemies from other nations or tribes, a mob of scoundrels and wretched souls[5] forming the core of a band living by its swords — all this is liable to easily turn bloodshed, robbery and even taking women from their husbands into a routine of life. David is tested time after time in these matters, when he is presented with the opportunities to kill Shaul and to eradicate Naval. Esav, living a similar life, is tested once explicitly, when he meets Yaakov on his way back from the house of Lavan. Nevertheless, Chazal maintain that countless times he fails the test, and they describe him as coming from the field after having shed blood, stolen and taken a betrothed woman. This is the natural fate of desert fighters in no man's land.

 

If Nimrod only hunted animals, it is hard to imagine that he would become a king. Nimrod the mighty hunter was also a mighty warrior, and thus he conquered the aforementioned cities, and was for a certain time the king of the world, as it were.

 

Similarly, Esav appears for his meeting with Yaakov when he returns from Lavan as the leader of a battalion of four hundred fighters, and as one who appoints his sons as commanders in all the districts of the land of Edom.

 

Nevertheless, the mitzva of honoring his father Yitzchak stands to his credit, not only when he serves him food in his old age, but also when he stands by him against the desert looters and the Pelishtim in Yitzchak's struggle to gain a hold on the land of God with his nails and teeth.

 

 

It is not clear whether Rivka, who loves Yaakov, knows more about Esav's hidden deeds than Yitzchak. Nevertheless, it seems that Rivka does not believe in the way of the sword at all. As someone who enters the tent of Sara, over whose entrance the clouds of God's glory rest, presumably continuing along the path of lovingkindness to which she had been accustomed already at the well in Paddan Aram. On the day when she is left with no other choice, on the day when she faces a test of survival and struggle against evil, she prefers the weaponry of cunning over the weaponry of bloody swords. She chooses Yaakov.

 

It should be remembered that we are not dealing here with little children, whose parents will always love them equally and share everything between them. Rather, we are dealing with mature brothers who must give a reckoning for their actions during the time of their struggle over the inheritance.

 

 

(Translated by David Strauss)