Bozrah Tafilah Governorate Jordan

Esau may be the first redhead to receive a place in history.

The son of Isaac and Rebekah and the elder twin brother of Jacob according to the Book of Genesis, Esau's name in Hebrew means "hairy", and, according to Genesis 25:25, it is a reference to his hairiness at birth.

He is also called "Edom", which means red—Genesis relates this directly to his selling his birthright for some "red stuff" (Gen. 25:30).

Genesis also makes a point of mentioning that he was red when he emerged from the womb (Gen 25:25).

This may be an example of retroactive nomenclature, however, as the land which was supposedly inhabited by his descendants, Edom, contains a great abundance of red rock, and most scholars believe that the name of the land is a topographical reference.

Esau becomes a wandering hunter, while his fraternal twin becomes a shepherd.

At one time, when Esau returns hungry from an unsuccessful hunt, Jacob buys Esau's birthright (i.e., the rights due him as the eldest son) for some red pottage (soup).

Later, as Isaac is dying, Jacob, with Rebekah's help, cheats Esau out of his father's blessing.

Esau wants to kill Jacob, but Jacob flees; when he returns twenty years later, Esau forgives him.

In Hebrew tradition, according to which Jacob is the ancestor of the people of Israel, Esau is the ancestor of the Edomites, a Semitic-speaking tribal group who probably occupy the Negev Desert and the Arabah valley of what is now southern Israel and adjacent Jordan.

The nation of Edom is known to have existed back to the eighth or ninth century BCE, and the Bible dates it back several centuries further.

Recent archaeological evidence may indicate an Edomite nation as long ago as the eleventh century BCE, but the topic is controversial.

The Edomites may have been connected with the Shasu and Shutu, nomadic raiders mentioned in Egyptian sources.

Indeed, a letter from an Egyptian scribe at a border fortress in the Wadi Tumilat during the reign of Merneptah (r. 1213 to 1203 BCE) reports movement of nomadic "shasu-tribes of Edom" to watering holes in Egyptian territory.