Similarities in the Blessings to Edom and Jacob (Genesis 27:39). (5 November, 2013, Kislev 2, 5774)
Contents:
1. Who Were the Idumaeans?
2. Descendants of Esau
3. Edomites amongst Haters of the Jews.
4. Old fashioned Anti-Jewish Christian Support for the Palestinians and the Prophecy of Malachi 1 about Edom
5. The Incorrect Translation of Genesis 27:39 and Anti-Jewish Doctrines
6. How the Incorrect Translation of Genesis 27:39 May have Come About.
7. The Correct Translation of Genesis 27:39
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1. Who Were the Idumaeans?
The Idumeans lived in Idumea. The borders of Idumea changed from time to time. Mostly it was to the south of Judah but there were times when it was more to the south. According to Josephus the Idumeans were forced to convert to Judaiam by the Hasmonean ruler of Judah, John Hyrcanus (ca. 125 BCE).
Antipater the Idumaean was the ancestor of King Herod who ruled Judah on behalf of the Romans.
About 20,000 Idumaeans, fought on behalf of the Zealots against the Romans in ca. 66 CE.
Whether the Idumeans fully converted to Judaism or not is not certain. It would seem that they did so.
Assuming that Idumeans were descended from Edom then the Bible had already made allowance for their conversion as well as that of some Egyptians.
Deuteronomy 23:
7 You shall not abhor any of the Edomites, for they are your kin. You shall not abhor any of the Egyptians, because you were an alien residing in their land.
8 The children of the third generation that are born to them may be admitted to the assembly of the LORD.
There may therefore be descendants of the Idumeans amongst the Jews.
On the other hand a tradition exists that many of them became Christians.
Whatever the case, assuming that they remained in Judah they were a minority amongst the Jews.
They were not however such amongst part of the Gentiles.
In the case of certain non-Israelite nations we find descendants of Esau at their heads.
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2. Descendants of Esau
Edom is another name for Esau. Esau was the twin-borther of Jacob the father of the Twelve tribes of Israel.
Esau married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite (Genesis 26:34-35). He also married Esau Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, and sister of Nebajoth and forefather of the Nabatean Arabs of Petra. There was also Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, and Bashemath (Genesis 36), daughter of Ishmael and either another sister of Nebajoth or the same one under a different name. Esau drove the Horites out of Mount Seir but his descendants may also have intermarried with them. Seir is another name for Edom.
According to the Talmud ('Sotah' folio 13b) Esau was killed by Hushim son of Dan.
Edom gave rise to a series of rulers in the region of Syria, Mesopotamia, and elsewhere.
Genesis 36:
31 These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the Israelites. 32 Bela son of Beor reigned in Edom, the name of his city being Dinhabah. 33 Bela died, and Jobab son of Zerah of Bozrah succeeded him as king. 34 Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites succeeded him as king. 35 Husham died, and Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, succeeded him as king, the name of his city being Avith. 36 Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah succeeded him as king. 37 Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates succeeded him as king. 38 Shaul died, and Baal-hanan son of Achbor succeeded him as king. 39 Baal-hanan son of Achbor died, and Hadar succeeded him as king, the name of his city being Pau; his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Me-zahab.
40 These are the names of the clans of Esau, according to their families and their localities by their names: the clans* Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, 41Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, 42Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, 43 Magdiel, and Iram; these are the clans of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of Edom), according to their settlements in the land that they held.
In other words the descendants of Esau in the land of Idumea were not the only branch of Edom.
Descendants of Edom were to be found as leading elites amongst other peoples.
Genesis 27:
39 Then his father Isaac answered him:
'See, of the fatness of the earth shall your home be,
and of the dew of heaven on high.
40 By your sword you shall live,
and you shall serve your brother;
but when you break loose,
you shall break his yoke from your neck.'
41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, 'The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.'
This brings us back to the prophecy made to Rebecca the mother of Esau and Jacob, concerning her yet to be born sons.
Genesis 25:
22 The children struggled together within her; and she said, 'If it is to be this way, why do I live?' So she went to inquire of the Lord.
23 And the Lord said to her,
'Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples born of you shall be divided;
one shall be stronger than the other,
the elder shall serve the younger.'
The expression "the elder shall serve the younger" in the Hebrew lacks what one may term the defining denominative which in Hebrew is the word "et" placed usually before the object.
It may therefore be understood to read as translated "the elder shall serve the younger" and this is the primary meaning BUT it can also be read backwards as saying
"the elder shall be served by the younger". The Sages noticed this factor and said that when Israel is worth then Esau serves him but when Israel is not worthy then he serves Esau.
At all events, the main gist of the blessing above of Jacob to Esau (Genesis 27:39-4) is that Esau would live in fertile rich regions. He would become a warrior race and live by the sword.
There would be enmity between himself and Jacob.
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3. Edomites amongst Haters of the Jews.
Not all Jews are perfect. Quite the contrary. Nevertheless they who hate the Jews usually say horrible things about them that are not correct.
Just for the record amongst foremost haters of the Jews we find devil worshippers, sexual perverts, sadists, practitioners of human sacrifice, open pagans and everything else.
We find such deviationist behavior at an almost predictable level.
Some of them however are otherwise respectable and in their own way even religious.
Often they seem obsessed with the question of Edom and race.
Their argument is that the Jews of today are descended from Idumean converts with the addition of additional Edomites who they say were otherwise known as the Khazars.
They sometimes combine all this with stories about Cain, and the Canaanites, and the black and white races and racial purity etc.
Jacob had in fact received the blessing of Esau by subterfuge. Descendants of Edom have been resentful ever since.
Many haters of the Jews fit the profile of descendants of Edom.
The present-day Jews for all their faults and virtues fit the Biblical Profile of Judah and that is what matters.
Why The Jews Are Judah! Proof that the Present-Day Jews are the Judah of Scripture.
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/jew/judah.html
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4. Old fashioned Anti-Jewish Christian Support for the Palestinians and the Prophecy of Malachi 1 about Edom
The Jews have now in part returned to the land of Israel and have began to rebuilt it.
Before the Jews gained their independence and the State of Israel in 1948 there were Christians who were against it.
They claimed the Jews were really Edomites. They would quote Malachi 1:
Malachi 1:
1 The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi.
2 I have loved you, says the LORD. But you say, How hast Thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? declares the LORD. Yet I have loved Jacob;
3 but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation, and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.
4 Though Edom says, We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins; thus says the LORD of hosts, They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the LORD is indignant forever.
The anti-Jews tried to use this prophesy to predict the failure of the Zionist enterprise in the Land of Israel.
Here is our own explanation of Malachi 1:
http://britam.org/malachi.html
Malachi prophesied around the time of Ezra (500s BCE) after the Jews had returned from Babylon and began to rebuild the Temple.
He prophesies in light of and according to what was happening in his own time. Nevertheless, like all other prophesies that were recorded what Malachiachi says is also a prediction for the future.
Edom is Germany and Roman Europe.
A segment of Edom (the Idumu) was however also present in Japan.
Japanese atrocities and ambitions in the Second World War should not be forgotten.
Japan and Germany in WW2 attempted to destroy Western Civilization and exterminate the Jewish People.
They lost the war and their lands were devasted in part.
They have rebuilt the ruins.
Today Japan is a major producer and consumer of anti-Semitic literature.
The Japanese and Germans provide economic support and technical assistance for the Palestinians.
The ideology of the Palestinians boils down to a wish to exterminate the Jews because they are Jewish.
The Germans are in effect backing them. The Germans are involved in general Continental European attempts to deny the Jews any right to existence whether in Israel or outside of it.
See:
Jerusalem News
JN-1037
#1. Study: Main German political party foundations fund anti-Israel activity by BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT 26/10/2013
http://hebrewnations.com/features/jn/jn1037.html#a1
#3. Continental Europeans Want Jews to Disappear Altogether, Everywhere!
http://hebrewnations.com/features/jn/jn1037.html#a3
JN-1038. Jerusalem News
#2. Germany has Humiliated Israel and forced her to submit to Palestinian Falsehood
HRW Praises Israeli Decision to Attend UN Rights Review by Ari Yashar
http://hebrewnations.com/features/jn/jn1038.html#a2
#3. German-led EU Motion Aims to Ban Circumcision
http://hebrewnations.com/features/jn/jn1038.html#a3
The above misapplication of Malachi 1 to serve an anti-Jewish agenda is usually accompanied by quoting a mistranslation of Genesis 27:39
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5. The Incorrect Translation of Genesis 27:39 and Anti-Jewish Doctrines
The Hebrew original says:
Genesis 27:
39 Then his father Isaac answered him: 'Behold, of the fatness of the earth shall your home be, and of the dew of heaven on high.
An alternate translation found in some Christian Bibles says:
Genesis 27:
39 Then his father Isaac answered him: 'See, away from* the fatness of the earth shall your home be,
and away from* the dew of heaven on high.
The anti-Zionist Jew-haters combined this MISTRANSLATION of Genesis 27:39 with Malachi 1 to give voice to their wishful prediction that the Zionists would never succeed.
According to them, it had been predicted (Genesis 27:39) that Edom would inherit a desolate country. Consequently Edom had taken over the identity of the Jews and had in fact become Judah. The people of Judah (who they said were really Edomites) had been driven out of the Holy Land and had linked up with the Khazars who were also Edomites or something similar. They were now trying to gain control of the Land of Palestine at the expense of the Palestinians. They were also trying to rebuild the Land but would not succeed as predicted in Malachi 1.
All this is ridiculous but variations of it keep popping up, even now. We are sometimes asked questions about it.
It is apparently part of the Identity Aryan Nations Raymond Capt Assemblage that speaks about pre-Adamic peoples and Adamic ones.
These alleged Bible Believers have no trouble in believing in atheistic racial theories and pagan doctrines.
There are those that have an almost religious attachment to such notions. It is part of their faith and guiding ideology.
There is nothing we can do about people believing want they already wish to.
They who hate Jews will always find reasons to do so.
Nevertheless it is worth clarifying the truth for its own sake.
Proverbs 26:
4 Do not answer fools according to their folly,
or you will be a fool yourself.
5 Answer fools according to their folly,
or they will be wise in their own eyes.
Also here and there we sometimes come across individuals who are have been misled, not sure, confused, and genuinely prepared to listen.
For their sake we shall discuss the correct translation of Genesis 27:39.
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6. How the Incorrect Translation of Genesis 27:39 May have Come About.
The incorrect translation says:
Genesis 27:
39 Then his father Isaac answered him: 'See, away from* the fatness of the earth shall your home be, [and away from*] the dew of heaven on high.
It should be:
Genesis 27: 39 Then his father Isaac answered him: 'See, of the fatness of the earth shall your home be, and of the dew of heaven on high.
In Hebrew the words translated as "of the fatness of the earth are "Me-shmani ha-aretz" and so too "of the dew of heaven" are "Me-tal hashamayim". The prefix "me" means "of". It can also mean "from" but mainly in thec sense that "of" and "from" are synonymous.
For some reason someone decided that in this case (but not others) it does not mean "of" but rather "away from".
I am not aware of any parallel usage elsewhere in the Bible.
Not only that but only a verses further back we have the same expressions in the blessings to Jacob.
Jacob was blessed:
Genesis 27:
28 May God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine.
Here too the Hebrew uses the same words as in the blessing to Esau.
Just like the case in the blessing to Esau the words translated as "of the fatness of the earth are "Me-shmani ha-aretz" and so too "of the dew of heaven" are "Me-tal hashamayim".
Esau therefore received a blessing VERY SIMILAR to that of Jacob.
In Hebrew the same expressions are used.
Why in the case of Jacob should the expression be understood one way and regarding Esau in another? Especially when there is no need for such differences of interpretation?
See:
Esau the Warrior. Esau (Edom) and the Blessings to Jacob.
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/esau/esau3.html
#3. Answer to Question Concerning Esau and Dwelling in Fertile Lands
http://hebrewnations.com/features/now/1970.html#a3
3. A Quick Comparison of the Blessings to Jacob and Esau.
http://hebrewnations.com/features/now/1972.html#a3
See what we wrote elsewhere on this subject followed below by a few additional notes.:
http://britam.org/Genesis/Gen25to28Toldot.html
[Genesis 27:39] AND ISAAC HIS FATHER ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM, BEHOLD, THY DWELLING SHALL BE THE FATNESS OF THE EARTH, AND OF THE DEW OF HEAVEN FROM ABOVE;
Esau is here promised a fertile place to dwell in. ...Some Christian commentaries say the verse should be read: THY DWELLING SHALL BE [far away from] THE FATNESS OF THE EARTH: I do not know the source of this explanation and it does not fit the Hebrew as I understand it. It appears in some translations and is accepted by several Christian exegetes. It may be that the land southeast of Israel that is known as Edom is not regarded as being terribly fertile and the translators were trying to rationalize their translation and adapt the translated meaning according to their own understanding of reality as it was in the past. Against this it can be said that the Land of Edom was once much more fertile than it now is. Also Edom was scattered to several areas. A passage in an inscription from the ancient city of Ugarit on the north Syrian coast speaks of the well-watered land of Edom. There was a region belonging to Edom in the north. A region (usually ruled from Assyria)Â by the Habor River in Northern Syria was once known as "Idam Araz" meaning "Land of Edom" as noted by the researcher Michael Banyai.
Our impression is that Edomites were prominent in the hierarchies of Babylon, Ugarit, Assyria, and Phoenician Tyre.
Additional Notes:
For years we have been speaking on this matter.
I do not know who or why certain Christian Translators tried to change the meaning in Genesis 27:39 from the simple Hebrew.
Genesis 27:39 says in the Hebrew:
27:39 Then his father Isaac answered him: 'See, of the fatness of the earth shall your home be, and of the dew of heaven on high.
BUT
The New Revised Standard Version (that we sometimes use simply because it is available online)
says:
27: 39 Then his father Isaac answered him: 'See, away from* the fatness of the earth shall your home be, and away from* the dew of heaven on high.
Other translations also repeat this mistranslation.
They are wrong.
We looked up a number of Christian Translations:
http://www.biblestudytools.com/genesis/27-39-compare.html
Out of ca. 28 different versions: 14 said it like us (i.e. they got it right) and 14 said it wrong.
Those who said it right were:
ASV, CJB, RHE, HNV, KJV, LEB, NKJV, NLT, DBY, WBT, TMB, TYN, WEB, YLT.
ChristadelphianBooksOnline, The Agora Bible Commentary, gave the following rationalization:
Gen 27:39
http://www.christadelphianbooks.org/agora/comm/01_gen/gen28.html
AWAY FROM...: In AV, "of". But this is better. "Away from" is seen in the land of Edom today. Esau received no blessing -- he was rejected: "Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears" (Heb 12:17). Esau was not under God's protection and guidance. Blessings of the Kingdom (ie Psa 72) did not come to him. Esau left the Land of Promise, and went to barren, sterile Edom, beyond the Dead Sea. (Cp Cain: Gen 4:11.)
In other words modern Christian believers trying to reconcile what the Bible says with what they know from their studies evidently changed the simple meaning to say the opposite of what it does!
The Bible in the Hebrew original says that Esau would enjoy the fatness of the earth and the dew of heaven.
The country of Edom that Esau inherited is barren today.
This would seem to contradict the Bible.
Someone decided that the Hebrew of the Bible could be interpreted as saying "from" (i.e. away from) rather than "of".
A letter that was sent to us indicates that the fault may have its origins in the Greek translation of the Bible:
See:
#5. Globetrotter: Grammatical and Translational Points on Genesis 37:29
http://hebrewnations.com/features/now/1971.html#a2
He points out that maybe the Greek translation could have been understood to say "away from" instead of "of" but even this is not certain.
The enthusiasts who may include anti-Jewish elements have evidently decided to adopt this since it fitted the reality that they were aware of.
They were however mistaken!
As far as I know there is NO PARALLEL example in the Hebrew Bible for such usage!
Historically the descendants of Esau did become great and mighty. They dwelt amongst nations that could be considered blessed when comparted to most other countries.
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7. The Correct Translation of Genesis 27:39.
Translated literally from the Hebrew the verse should be translated along the following lines:
Genesis 27:
39 Then his father Isaac answered and said unto him: 'Behold, of the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling-place be, and of the dew of heaven above. And by your sword shall you live. And your brother shall you serve. And it shall be when you gain control, you shall break his yoke from your neck '.
All Rabbinical sources that I am aware of agree with this explanation. Yehudah Kiel (Daat Mikra) quotes sources to the effect that the similarity in formulation between the blessings of Jacob and those of Esau is deliberate.
This is what the Bible is telling us.
In principle we adhere as much as possible to a literal interpretation of Scripture.
See:
The Literal Bible. When is Scripture to be Taken Literally?
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/ten-tribes-and-biblical-philosophy/literal.html