Esau is the original hairy ( se’ar ) man of the Bible (Genesis 25:25), and the reputation goes with the Edomites, his descendants, who live at Mount Shaggy (Seir; Genesis 14:6; 32:3; 33:14; etc.).
He’s not the last hairy man. Nazirites are hairy (Numbers 6:5, 18; Judges 16:22), including the counterfeit Nazirite Absalom (2 Kings 1:8).
Prophets are hairy too. Elijah is called a lord of hair ( ba’al se’ar ; 2 Kings 1:8); as prophet, he is like the Nazirite holy warriors. But he is also linked to Esau, not only because he is hairy but because he has a mantle ( adderet ). Esau is covered with hair like a garment ( adderet ), and Elijah’s mantle ( adderet ) possesses power like the rod of Moses (cf. 2 Kings 2:8, 13-14). Besides Genesis 25:25, the only place where the Old Testament uses “hairy” and “garment” together is Zechariah 13:4, which describes false prophets who are too ashamed to put on a “hairy garment to deceive.”
Esau-Nazirites-prophets: There seems to be a thread, but what is it? Are Nazirites and prophets Esaus, hunters and men of the field among the tents of the sons of Jacob?
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Moral Certitude and the Iran War
The current military engagement with Iran calls renewed attention to just war theory in the Catholic tradition.…
The Slow Death of England: New and Notable Books
The fate of England is much in the news as popular resistance to mass immigration grows, limits…
Ethics of Rhetoric in Times of War
What we say matters. And the way we say it matters. This is especially true in times…
