According to Radak, Yaakov paid Eisav the full monetary value of the birthright. Sephorno says that the soup represented the sale but it wasn't the actual price Yaakov paid for the birthright. If this is true then Eisav's hunger had nothing to do with his decision to sell the birthright. Rashi says that there were certain things the person in possession of the birthright couldn't do, and if they did the punishment could be death. Eisav didn't want any restrictions, so he wasn't hesitant to sell the birthright to Yaakov. These commentators prove that Eisav really had no problem with selling the birthright. Radak even mentions that Eisav went right back to work after the 'selling', proving that he was not affected by it at all. He didn't care that he had sold the birthright, because he wasn't interesting in being the chosen one anyway. Ramaban and Radak both say that Eisav thought he was going to die during his father's lifetime because of his hazardous profession or because of the spiritual requirements of the birthright. If he thought he was going to die soon, then why would he care about being the chosen one and continuing the promise. Why would he want to dedicate his life to G-d and live with all of those restrictions?
We know that Avraham made sure that Yitzchak's wife was not from Caanan. Since Yitzchak was the chosen one, he had to marry a girl who also came from a "chosen family". In Perek 28, pasuk Aleph, Yitzchak tells Yaakov not to marry a girl from Caanan. Basically, the 'chosen one' cannot marry a girl from Caanan. It's simple. Yet, when Eisav turns 40 he marries Yehudit--a Caanani woman. It now seems obvious. Not only did Eisav have no interest in being the chosen one, it seems like he is actually actively trying to not be chosen. If he had wanted to be chosen or eve had a slight interest, he would not have married a Caanani girl. What does confuse me here is that Eisav was so dedicated to the mitzvah of Kibud Av, yet he married a Caanani girl when Yitzchak clearly did not want him marrying a girl from there. In Pasuk 35, Perek 26 it even says that Yitzchak was not happy about it! If Yitzchak really didn't want Eisav to marry the girl, then I don't know why he did--I mean, everything else he did seemed to be in order to please his father.
No comments:
Post a Comment