Komentarz do Rodzaju 27:41

יקרבו ימי אבל אבי THE DAYS OF MOURNING FOR MY FATHER APPROACH — Explain it according to the evident meaning of the words — (I will wait to kill him until my father is dead), that I may not cause grief to my father. There are Midrashic explanations of various kinds.

AND ESAU SAID IN HIS HEART. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said, “It is possible that he revealed his secret to one of his friends.”²⁴⁷If not, how did Rebekah become aware of the fact that Esau was planning to kill Jacob? (Verse 42 here).
But this is not necessarily so for any decision which a person reaches after deliberation is referred to in Hebrew as “speaking with the heart,” even when it also includes speech with the lips. A similar case is found in the verse, And with a double heart do they speak,²⁴⁸Psalms 12:3. for the will is synonymous with the heart. And all Israel were of one heart to make David king,²⁴⁹I Chronicles 12:39. meaning that they had all arrived at the same decision and were talking of it. Similarly, And Jeroboam said in his heart.²⁵⁰I Kings 12:26. Further on it says, And the king took counsel, (Verse 28). Here also there was speech which Scripture had referred to as being said in his heart. Similarly did Eliezer say, And before I had finished speaking in my heart,²⁵¹Above, 24:25. whereas the prayer there was with his lips, as Scripture states, And he said, O Eternal G-d of my lord Abraham.²⁵²Ibid., Verse 12. However it is possible that the expression, before I had finished speaking in my heart, means “before I had concluded the thought in my mind.”
Now here the verse states that when the great hatred of Jacob permeated Esau’s soul because of the blessing, he conceived the idea of murdering his brother, and with this he comforted himself from his depressed state. This explains the verse, And the words of Esau were told to Rebekah.²⁵³Verse 42 here. As Ramban explained, a decision in one’s heart, even though coupled with speech, is still referred to in Hebrew as “the speech of heart.” Therefore, the verse means that Esau decided upon a course of action, and he himself informed his mother of his decision. This is why she said to Jacob, Thy brother Esau comforts himself to slay thee.²⁵⁴Verse 42 here.
Now Rashi comments, “She was told, through Ruach Hakodesh,²³¹See above, Note 90. what Esau was thinking in his heart.” And so it is found in Bereshith Rabbah.²⁵⁵Bereshith Rabbah 67:9. If so, Esau’s words and thoughts were only in his heart, just as in the verse, I spoke with my own heart.²⁵⁶Ecclesiastes 1:16.
The reason that Esau said, Let the days of mourning for my father be at hand then will I slay my brother is because he would not bring grief to his father during his lifetime. Perhaps it was due to his fear lest his father curse him, and his blessing would then turn into a curse. Rebekah, [who nevertheless advised Jacob to flee], feared that perhaps the elderly one would die suddenly, and Esau would then kill Jacob, or perhaps he might find occasion to kill him even during Isaac’s lifetime.

יקרבו ימי אבל אבי, "the days of mourning for my father are not far off." Esau referred to the time after his father's funeral when the days of mourning commence. He was afraid to murder Jacob before his father would be buried since the dead are reputed to be aware of what goes on as long as the grave or coffin has not been sealed (Shabbat 152).

וישטום...יקרבו ימי אבל אבי, he wished fervently for the day of his father’s death which was expected soon as else why did he already bless his sons? He planned to kill Yaakov after the mourning period after his father would have passed. He did not ant to kill Yaakov while their father was still alive, so as not to be responsible for Yitzchok dying as a result of grief over having lost his son.

ויאמר עשו בלבו, “Esau said to himself: etc.” According to Ibn Ezra, Esau may have revealed his intention to one of his intimate friends. Nachmanides feels that there is no need to resort to such an explanation, [which distorts the meaning of the text, Ed.] seeing that something that a person resolves in his heart is often described by Scripture as אמירה, “something that has been said.” Esau’s resolve to eventually murder Yaakov was as good as if he had actually said so with his lips. The fact that he had made such a resolution consoled him over the present situation.

ויאמר עשו בלבו, “Esau said to himself, etc.” Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 67,8 used this phrase to remind us that the wicked are always “prisoners” of the dictates of their hearts, whereas the righteous are in full control of their hearts. We have a number of verses speaking of wicked people in which the Bible uses the same expression. Examples are: Psalms 14,1: “Naval said in his heart,” (to himself), Jerobam said to himself (Kings I 12,26) et al. The word בלבו must be contrasted with the expression אל לבו, “to his heart,” as distinct from “in his heart.” When you speak “to your heart,” you are the boss. When a voice speaks “in your heart,” the heart is the boss. This why we find in Samuel I 1,13 where Chanah is praying that the wording used to describe this is וחנה היא מדברת אל לבה, “and Chanah, she was speaking to her heart.” When G’d is reported as speaking to Himself in Genesis 5,21 the wording used is also ויאמר ה’ אל לבו.

So that I will not grieve my father... Although he was wicked, he would never grieve his father. He treated his father with honor, as proved by (28:8): “Eisov realized that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the eyes of Yitzchok, his father...”

שטם ,וישטם verwandt mit שתם mit (Klagel. 3, 8) und סתם, versperren, verstopfen, bezeichnet einen verhaltenen Hass, ähnlich wie נטר, das auch allgemein: bewahren, bergen und speziell: Hass bewahren und bergen heißt. Es ist traurig, dass hier vorausgesetzt zu sein scheint, dass wohl selten ein Mensch den andern mehr liebt als er zeigt, wohl aber ihn mehr hasst, und dass daher "bergen" stillschweigend das Bergen einer feindlichen Gesinnung bedeutet. — "Wegen des Segens, den der Vater ihm gegeben". Man darf schwanken, ob: wegen des Segens, den sein Vater dem Jakob, oder den er ihm, dem Esau, gegeben. Denn in diesem spricht sich ja erst vollständig aus, wie seine ganze Stellung dem künftigen Jakobshause gegenüber eine untergeordnete sein werde. "Was du bedeutest im Leben", war ihm ja gesagt, "fällt Jakob zu, und du musst dich ihm unterordnen, wenn du ihm gleich werden willst" — ואהרגה, mein Vater hat ja gesagt: על הרבך תחיי, das soll der erste Gebrauch von meinem Schwerte sein.

יקרבו ימי אבל אבי, “the time of mourning for the passing of my father will come about soon, etc.” Esau means that if he were to bring about his father’s premature death by murdering Yaakov, he would have accomplished nothing, as his father would then die prematurely through grieving over the loss of his son Yaakov. This is why he will await his father’s death from natural causes before carrying out his plan to kill his brother.

וישטום עשו את יעקב על הברכה, “Esau hated Yaakov on account of the blessing;” there are some commentators who do not consider the words: על הברכה in our verse as referring to the blessing that Yaakov had “robbed” Esau of, but they consider these words as Esau’s complaint about the blessing that he did receive from his father, i.e. that he would always have to fight for his survival, על חרבך תחיה, “you will live (only) by the sword.” He placed a great deal of trust in that blessing. We would then have to understand our verse as follows: “Esau hated Yaakov, as from now on he had an assurance that by means of the sword he would always survive.”

יקרבו ימי אבל אבי, “the days of mourning for my father’s death are approaching;” according to the plain meaning, Esau looked forward to his father’s death as he would not have wanted to cause his father such a painful experience as losing a son. Not only that, his father might curse him for what he had done. Other commentators believe that the words do not mean that Esau looked forward to his father’s death, but that he said: ”I will bring my father’s mourning Yaakov’s death closer by murdering Yaakov.”

יקרבו ימי אבל אבי, “may the days of mourning for my father approach, etc.” He did not want to kill Yaakov while Yitzchak was alive as he was afraid of being cursed by his father and that the blessing he had received would turn into a curse. Seeing that Yaakov had gone into hiding and left town, Rivkah had to send a message to him [ותשלח in verse 42] to warn him of Esau’s plan.

יקרבו ימי אבל אבי, Esau was sure that his father would not live long enough to sire another son who could avenge Yaakov when he would murder him.

ואהרגה, “when I shall kill, etc.” The letter ו is vocalised with the semi vowel sheva, and the letter aleph with a patach.