Комментарий к Берешит 36:6

i.e. no particular country, but into any country), to stay where-ever he could find room.

AND ESAU TOOK HIS WIVES, AND HIS SONS, AND HIS DAUGHTERS. This journey took place after his brother had returned from Haran and established himself in the land of Canaan, as it says here, and he went into a land away from his brother Jacob. It is possible that this was also after the death of their father. Now when his brother Jacob was still in Haran, Esau was already in Se’ir, as is written above!²⁴⁷32:4. But the explanation of the matter is that Esau went to Se’ir in the days of the chieftains of the Horites, the inhabitants of the land,²⁴⁸Verse 20 here. and he became a lord with a following of four hundred men²⁴⁹Above, 32:7. while his children and family remained in the land of Canaan. It is possible that Esau had some land there in another location, in the plain, not on mount Se’ir. Therefore Scripture speaks of him as living in the land of Se’ir, the field of Edom.²⁴⁷32:4. And after his brother returned to the land of Canaan he vacated before his coming for he knew that the land of Canaan was the inheritance of his brother which his father had given him in his blessing. So he took his sons… and all the souls of his house — a multitude of people — and went to Se’ir to settle there. He then fought with the sons of Se’ir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land,²⁴⁸Verse 20 here. for perhaps they feared him, and they did not permit him to enter their territory into mount Se’ir, where the fortifications were. However, he settled in the field of Edom, in his original location, and the Eternal destroyed them from before them, and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead, as it said in Mishneh Torah.²⁵⁰Deuteronomy 2:21. It therefore says there, Because I have given mount Se’ir unto Esau for a possession.²⁵¹Ibid., 2:5.

מפני יעקב אחיו, seeing that Yaakov had bought the birthright, and by rights he was entitled to inherit the estate of his father Yitzchok, i.e. the land of Canaan. Therefore, Esau decided to vacate that land in favour of his brother.

ואת כל בהמתו, a generic term including all of his livestock.

ויקח עשו את נשיו ואת בניו, “Esau took his wives and his children, etc.” Rashi alerts us to the fact that Esau’s wives took precedence over his children as opposed to his brother Yaakov, even though the Torah also mentions his wives first when his family was introduced to Esau as we know from The only reason Yaakov presented his wives before presenting his children, was on account of his fear at that time, also because they were of tender age and unable to be without their mothers. Such considerations did not apply in our context here. Nachmanides writes that Esau’s migration took place after Yaakov had returned from Charan, and after their father Yitzchok had died. While it is true that Esau had been in Seir also during the period that Yaakov was at Lavan, as has been explained previously, (32,4), the correct sequence of events is as follows: Esau had first gone to Seir during the days of the Alufey Chori who had then resided and ruled in that region. At that time Esau, accompanied by 400 men, had invaded that region leaving his wives and family behind in the land of Canaan. It is quite likely that he conquered part of the low lying areas in that region already at that time, and that this accounts for the reference to the “land of Seir”, as opposed to the “mountain of Seir,” which also appears as שדה אדום, ”the field of Edom.” (32,4) After Yaakov had returned to the land of Canaan, Esau decided to vacate that land which his father had allocated to Yaakov as his inheritance. At that time he conducted a war against the inhabitants of the mountain of Seir Hachori, the predomi- nating tribe of the region.

וילך אל ארץ מפני יעקב אחיו, “he went to a (different) country on account of his brother Yaakov.” The plain meaning of the verse is that Esau went to the land of Seir which was his real home at that time, just as the Torah had mentioned already in Genesis 33,16: “Esau returned on that day on his way to Seir.” We have independent support for the fact that Esau resided in Seir in 36,8: “Esau resided in the mountain of Seir.” Ibn Ezra comments on this that this mountain is adjacent to the land of Israel as the Torah reports in Deut. 2,8: “we by-passed our brothers the sons of Esau who reside in Seir.” We also have Deut. 1,2 where Moses speaks of “eleven days march from Mount Chorev by way of Mount Seir.” This mountain is not identical with the country in which the Edomites live in nowadays, i.e. the land of Greece.

To reside wherever he might find. Otherwise, why does it not mention to which land he went?

(6-7) מפני מקניהם — מפני יעקב אחיו. Es werden hier zwei Motive für die Auswanderung Esaus angegeben. מפני יעקב אחיו bezeichnet jedenfalls die Entfernung von Jakob als das eine MotiRaw Hirsch on Genesis 36: Indem gleichwohl אחיו beigefügt ist, so ist der Grund dieses Wunsches der Entfernung nicht in einem unbrüderlichen Verhältnis zu suchen. Die Vergangenheit war völlig gesühnt. Allein der geistige und sittliche Gegensatz war ein zu großer, als dass sich Esau nicht fern von Jakob viel freier gefühlt hätte. Er hätte es gleichwohl nicht getan, wenn die äußeren Umstände ihr wirkliches Zusammenwohnen gestattet hätten. Allein מפני מקניהם war dies nicht möglich. Im Lande Kanaan hätten sie doch nicht zusammen bleiben können. Ihr beiderseitiges Wirtschaftswesen nahm zusammen einen viel zu großen Raum in Anspruch, als dass sie einen solchen dort, wo sie nur als גרים geduldet waren, hätten okkupieren können. Da sie also jedenfalls מפני מקניהם sich hätten trennen müssen, zog Esau es vor, lieber "אל ארץ" ganz in ein anderes Land zu ziehen, מפני יעקב אחיו, um so völlig außerhalb des genierenden geistigen und sittlichen Einflusses seines Bruders zu kommen. Es steht daher auch wohl absichtlich nicht אל ארץ אדום, sondern אל ארץ, "nach irgend einem Lande", um eben das Motiv deutlicher hervortreten zu lassen, dass die Entfernung von Jakob der Beweggrund war. —

לך אל ארץ, “he went (emigrated) to a land.” Esau conquered the land of Seir from the people known as Chorim. Rashi explains what motivated Esau to leave the land of Canaan voluntarily. If you were to counter that at the beginning of this portion it is written: ארצה שעיר שדה אדום, “that Yaakov had dispatched his messengers to ”the land of Seir otherwise known as the field of Edom, (which gives the reader the impression that Esau had already taken possession of that land at that time) and it entitles us to think that Esau already lived there, we have to assume that up until the period mentioned in our verse here he had lived alternately both in the land of Canaan and in the land of Seir. It was only after Yaakov had returned to the land of Canaan and the brothers had been reconciled, that Esau vacated the land of Canaan, thus acknowledging that this would become the land possessed as ancestral home by the descendants of Yaakov.

AND HE WENT INTO A LAND. According to Onkelos, the meaning of this expression is “into another land.” But Rashi explained, “He went to stay wherever he could find room” for he went to no particular country but sought a country where he would find room to settle, until he came to mount Se’ir and settled there. In my opinion, the correct interpretation is that Scripture is saying: “And he went to the land of Se’ir,” the name of the place being omitted from the verse as it is self-understood since it has already been mentioned that he dwelled in the land of Se’ir, and it is understood that he led his family there, and right nearby, it is mentioned, And Esau dwelled in mount Se’ir.²⁵²Verse 8 here. A similar case is found in this verse: He went into the castle of the king’s house, and burnt the king’s house over him with fire,²⁵³I Kings 16:18. which means that house of the king in which he was. Similarly, And he burned the high place and stamped it small to powder, and burned the Asherah,²⁵⁴II Kings 23:15. which means the high place which belonged to Jeroboam, who was mentioned in the beginning of the verse. So also: And Joab said to the Cushite: Go tell the king… And Cushite bowed down to Joab,²⁵⁵II Samuel 18:21. [which means “the Cushite” mentioned] ; And an ass and the lion,²⁵⁶I Kings 13:28. [which means “the ass” mentioned above in Verse 24]. So also: For ships were broken at Etzion-geber,²⁵⁷Ibid., 22:49. which means “the ships” [mentioned in the beginning of that verse] ; and there are many similar verses. Here also the expression, And he went into a land, is as if it said, “into the land,” i.e., the land of Se’ir which was mentioned.

וילך אל ארץ, to a land where previously he had been living on an ad hoc basis before Yaakov had returned from Lavan. Now, after Yaakov’s return, he decided to move there permanently. כי היה רכושם רב, the reason that Esau moved now was 1) because the combined herds of Yaakov and Esau were extensive, and Esau feared he would ultimately be forced to leave the land of Canaan as G’d had promised it to Yaakov’s children as their inheritance. After all, his father Yitzchok had said to him in 27,39 that whereas his inheritance would be משמני הארץ, “of the fat places of the earth,” nothing had been said to him indicating that he would own part of the land of Canaan. Perhaps his father had even told him that Mount Seir would be his. The Torah refers to this land as being Esau’s by right in Deuteronomy 2,5 as well as in Joshua 24,4. His claim to this region was therefore not only that of a conqueror, but one which had Divine approval.

וילך אל ארץ, “he went to ארץ.” According to Onkelos, the word ארץ is short for ארץ אחרת, “another country.” Rashi explains that Esau simply went in search of any country other than the land of Canaan, finally settling on the land of Seir as his new residence. Nachmanides writes that the Torah simply abbreviated, instead of writing וילך עשו אל ארץ שעיר, the Torah omitting details that it considered as obvious to the reader. This is especially so, since Esau’s having gone to Seir had already been mentioned in chapter 32. There are numerous such abbreviations to be found in the Torah.

מפני יעקב אחיו, “on account of Yaakov, his brother.” Seeing that he had sold the birthright to Yaakov, thus making Yaakov the legal heir of Yitzchok, he left for a foreign country to show that he did no longer dispute Yaakov’s claim to that land.