Why was Esau red and hairy?

Answer 1

Oculocutaneous albinism is what it is called. The "complete" and "plain" one with all of the melanin is Jacob. Shemitic looking in this case = black/brown (eumelanin). So, Jacob was a black person. Esau and Jacob were fraternal twins where the placentas fused at one point allowing them to fight.

Of course, Esau and Jacob symbolically represent the primitive animalistic aggression and tame spiritual peacefulness respectively.

This sort of gives an idea of the story of Esau and Jacob: Look up on huffingtonpost in the year 2015/03/02/ for biracial-twins-lucy-maria-aylmer.

Answer 2

In the biblical account, Jacob and Esau were twins and should have looked very much alike, not only as twins, but because they must have been Semitic. It is a reasonable question to ask why just one of the twins was red-haired and hairy, since this can not be answered by logic or Biology.

The answer to this question lies in the origins of the story, long before The Bible itself was written. There is much evidence in the Bible that Jacob was once the moon god of Israel, before the stories changed to depict him as a mortal, but with superhuman abilities. Similarly, Esau was the sun god, who was usually depicted in the Near East as being reddish and having hair like a halo around his head. The moon god and the sun god were always depicted as fighting for dominance over the other, just as Jacob and Esau fought, even in the womb. In one fragmentary passage, Esau travelled to the east, where the sun rises in the morning, and this avoided conflict until he returned.

The story of Jacob's wrestle with a god until the sun rose (Genesis chapter 32) only really makes sense when seen as the daily contest between the moon and the sun.

Answer 3

Esau's ruddiness symbolized his being an energetic person, and one who would succeed in conquest. Similarly, his hairiness at birth like the body of a much older person, symbolized that he would be a man of action and accomplishment, without the hesitations that most people are beset by.

Jacob, on the other hand, was quieter; more demure; symbolizing that he would prefer a more "slowly but surely" approach.

God had them be born in this manner in order to test Isaac as to whether he would make the mistake of favoring Esau.

Answer 4

Esau was described as red and hairy in the Bible because he was born with a lot of red hair on his body. This physical appearance set him apart from his twin brother Jacob, who was described as smooth-skinned.