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Genesis describes Esau as hairy and a hunter of the open fields, while Jacob lives in tents. The Epic of Gilgamesh uses a similar pairing: the wild, shaggy Enkidu who lives with animals contrasted with the civilized king Gilgamesh of Uruk.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Epic of Gilgamesh I
Ancient Near East
let them be a match for each other so that Uruk may find peace!' When Aruru heard this she created within herself the zikrtt of Anu. Aruru washed her hands, she pinched off some clay, and threw it into the wilderness. In the wildness she created valiant Enkidu, born of Silence, endowed with strength by Ninurta. His whole body was shaggy with hair, he had a full head of hair like a woman, his locks billowed in profusion like Ashnan. He knew neither people nor settled living, but wore a garment like Sumukan.' He ate grasses with the gazelles, and jostled at the watering hole with the animals; as with animals, his thirst was slaked with (mere) water. A notorious trapper came face-to-face with him opposite the watering hole.
Date: 2100 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Genesis 25:25
Hebrew Bible
24 When the time came for Rebekah to give birth, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out reddish all over, like a hairy garment, so they named him Esau. 26 When his brother came out with his hand clutching Esau’s heel, they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born. 27 When the boys grew up, Esau became a skilled hunter, a man of the open fields, but Jacob was an even-tempered man, living in tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for fresh game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 Now Jacob cooked some stew, and when Esau came in from the open fields, he was famished.
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Notes and References
"... Typological Parallels. Ancient Near Eastern parallels that are more likely typological than cognate include: the symbolic contrast of culture and nature in the rivalry between Jacob and Esau and in the Mesopotamian rivalry between Gilgamesh and Enkidu, the Egyptian rivalry between Horus and Seth, and the Phoenician rivalry between Hypsouranios and Ousoos (Hendel 1987b: 111–31); the use of clothing to symbolize the rites de passage in the Joseph narrative (see above, C.5.) and in the Gilgamesh epic (Moran Encyclopedia of Religion 5: 559); Jacob’s mysterious wrestling encounter with God in Genesis 32:23–33 and Gilgamesh’s dream of a wrestling encounter with his patron god Shamash in the Gilgamesh epic (Hendel 1987b: 103–9). There are many typological parallels from other cultures for stories about tricksters like Jacob (Hendel 1987b: 123, 128–29; Niditch 1987: 95–118), wise heroes like Joseph (Niditch 1987: 110–14), heroes who wrestle with gods (de Pury 1979), primeval floods (Dundes 1988), and many other motifs and themes in Genesis (Frazer 1918; Gaster 1950) ..."
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