There has been a teaching circulating by a specific sect called the black Hebrew Israelites. These guys claim that the meaning of Esau red as in the white man. If you didn’t know Esau was the brother of Jacob, twins born to Isaac and Rebekah.
The story of the two brothers can be found in the book of Genesis, here is a brief recap below:
Genesis 25:21-23
21And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
23And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
As you can see there were two sons born to Isaac and Rebekah, who were to be two manner of people. This is key because it has been said that Esau was born white.
Lets see what happened at the birth and what the two sons looked like according to the scriptures.
Genesis 25:24-26
24And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.
26And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.
If we read the above verses, we get a description of what the two boys looked like. The first thing to note is that they were twins. What has been claimed is that Esau came out red, which has been interpreted as being white.
From the prospective that white people red blood is known to show through the skin more,specifically when they are blushing,as an example.
Lets examine this word red to get an understanding of what was meant here. If we can examine the Hebrew word for red which is found in Hebrew concordance, where we can get a clearer picture. The term red found in verse 25 is the Strongs Hebrew number 119
119 ‘adam aw-dam’ to show blood (in the face), i.e. flush or turn rosy:–be (dyed, made) red (ruddy).
As you can see from the word it denotes a the colour red, if this is true how can it be a white man? Lets compare this word with another person in the scriptures, who was also called ruddy, King David.
In 1 Samuel 17:42 David is being disdained by a Phillistine because of what he looked like.
1 Samuel 17:42
42And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.
The word for ruddy here is the same,just means reddish and is taken from the root 119 in the strongs concordance.
132 ‘admoniy ad-mo-nee’ or (fully) admowniy {ad-mo-nee’}; from 119; reddish (of the hair or the complexion):–red, ruddy.
Here we see Davids actual complexion being referenced as ruddy (reddish), and lets not forget he was a descendant of Jacob, so if he is also reddish, this would make him the white man too,wouldn’t it? Note: the Hebrew word here is Strongs 132 and its root word is Strongs 119, as mentioned earlier (which means red).
To get an even clearer picture of this term red we can find instance in the bible where it is related to non humans, but rather animals. The two in question are a Horse and a heifer (a young cow)
Zechariah 1:8
8I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.
Here we saw what Zechariah saw in a vision i.e. a red horse, No body has ever seen a horse that is red if we take the traditional meaning of the word into consideration, but the term red has basic come to mean brown. You can see a picture of a red horse below:
Also a second example of what red is can be seen from the picture below of the red Heifer (young cow).
Numbers 19:2
2This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke:
This is law, for the Israelites to bring a young red cow that had not given birth yet to be brought as a sacrifice (obviously before the Messiah laid down his life and created the new covenant).
Both of the words for red used in these scriptures are Hebrews Strongs number 122, which takes its root meaning from 119 as does red 132 used to describe the complexion of David.
122 ‘adom aw-dome’ from 119; rosy:–red, ruddy.
As you can see the term Red is the same as what today is called brown, So if Esau was red in this sense that would make him brown and not white.
Another point is that the descriptions are clearly talking about the immediate complexions of Esau, David, the Red Horse and Red Heifer. Not the colour they turn if they are blushing etc…
Here is what is written by an Israelite called Flavius Josephus, who lived in the first century just before the Messiah was crucified and raised to life. He writes concerning, Jacob and Esau and their appearance:
“…Now when the supper was got ready, he took a goat’s skin, and put it about his arm, that by reason of its hairy roughness, he might by his father be believed to be Esau; for they being twins, and in all things else alike, differed only in this thing.”
So we can see that Josephus at that time knew the meaning of Esau to be red for both Jacob and Esau as he describes them to be identical twins, which means there was no separation in colour of they immediate appearance only that Esau was hairier…
So that being said Jacob and Esau both looked the same,and more accurately they were both what is considered today as black men.
Peace and Shalom
Click there ====> for a basic guide on How to interpret the bible
{ 0 comments… add one now }