The story of redemption is often told through the line of Jacob. But what if, hidden in plain sight, another thread runs through Scripture—one tied not to Jacob, but to Esau? What if we have missed the other son of Isaac, the other recipient of blessing, the other people who bear the mark of God’s providence? This is the burden of Torat Edom—the teaching concerning Edom.
Most readings of Edom in the biblical tradition are overwhelmingly negative. From Esau’s early impulsiveness to the later violence of Edom against Israel (cf. Obadiah 10), Edom becomes a symbol of opposition, judgment, and exile. Malachi even declares: “Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated” (Mal. 1:2–3). Paul famously invokes this verse in Romans 9 to underscore divine election. But such readings, while legitimate in their prophetic context, are not the end of the story.
The Abrahamic covenant was not a narrow contract. It was a cosmic promise: “In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). Esau, as Isaac’s son and Abraham’s grandson, stands within that orbit—just as Ishmael does. In fact, Genesis records that Esau too received a blessing: “Your dwelling will be away from the earth’s richness… but you will live by the sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from your neck” (Gen. 27:39–40). This is not merely a curse; it is a prophetic tension—one that anticipates Esau’s eventual release and restoration.
This tension reappears when Jacob and Esau reconcile in Genesis 33. The moment is brief and often overlooked, but it is no small thing that Esau “ran to meet Jacob and embraced him… and kissed him, and they wept” (Gen. 33:4). For a moment, brotherhood is restored. But the Scriptures move on quickly, and Edom fades into the background—only to reemerge later in prophetic warnings.
But what if this movement is not abandonment, but concealment? What if, in God’s wisdom, the story of Edom is hidden for a time, only to be unveiled later? Paul hints at such patterns in Romans 11: “God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all” (Rom. 11:32). Might this also include Edom?
Torat Edom proposes that the story of Esau and Edom must be re-read in light of the full Abrahamic vision and the spiritual inheritance promised in the heavenly Jerusalem (cf. Gal. 4:26; Heb. 12:22). It challenges the assumption that Edom’s judgment is eternal, and instead points to a deeper mystery: the inclusion of all nations, including those who seemed rejected, into the mercy of God.
Furthermore, Torat Edom critiques both modern Christian Zionism and supersessionism or ‘fulfillment theology’. The former often views Edom as merely the Arab world or Islam—as enemies of Israel—while the latter dismisses Israel and its adversaries alike, placing all fulfillment in the Church alone. Both views are insufficient. What is needed is a theology that sees Jacob and Esau not as binary opposites, but as brothers with distinct roles in God’s unfolding plan—a plan that culminates not in one nation’s political triumph, but in a redeemed creation.
The heavenly Jerusalem is the destination, and it will not be inherited through coercive Mosaic frameworks or imperial alignments, but through the Spirit, by faith. The double bind of endless covenantal and dispensational debates dissolves when the Abrahamic promise is seen in full: neither Israel nor Edom can be understood rightly apart from the other. Both are necessary to unveil the mystery of the gospel.
In the end, the question is not whether Esau was hated, but whether God’s love can reach even him. If so, then Torat Edom is not a speculative theology—it is the reawakening of a forgotten promise.
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Genesis 25:23 (OJB)
And Hashem said unto her, Two goyim are in thy womb, and two nations shall be separated from thy womb; and one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
Genesis 27:39–40 (OJB)
39 And Yitzchak Aviv answered and said unto him, Hinei, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of ha’aretz (the land), and of the tal HaShomayim (dew of heaven) from above;
40 And by thy cherev (sword) shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy tzavar (neck).
Genesis 33:1–16 (OJB)
Jacob lifts up his eyes and sees Esav coming with 400 men. He divides the children and bows seven times before meeting his brother. To Jacob’s surprise, Esav ran to meet him, embraced him, and wept. They reconcile, and after a dialogue, Esav returns to Seir while Ya’akov journeys to Sukkot.
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Obadiah 1:1–21 (OJB)
The vision of Ovadiah: Concerning Edom, God declares judgment for their pride and violence against their brother Ya’akov.
“Though you soar like the eagle… from there I will bring you down.”
“For the violence against your brother Ya’akov, shame shall cover you.”
“As you have done, it shall be done to you.”
“The Moshiach shall come upon Mount Tziyon to judge Mount Esav, and the kingdom shall belong to Hashem.”
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Malachi 1:2–4 (OJB)
2 I have loved you, saith Hashem. Yet ye say, Wherein hast Thou loved us? Was not Esav Ya’akov’s brother? saith Hashem: yet I loved Ya’akov,
3 And I hated Esav, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the jackals of the midbar.
4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith Hashem Tzva’os, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, Gebul Rish’a (Territory of Wickedness), and the people against whom Hashem hath indignation ad olam (forever).
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Romans 9:10–13 (OJB)
10 And not only this, but also Rivkah, having conceived by one, Yitzchak Avinu,
11 (For when the yeladim had not yet been born nor had they done anything tov or rah, that the bechirah (election) of Hashem might stand by His tochnit (plan) and not by ma’asim (works), but by Him who calls)—
12 It was said to her, “The greater will serve the lesser” (Gen 25:23),
13 Just as it is written, “Ya’akov I loved, but Esav I hated” (Mal 1:2-3).
Romans 11:25–32 (OJB)
25 For I do not want you to be unaware, Achim b’Moshiach, of this sod (mystery)—lest you be wise in your own estimation—that a hardening has come upon part of Yisroel, until the melo haGoyim (fullness of the Gentiles) has come in.
26 And thus Kol Yisroel shall be saved…
28 Concerning the Besuras HaGeulah, they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the bechirah (election), they are beloved for the sake of the Avot.
29 For the gifts and the calling of G-d are irrevocable.
32 For Hashem has shut up all in disobedience so that He might show rachamim (mercy) to all.
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Galatians 4:21–31 (OJB)
Sha’ul speaks of Avraham’s two sons: one by the slave woman (Hagar), born according to the basar (flesh), and one by the free woman (Sarah), through the havtachah (promise).
Sha’ul speaks of Avraham’s two sons: one by the slave woman (Hagar), born according to the basar (flesh), and one by the free woman (Sarah), through the havtachah (promise).
These things are an allegory: the two women represent two covenants—Hagar from Har Sinai, bearing children for avdut (slavery), and Sarah for cherut (freedom).
“But Yerushalayim above is free; she is our Em (mother).”
“Cast out the slave woman and her son,” for the son of the slave woman shall not share the inheritance with the son of the free.
So then, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free.
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Hebrews 12:16–17 (OJB)
16 Lest there be any zonim (immoral) or profane person like Esav, who for one seudah (meal) sold his bechorah (birthright).
17 For you have da’as that afterward, when he desired to inherit the berakhah (blessing), he was rejected, for he found no place for teshuvah (repentance), though he sought it with tears.
Hebrews 12:22–24 (OJB)
22 But you have come to Mount Tziyon, to the Ir Elohim Chayyim (city of the Living G-d), the Heavenly Yerushalayim, and to myriads of malachim in festal gathering,
23 To the kehillah (assembly) of the bechorim (firstborn), enrolled in Shomayim, and to Hashem, the Shofet of all, and to the ruchot (spirits) of the tzaddikim made perfect,
24 And to Yehoshua, the Metavekh (Mediator) of a new Brit, and to the dahm hazerayah (sprinkled blood) that speaks a better word than the dahm of Hevel.
