The Death of Esau: Homicide and Hermeneutics in Jubilees, Targum and the Bavli

Esau's death is not recorded in Scripture. Multiple early Jewish texts noticed this omission and chose to rectify it by creating death narratives for Esau. These texts include Jubilees 35-38, the Testament of Judah 9, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, the Babylonian Talmud in Tractate Sotah, Midrash Vayissaʾu 3, and Yalkut Shimoni 1:133 and 138. All of these death stories are notably similar, not only in focusing on the »missing narrative« of Esau's death, but also on using this lacuna to insert narratives that continue the complexity of the Esau character. Creating such narratives around Esau's death works toward two opposing ends: it grafts Esau back into the patriarchal family by enhancing a shared narrative arc to that of his brother, grandfather, uncle and nephew; at the same time, it detaches Esau from the main biblical narrative by narrating his demise.