“He summoned Esau his elder son” – Rabbi Elazar bar Shimon said: This is analogous to a province that made a list of mighty people for the king.10To serve in his army. There was a certain woman there who gave birth to a puny son, and she would call her son: Tall and Quick. She said to them: 'My son is tall and quick, but you do not conscript him?' They said: 'If, in your eyes, he is tall and quick, in our eyes he is puniest of the puny.'
So, his father called him great [gadol], as it is stated: “He called Esau, his elder [hagadol] son” (Genesis 27:1). His mother called him great [gadol], as it is stated: “The garments of Esau, her elder [hagadol] son” (Genesis 27:15). The Holy One blessed be He said to them: ‘If, in your eyes, he is great, in My eyes, he is insignificant,’ as it is stated: “Behold, I rendered you insignificant among the nations, you are greatly despised” (Obadiah 1:2).11The prophecy was given with respect to Edom, the nation descended from Esau.
Rabbi Berekhya said: The slaughterer corresponds to the bull.12He is called great based on the fact that his slaughterer, the Holy One blessed be He, is great. That is what is written: “There is a sacrifice for the Lord in Botzra and a great [gadol] slaughter in the land of Edom” (Isaiah 34:6). “And said to him: My son, and he said to him: Here I am” – that is what is written: “When he ingratiates with his voice, do not trust him…” (Proverbs 26:25). Ḥizkiyahu the translator said: “As there are seven abominations in his heart” (Proverbs 26:25). [When] you find one “abomination” written in the Torah, ten [sins] are written in its regard: “There shall not be found among you anyone who passes his son or his daughter through the fire…an enchanter, a medium, an oracle, [or a necromancer, one who casts spells, or one who consults ghosts or familiar spirits, or one who inquires of the dead; for anyone who performs these things is an abomination to the Lord]”13The list consists of nine categories, rather than ten; Maharzu explains that the son and the daughter passed through fire are counted separately, to make ten. (Deuteronomy 18:10–12).
Here, where “seven” is written, all the more so. That is, “as there are seven abominations,” [means that] there are seventy abominations “in his heart.”