“Rebecca took the fine garments of Esau, her elder son, that were with her in the house, and she dressed Jacob her younger son” (Genesis 27:15). “Rebecca took the fine [haḥamudot] garments of Esau, her elder son” – what he had coveted [sheḥamad] from Nimrod, and he killed him and took them. That is what is written: “The wicked covets the prey of the evil” (Proverbs 12:12). “That were with her in the house” – in them he would attend his father.
Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: I attended my father all my days, and I did not attend him one one-hundredth of what Esau attended his father. When I would attend my father, I attended him with dirty garments, but when I would go out on the road, I would go out with clean garments. But Esau, when he would attend his father, he would attend him only with royal garments. He said: ‘It is not in keeping with Father’s honor to attend him in anything other than royal garments.’
That is what is written: “That were with her in the house.” How many wives did he [Esau] have, and you say: “That were with her in the house”? It is because he [Esau] knew what their [his wives’] actions were.25Esau did not trust his wives and therefore kept the special set of his clothing in his mother's house. Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: There was an incident involving a group of scoundrels in that Kefar Ḥatya, who were accustomed to eat and drink in the synagogue every Shabbat eve.
When they finished eating they would take the bones and cast them on the scribe. One of them was dying; they said to him: ‘To whom do you wish to entrust your son?’ He said to them: ‘To the scribe.’ But, how many friends did he have, but he said: ‘To the scribe’?
It is, rather, that he knew what their actions were, and that the scribe was much better than they were. So, how many wives did he have, and the verse says: “That were with her in the house”? It is because he knew what their actions were.