Esau sees that the women of Canaan displease his father Isaac (Genesis 28:8). So what does he do? He goes and marries a daughter of Ishmael. Adding trouble upon trouble, the rabbis said. This is the fool's path — straight in his own eyes, impervious to wisdom, generating new problems in the process of trying to solve the first one. Proverbs had his number: "The path of a fool is straight in his own eyes, but he who listens to counsel is wise" (Proverbs 12:15).
Jacob's path was the opposite. When Rebekah heard Esau threatening to kill him, she brought Jacob to Isaac, who sent him to Paddan-Aram with a blessing and a command: marry a daughter of Laban, your mother's brother. Jacob listened. He went. He endured twenty years in a foreign land, working for a dishonest uncle, building a family from the wrong daughters in the wrong order, and still he kept the covenant at every stage. He listened to his parents. He listened to God. He listened to the dreams.
The rabbis loved the contrast because it was so clear. The same father, the same mother, the same blessings available to both sons — and two completely different responses to counsel. One son trusted his own instincts and compounded his errors. The other son trusted the voices around him and walked the harder path toward the covenant he had been born to carry. Jacob left Beer-sheba with nothing and came back with twelve sons and the name Israel. Esau acquired wives and stayed exactly where he was.
Chapter (44) 45: Writing [1] A song of ascents. I lift my eyes up to the mountains (Psalm 121:1). This verse is referring to "Who are you, O great mountain?" (Zechariah 4:7). This is the Messiah who is greater than the patriarchs, as it is said, "Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted" (Isaiah 52:13). "High and lifted up" refers to Abraham, as it is written, "I have lifted up my hand" [edit. הֲרִמֹ֨תִי יָדִ֤י "harimothi yadi"] (Genesis 14:22), "and greatly exalted" refers to Moses, as it is written, "Should you nurse it as a guardian carries a suckling, to the land which You swore to their fathers?" (Numbers 11:12). "And greater than the ministering angels" refers to the verse, "and their rims were lofty and awesome" (Ezekiel 1:18). Therefore, "Who are you, O great mountain?" [before Zerubbabel to the plain], and Zerubbabel is from whom? He is from David, as it is said, "and the son of Solomon, Rehoboam his son, Abijah his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son, Joram his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son, Amaziah his son, Azariah his son, Jotham his son, Ahaz his son, Hezekiah his son, Manasseh his son, Amon his son, Josiah his son, and his sons were Johanan the firstborn, Jehoiakim, and so on, and the sons of Jehoiakim were Jeconiah and so on, and the sons of Jeconiah were Shealtiel, and so on, and the son of Shealtiel was Zerubbabel, and Shimei, and the son of Zerubbabel was Meshullam, and Hananiah, and Shelomith, and so on, and the son of Hananiah was Pelatiah, and Isaiah, and so on, and the sons of Shecaniah were Shemaiah, and so on, and the son of Neri was Elioenai, and so on, and the sons of Elioenai were Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, and Delaiah, and Anani—seven in all" (Ezra 3:8-9). What is "the seven," which is written in the Messiah, "Who despises the day of small things," etc. These seven (Zechariah 4:10), for which are you, the great mountain before Zerubbabel [edit. offspring of Babylon], to be made a plain, of whom it is written, "And he shall judge the poor in righteousness, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth" (Isaiah 11:4). And he brought forth the headstone (Zechariah 4:7) of our father Jacob, as it is said, "And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone" (Genesis 28:18). And similarly, Daniel says, "I was watching until a stone was cut out without hands" (Daniel 2:34). And from where does it come? Through the mountains, as it is said, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings" (Isaiah 52:7). At that time, Israel looks and says, "I will lift up my eyes to the mountains, from where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth" (Psalm 121:1-2).
