Two brothers. Two careers. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 25:27 gives the contrast in parallel sentences.
Esau grew up a "man of idleness to catch birds and beasts, a man going forth into the field to kill lives, as Nimrod had killed, and Hanok his son." The Targum is not neutral about hunting. Esau is compared to Nimrod, the hunter-king who ruled Babel and fought against the covenant (Genesis 10:9). Esau inherits not a skill but a lineage of violence.
And Jacob? He was "a man peaceful in his words, a minister of the instruction-house of Eber, seeking instruction before the Lord."
The Targum names the school. Eber. The great-grandson of Noah. The patriarch whose name becomes the root of the word Ivri, Hebrew. Jacob was not just studying. He was serving in the very beit midrash that preserved the sacred tradition from Shem and Noah forward. He was a minister of the instruction-house — not a student, but a teacher's assistant, a carrier of the tradition to the next generation.
Notice the phrase "peaceful in his words." The Hebrew ish tam in the Torah is often translated "a simple man" or "a whole man." The Targum chooses a different angle: a man whose words were peaceful. Jacob's defining characteristic, even as a young man, is the way his speech lands. He does not cut. He does not mock. His words carry shalom.
The contrast is the heart of Jewish anthropology. The hunter kills. The scholar builds. The one who inherits the world to come is the one who can be found, day after day, in the house of study, seeking instruction before the Lord. Esau was Nimrod's heir. Jacob was Eber's.