What does Genesis 27:41 mean?
Esau's despair over losing Isaac's blessing to Jacob (Genesis 27:30–35) quickly turns to a calculating and murderous rage. Whatever angst or rivalry Esau felt for his younger twin brother is amplified beyond words. If he did not hate Jacob before, he certainly hates him now. Interestingly, even that rage is constrained by that era's sense of respect. Probably out of honor for his father, Esau plans kill Jacob only after Isaac died and the period of mourning was over. Then again, Esau might have simply wanted to be sure he was not completely disinherited by Isaac.Of course, killing one's brother was no small matter in this era, or any other. In a sense, Esau had already been destined by his father's "blessing" to live the life of Cain as a wandering nomad (Genesis 4:11–12). Now he planned to commit the sin of Cain (Genesis 4:3–8). Later generations would reflect the heat of this anger. Israel and Edom, the nations descended from Jacob and Esau, would be hated enemies. The book of Obadiah describes the eventual doom of Edom.