" "And what is taught by the expression 'And they wept'?"
"The one wept for his neck and the other for his teeth."
_Midrash Rabbah_, chap. 78.
Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai in Sifri deliberately controverts this
interpretation, and Aben Ezra says it is an "exposition fit only
for children."
Esau said, "I will not kill my brother Jacob with bow and arrow, but
with my mouth I will suck his blood," as it is said (Gen. xxxiii. 4),
"And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and they
wept." Read not "and he kissed him," but read, "and he bit him." The
neck of Jacob, however, became as hard as ivory, and it is respecting
him that Scripture says (Cant. vii. 5), "Thy neck is as a tower of
ivory,"--so that the teeth of Esau became blunted; and when he saw that
his desire could not be gratified, he began to be angry, and gnashed his
teeth, as it is said (Ps. cxii. 10), "The wicked shall see it and be
grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth."
_Pirke d'Rab. Eliezer_, chap. 36.
See also the previous quotation from the Midrash Rabbah. The
Targum of Jonathan and also the Yerushalmi record the same
fantastic tradition. In the latter it is given thus, "And Esau
ran to meet him, and hugged him, and fell upon his neck and
kissed him.
Pages:
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413