progenitor is a hunter and warrior; and to this, his eldest son, Isaac foretells that his dwelling should be without the fatness of the earth; by his sword should he live. Only a slight advantage in age is allowed to Esau: he is merely the firstborn of twins; and even at birth his brother Jacob held him by the heel. The pre-eminence which Isaac gives to the younger son is explained in the Judæan text merely by the fact, that Esau had taken wives from the Hittites. "And when Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Mesopotamia in order to take a wife from thence, Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father, and he went to Ishmael, and took Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, the sister of Nebajoth, to wife to his other wives."[602] All the further details of the relations between the two brothers, the sale of the birthright, the obtaining of the blessing, and the form of the blessing, belong to the revision. This text and this only could make Isaac say to Esau, "Thou shalt serve thy brother, but shalt break his yoke from off thy neck." Saul conquered, and David subjugated the Edomites; it was not till the time of Joram, king of Judah, in the first half of the ninth century B.C., that they recovered their independence. The description of the journey of Jacob to the Euphrates, his service with Laban, and his flight, come from the Ephraimitic text: the revision has only extended the introduction, and here and there inserted an interpolation. To the same text belongs the peaceful departure from the Nahorites, the setting up of a token on the east of Jordan to fix how far the borders of the Israelites, beyond which the Nahorites were not to go, were to extend in this direction, and finally Jacob's reconciliation with Esau. With the daughters of Canaan whom he took to wife, Esau could only beget an impure race, and even with the daughter of Ishmael his race would not be wholly pure, while Jacob served patiently for fourteen years in order to obtain wives of the genuine blood. By this, and by the blessing of Isaac, the pre-eminence of the younger Israelites is established over the Edomites; but the brothers parted in peace. Esau received rich gifts. Thus they separated on the ford of the Jabbok at the sacred place of Peniel. The one went to Seir, the other to Shechem in Canaan. Hence the Edomites had no reason to cherish resentment against the sons of Jacob.