The war is inside one person, between the flesh and the spirit, and here the flesh burns to destroy the higher nature that has taken the birthright. Esau is the outer, hairy, sensual self, the body-bound consciousness rooted in appetite, and his hatred is the resentment of the lower nature when the finer self claims the inner blessing. Jacob is the supplanter, the spiritual mind that quietly overtakes the flesh and inherits what the animal self assumed was its own. The murder plotted in the heart is the constant pressure of the lower nature to snuff out the awakening spirit before it can rule.
These are not 2 men at odds but 2 forces in a single person, and the death threatened is the flesh's attempt to kill off the higher self and take back the throne.
Esau: the outer sensual self, the body-bound consciousness rooted in appetite and the earth
Jacob: the spiritual mind within a person, the finer self that supplants the flesh and inherits the inner blessing
Blessing: the birthright of higher consciousness, the inheritance the spirit claims from the animal nature