Genesis 33:1-20 - The Promise and the Place

Genesis 33:1-20

Jacob and Esau Meet

1 Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. 2 And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last. 3 Then he crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

4 But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. 5 And he lifted his eyes and saw the women and children, and said, “Who are these with you?”

So he said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” 6 Then the maidservants came near, they and their children, and bowed down. 7 And Leah also came near with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel came near, and they bowed down.

8 Then Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company which I met?” And he said, “These are to find favor in the sight of my lord.”

9 But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.”

10 And Jacob said, “No, please, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present from my hand, inasmuch as I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God, and you were pleased with me. 11 Please, take my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” So he urged him, and he took it.

12 Then Esau said, “Let us take our journey; let us go, and I will go before you.”

13 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are weak, and the flocks and herds which are nursing are with me. And if the men should drive them hard one day, all the flock will die. 14 Please let my lord go on ahead before his servant. I will lead on slowly at a pace which the livestock that go before me, and the children, are able to endure, until I come to my lord in Seir.”

15 And Esau said, “Now let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.”

But he said, “What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” 16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, built himself a house, and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

Jacob Comes to Canaan

18 Then Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan Aram; and he pitched his tent before the city. 19 And he bought the parcel of land, where he had pitched his tent, from the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred pieces of money. 20 Then he erected an altar there and called it El Elohe Israel.

Jacob finally met with his older brother again after wrestling with God and finding a new identity in the name of Israel as a path forward to the promises to Abraham and Isaac to multiply and father many nations.  As he crossed the brook Jabbok at the fording point, he observed Esau approaching with four hundred men, an apparent army of men whom he feared were coming in vengeance for taking the birthright which should have been inherited by the elder brother but was traded for a bowl of stew to meet the physical needs of the moment.  He sent his family ahead of him as a buffer, dividing the children and wives in separate groups with Joseph as the last.  In humble respect for the elder brother, Jacob bowed seven times to him on the way to enter the supposed fray.  Instead, Esau ran and embraced his younger brother and they wept with joy at their reunion.  Jacob introduced his family which he was clearly to tell were a gift of grace from God.  Esau asked about all the flocks sent ahead and when he heard that they were a gift of appeasement to find grace in Esau’s eyes, he at first refused them because he himself had also prospered and had no need of anything more.  However, Jacob talked him into a the gifts when his little brother told him how Esau had appeared as the face of God to Jacob because he was pleased to see him and not harboring anger or bitterness over the past.  He tarried in Succoth (booths) to rest for a short while, then continued on to Esau near Shechem (Genesis 12:6-7) where Abram had been promised the land and had worshiped at an altar he erected there to the God of Israel (El Elohe Israel), as well as the place where Jacob had (Genesis 28:5) passed through to find a wife and inherit the promise of Abraham and isaac (Genesis 28:2, 3-4).  The promise and the place were important for solidifying their calling and inheritance as a channel of salvation to the world, leading to the line of the Messiah as the hope of the Holy for God’s children whom God calls and promises the eternal inheritance of a better country (Hebrews 11:9-10, 15-16) to come.  We see how the LORD led the patriarchs through the trials and triumphs of life to come to reconciliation with Him as with one another, just as we find reconciliation in Christ (Romans 5:11, Colossians 1:19-20, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19) by the new covenant promise and subsequently with one another in Him (Ephesians 2:5-6, 4:25, Colossians 2:2) as brothers and sisters in Christ with the common inheritance.  The promise and the place are just as important now, the place being in Christ and in the place of the church now and the future Celestial City of God.  May we then hold to the promise in the direction of our lives we travel in Him together, reconciled and reconciling, in our hope of the promised heavenly country to come.