Genesis 33

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:31:42utc

"Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men." (verse 1). At this point, however, the battle is won. Evidently, Esau is still at a distance when Jacob sees him. He has time to divide up his family in the reversed order of importance, at least according this his evaluation. This division seems to be a change of the one made the day before, when men and beast were made into two groups. We read in the previous chapter, verses 7, 8 - "In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. He thought, 'If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape.'" Jacob's confidence that Esau will not destroy any of the two groups is obviously the result of his encounter with God at Peniel. We should, therefor, not conclude that Jacob considered the children of his concubines more dispensable than the others, but evidently he wanted Esau to meet the best ones of his wives and children last, that is Rachel and Joseph.

The fear of man and the fear of God are incompatible. Jacob's encounter with God had put things in the right perspective for him. He realized the limits of what one mortal can do to another. Jesus' warning in Matt.10:28 is very pertinent here: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." We can only appreciate these words if we have looked beyond physical death. For people for whom death is the end these words make no sense. Our relationships on a human level are always influenced by our relationship with God.

The fact that Jacob puts himself up front indicates that he would be ready to die first, or die for the others if Esau would indeed have belligerent intentions. This attitude too is a result of seeing God's face at Peniel. Sin makes us cowards, grace makes us heroes.

Jacob greets his older brother as a ruling monarch. He bows down seven times on his way to meet him. It is as if he wants to express in this action that Esau is in fact the oldest son and that he has the right to receive the honors that are connected to this rank. We could see Jacob's attitude as a demonstration of willingness to take the second place.

"But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept." (vs. 4). Esau has not changed! He is still the same impulsive, hot-blooded extrovert he was twenty years ago. It must have been a moving scene; the two brothers embracing after these years of separation. We do not know if Esau had set out with evil intentions. The four hundred men accompanying him could indicate this. If this was the case, he obviously had a change of heart, maybe even at the last minute. It seems more likely though that Esau wanted to make an impression upon his brother. He did make an impression. Jacob struggled for his life all night long. If ever Esau heard this story he probably laughed long and loud.

The brothers both cry. There were a lot of pent-up emotions to be released at this meeting. God wants brothers (and sisters) to grow up in love with one another. There must not have much of this in Isaac's household. The family had been divided into two camps, with jealousy, strife and deceit determining the relationship. When Esau and Jacob meet again as grown ups these defects are washed away in their tears. Tears are good medicine. Tears will be the first medicine God will give to us when we enter heaven. Most of us will experience a rich flow of tears when all our emotions and tensions are released upon the sight of the One who has loved us with an eternal love. And then God will wipe dry our eyes and our salvation will be complete.

Rev. 7:17 - "For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." Rev. 21:4 - "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

Esau seems amazed at the size of Jacob's family. In chapter 36 we find a list of Esau's children. Only five sons from his four wives are recorded there. The family presents itself to Esau in the groups in which Jacob had divided them: Bilhah and Zilpah with their children first, then Lea with her children and finally Rachel with Joseph. Esau must have been impressed.

His next question is about the meaning of the herds he met on the way. Jacob explains that they are meant as a present. It is interesting to see that Jacob keeps on calling Esau "lord," whilst Esau calls Jacob "brother." It seems that in spite of the spiritual victory Jacob had won and even after the emotional embrace Jacob still has his doubts. We get the impression that he does not trust Esau's even after his presents have been accepted. The reasons he turns down the escort are reasonable, but as far as we know Jacob never kept his promise to go and visit Esau at Seir. One wonders if he ever intended to do so.

The acceptance of the presents was evidently an important cultural phenomenon. It was an indication that real peace existed. If a present was refused, even with polite and kind words, this was regarded as a token of ill will. So Jacob's doubts, if he had any, should really have put at rest when Esau consents to take Jacob's gifts.

There are obvious many things that were said during this encounter between the brothers that are left unsaid in the story. Jacob must have heard that Isaac was still alive, but that Rebekah had died. We suppose that circumstances prevented him from going to see his father. It would not have been safe to leave the family and herd alone in an unfamiliar place. So Jacob could not have gone alone to Bersheba. To travel to Bersheba with family and herd would have been impossible. Isaac's wealth covered the whole area and there would have been nothing for Jacob's animals to eat. So Jacob settles at a place which is called Succoth.

At Succoth Jacob settles in a semi permanent way. The NIV says "he built a place for himself." The KJV and RSV render it with "he built him(self) a house." This would indicate that he disregarded the tents in which his father and grandfather had lived and in which he was born. He also put up booths for the animals and later we read that he buys land. Jacob was evidently out for security. In this he differed in a fundamental way from Abraham's vision of being a stranger in the Promised Land.

This lapse of vision was evidently temporary; Jacob was forced out of this kind of security by the violent behavior of his sons toward the inhabitants of Sichem. That is why the writer of the book of Hebrews could put Jacob together with Abraham and Isaac as one of those who were waiting for the city that God would give them. "By faith he (Abraham) made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (Heb. 11:9,10).

Also the purchase of land we read about in verse 19 is a deviation from the policy of his ancestors. The only time Abraham bought land was when Sarah had died and he needed a burial place. The field at Shechem which Jacob bought is mentioned by Stephen in Acts 7:16 - "Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money."

There seems to be confusion about the two fields in Stephen's account, which Adam Clarke ascribes to a corruption of the Greek text. We quote from The Adam Clarke's Commentary: "It is said, Ch. L. 13, that Jacob was buried in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre. And in

xxiv. 32 and Exod. XIII. 19, it is said that the bones of Joseph were carried out of Egypt by the Israelites, and buried in Shechem, which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Sechem. As for the eleven brethren of Joseph, we are told by Josephus, Ant., L. II, c. 8, s. 2, that they were buried in Hebron, where their father had been buried. But, since the books of the Old Testament say nothing about this, the authority of Stephen (or of Luke here) for their being buried in Sychem is at least as good as that of Josephus for their being buried in Hebron." - Bishop Pearce. We have the uniform consent of the Jewish writers that all the patriarchs were brought out of Egypt and buried in Canaan, but none, except Stephen, mentions their being buried in Sychem. As Sychem belonged to the Samaritans, probably the Jews thought it too great an honor for that people to possess the bones of the patriarchs, and therefore have carefully avoided making any mention of it. That Abraham bought for a sum of money. The purchase made by Abraham of the cave and field of Ephron, which was in the field of Machpelah; this purchase was made from the children of Heth, Ch. XXIII 3, 10, 17 (2) The purchase made by Jacob, from the sons of Hamor or Emmor, of a sepulchre in which the bones of Joseph were laid; this was in Sychem or Shechem. Ch. xxxiii. 19; Josh. xxiv. 32. The word Abraham, therefor, in this place is certainly a mistake; and the word Jacob, which some have supplied, is doubtless more proper. Bishop Pearce supposes that Luke originally wrote, "which he bought for a sum of money"; i.e., which Jacob bought, who is the last person of the singular number spoken of in the preceding verse. Those who saw that the word bought had no nominative case joined to it, and did not know where to find the proper one, seem to have inserted Abraham in the text for that purpose, without sufficiently attending to the different circumstances of his purchase from that of Jacob's."

The land deal turned out to be less permanent than Jacob anticipated. After the massacre of the people in the city, described in the next chapter, Jacob feels that he should leave the area, and so the possession benefited him less than he intended.

The importance of the place is the fact that the first altar was built there for the God of Israel. We read in vs. 20 - "There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel." "El Elohe Israel" means "God, the God of Israel." The Pulpit Commentary disagrees with the LXX and the Vulgate, which say that he invoked upon it the God of Israel. The commentary insists that Jacob called the altar "the God of Israel." It seems, though, that the interpretation of the LXX and Vulgate are more logical. This building of an altar by Jacob is an indication of the important change that took place in his life at Peniel.