Genesis

Chapter Thirty-three

Preface

In the previous chapter we see a high point in the life of Jacob.  Having reached the end of his ability to defend himself while wrestling with the preincarnate Christ, it was all he could do to hang on in faith until he was blessed and given a new name—Israel.  This struggle with God is analogous to the believer in the Christian life finally coming to the realization that no good can come by his own energy and self-effort.  Divine good may only be produced when he “gives up” and allows the Holy Spirit to work through him. 

In this chapter Jacob, now a “new” man but one who is still tentative in his faith, experiences part of the blessing God has bestowed on him.  This chapter also reveals that Jacob (Israel) needs to achieve a greater degree of spiritual growth in order to reach the saintly plateau God has prescribed for him.

Genesis 33:1-11

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.  And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last.  Then he crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.  But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.  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.”  Then the maidservants came near, they and their children, and bowed down.  And Leah also came near with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel came near, and they bowed down.  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.”  But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” 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.  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.

Upon seeing his brother Esau advance in the company of 400 men, Jacob (Israel) lapsed back into his previously usual behavior—one of trepidation (fear) and disbelief.  Gone was the trust in God that would have calmed his heart and made him strong in the face of any circumstance.  Again in a state of “self-reliance,” he arranges his household in a manner that will afford maximum protection for those he loved most—in this case Rachel and Joseph by placing them last.

Esau’s greeting was totally unexpected.  It cannot be determined with any degree of certainty why Esau brought along 400 men, but it may be conjectured that it was initially connected to Esau’s last thoughts of ill-will toward his brother (27:41).  And it may be safely assumed that Esau’s heart was completely changed as a result of Jacob’s prayer (32:11) and the subsequent blessing bestowed upon Jacob the night before when he wrestled with God.

Jacob cautiously approached Esau bowing to the ground seven times, a sign of respect reserved for kings; while Esau, by comparison, was relaxed, warm, and effusive as he met Jacob first, then Jacob’s wives and children.  Ironically, the four hundred men accompanying Esau turned out not to do harm to Jacob, but for safeguarding the final stage of Jacob’s journey. 

Under protest, and probably due to a great deal of servility and exaggerated flattery on Jacob’s part (“I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God”), Esau agrees to accept Jacob’s gifts.

Genesis 33:12-16

Then Esau said, “Let us take our journey; let us go, and I will go before you.”  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.  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.”  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.”  So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.

Here Jacob (Israel) again engages in duplicity (deception).  While Esau is attempting to be completely accommodating and protective toward Jacob by first personally offering to accompany him, and later offering an escort; Jacob discourages both with an excuse involving his household.  Additionally, Jacob outright lies to Esau by promising to follow him into Seir.

SEIR.  A mountainous land inhabited by the Edomites.  The etymology (Heb. se’ir) suggests something hairy or shaggy and may be descriptive of the former wooded nature of the landscape. . . . The primary biblical reference is geographical, designating the mountainous region SW of the Dead Sea. . . . Apparently the name Seir was later applied to the entire territory of Edom both SE and SW of the Dead Sea. . . . Seir is significant in the OT as a synonym for Edom and Esau.  The people to whom all three names apply stood in a unique relation to Israel.  The three terms are related in the genealogy of Esau (Gen 36).  The ambivalent attitudes of brotherhood and competitive enmity are reflected in the cycle of the Jacob narratives in Gen 25-36.  The same tension is revealed when Moses and the Israelites were forced to detour around Edom (Num 20; Deut 2:4-8) (Wycliffe Bible Dictionary, Hendrickson Publishers, 2000, John D.W. Watts, Th.D., Professor of Old Testament, Serampore College, India)

Seir is located in southern Canaan, the “land of Edom.”  After the death of Isaac, Esau moved to Mount Seir, which God subsequently gave to Esau for a possession (Deuteronomy 2:5). 

Having been dissuaded by Jacob first of personally escorting him and his household and second assigning to him a protective escort, Esau now goes on home believing that Jacob (Israel) will soon join him there.

Genesis 33:17-20

And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, built himself a house, and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.  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.  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.  Then he erected an altar there and called it El Elohe Israel.

Jacob breaks his word to Esau by going northwest instead of traveling south to Mount Seir as he promised him.  He first reaches Succoth, a site on the eastern side of the Jordan River, where he builds a house and livestock booths; and eventually he ends up at Shechem, a location where Abram first camped in Canaan and built his first altar to the Lord (12:6, 7).  At this time Shechem was a developed city and there Jacob (Israel) purchases a piece of land where Joseph was later to be buried (Genesis 33:18, 19; Joshua 24:32).  He also builds an altar and calls it “El Elohe Israel”—God, the God of Israel.

Twenty years earlier, when God had appeared to him at Bethel, Jacob had vowed that the Lord would be his God, that he would give a tenth of his wealth to the Lord, and that he would establish Bethel as God’s house (28:20-22).  Now, instead of returning to Bethel, he settles thirty miles away in the fertile area of Shechem, probably for the sake of his livestock. (Shechem represents the world.) God does not speak directly to him until several years later, when He calls on Jacob to fulfill his vow (chap. 35).  In the meantime, the tragic events of chapter 34 take place.

(Believer’s Bible Commentary, by William MacDonald, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995)