Introduction: Jacob had left his home and family about 20 years before this event. Esau, his twin brother, was so upset at the time that he wanted to kill Jacob! Now that Jacob was returning to his home area, he sent messengers to Esau. The reply? “Esau is coming to meet you, and he’s bringing 400 men with him!”
Now what was Jacob going to do?
1 “Hello, brother”: Esau arrived with his men
Text: Genesis 33:1-3, KJV: 1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. 2 And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost. 3 And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
Jacob and his household had left the land of Laban and were heading back to the land of Canaan. They had all crossed the Jabbok River and they were apparently settling there in Mahanaim for the time being (Genesis 32).
Then one night, Jacob had a unique experience: he found himself wrestling with God during most of the night! These two people, Jacob and the Guest, stayed at it until daybreak. Genesis 32:22-30 covers this briefly but I’m sure this was something Jacob never forgot.
Now Jacob has sent messengers to his twin brother, Esau, who was living many miles away. These two hadn’t seen each other in 20 years or so and when they left, they didn’t part as friends; no, not at all (Genesis 26 has that story). The messengers from Jacob returned with some news that made Jacob absolutely frightened:
We’re not sure how much time went by between the arrival of the messengers, and the arrival of Esau and his men. The arrival of 400 soldiers, probably armed to the teeth, would make an impression on anyone, especially someone who was afraid of this group to begin with.
Jacob had already arranged a massive gift for Esau, plenty of animals (over 500 of various kinds!) according to Gen. 32:13-21 in order to “appease” Esau so that, maybe, Esau would accept not only the gift but also Jacob himself.
And as if the gift of the animals wasn’t enough (Jacob probably hoped), Jacob brought his family in waves with Bilhah, Zilpah, and their four children first, then Leah and her children, with Rachel and Joseph at the rear. Jacob led the way before them and bowed seven times to the ground until he came near to Esau. This would have been difficult, perhaps, because he may have still been limping on one of his legs due to the damage he had suffered earlier.
Jacob had approached Esau, so now, what would Esau do?
2 “What’s all this, my brother?” Esau appraised Jacob’s presents
Text, Genesis 33:4-11, KJV: 4 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept. 5 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant. 6 Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. 7 And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. 8 And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord. 9 And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself. 10 And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me. 11 Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it.
Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon on this text, and two of the points (I don’t remember all of them) centered on “a godly man who had enough” and “an ungodly man who had enough”, based on an outline in a book of his sermon notes. I read parts of that book many years ago but I don’t remember the title (it may have been “My Sermon Notes” or something along those lines). Most anything from Spurgeon is profitable for anyone to read or, even better, to use!
Jacob was probably not expecting a very warm welcome, given what had happened before, but he must have been amazed when he saw Esau RUN to him! Even better, Esau “embraced” Jacob (wanna bet that was a bear hug like few others?) and then “fell on Jacob’s neck and kissed him”! And imagine this—they both wept. Openly. How different from 20 years before!
Now after Esau and Jacob stepped apart, Esau looked around and saw a group of women and children! He asked Jacob, “Who are these people with you?” Remember, he may not have heard much of anything about Jacob after they had parted, and more so about Jacob’s family. It’s interesting that no mention is made here about Esau’s own wives and children, if any were alive.
Jacob replied, in so many words, “These are the children God gave me.” This may have more of a significance than we might realize at first glance: Esau’s first two wives were Hittite women and if they had ever come to believe in the (True) God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob himself it’s never stated. Esau had later married an Ishamaelite woman, a distant cousin because the Ishamaelites were also descended from Abraham, through Ishmael. Hagar, Ishmael’s mother, was originally from Egypt and chose an Egyptian bride for Ishmael. Again, whether any of them had remained faithful to the God of Abraham is never declared.
The significance is this: Jacob had departed from his home 20 years before, and his relationship or standing with God is not really known. After all, he might have been able to learn from Grandfather Abraham, who was still alive until Esau and Jacob were 15 but there is no record any of this took place. Somehow between this, his first experience at Bethel, his years with Laban, and the journey back, Jacob had become a believer. He could truly say God had given him everything.
Esau might have remained speechless, at least for a moment. Did he recall the faith of Abraham and Isaac, too? We may never know if Esau had ever become a believer in the God of his fathers. Only he and God know for sure. But if he never did, just think of how much he missed out on.
But something Esau didn’t miss was the gift of the livestock! After all, with over 500 head of various animals doing what they do—braying, mooing, and whatever sounds camels make, if any—Esau then asked Jacob, “What do you mean with all this ‘drove’ which I met?” Jacob had sent this gift ahead of his family, as mentioned earlier, but it seems Esau didn’t quite understand why Jacob had done this. Esau might have remembered that Jacob left their home with the clothes on his back and a staff in his hand and little if anything else, but now he’s able to give away a large herd of animals!
Jacob’s reply was one of the briefest and most to the point of his life: “to find grace in the sight of my lord.” Notice he didn’t say anything about their blood relationship, and Jacob didn’t say “you’re my brother”—no, he called Esau his “lord” recognizing any number of things. It could be that Jacob realized he had in fact cheated Esau twice, or it could be that Jacob knew Esau and his men could have wiped out all of them after a single word or gesture. Esau had 400 armed men and Jacob—well, we don’t know how many armed men Jacob had at all!
Esau seemed to be impressed, now, with the gift but he, for whatever reason, wanted to turn it down! He said, “I have enough, my brother (this was the first time he used this word about Jacob in this conversation), so keep [the animals] for yourself.” There could be any number of dynamics or angles at play here. Some people, in some cultures, don’t want to accept a gift because it’s implied you need to give the giver something of greater value. Folks like these do not understand what a truly free gift really is!
And maybe that was the root of Esau’s reluctance. Another idea is that he only had 400 men, but there were over 500 head of livestock, so he might have had trouble keeping them in line or under control. Sometimes soldiers have at least a working knowledge of livestock but others don’t. It would have been interesting to see the expressions on the faces of Esau’s soldiers as they’re looking at either the greatest headache they had ever seen or the greatest feast or barbeque of their lives!
Jacob, though, insisted that Esau take the present or the “blessing”, as he called it. Jacob then urged Esau to take the present because, and I think this is quite a statement here, Jacob told Esau “I have seen your face and it was like seeing the face of God. Even better, you were pleased with me (paraphrase mine)!”Jacob added some more words and as the text shows, he urged Esau to take the gift because “I have enough.” And surely Jacob did: the present or gift of all that livestock should prove this exceedingly. Besides, Jacob surely wouldn’t have left the rest of his flocks and herds alone, would he? Is it possible Esau could observe the remainder of Jacob’s livestock and see Jacob was truthful?
At any rate, Esau did take Jacob’s gift or present. But their conversation wasn’t done yet.
Esau had some more to say to Jacob.
3 “Good bye, brother”: Esau offered his assistance as they parted ways
Text, Genesis 33: 12-16, KJV: 12 And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee. 13 And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die. 14 Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir. 15 And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord. 16 So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir.
This last section is difficult to interpret in terms of who was sincere and who really wasn’t. Esau’s offer of leading Jacob and his family (to where, one might ask) seems honest but was it, really? Jacob seems to be offering excuses, such as “the children are tender (none of them were very old, it seems)” and it would truly be hard for children to keep up with the pace of fully grown men, like Esau’s men.
Jacob also appealed (?) to the condition of the cattle he had brought along. Again, this may be an honest appraisal, as Jacob had only begun his “animal husbandry” program a few years before. In this case, it might have been hard for grown men to keep up with young, free spirited cattle! Jacob also stated, and probably knew, nobody can drive cattle for too long without some of them dying. Dead cattle aren’t much use to anybody (except maybe butchers and tanners?) and a loss of any would surely be noticed once the whole group arrived at the final destination.
With that in mind, Jacob suggested Esau lead the way to (Mount) Seir, Esau’s home at the time. Jacob also noted that he intended to lead them “softly” or, perhaps, at a reasonable pace, until his household also came to Seir. This seems to be a true intention on Jacob’s part at the time, even though Jacob’s original plan was to return to Isaac in Beersheba (compare Gen.26:33 and 31:18). Why Jacob even thought of settling with Esau is something I’ve never understood. But it seems Esau made a true offer and Jacob was truly thinking about it. And he wasn’t trying to cheat Esau at this time, either.
Esau’s final proposal was to offer some of his men as guides, guards, escorts, or maybe something else along those lines. Again, at first, this seems to be a true offer of assistance because Esau and his men might well have known the area, plus who and what were living there at the time, much better than Jacob. After all, Esau and his men had come up from the south, from Seir but Jacob had come from the north and east. Besides, it had been 20 years since Jacob had left Isaac and Rebekah, heading to Laban’s land “for a few days”. He was gone for a longer period of time than that, however!
But Jacob’s final reply was curious, to say the least. He only replied, “There’s no need for any of that, just let me find grace in your eyes.” This, I think, is vague to us (and to Esau as well, probably!) because Jacob had turned down each of Esau’s offers. Jacob’s faith in God might have been on display here, but strangely, Jacob doesn’t mention any of this in his last reply. Some might think Jacob was being confident; others, bold; still others, foolhardy by rejecting an armed escort to protect him and all he had from unseen and unknown enemies. Then again, only God knows what Jacob and Esau were thinking at this time.
At the very least, Esau departed with Jacob’s present and returned to Seir. It appears they departed in peace at this time. The sad thing, though, is that years later, Edom and Israel became bitter enemies. Edom and Israel were at war at various times, and the Book of Obadiah reports Edom’s delight when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians. But all of that was in the future, and for the time being anyway, there was peace between these two brothers and their respective families.
If nothing else, this departing or “good bye, brother” was even better than the last time Jacob had met Laban at Galeed or Mizpeh. They—Laban and Jacob—had built memorials or heaps or piles of stones to serve as reminders (borders?) that neither would cross the lines to affect the other. They even made oaths to one another. Not so here: Esau departed from Jacob and went back, more or less south, to Seir.
Jacob’s journey, though, was not yet complete.
Epilogue: Well, look where we are now!
Text: Genesis 33:17-20, KJV: 17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. 18 And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city. 19 And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money. 20 And he erected there an altar, and called it EleloheIsrael
As we close this message, let’s take a look at this bread crumb that Moses left for us here. Esau had gone almost due south to his chosen territory, but Jacob turned west, leaving Mahanaim and Peniel/Penuel and crossing the Jordan River to a place called “Succoth”. This is where Jacob built a house for himself (and the rest of his family, too, we can hope!) and booths for his cattle. After all, even a booth or structure of any kind would be better for the livestock than simply being out in the open and under nothing but the skies.
Jacob apparently didn’t stay there for very long, though, because, you guessed it, he was on the move again. This time he and his household found a place called Shechem. And some things were going to happen there, in Shechem, which absolutely rocked Jacob to his core.
But that’s another message for another day!
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).
