Jacob Meets Esau
Genesis 33:1-201
January 21, 2007

Today’s message is from Genesis 33:1-20. It’s about Jacob’s meeting his twin brother Esau—his brother whom he had cheated, who wanted to kill him—from whom he had fled 20 years earlier—who was now coming to meet him with 400 men.

As we read the passage and as we consider it, remember, as always, that it’s the word of God. It’s God’s history. He made sure that it was recorded so that we could learn from it.

Also, as always, I encourage you all to read and to meditate on the word of God, the entire Bible, as though it were a matter of life and death. It is a matter of life and death!

[Prayer]

Now let’s read the passage—Genesis 33:1-20. We’ll be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, the HCSB:

1Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with 400 men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two female slaves. 2He put the female slaves first, Leah and her sons next, and Rachel and Joseph last. 3He himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times until he approached his brother.
4But Esau ran to meet him, hugged him, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. Then they wept. 5When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?”
He answered, “The children God has graciously given your servant.” 6Then the female slaves and their children approached him and bowed down. 7Leah and her children also approached and bowed down, and then Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed down.
8So Esau said, “What do you mean by this whole procession I met?”
“To find favor with you, my lord,” he answered.
9 “I have enough, my brother,” Esau replied. “Keep what you have.”
10But Jacob said, “No, please! If I have found favor with you, take this gift from my hand. For indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing God’s face, since you have accepted me. 11Please take my present that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have everything I need.” So Jacob urged him until he accepted.
12Then Esau said, “Let’s move on, and I’ll go ahead of you.”
13Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are weak, and I have nursing sheep and cattle. If they are driven hard for one day, the whole herd will die. 14Let my lord go ahead of his servant. I will continue on slowly, at a pace suited to the livestock and the children, until I come to my lord at Seir.”
15Esau said, “Let me leave some of my people with you.”
But he replied, “Why do that? Please indulge me, my lord.”
16On that day Esau started on his way back to Seir, 17but Jacob went on to Succoth. He built a house for himself and stalls for his cattle; that is why the place was called Succoth. 18After Jacob came from Paddan-aram, he arrived safely at the Canaanite city of Shechem and camped in front of the city. 19He purchased a section of the field from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for 100 qesitahs, where he had pitched his tent. 20And he set up an altar there and called it “God, the God of Israel.” (Genesis 33:1-20)

Now, you remember that Jacob had been running away from his Uncle Laban. (I’m going to review quite a bit since I didn’t talk about Genesis last week.) Uncle Laban had manipulated Jacob into serving him for 20 years, and during the last six of those years had changed his wages 10 times. Laban had agreed to pay Jacob by giving him all the young of the sheep and goats that were born spotted or speckled. Then he removed all the spotted and speckled animals from the flocks. But the Lord produced spotted and speckled animals for Jacob anyway. When Laban changed Jacob’s wages to some other color of animal, the Lord blessed Jacob with animals of that color. The Lord made Jacob very prosperous, so much so in fact that Laban’s sons began to become jealous, and Laban, himself, no longer viewed Jacob favorably.

Then the Lord told Jacob to go back to Canaan, the land that he had promised would belong to Jacob’s grandfather Abraham, his father Isaac and now to Jacob himself, and to all their descendants forever (and remember the implication of eternal life in that promise—to all of them forever). Jacob left Paddan-aram with his 11 son and one daughter, with the mothers of the children, with all his servants and with all of his flocks and herds and headed for Canaan.

When Laban found out that Jacob had fled, he wasn’t at all pleased. He took a bunch of men with him and went after Jacob and caught up with him.  But God warned Laban in a dream not to harm Jacob. Laban had apparently intended to use force against Jacob, but wound up instead asking Jacob to make a peace treaty with him instead. He saw that the Lord was with Jacob and protecting him and had the wisdom to understand that it would be good to make a treaty with Jacob. (You remember that Jacob’s name means he deceives. Laban, who was also a deceiver, and better at it than Jacob, at that, was forced to trust Jacob to keep his part of the treaty.) Jacob and Laban parted company. Laban went back and Jacob continued on toward Canaan. These things are all described in chapters 30 and 31.

In chapter 32, God’s angels met Jacob while he was on the way. God was with Jacob. After that, Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to tell his brother Esau—his brother Esau from who had been planning on killing him, from whom he had run away 20 years earlier—that he was coming. The messengers came back and told Jacob, “He’s already coming to meet you and he has 400 men with him. How do you suppose Jacob felt? I can tell you he was terrified!

Jacob began to plan how he could protect all his people and possessions. He divided everyone up into two camps so that if Esau attacked one, the other might escape. He did that first. Then he remembered God and called on him for protection. He remembered who he was too (“I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant”). (Do you ever do what Jacob did? Do you ever react “in the flesh” and then remember to pray to God for help? I do it all the time. Much of the time I don’t ask at all. Sometimes the Lord rebukes me, too, by not letting my plans go so well.)

Anyway, after Jacob had prayed and made preparations to meet Esau, it says that he was alone and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. I (along with a lot of other people, including the HCSB translators, I think) believe that the “man” that Jacob wrestled with was none other than the Angel of the Lord, the preincarnate Christ—the very one who came in the flesh 1,700 years later and gave his life on the cross for our sins, the righteous for the unrighteous! His name Emmanuel—God with us!

This incident in Jacob’s life when he wrestled with the Angel of the Lord was really the high point! It was the turning point. It’s when God gave him a new name. He would no longer be known as Jacob—deceiver, but as Israel—he struggled with God, because he had struggled with God and with men and had overcome. After this Jacob was a new man—a different person—no longer the deceiver. Jacob had wrestled with the “man”—he had resisted him—until the “man” touched Jacob’s hip and caused him to be crippled. After that, Jacob just held on until the “man” blessed him. Jacob knew that he had met God face-to-face.

Now let’s go on to chapter 33. As Jacob limped away from his encounter with the “man”, with the Angel of the Lord, he looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with his 400 men. What did he do? He put all of his family in line to meet Esau. He put the female slaves first.  (These are the two women that were servants of Leah and Rachel, Zilpah and Bilhah, that Leah and Rachel gave to Jacob as wives so that they (Leah and Rachel) would have children for themselves through them.) Jacob put Leah herself and her sons next and Rachel and Joseph last. Then he went on ahead to meet Esau.

Jacob bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached Esau. It sounds like he started bowing while he was still a long way away. But when he got there, Esau ran to meet him and threw his arms around him and hugged him and kissed him! Esau was so happy to see his brother again. The past was in the past and he held nothing against Jacob. They both wept—maybe in relief on Jacob’s part—but, also, with tears of joy.  What a blessing to find that your enemy is really your friend! (Did you think God was your enemy at one time—maybe even unconsciously—and then find out that he was really not only your friend, but also your savior and protector!?)

Jacob introduced his family and they also bowed down before Esau. (I’m sure they would have been very relieved, too, to see that Jacob was accepted by Esau, especially after all the fuss and preparations that Jacob had made.) Then Esau asked Jacob about all the gifts—all the flocks an herd that Jacob had sent to appease Esau. Jacob very honestly said that they were “to find favor with you, my lord.” Esau answered, “I have enough, my brother. Keep what you have.” (Did you notice that Jacob called Esau “my lord”, but Esau called Jacob “my brother”? We call Jesus our Lord, but he calls us his brothers (and sisters).  The word of God says, “For the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. That is why He is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying: I will proclaim Your name to My brothers; I will sing hymns to You in the congregation.” – Heb. 2:11, 12)

Well, Esau didn’t need any of Jacob’s gifts and probably would have felt embarrassed to accept them. But Jacob insisted. He said that he had seen Esau’s face and that it was like seeing the face of God, since Esau had accepted him! Indeed that was true (and, by the way, Jacob had just come from meeting God, himself, face-to-face the night before). (And have you ever believed that God was your enemy and then found out that he was really your friend?)

Anyway, Jacob insisted on Esau’s accepting the gifts. It would have been an insult for him to refuse after Jacob had insisted, so Esau accepted the gifts. (You know, I think that I might not have insisted if I were in Jacob’s place. I might have thought, “Good. He has accepted me. He’s not going to kill me.  And I don’t have to give away so much of my wealth.” I am not always a cheerful giver. But Jacob had met God the night before and was a new person! He insisted on giving the gifts. But now they were gifts of gratitude.

Esau wanted go on and get back home. He said to Jacob, “Let’s move on, and I’ll go ahead of you.” It was Esau’s offer of protection to Jacob as they traveled back home together. But Jacob turned him down. He said that it would be too hard on the herds and the children to try to keep up with Esau. (verses 12-14) He also turned down Esau’s offer to leave some of his people with Jacob as he traveled.

I’ve always thought that Jacob still did not fully trust Esau and was making excuses so that he would be able to keep his distance from him. But the two commentaries I looked at both said that Jacob was being gracious and not wanting to impose upon Esau.

According to verses 16 through 19, Jacob didn’t go back to Seir to be with his brother Esau, but settled near the Canaanite city of Shechem. Verse 20 says that Jacob built an altar there and called it God, the God of Israel. When you read that name, God, the God of Israel, you think of the little nation over in the Middle East that God chose and which is surrounded by hostile nations. But, in this case, Jacob was talking about himself, the one who had struggled with God and with men and had overcome. But nonetheless God is the God of Israel and of all who have struggled with him and with men and have overcome. Jacob followed in the footsteps of his grandfather Abraham and built an altar where he had settled to worship God. We’ll see next time that God did not really want him there and told him to move back to Bethel, the place where he had first met God.

We will also see, as we go on, that Jacob’s troubles are not over. There will still be plenty of trouble in his life and in his family, but finally, all of them will be saved. We will still have trouble in our lives too, but finally we will all be saved, too. We have Jesus who is not ashamed to call us his brothers…and we are sons of God through faith in Jesus. And God is our Father. (And, if you still don’t have Jesus… If you still think God is your enemy… If you are still struggling with him…  I beg you to trust him and to give yourself into his hands. He loves you. Jesus suffered and died for you, so trust him! Amen!

[Prayer]



END NOTES
1 Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible ®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible ®, Holman CSB ® and HCSB ® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.