Genesis 33.1-11-Jacob Reconciles with Esau

Thursday September 14, 2006

Genesis: Genesis 33:1-11-Jacob Reconciles with Esau

Lesson # 205

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 33:1.

This evening we will study Genesis 33:1-11, which presents to us the record of Jacob reconciling with Esau.

Genesis 33:1, “Then Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids.”

The statement “Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold” brings the reader alongside of Jacob, capturing the scene for us, heightening the tension of the narrative, indicating the seriousness and magnitude of the moment.

The four hundred men was the standard size of a militia in the days of the patriarchs (1 Samuel 22:2; 25:13; 30:10; cf. Genesis 14:14).

Prior to Jacob sending the gifts to Esau as restitution for stealing the blessing of the birthright, Esau would have questioned Jacob’s intentions and would have been filled with uncertainty and anxiety as to the intentions of Jacob.

On the other hand, prior to Jacob’s wrestling match with the Lord, Jacob would have been filled with uncertainty and anxiety as to what the intentions of Esau might be.

However, Jacob’s fears have been calmed by his conversation with the Lord and Esau’s fears would have been calmed by the arrival of the gifts from Jacob.

So the battle for Jacob has already been won, God has given him the victory without a sword being raised in anger.

1 Samuel 17:47, “the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD'S.”

Therefore, as Jacob approaches his encounter with Esau, he has no fear of being attacked because of the assurance that the Lord gave him at Peniel and is thus is walking by faith and trusting in the Lord.

Jacob’s reconciliation with Esau is a perfect example as to how God turns the hearts of men wherever He wishes.

Proverbs 21:1, “The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.”

The Lord does “not” turn the hearts of men against their will but rather brings in people and circumstances, prosperity and adversity to do this.

According to Genesis 32:7-8, just the day before, Jacob had divided his people and possessions into two companies.

The first group was the animals and the second were his people.

Esau has already encountered the first group of the animals and now he is about to encounter the people of Jacob’s household.

According to Genesis 33:1, Jacob divides his household into two groups.

The first were Jacob’s concubines and their children and they were followed by his primary wives, Leah and Rachel with their children.

Genesis 33:2, “He put the maids and their children in front, and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last.”

The maids were Zilpah (Leah’s maid) and Bilhah (Rachel’s maid).

The children of Zilpah would include Gad and Asher (See Genesis 30:9-13) and the children of Bilhah would include Dan and Naphtali (See Genesis 30:1-8).

Leah’s children were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah (See Genesis 29:31-35), Issachar, and Zebulun (See Genesis 30:14-21) and Dinah (See Genesis 30:21).

Rachel and Joseph would bring up the rear.

So we see that Jacob arranged his family in ascending order of their social status.

In the case of Rachel and Leah, they are arranged based upon Jacob’s affections.

Jacob doesn’t put Rachel and Joseph at the rear so as to give them maximum protection from Esau since he doesn’t fear Esau attacking him because the Lord reassured him at Peniel that he would be victorious.

Rather, Jacob puts Rachel and Joseph at the rear because they were the most precious to him and he wants Esau to meet them last because of this.

Unfortunately, the family of Jacob is still plagued by favoritism.

Genesis 33:3, “But he himself passed on ahead of them and bowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.”

Then, we see Jacob passing ahead of his wives and children and putting himself ahead of the entire group to meet Esau, which is a demonstration of his faith, his confident assurance that God has given him the victory and reconciliation with Esau.

Therefore, we see that Jacob has overcome his fear of Esau and which fear has dominated his life prior to his encounter with the Lord at Peniel.

Also, Jacob stands ahead of this great caravan of people and possessions in order to meet Esau first, which is also a great demonstration of leadership.

Where Jacob was a coward, Israel is a courageous leader.

Jacob demonstrates the humility he learned while enduring fourteen years of divine discipline under Laban in Paddan Aram by bowing seven times to the ground before Esau.

Where Jacob was arrogant, Israel is humble.

Colossians 3:12-13, “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”

This term denotes touching the nose and forehead to the ground in a prostate position as a symbol of submission before a superior.

In the days of the patriarchs bowing to the ground “seven times” is a well attested practice of a vassal to his lord in ancient court protocol.

Therefore, Jacob greets Esau as a vassal greets a patron with the ceremony of a royal court.

However, we must not think this act of humility on the part of Jacob was intended as an acknowledgement of servility on his part, but simply as a token of respect and recognition of Esau as ruler of the region.

Proverbs 6:1, “My son, if you have become surety for your neighbor, have given a pledge for a stranger.”

Proverbs 6:2, “If you have been snared with the words of your mouth, have been caught with the words of your mouth.”

Proverbs 6:3, “Do this then, my son, and deliver yourself; Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor, go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor.”

This act of humility is a demonstration of a spiritual principle.

Romans 12:10, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor.”

Philippians 2:3, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.”

Genesis 33:4, “Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.”

Unlike, Laban who needed to be warned by the Lord to not harm Jacob, Esau does not need to be restrained by God.

Esau initiates the physical contact with Jacob since he is by nature impulsive as demonstrated by his exchanging his birthright for a bowl of red lintel soup simply because he was hungry.

His emotional response is typical of him since we saw him cry uncontrollably when he discovered that Jacob had stolen the blessing of the birthright.

Esau’s emotional response here undoubtedly expressed his relief that Jacob was not going to attempt to subjugate him and his family and fulfill the prophecy that the “older shall serve the younger.”

His emotional response towards Jacob is also expressive of his appreciation to Jacob for his thoughtfulness in sending the gifts as restitution, which expressed Jacob’s desire to reconcile.

Notice that the statement “they wept” indicating that both Jacob and Esau were weeping in each others arms.

Jacob emotional response also expressed his relief that Esau did not still harbor bitterness towards him for stealing the blessing of the birthright but rather was desirous to reconcile as he was.

During the twenty years apart from each other, Esau realized that Jacob was properly entitled to the birthright and the blessing and that God had chosen Jacob to be in the line of Christ and inherit the blessings, promises, privileges and responsibilities of the Abrahamic Covenant.

Esau was able to accept that Jacob was entitled to the birthright and the blessing because in Genesis 33:9 when Jacob urged Esau to take the gifts, Esau replies, “I have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own.”

Furthermore, Genesis 36 reveals that God had prospered Esau with possessions and posterity and had made him a great nation, the nation of Edom, which would have given him fulfillment and prevented him from becoming jealous of Jacob’s great prosperity.

For twenty long years the two brothers had neither seen each other or spoke with each other but now all their emotions are released and on full display.

Jacob has offered restitution and demonstrated humility towards Esau and Esau in return has forgiven Jacob and the two are reconciled.

Psalm 133:1, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!”

Psalm 133:2, “It is like the precious oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, coming down upon the edge of his robes.”

Psalm 133:3, “It is like the dew of Hermon coming down upon the mountains of Zion; For there the LORD commanded the blessing -- life forever.”

Genesis 33:5, “He lifted his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, ‘Who are these with you?’ So he said, ‘The children whom God has graciously given your servant.’”

When Esau sees Jacob’s children, he asks Jacob “who are these with you” and he does so because when Jacob left home twenty years prior, he was unmarried and therefore, childless.

“Graciously given” is the verb chanan (/n^j*), which refers to the act of God bestowing Jacob with the gift of four wives and twelve children and indicates Jacob’s recognition that his wives and children were an unmerited gift from God meaning he neither earned or deserved these blessings.

Grace is all that God is free to do in imparting unmerited blessings to us based upon the merits of Christ and His death on the Cross-and our eternal union with Him.

Grace is God treating us in a manner that we don’t deserve and excludes any human works in order to acquire eternal salvation.

Grace means that God saved us despite ourselves and not according to anything that we do but rather saved us because of the merits of Christ and His work on the Cross.

Grace excludes any human merit in salvation (Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5) and gives the Creator all the credit and the creature none.

Here we see Jacob giving God the credit.

He learned through the discipline that he could not merit the blessing of God, nor could he do anything that could merit the blessing of God.

Therefore, Jacob has learned what God’s grace is all about, namely, that we can not merit the blessing of God because of who we are or what we do, that it is a gift and cannot be earned or deserved.

Jacob tactfully avoids the term barakh, “bless” in order to avoid provoking Esau to jealousy and reminding him of the stolen blessings of the birthright.

“Tact” is a keen sense of what to say or do to avoid giving offense and is the skill in dealing with difficult or delicate situations.

Also, Jacob demonstrates great tact by employing the term Elohim, “God” rather than the covenant name of God, Yahweh, “Lord” since Esau was not chosen by God to inherit the blessings, promises, privileges and responsibilities of the Abrahamic Covenant.

The fourteen years of divine discipline under Laban have developed in Jacob the ability to use tact in dealing with delicate and difficult situations with people.

Genesis 33:6, “Then the maids came near with their children, and they bowed down.”

Genesis 33:7, “Leah likewise came near with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed down.”

Genesis 33:8, “And he (Esau) said, ‘What do you mean by all this company which I have met?’ And he (Jacob) said, ‘To find favor in the sight of my lord.’”

When Esau asked about the gifts of animals, Jacob replied that they were meant to seek Esau’s favor or in other words to seek his forgiveness for stealing the blessing of the birthright twenty years before.

As we noted in our study of Genesis 32:20, when Jacob sent the gifts he states that they were to “appease” Esau meaning the gifts were designed to reconcile or repair their relationship and by implication “cover” the sin that Jacob had committed against Esau some twenty years earlier.

Genesis 32:16 records that Jacob divided the animals into five different droves: first the goats (200 female and 20 male), then the sheep (20 male and 200 female), then camels (30) and their young, then the cattle (40 cows and 10 bulls) and then the donkeys (20 female and 10 male).

With this gift, Jacob was attempting to offer “restitution” to Esau and make amends for actions against Esau when he had deceived his blind father Isaac into bestowing the blessings of the birthright to him rather than Esau.

Genesis 33:9, “But Esau said, ‘I have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own.’”

Notice that Esau never mentions God once in their conversation and Jacob eventually mentions God twice.

The fact that Esau does not mention God once does “not” mean that he was an atheist but it does indicate that he is an unbeliever and has failed to acknowledge the hand of God in his life.

The etiquette of the Middle East in that day required Esau to make a show of refusing the gift and Jacob to press it on him.

According to Isaac’s prophecy concerning Esau recorded in Genesis 27:39-40, Esau acquired his possessions through war and not by farming or shepherding as Jacob did.

Of course, God gave Esau the victories on the battlefield and was thus the source of Esau’s prosperity.

Genesis 33:10, “Jacob said, ‘No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then take my present from my hand, for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably.’”

“Present” is the noun minchah (hj*n+n!), which refers to the gift of the five droves of animals that served as restitution for Jacob stealing the blessing of the birthright twenty years before.

Jacob’s statement to Esau, “I see your face as one sees the face of God” is not flattery meant as if Jacob had been overjoyed to see Esau as one would see the face of God since that would be obnoxious and insincere.

Rather, the statement means that Jacob saw in Esau’s acceptance of him a reflection of God’s grace because he knew that it was God Himself who had changed Esau’s heart so that he could be reconciled to his brother Esau.

As we noted in Jacob’s wrestling match with the Lord recorded in Genesis 32:24-32, during the fourteen years of divine discipline Jacob had learned of the power and importance of persevering in prayer, which is called by theologians, “prevailing prayer.”

The wrestling match between God and Jacob was “symbolic” of Jacob’s struggles in life with men, which in reality were with God.

Therefore, by means of persevering in prayer with God, Jacob had solved his problems with Esau.

Now that Esau had welcomed him with open arms, Jacob saw that looking on the face of his brother was like looking on the face of God.

The one was the result of the other.

God, not Esau, had been the obstacle to Jacob’s entry into Canaan.

Now that he had prevailed with God by means of petition and clinging to Him by faith, Esau was no longer a foe, but a friend.

Therefore, Jacob’s statement to Esau, “I see your face as one sees the face of God” implies that Jacob acknowledges God’s sovereignty in his life in that God and not Esau had prevented him from reentering the land of Canaan.

The fact that the Lord attacked at Jabbok before reentering Canaan also indicates this to be the case.

Genesis 33:11, “Please take my gift which has been brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have plenty. Thus he urged him and he took it.”

The fact that Esau accepted Jacob’s gift of five droves of animals and did not reciprocate indicates that Esau has accepted Jacob’s gift as settlement for Jacob stealing the blessing of the birthright twenty years before.

Notice that Esau only took the gift after Jacob had insisted indicating that Esau had forgiven Jacob long ago and did not need the gift to pacify him.

From God’s perspective offering the gifts to Esau was the right thing for Jacob to do since our Lord taught His disciples that if horizontal relationships with people are not right because of sin, then they are not right in their vertical relationship with God.

For instance, if we don’t forgive our fellow believers, then God won’t forgive us in the experiential sense and thus we won’t be restored to fellowship (Mt. 6:14-15; Mt. 18:21-35).

So, if we have sinned and injured someone whether his or her property or reputation, we must confess it to the injured party and offer restitution, which in some cases, restitution could simply involve an apology.

Sins against society and against one another require civil restitution for experiential forgiveness before God and men, thus, the thief steals, realizes his sin, and confesses to God and his victim, then makes restitution, and God forgives him.

Unlike the conflict with Laban that was settled with a non-aggression pact, the conflict with Esau is resolved through the accurate application of the Word of God, genuine expressions of humility and tact and consideration of others.

The reconciliation between Esau and Jacob is sealed with the acceptance of this reparation gift.

Esau’s acceptance is witnessed by Esau’s four hundred men and by Jacob’s entire household just as Abraham’s claim to Ephron’s cave and field was sealed when Ephron accepted the payment before witnesses.