Genesis 33
Jacob Meets Esau
33 Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two female servants. 2 He put the female servants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. 3 He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the groundseven times as he approached his brother.
4 But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept. 5 Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. “Who are these with you?” he asked.
Jacob answered, “They are the children God has graciously given your servant.”
6 Then the female servants and their children approached and bowed down. 7 Next, Leah and her children came and bowed down. Last of all came Joseph and Rachel, and they too bowed down.
8 Esau asked, “What’s the meaning of all these flocks and herds I met?”
“To find favor in your eyes, my lord,” he said.
9 But Esau said, “I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.”
10 “No, please!” said Jacob. “If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably. 11 Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” And because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it.
12 Then Esau said, “Let us be on our way; I’ll accompany you.”
13 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are tender and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die. 14 So let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the flocks and herds before me and the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”
15 Esau said, “Then let me leave some of my men with you.”
“But why do that?” Jacob asked. “Just let me find favor in the eyes of my lord.”
16 So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir.17 Jacob, however, went to Sukkoth, where he built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is called Sukkoth.[a]
18 After Jacob came from Paddan Aram,[b] he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city. 19 For a hundred pieces of silver,[c]he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent.20 There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel.[d]
The first few sentences of Genesis 33 sound absolutely terrifying. Jacob looked up and there was Esau. He hasn’t seen him for over two decades, he has cheated him up of his birthright, and there he is riding towards him with four hundred armed and dangerous men. Jacob must have been shaking in his boots, imagining the revenge that might come his way. His sins and his choices have caught up with him and now there was going to be bloodshed, disaster and loss.
So what Jacob does is impotent. He arranges his family carefully and then he goes ahead of them. If there is bloodshed he will be the first to die and if he does die, he might be able to give others time to flee to safety.
As Esau approaches, Jacob sends gifts ahead and bows in humility. He thinks to himself, if I can give enough and sacrifice enough, I might just be able to appease him before the moment of reckoning. But Esau ran to meet Jacob and he embraced him. He threw his arms around him, they embraced and wept. Imagine these two grown men, their armies and their families at their backs, they are meeting in the centre of it all and they are in this bubble of reconnection. After all that has happened, they are still just brothers. They have both made mistakes but they have come together.
Esau had made mistakes and had been foolish but he had never sinned against Jacob. However, Jacob had horrifically sinned against Esau. But notice that he does not say, ‘your gifts have changed my mind.’ He does not say, ‘you owe me way more than this!’ No, he says, ‘I already have plenty.’
This incredible picture reflects so much of the way that Jesus comes to us. In the same way as Jacob, we find that we have wronged God, we have taken for ourselves what was not meant for us and we have run away from home. Just like Jacob, we may try to earn forgiveness. We may work hard, we may give gifts to God, we may humble ourselves before him. However, when God sees us coming to him, he runs to us embraces us and forgives us.
God loves us and whatever we have done, he wants to be close and united with us.
