Genesis 33 Study Notes

33:1-3 Following his transforming encounter with God, Jacob went from hiding behind his wives and children (32:22-23) to boldly taking the lead in protecting his family. In his encounter with Esau and his four hundred men, Jacob went on ahead of the group, arranging his family behind him according to their status. In a display of respect unparalleled in the Bible, Jacob bowed down to Esau seven times as he approached.

33:4-11 Even as Jacob had been changed the previous night, it seems that Esau had changed too. Perhaps he had been warned by God not to harm Jacob, even as other adversaries of the patriarchs had been before (20:3-7; 31:24). The once-estranged brothers hugged . . . kissed, and wept together in gracious reunion—a scene that anticipated a reunion between estranged brothers in the next generation (45:14-15). Esau, who had three wives and five sons (36:2-5), inquired about Jacob’s family. Each of the mothers approached Esau with their children and respectfully bowed down. The fact that Joseph was the only named son in the group and was mentioned ahead of his mother foreshadows his leading role in later narratives.

Though Esau encouraged Jacob to keep what animals he had earlier sent ahead, Jacob insisted that Esau take the gift as a confirmation that the younger brother had found favor with him.

33:12-15 To compensate Jacob for his generous gift, Esau offered to provide companionship (“let us go”; let’s move on), leadership (I’ll go ahead), and—with the assistance of his four hundred men—protection to Jacob’s group for the remainder of the journey. Jacob, who had just escaped from twenty years of oppression from a troublesome relative, respectfully declined the offer, calling his brother my lord, but suggesting that he needed to travel alone. Jacob’s mention of following Esau to Seir might have been a mere social convention or another example of Jacob’s intentional obfuscation. Jacob may have eventually traveled to Seir on his way to Shechem. In any event, the brothers agreed not to live in the same region (36:6-7).

33:16-17 Esau went south to Seir, a forested mountainous region east of the Dead Sea, while Jacob’s group traveled a few miles north to settle at Succoth (Hb for “Temporary Shelters”), named for the temporary facilities Jacob constructed for his livestock. The Bible does not indicate that Jacob and Esau met again until they buried their father many years later (35:29).

33:18-20 Jacob’s journey ended when he arrived safely at Shechem, where his grandfather Abraham had first lived when he entered Canaan (12:6). Jacob intended to live permanently in the land promised to him by God (28:13), so he purchased a section of land in front of Shechem from the sons of Hamor, including his son Shechem, whose name matched the city’s name. The price of a hundred pieces of silver represents an unknown quantity; one suggestion is that the Hebrew word here, qesitah, represented the value of one lamb. True to the seminomadic heritage of his grandfather and father (12:8; 26:25), Jacob lived in a tent. Like Abraham and Isaac before him (12:8; 13:18; 22:9; 26:25), Jacob also set up an altar, naming it El-Elohe-Israel, God, the God of Israel.