Genesis · Pentateuch (Law)

Genesis 33

Jacob and Esau reconcile, showing the power of God’s grace.

c. 1909 BCKey verses Genesis 33:4, 33:10-11, 33:20Read Genesis 33 in the ESVopens BibleGateway
Haran, about 1,250 ftAbram’s road from Haran into Canaan (Genesis 12:4-6), about 420 milesShechem, about 1,900 ft

33:10

“For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me.”

Genesis 33:10, ESV

The chapter at a glance

  1. 1–3Jacob’s processionOrdered by favor, led by bowing
  2. 4–11The embraceEsau runs; Jacob gives back a blessing
  3. 12–17Parting waysJacob declines company and settles at Succoth
  4. 18–20ShechemLand bought, an altar to the God of Israel

The chapter in brief

Esau comes with four hundred men. Jacob lines up his family, the two servant women and their children in front, Leah and her children next, Rachel and Joseph last of all, and goes ahead of them himself, bowing to the ground seven times. Esau runs to meet him, embraces him, falls on his neck, and kisses him, and they weep. Jacob presses his present on Esau, calling it “my blessing,” and tells him that seeing his face is like seeing the face of God. Esau offers to travel with him; Jacob begs off, saying he will come to Seir at the pace of the children, and instead goes to Succoth and then to Shechem. There he buys a piece of land and builds an altar, calling it El-Elohe-Israel, “God, the God of Israel.”

The meeting Jacob dreaded for twenty years becomes an embrace. The God who met Jacob in the night had gone ahead of him to Esau. The reconciliation is real but limited: the brothers weep together and then go separate ways. Jacob gives back a “blessing” to the brother he robbed of one, and the man who wrestled with God now calls God by his own new name. The scene points beyond itself. Reconciliation with God and reconciliation with a brother belong together (Matthew 5:23-24), and both are God’s gift in Christ, “who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18). And the land Jacob bought at Shechem would hold Joseph’s bones (Joshua 24:32) and lie near the well where Jesus sat and offered living water to a Samaritan woman (John 4:5-6).

Points for discussion

vv. 1–3

The order of the line

Jacob arranges his family by his affection: the servant women first, Leah next, Rachel and Joseph safest at the back. The favoritism that will tear the family apart in chapter 37 is plain to see. Yet something has changed since yesterday’s plan. Then he sent the present ahead and stayed behind (32:20-21); now “he himself went on before them” (v. 3). He bows seven times, a gesture often explained as the homage a vassal paid a great lord in that world. Through the whole meeting he calls Esau “my lord” and himself “your servant.” Isaac’s stolen blessing had said, “Be lord over your brothers” (27:29). Jacob does not try to cash it in.

v. 4

Esau runs

The verbs tumble over each other: he “ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.” Many readers hear this scene behind the father in Jesus’ parable, who “ran and embraced him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20). The text does not say what changed Esau, who had once planned to kill his brother (27:41). Jacob gives the credit to God (vv. 5, 11). And Esau, the man outside the chosen line, shows more open-handed grace here than Jacob does. Scripture’s whole picture of Esau includes both this embrace and his despising of the birthright (Hebrews 12:16), and it warns the chosen against assuming that those outside have nothing to teach them.

vv. 5–11

“Accept my blessing”

Jacob speaks of his children as those “whom God has graciously given your servant” (v. 5) and of his wealth because “God has dealt graciously with me” (v. 11). Everything he has is grace. Then he calls his present berakah, “my blessing” (v. 11), the very word for what he took from Esau (27:35-36). Many readers see Jacob making a kind of restitution in the same coin. He adds, “I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me” (v. 10). The word “accepted,” ratsah, is later used of God accepting an offering. The night before, Jacob saw God’s face and lived; now his brother’s welcome feels like the same mercy. The one who has been accepted by God can receive a brother’s welcome as grace, and offer it.

For discussion

Jacob gives Esau back a “blessing.” When we have wronged someone, what does making things right involve beyond saying sorry? Test the answer against Luke 19:8-9 and Matthew 5:23-24.

vv. 12–17

Jacob’s slow road

Esau offers to travel together; Jacob pleads frail children and nursing flocks and promises to come “to my lord in Seir” (v. 14). Then he goes to Succoth, the opposite direction, and builds a house. Readers differ. Some see wise caution: four hundred armed men and a brother whose moods had once been murderous. Others see one more evasion from a man who still finds the truth hard to say plainly. The text gives no verdict, and it records no visit to Seir; the brothers meet again at their father’s grave (35:29). Peace between people does not always mean living side by side, and sometimes wisdom keeps a little distance (Romans 12:18). Yet Jacob had vowed to return to Bethel (28:20-22), and he settles instead near a Canaanite city. God will have to call him on (35:1).

vv. 18–20

An altar at Shechem

“Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem” (v. 18). The Hebrew word behind “safely,” shalem, is related to shalom, and many readers hear the vow of 28:21 being answered: “so that I come again to my father’s house in peace.” (Some older translations took it as a place name, Salem.) Like Abraham at Machpelah, Jacob buys land in the land of promise, “for a hundred pieces of money” (v. 19). He builds an altar and names it El-Elohe-Israel, “God, the God of Israel”: the man who was renamed now calls God his own God by his new name. Yet the next chapter happens here, at Shechem, and the altar does not keep the family from disaster. Worship begun is not the same as a household made holy.

Threads across the chapter

  • Face. The face Jacob feared (32:20) becomes the face that welcomes him and reminds him of God’s (v. 10), the day after Peniel (32:30).

  • Lord and servant. Jacob calls Esau “my lord” and himself “your servant” again and again (vv. 5, 8, 13-15), laying down the dominance the stolen blessing promised (27:29).

  • Grace named. “Graciously given” (v. 5), “dealt graciously” (v. 11), and “accepted” (v. 10) tie Jacob’s family, wealth, and welcome to God’s favor.

  • Arriving, not yet home. Jacob turns aside to Succoth (v. 17) and Shechem (vv. 18-20) instead of Seir or Bethel, and the next two chapters show the cost and the remedy.

Key words

33:5, 11
חָנַן chanan“Graciously given,” “dealt graciously”; Jacob’s confession that his family and wealth are God’s favor
33:10
רָצָה ratsah“Accepted”; a word later used of God accepting an offering
33:11
בְּרָכָה berakah“Blessing”; the present Jacob gives back to the brother whose blessing he took
33:18
שָׁלֵם shalem“Safely,” whole, at peace; often heard as an answer to the vow of Genesis 28:21

Cross-references

Questions for your group

  1. 1

    Why might Genesis place the embrace of Esau immediately after the night at Peniel?

  2. 2

    What is the difference between Jacob’s plan to “appease” Esau (32:20) and the welcome he actually receives?

  3. 3

    Esau shows more open grace in this chapter than Jacob does. What does that say to believers about people outside the church?

  4. 4

    Is Jacob’s refusal to travel with Esau wise caution or another evasion? What would make the difference?

  5. 5

    Is there someone you need to be reconciled to, and what would giving back a “blessing” look like?

My notes