Jacob Meets Esau (Gen 33)
Genesis: The Book of Beginnings • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
Before we dig in, let me take a moment to let you know where we’re going sermon-wise over the next month and a half. Our goal is for us to wrap up Genesis by August, however, after next week’s sermon in Genesis 34, which is a very difficult passage to work through, we’re going to take four weeks to focus our hearts and minds on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ starting next week—the idea being that we’ll take that time to reflect, give thanks, worship the Lord and end our Easter series with the resurrection of April 20th, which is Resurrection Sunday.
Just to give you a framework of what that’ll look like—in two weeks, we’ll be working through the Triumphal Entry, the following week we’ll be working through the cleansing of the temple, the third week, we’ll deal with the Last Supper, on Good Friday, we’ll do our annual Good Friday service in which we read through Jesus’ death and burial together interspersed with song and a brief sermon on the atonement, and the last week, we’ll of course be working through the Resurrection together—this is actually the longest series we’ve ever done for Easter.
I’m rather excited for it and I hope that you are, as well. I expect us to be challenged, to be encouraged, and ultimately to be filled with a sense of awe and thanksgiving for Jesus making a way for us to be with the Father.
I’m letting you know today so that when we gather in the next few weeks, you aren’t completely shocked that we’re in the NT and not the OT.
If you have your Bible, please turn it to Genesis 33.
As I mentioned last week, last week’s passage was almost like an intrusion in the midst of the narrative of Jacob’s life—however, we’d be remiss to think that the intrusion was unimportant. It is through that intrusion in which we get a clear picture of God changing Jacob.
This morning’s text continues the narrative of Jacob’s life by bringing us to essentially what we’ve been waiting for—the day when Jacob and Esau reconnect. In this, what will be abundantly clear is the idea that if you genuinely encounter God, He will change you—but it takes us reflecting on this passage tied in with last week’s passage to see this clearly.
Let’s read Genesis 33 together.
1 And Jacob lifted up 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 female servants. 2 And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. 3 He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
4 But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. 5 And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” 6 Then the servants drew near, they and their children, and bowed down. 7 Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down. And last Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down. 8 Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company that I met?” Jacob answered, “To find favor in the sight of my lord.” 9 But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” 10 Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. 11 Please accept my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” Thus he urged him, and he took it.
12 Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead of you.” 13 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. 14 Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”
15 So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” 16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 17 But Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.
18 And Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city. 19 And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, he bought for a hundred pieces of money the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. 20 There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.
As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into two parts: (1) The Meeting (1-11), which records the actually encounter between Jacob and Esau that we’ve been waiting for; and (2) Jacob and Esau Part Ways (12-20), which ends the narrative of the two brothers. It’s important to note that Jacob sees the whole situation as deliverance by God and it’s important to note that both brothers depart in separate directions, which is revealing of how their families interact with the Covenant of God—Jacob’s descendants live within the covenant, Esau’s descendants continue to live outside the covenant. The primary ideas that I want you to see are: (1) that a true encounter with God will change you and (2) that change tends to make people more willing to reconcile with one another.
Prayer for Illumination
The Meeting (1-11)
The Meeting (1-11)
Preparations and Initial Meeting (1-3)—our text starts just after Jacob’s encounter with God.
And it’s relatively soon after that encounter—remember, Jacob wrestled with God throughout the night.
v. 31 of ch. 32 says that after the matchup between Jacob and God ends, Jacob got up, he passed by Penuel as the sun rose.
So, again, it’s relatively soon after the wrestling match between God and Jacob.
And almost immediately, “Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked” and saw his brother coming with “four hundred men.”
Remember, Jacob had sent a delegation to his brother, Esau, almost as a preemptive strike.
We see this delegation go ahead of Jacob in ch. 32, vv. 3-5 with the purpose of finding favor in his brother.
Esau sent that delegation back, but didn’t actually give them a message for Jacob. The messengers returned in v. 6 and all they say is, “we came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.”
No message from his brother, but a large group of people—so it makes sense that v. 7 makes the statement that “Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed.”
So, in Genesis 33, when Jacob sees his brother and all these people coming, he has a short amount of time to figure out what to do—and his primary idea is to simply show respect to his brother. In vv. 1b-3, he splits up his children among his wives and servants and then he stood in front of his family.
What shows us that he’s being respectful is at the end of v. 3, where he “[bows] to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.”
You notice already, that there’s a change in Jacob—before now, he was content with utilizing his family as a buffer between his brother and himself. Now, he’s taking the lead and he’s acting as the buffer between his brother and his family. Whereas, before Jacob subverted his brother whenever he could; now, he prostrates himself towards his brother.
You can really only imagine the amount of tension in this situation—as Jacob doesn’t really know what Esau is going to do—and he has no reason to think that Esau is going to act favorably towards him.
Reconciliation (4-11)—but surprisingly, Esau doesn’t attack, he doesn’t hurl insults, he doesn’t do anything that you would expect him to do—instead, he embraces his brother and shows significant care for him and his family.
In v 4, we see the initial reaction from Esau, “Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.”
Again, this is the opposite of how we would expect Esau to respond; and really, we don’t have much of an indication as to why he responds this way—except, if we remember the prayer that Jacob prayed previously, we could assume that God had providentially worked in such a way that Esau’s heart of bitterness and anger towards Jacob was changed; just like Jacob’s heart of deceit and trickery was changed.
As the text continues, we see Esau’s hospitality and graciousness extended to Jacob’s family as well. Esau asks, “who are these with you?”
Jacob responds in a way that shows us that he has changed—”the children whom God has graciously given your servant.”
Note how he specifically says that his whole family was given to him by God and not by any other means.
In addition, notice how they all bow down—like Jacob, they’re showing great amounts of respect towards Esau.
Esau asks about the large delegation that Jacob sent to him—and Jacob makes it clear that he sent them in order to find favor in his eyes.
In fact, Jacob provides a gift to Esau, again, to show respect to Esau.
What’s notable is Jacob’s statement that God had blessed him and he has more than enough.
Just as an aside—the statement that seeing Esau’s face was like seeing Jacob’s face is not Jacob saying that Esau was like God.
Rather, it’s an acknowledgment that the deliverance from Esau’s rage that he experienced is of God—God delivered him from Esau’s anger; not he, himself.
So, the brothers who have had such a tremendously terrible time over the past twenty+ years are finally back together and they’ve reconciled and everything seems to be on the up-and-up. We’ve witnessed God transforming a man who acted and lived within his own sinful desire to someone who is willing to follow and obey the Lord.
Of course, the two brothers are older—and they’re not going to live side-by-side and that’s what the remaining five verses deal with. Let’s re-read those verses:
Jacob and Esau Part Ways (12-20)
Jacob and Esau Part Ways (12-20)
12 Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead of you.” 13 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. 14 Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”
15 So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” 16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 17 But Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.
18 And Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city. 19 And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, he bought for a hundred pieces of money the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. 20 There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.
Esau’s Departure (12-17)—the text continues with the mutual decision to depart from their meeting place.
Notice that Esau actually wants them to go together, which gives us the impression that they’ve definitely reconciled.
However, what you’ll notice is that Esau wants to go in a different direction than Jacob does.
Esau finds his way back to Seir, but Jacob journeys down to Succoth, which makes sense because Jacob was told by God to go to return to the Promised Land—Seir was in the land of the Edomites, not the Promised Land. Succoth is in the Promised Land.
You might also notice that there still seems to be a bit of trickery here.
Jacob blames the children and the flocks as to why he can’t go at the pace of Esau.
He encourages Esau to go ahead and he’ll follow behind, but after Esau leaves, Jacob goes the opposite direction.
We could chalk this up to a statement that “old habits or sins die hard,” but I think the better way of looking at it is that occasionally, we make wrong decisions (like lying) when we’re just trying to do the right thing (like going to the Promised Land).
It doesn’t make what Jacob did right, but it does help us relate to him—we often find ourselves doing similar things.
Again, it doesn’t make it right, but it helps us to relate.
Esau heads south to the land of the Edomites, Jacob heads north to the Promised Land
Again, they’re departing on good terms—even with this last bit of deceit from Jacob.
And in their departure, we get a picture of what their descendants will be like—Jacob (also known as Israel), his descendants will follow the Lord; Esau’s will turn a different direction.
Jacob’s Telos (18-20)—our passage then ends by wrapping up the text. Jacob settles somewhere near the city of Schechem, which is in the land of Canaan (the Promised Land) and he settles exactly how you would expect someone to.
Instead of tricking and deceiving, he speaks to the sons of Hamor and buys a plot of land.
In particular, he buys the plot of land that he had set up his tent—it doesn’t sound like much, but it again, reveals how much God has changed him—he didn’t resort to tricking and deceiving, he bought the plot of land outright.
And then he takes the time to set up an altar on his land—a place for him to worship, to sacrifice, to give thanks to the Lord and he calls that altar El-Elohe-Israel.
El-Elohe-Israel means God, the God of Israel and this name reflects both Jacob’s understanding of who God is and who he is.
There’s a beauty here in two ways: (1) it is at this point where Jacob falls in line with his father and his grandfather—just like Isaac, just like Abraham, he has made his position known. Yahweh is his God and he is Yahweh’s.
(2) If you remember back in Genesis 28:20–21 “20 Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God,”
In Genesis 33, Jacob fulfills that vow while recognizing who God has made him as Israel.
Jacob did not content himself with words of thanks for God’s favour to him, but gave real thanks. Also he kept up religion, and the worship of God in his family. Where we have a tent, God must have an altar. Jacob dedicated this altar to the honour of El-elohe-Israel, God, the God of Israel; to the honour of God, the only living and true God; and to the honour of the God of Israel, as a God in covenant with him. Israel’s God is Israel’s glory. Blessed be his name, he is still the might God, the God of Israel. May we praise his name, and rejoice in his love, through our pilgrimage here on earth, and for ever in the heavenly Canaan.
Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 1997), Genesis 33:17-20.
This brings us this morning to our application. We’ve just concluded this saga between Jacob and Esau and, if nothing else, we learn two things from Jacob’s whole life and spiritual journey, which is the basis for our application. Those two things are this: (1) a true encounter with God changes you and (2) that change tends to make people more willing to reconcile with one another. Let’s talk about those two ideas.
Application
Application
A true encounter with God changes you—no ifs, ands, or buts. If you have genuinely encountered God, it will change you.
We live in a church culture, which believes that if you just say a prayer, if you at some point as a child said “God, I’m a sinner, save me” that you’re a Christian.
Part of that started with good intentions—trying to make the Gospel as simple as possible, but the reality is that just praying the pray doesn’t matter if you don’t actually repent and believe—thus, we end up with thousands of people who by no means look like Christians thinking that they are Christians.
But, just biblically, the Bible tells us that if someone genuinely believes, there ought to be fruit—fruits of good work, the fruits of the Spirit, there ought to be change within the life of someone who genuinely believe.
Or, in other words, if you’re exactly the same today as you were before you claimed to believe—then biblically, the Bible teaches that you probably don’t actually believe—even if you said a prayer, even if you come to church faithfully, even if you give to the church or whatever else it might be.
Jacob provides a great example of this: Meeting God changed Jacob—we see this change primarily in the way that he interacts with his brother and his family and even these people that he buys his plot of land from.
He’s no longer trying to lie and deceive (though he does slip up a bit with Esau). He’s no longer just concerned about his own self-preservation or interest.
He shows genuine concern for his brother, for his family, even for these strangers who he buys this plot of land from.
Even in the way that he speaks—that his family was a blessing from God, that all that he has was given to him by God reveals a changed heart in Jacob.
Meeting God changed him.
If you claim to have met God—to have repented, to believe, to follow Him, but you’re exactly the same as you were before you claimed to believe, you haven’t actually met God.
And if that describes you—I say that I’ve repented, that I believe, that I follow Jesus, but I’ve never grown, I’ve never matured, I’ve never become more like Christ—let me encourage you to reconsider whether you have genuinely repented, whether you genuinely believe, whether you genuinely follow God.
If you’ve met Him, you would be different—your worldview would’ve started changing, you would’ve started exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit, you would’ve started desiring Him more.
And if you realize that you didn’t actually believe—that although you claimed to, you never actually repented or followed him, but now you want to—please, don’t hesitate, but come talk to Josh or me after worship this morning. We would love nothing less than to help you meet Jesus and call you a brother or sister in Jesus Christ.
Unbelievers, now is the time to meet Jesus—don’t wait until the next life, it won’t be nearly as pleasant.
Those that do believe, give thanks that you’ve met Jesus and that He is progressively sanctifying you.
You’re not where He wants you to be, yet; but, you aren’t where you were when you first started the journey to the Celestial City.
Give thanks, praise Him, and worship Him.
In conjunction with Genesis 33—a true encounter with God tends to make His people more willing to reconcile with one another.
Jacob didn’t really exhibit any desire whatsoever to reconcile with his brother until after God started prompting him to—God started speaking to him, God started working in him—and then Jacob started towards this process of reconciliation.
Why do you think that’s the case? Why do you think Jacob decided that he suddenly wanted to get right with his brother?
Was it of his own volition—did he just wake up one day and decide, “you know that guy who wants to kill me? Let’s go say hi to him?”
Or, do you think that once he realized God was working within him, that he made the realization that if God was willing to choose him, to save him, to bless him, to lead him, to direct him—a liar, a deceiver, a trickster—if God was willing to pursue a relationship with him.
Do you think that perhaps, after realizing all the things that he had done, that God still loved him, that he realized that he ought to make things right with the people that he had wronged? Even his brother?
There’s an element within Christianity, when we recognize what all Jesus has done for us, that we start to realize that if Jesus is willing to and can save us by redeeming us, forgiving us, by atoning for us—that we ought to be willing to forgive one another, to seek reconciliation, and to try to move on.
Now, of course, that doesn’t always work—not everyone will be willing to reconcile with us, but if we wrong someone, we ought to at least try to seek reconciliation.
If we sin against someone, we ought to at least try to make things right. If we harm someone else, we ought to seek their forgiveness.
And, on the flip-side, if someone wrongs us, we should try to reconcile with them. If someone sins against us, we should seek to rectify the relationship. If someone harms us, we ought to forgive them.
It’s not always easy, but when we consider all that God has done for us through Jesus Christ—it really ought to motivate us to seek reconciliation with one another.
After all, how do we love God and love one another if we refuse to reconcile with someone who wants to reconcile? How do we love God and love one another if we refuse to make a relationship right that we’ve harmed?
How do we love God and love one another if we refuse to see people as God sees them—people made in the image of God.
If you are His, Jesus has changed you because He has saved you and redeemed you and forgave you.
Use this as motivation to seek reconciliation with people around you.
Pastoral Prayer
