“Genesis 33:8-14”

Thursday, February 27, 2020

“And he said, 'What do you mean by all this company which I have met?' And he said, 'To find favor in the sight of my lord.' But Esau said, 'I have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own.' 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. 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. Then Esau said, 'Let us take our journey and go, and I will go before you.' But he said to him, 'My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds which are nursing are a care to me. And if they are driven hard one day, all the flocks will die. Please let my lord pass on before his servant, and I will proceed at my leisure, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at Seir.”

---End of Scripture verses---

“What do you mean by all this company which I have met?” (verse 9) After the emotions of the tearful reunion had subsided, Esau broached the subject of the stuff that Jacob had sent him in wave after wave. He knew that they were “presents” from his brother because each servant was instructed to tell Esau, 'These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a present sent to my lord Esau'” (Genesis 32:18). At this point Esau wanted to know the point of the gifts and what Jacob had “meant by all” of it. And Jacob responded in all candor that they were “to find favor in the sight” of his brother. He made no bones about the fact that he wanted to mitigate the animosity between them and purchase Esau's good favor.

“But Esau said, 'I have plenty...” (verse 9) “The etiquette of the East requires Esau to make a show of refusing the gift and Jacob to press it on him. To all outward appearances, the recipient accepts reluctantly.” (Nahum Sarna) “My brother; let what you have be your own.” “Beneath the surface meaning lies, perhaps, Esau's final concession of the birthright.” (Nahum Sarna) Even though Esau eventually capitulated and accepted the gifts, he let Jacob know that he really didn't owe him anything. He was obviously a prominent person and wealthy in his own right, as indicated by the large regiment of men who followed him and were likely employed by him, so he had done quite well in spite of the loss of the final fatherly blessing and all the perks that went along with it.

“Jacob said, 'No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then take my present from my hand...'” (verse 10) In the Orient, the acceptance of a gift is understood to be a pledge of friendship. If Esau had refused to accept the present, Jacob would never had been able to settle his family in confidence and peace. A refusal by Esau would have been tantamount to a smack in the face and an expression of continued animosity. “For I see your face as one sees the face of God.” When Esau smiled down upon Jacob's kneeling frame and fell upon his neck in an affectionate embrace, Jacob saw God's hand of providence working mightily through it all. “It is in a manner as pleasant a sight to me as the sight of God himself, because in thy reconciled face I see the face and favour of God thus manifested unto me.” (Matthew Poole's Commentary)

“Please take my gift which has been brought to you...” (verse 11) “By a change in terminology from Hebrew minhah, previously used five times, to berakhah, 'blessing, gift,' Jacob signals to Esau that the present is in a way a reparation for the purloining of the paternal blessing twenty years earlier. On that occasion both Isaac and Esau had used the identical Hebrew phrase now employed by Jacob (27:35,36), but in the other sense of taking away the blessing.” (Nahum Sarna) “Because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have plenty.” Esau had previously said “I have plenty” (verse 9) which means “much,” but the word that Jacob used rendered as “plenty” means “all” or “everything”. With the abundance that the Lord had bestowed upon him combined with kindness that Esau had extended toward him, Jacob saw himself as a person in possession of blessings that meant the whole world.

“Then Esau said, 'Let us take our journey and go, and I will go before you.'” (verse 12) “Esau assumes that Jacob had been on his way to pay him a visit, so he suggests that they travel together.” (Nahum Sarna) Esau offered his younger brother and his family an armed escort, but this would probably have been a source of embarrassment to Jacob, and friction could have arisen between Jacob’s servants and Esau’s men as well. Jacob insisted that the going would have been way to slow with the children and the animals and all (verse 13), so it would be best for them to go it alone rather than to slow down Esau's progress. He did, however, promise to keep in touch and visit Esau at his home in “Seir” just as soon as time permitted (verse 14)! Our God is an awesome God!

Please read Genesis 33:15-20 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

-Louie Taylor

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