Chapter Thirty-Three
The meeting of Jacob with Esau and the arrival of the former in Canaan
Genesis 33:1–2. And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. And Jacob divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two female servants. And he put the female servants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind them, and Rachel and Joseph last. Despite the gracious encouragement from above, Jacob again, as in (Gen 32:3-8), does not neglect human precautions: he arranges the members of his family, in view of Esau’s approach, in order according to their closeness to Jacob’s heart—the female servants with their children, Leah with her children, Rachel with Joseph. Not without purpose, perhaps, he places the children beside their mothers, wishing to soften Esau’s heart; in any case, by placing his favorites last, Jacob wishes to give them the opportunity to escape in case Esau’s anger should fall upon the front ranks of Jacob’s family.
Genesis 33:3. But he himself went on ahead and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. Bowing to the ground—the usual way of greeting superiors in the ancient and modern East. By prostrating himself before Esau seven times (the number of fullness, perfection, etc.), Jacob expresses the absence in him of any proud intentions—to rule over his older brother—and as it were a repentance of Jacob for the injustice he had done toward Esau in obtaining the blessing.
Genesis 33:4. But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. Despite his warlike and somewhat wild nature, Esau had a good heart and was capable of elevated manifestations of brotherly love and self-denial, to which Jacob responded with complete reciprocity: both, deeply moved, wept.
Genesis 33:5–8. And he looked up and saw the women and children and asked: Who are these with you? Jacob said: The children whom God has graciously given your servant. Then the female servants came forward with their children and bowed down; Leah likewise came forward with her children and bowed down; and finally Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed down. And Esau said: What do you mean by all this multitude that I met? And Jacob said: To find favor in the sight of my lord. The presentation of all his family members and Jacob’s further speech in relation to Esau show that Jacob uses measures to dispel from himself all suspicion of ill will toward Esau. In doing so, he even resorts to what, in our view, is an impermissible hyperbole, as in the expression (v. 10): “I have seen your face, as if I had seen the face of God,”—fairly common and understandable, however, in the mouth of an ancient Hebrew (cf. Gen 23:6; 2 Sam 14:17).
Genesis 33:9–11. But Esau said: I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself. Jacob said: No, please; if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my gift from my hand; for truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God, and you have received me favorably; please accept my gift that I have brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and I have everything. And he urged him, and he took it. There is a noble struggle between the brothers: Esau, who probably had already received part of their father’s property, sincerely acknowledges that he needs nothing and offers Jacob to keep the flocks he has set aside for him (v. 9); Jacob, for his part, pointing to his great joy at the meeting with Esau and his gracious treatment of him (v. 10), insists on Esau’s acceptance of the “blessing” (berachah—the usual term for any offering as a sign of respect and gratitude, 1 Sam 25:27; 2 Sam 5:15; Judg 1:15) from him (as if in compensation for the spiritual blessing that Jacob had taken from him). “Do not refuse to accept this,” he says, “all this has been given to me by God; He is the giver of everything I have. Through this Jacob subtly made him understand that he was under divine providence, and disposed him to show him great respect” (John Chrysostom, Discourse 58, p. 633).
Genesis 33:12–14. Then he said: Let us journey on, and I will go before you. But Jacob 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; if they are overdriven for one day, all the flocks will die; let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, according to the pace of the livestock before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir. Here are depicted the last moments of the meeting and the parting of Esau and Jacob. Esau, as a sign of sincere brotherly affection, proposes that Jacob continue the journey together with him (v. 12), but Jacob declines this proposal under a plausible pretext: that rapid movement with Esau and his companions might prove harmful both to his young and delicate children and to his flocks, in which there are also young animals and nursing mothers (v. 13); in reality, Jacob apparently fears that peace with his brother might be disrupted by further joint travel. Instead, he proposes that Esau go ahead alone, while he expresses his intention to go slowly, as the small children and the flocks allow, and promises to come to him in Seir. Regarding this promise of Jacob, apparently not fulfilled by him (v. 17) due to distrust of Esau, Rabbi Abuhu says: “We searched throughout all of Scripture and did not find that Jacob ever came to Esau on Mount Seir; but can it be possible that Jacob, who was truthful, could deceive Esau? No! When will he come to him? In the future, see (Obad 1:17); cf. (Mic 7:20)” (Beresch. r. Par. 78, p. 335).
Genesis 33:15. So Esau said: Let me leave with you some of my men. But Jacob said: Why should you do that? I have your favor; let that be enough for me. Esau offers to send with Jacob some of his men—for protection or as a sign of honor, as an escort; but Jacob refuses this kindness from his brother, expressing by the words “Why should you do that?” either the thought that his own caravan is very extensive and sufficiently strong, or—his hope in the higher protection from God and Angels (cf. Gen 32:1). “Let me have your favor”—a courteous form of refusal before a person of high station (cf. Gen 30:27).
Genesis 33:16. So that day Esau returned on his way to Seir. Then Esau leaves Jacob, with whom he probably did not meet again until Isaac’s death (Gen 35:28-29).
Genesis 33:17. And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house, and made booths for his livestock; therefore the place is called Succoth. Jacob with his caravan comes to Succoth, more precisely, to the place later named by this name, and which according to the prevailing view of most commentators was situated on the eastern side of the Jordan, to the south of Peniel and closer to the Jordan (Judg 8:4), in the tribe of Gad (Josh 13:24); there was, however, a city with this name later also on the western side of the Jordan (1 Sam 7:46; 2 Chr 4:17). Some (Lange and others) see in this place the latter location, guided by the consideration that it would be unlikely for Jacob to remain for a long time at the very edge of the Jordan without crossing it into Canaan. But since only in the following v. 18 is Shechem noted as lying in Canaan (west of the Jordan), one can prefer the opinion of those who place Succoth (v. 18) on the eastern side of the Jordan. While settling his camp in one place for a more or less extended time (according to the rabbis, Jacob lived here for about a year and a half, Beresch. r. Par. 58, p. 386), Jacob builds for himself a house (bajth), and for his livestock—booths (succoth),—the latter, of course, were not tents or simple dwellings for human habitation, in which sense the term succoth is usually employed (Lev 23:42; Isa 4:6),—these were rather folds or shelters for penning livestock.
Genesis 33:18. And Jacob came safely from Paddan-aram to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, and camped before the city. After approximately two years of residence in Succoth, Jacob safely (unharmed, schalem) comes to Shechem and thus ends his journey from Mesopotamia and enters the land of his fathers—Canaan. The expression “safely” or “unharmed” both Hebrew and some Christian commentators understood as an indication of the healing of Jacob’s thigh from the wound received in the mysterious wrestling. The LXX (ἤλθεν Ιακωβ εἰς Σαλημ πόλιν Σικιμων), Vulgate (transivit ih Salem, urbem Sichimorum), Syriac (Peshitta), and Slavonic texts interpret the Hebrew word schalem as a proper name; likewise, some commentators consider this word a proper name of a location—either near Shechem (a settlement called Salem is still nearby), or even Salem-Jerusalem. But the latter was far from Shechem; Scripture does not mention a place named Salem near Shechem. In the Samaritan Pentateuch, instead of schalem, one finds schalom, peace, well-being, which directly recalls the words of Jacob’s prayer—his vow (Gen 28:21) about his return to his father’s house beschalom, in peace. The Lord fulfilled this desire of Jacob, returning him in peace to Shechem. Entering his native land on arrival from Mesopotamia, Jacob follows the same path and the same places as Abraham: Shechem (Gen 33:18, cf. Gen 12:6), Bethel (Gen 35:1-15, cf. Gen 12:8), and finally Hebron (Gen 35:27, cf. Gen 13:18). Thus began the second Canaanite period of Jacob’s life.
Genesis 33:19. And he bought the parcel of land, where he had pitched his tent, from the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of money. While settling on the site of Abraham’s first vision (Gen 12:6-7), for a more or less extended period, Jacob, apparently due to a lack of unclaimed fields and the dissatisfaction of the inhabitants with this foreigner, is forced to buy a plot of land near Shechem from the city’s inhabitants for 100 kesitahs. Qesitah, probably denotes a unit of weight for coinage (found, besides this place, also in Josh 24:32; Job 42:11), equal, according to the supposition of Gesenius, to 4 shekels (100 kesitahs according to Gesenius = 400 shekels of Abraham, Gen 23:15-16). The translations of the LXX, Vulgate, Syriac, and Slavonic read: “100 lambs”—a translation that can be supported only by the general consideration that livestock once served as a form of money for ancient peoples (from which the Latin pecunia comes from pecus). If Abraham acquired in Hebron a place of burial for his wife and for himself, then Jacob in Shechem acquires a field for dwelling on it, thereby expressing his faith in God’s promise concerning the inheritance of Canaan by his descendants. Later on this place the bones of Joseph were buried (Josh 24:32); in gospel times (John 4:5-6) and even now there is mention of Jacob’s well near Shechem.
Genesis 33:20. And he set up an altar there and called it El-Elohe-Israel. Like Abraham, who set up an altar upon his arrival in Canaan at Shechem (Gen 12:7), Jacob also sets up an altar here, invoking God now as the God of Israel, that is, his own, and not merely the God of the fathers.