Genesis 33, Reconciliation with Esau

The deceitful Jacob meets his brother after twenty years. Jacob is worried about violence and robbery, knowing that he has deceived his brother and stolen the birthright.

Genesis 33:1-4, Two brothers meet

Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants. He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.

But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.

Jacob, concerned about violence, puts his favorites, Rachel and her son, at the end of the line. But just as Jacob has grown up and matured, so has Esau. The two men hug and cry together. We don't know what they said during this embrace but one can guess.

Genesis 33:5-11, Hugs and weeping

Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. "Who are these with you?" he asked. 

Jacob answered, "They are the children God has graciously given your servant." Then the maidservants and their children approached and bowed down. Next, Leah and her children came and bowed down. Last of all came Joseph and Rachel, and they too bowed down.

Esau asked, "What do you mean by all these droves I met?" 

"To find favor in your eyes, my lord," he said.

But Esau said, "I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself."

"No, please!" said Jacob. "If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably. Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need." And because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it.

Both men have grown up and grown wealthy, with wives, children, and possessions. Esau does not need possessions, but he does need respect, and Jacob is giving it. Similarly, Jacob asks for grace. And receives it. (Jacob seems to be trying to give back to Esau the blessings and riches of the birthright.)

This is not the first time we have seen a certain custom in gift-giving. The dialogue seems to go like this,         "Here take this." 

     "No, I have no need!"  

     "But I insist!" 

     "Well, OK, then."

Genesis 33:12-15, Still worried

Then Esau said, "Let us be on our way; I'll accompany you."

But Jacob said to him, "My lord knows that the children are tender and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die. So let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the droves before me and that of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir."

Esau said, "Then let me leave some of my men with you." 

"But why do that?" Jacob asked. "Just let me find favor in the eyes of my lord."

Jacob is still a little worried about Esau's intentions. Years of deceit and doubt will not be erased in one day!

Genesis 33:16-20, Succoth

So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir.

Jacob, however, went to Succoth, where he built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is called Succoth. After Jacob came from Paddan Aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city. For a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent. There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel.

Succoth means "shelters".   "El Elohe Israel" translates roughly as "God, the God of Israel."

The Hebrew for the amount of money translated here as "a hundred pieces of silver" is really "a hundred qesitah  The qesitah is a piece of money, most likely silver. Alter argues that this period predates coins and so the silver would have just been in various weights. 

Alter also suggests that the fact that Jacob purchased land is a statement of permanence -- Jacob plans to stay here. But sadly, shortly, the sojourner Jacob, and his family, will have to move on.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is sukkah 

סֻכָּה

a feminine noun meaning cottage, tent, tabernacle, booth, shelter. When Jacob made shelters for his livestock, he named the place Shelters (Succoth.) Later, after forty years of living in tents, the wandering Israelites would celebrate a festival called Sukkot, the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles. (See Leviticus 23:34.)

Some Random Thoughts

The Genesis story of Abraham and his descendants includes a number of events in which some type of claim is made to the land, along with a vow to stay in the land or return to the land. Abraham and his sons build altars and maintain wells. Abraham buys land to bury his wife (Genesis 23:17-20) and there in the Cave of Machpelah he too is buried. Isaac and Jacob also dig wells and purchase land. In this chapter we see Jacob purchasing land and setting up an altar. Repeatedly the patriarchs are promised the land of Canaan and repeatedly they attempt to settle in it or return to it. That land is hundreds of miles southwest of Aram/Syria and yet in their desire for permanence, the descendants of Jacob will be called wandering Arameans (see Deuteronomy 26:5.) There was both a desire for stability in their story and a life status as immigrants and refugees.

The tension between a desire for permanence and the wandering bedouin experience runs throughout the Old Testament books.

 

First published Feb 8, 2023; updated Feb 7, 2026