Genesis 33:1

This moment closes a story that began when Jacob deceived his father Isaac and fled from Esau’s anger (Genesis 27). Esau had sold his birthright to Jacob for a meal (Genesis 25:29–34), and Jacob then took the blessing meant for Esau by deceit (Genesis 27:1–40). Esau hated him for it and vowed to kill him once their father was dead, so Jacob left for Haran (Genesis 27:41–45). There he served Laban for two decades and gained a large family and great wealth, until God told him to go back to the land of his fathers (Genesis 31:3). At Bethel, on his way out, God had already promised to keep him wherever he went and to bring him again into the land (Genesis 28:15).

The way home was full of dread. Jacob’s messengers came back saying that Esau was on his way with four hundred men (Genesis 32:6). In Genesis 32 Jacob divides his company into two camps and sends gifts ahead to appease his brother. He prays to be delivered from Esau’s hand (Genesis 32:9–12), and that night he wrestles at Peniel, which means “face of God”, where he receives the name Israel, a blessing and a lasting limp (Genesis 32:22–32). Genesis 33 opens the next morning.

Jacob comes from Peniel blessed and still afraid, and Scripture records both honestly. A meeting with God had strengthened him, and it left him to face his brother in the ordinary way, on foot and in fear. This is also the reckoning for what he did decades earlier. The wrong done to Esau is the reason for every precaution Jacob takes in these verses.

“Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked” is a common way in Scripture of describing a deliberate, careful look, often just before something important happens. The verb nâsâʼ means to lift, and it is used in a great many ways, literal and figurative. Here it is Jacob raising his gaze toward the horizon. Râʼâh is the ordinary word for seeing, and with it Jacob’s fear is confirmed by his own eyes. Then comes “behold” (hinneh), which calls attention to the sight: Esau is coming, and four hundred men are with him.

Jacob answers at once. He “divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.” The verb châtsâh means to cut or split in two, to halve, and here it describes Jacob parting his household into groups, each child with its own mother. It is a quick and decisive act by a man who has thought about this moment for a long time.

Verse 2 gives the order in full. The verb sûwm means to put or set, and it is used in a great variety of ways. Here it is Jacob placing each group where he wants it. The handmaids and their children are put “foremost”, riʼshôwn, the word for first in place, time or rank, which here means at the front of the line. Rachel and Joseph are put “hindermost”, ʼachărôwn, which means behind, last or coming after, and here means at the very back.

So the order runs from front to back like this. First come the two handmaids, Bilhah and Zilpah, with their sons Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher. Next comes Leah with her six sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun, and her daughter Dinah. Last come Rachel, the wife Jacob loved most, and Joseph, his favourite son and at this time Rachel’s only child. Whoever stood at the front would meet Esau first, and if the front groups were attacked, those at the back would have the best chance to escape. Placing the most cherished members of a household in the safest position was a common way of protecting them in the face of a stronger force.

The arrangement shows Jacob’s protective love, and it also shows plainly whom he loved most. Rachel and Joseph are kept furthest from harm, while Leah and the handmaids and their children stand between them and Esau. Scripture sets down this ranking of his family without comment, and it is part of the honest picture Genesis gives of Jacob.

Having placed everyone else, Jacob “passed over before them.” The verb ʻâbar means to cross over or pass through. Jacob moves from his place among his family to the very front, so that he is the first to face Esau and stands between his brother and everyone he has arranged behind him. After all his careful ordering, he takes the most exposed place himself.

He “bowed himself to the ground seven times.” The verb shâchâh means to bow down or lay oneself flat, and it is used especially of homage paid to a king or to God. In the days of the patriarchs, bowing to the ground was a common and weighty gesture, as when Abraham bowed himself to the people of the land. It showed deep respect and submission, and often a plea for favour or mercy from someone who held power. Esau was the elder brother and the one who had been wronged, so he held Jacob’s fate in his hands. Seven often stands for completeness in Scripture, and bowing seven times was a full and deliberate act of humility that left no doubt what Jacob meant by it.

He kept bowing “until he came near to his brother.” Nâgash means to come or draw near, and with each bow Jacob closed a little more of the distance between them. The brother who had once taken Esau’s blessing now comes toward him on his face. Proverbs says that “A soft answer turneth away wrath” (Proverbs 15:1), Peter tells believers to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God (1 Peter 5:6), Paul urges us to live peaceably with all men as far as it lies with us (Romans 12:18), and Jesus calls the peacemakers blessed (Matthew 5:9). Jacob takes the first step toward peace, and he takes it in humility.

Verse 4 turns everything around. “Esau ran to meet him.” The verb rûwts means to run, often with a sense of haste, and Esau’s running is eager welcome. Then the verbs come one after another: he “embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.” Châbaq means to clasp or embrace, a close and warm act of welcome. To fall on someone’s neck is a Hebrew way of describing an embrace given with the whole heart, and it is used of reunions between close family. A kiss can be a sign of betrayal elsewhere in Scripture, and here, with everything around it, it is plain affection. Last of all, bâkâh means to weep, bemoan or lament, the outward act of tears, and both brothers do it.

Jacob had prepared for an attack, and he is met with open arms. Genesis is full of brothers at odds, beginning with Cain and Abel (Genesis 4), and here brotherly love wins over twenty years of resentment. Jesus told of a father who saw his lost son coming home and “ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him” (Luke 15:20), and the welcome in that parable has the same shape as Esau’s. Jesus also taught that someone who remembers a brother with a grievance should go and be reconciled to him before bringing a gift to the altar (Matthew 5:23–24). Paul tells believers to forgive one another as Christ forgave them (Colossians 3:13). Esau, the one wronged, forgives, and Jacob, the one who did wrong, had come humbly to seek peace. The reconciliation carries on through the rest of Genesis 33.

Jacob the deceiver came to this meeting expecting the judgment he deserved from the brother he had wronged, and he received an embrace. In that he is a picture of sinners estranged from a holy God. Through Christ, those who deserve wrath are welcomed and brought into God’s family. Christ is our peace, who has broken down the wall between us and made peace through the cross (Ephesians 2:14–16). God has reconciled us to himself by Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18–19). Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1), and God showed his love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

The picture is imperfect, and the differences point to Christ as well. Jacob bowed to make amends for his own wrongs. Christ was without sin, and he “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7–8), humbling himself to the death of the cross. God’s wrath against sin is turned away by the sacrifice of his Son, and no bowing of ours could do that. Jacob protected the ones he loved most by putting others in front of them. Christ, the good shepherd, gives his own life for the sheep (John 10:11). And where Jacob was delivered from one fearful day, Christ has overcome the world (John 16:33) and delivers his people from sin and death.

These verses show a man at his most afraid and a God who had already gone ahead of him. Jacob lifted his eyes and saw four hundred men, and God had already prepared his brother’s heart. Jacob’s careful order, his place at the front and his seven bows were all real, and the outcome was still God’s gift. God had said at Bethel that he would bring Jacob back, and he did it with an embrace that Jacob never dared to plan for.

The passage also shows that a wrong done long ago can be met with forgiveness. Jacob had to walk toward the brother he had wronged, and Esau ran the rest of the way. The God who heard Jacob’s prayer and turned his brother’s anger into tears of welcome is the same God who, in Christ, runs to meet sinners who come home.