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Sermon preached on Genesis 33 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 03/03/2024 in Petaluma, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
Today’s passage is part two from last week’s passage. That’s where we saw Jacob on his return journey to Canaan, the Land of Promise. As he got close, he began to prepare to face his brother Esau who he had treated so poorly in the past. Remember, Jacob had essentially took both the blessing and the birthright from Esau. After Jacob deceived his father to get the blessing over Esau, Esau was furious. Esau was planning to kill Jacob. That is why Jacob fled the Promised Land and left to Paddan-aram. Now, some twenty years later, God had told him it was time to finally return home to the land of Canaan. As we saw last week, that meant he would have to face Esau, and he was afraid Esau might still try to harm him. So, we saw him both making defensive arrangements to protect his house, as well as prepared a great gift to try to propitiate Esau. Most importantly, Jacob prayed to God and expressed how he needed God to keep him safe. The passage ended with that mysterious wrestling of Jacob with God, where God says how Jacob had contended with God and man and prevailed. I pointed to that victory being shown in his prayer that said he needed God to save him, that the path to victory was in recognizing his complete dependence on God. So last week’s passage was the setup for today’s passage. Here, Jacob will face Esau. As we just read, we see that God did answer Jacob’s prayer. His meeting with Esau here will not be for conflict but for reconciliation. That clears the way for Jacob to complete his return journey to the Promised Land and bring this time of sojourning out of the Promised Land to a completion.
Let us then dig into the details of our chapter, looking in our first point at verses 1-3. This is where we see Jacob approaching Esau. Verse 1 begins with Jacob looking up and seeing Esau coming in the distance, along with the four hundred men. Remember that last passage Jacob was concerned that Esau was bringing these men to do him harm. So, with Jacob seeing Esau and company approaching, Jacob makes his final preparations.
First, we see Jacob exercise prudence in taking some final defensive actions. He divides us his women and children into multiple groups. This is similar to last week’s passage where he divided up the house into two camps for defensive purposes. Similarly, here takes his family and divides them up into their specific units. Of course, we also see his favoritism come out again. For he puts the group of the servant girls with their children first. Then he puts his wife Leah and her children next. Apparently unloved Leah is at least loved more than the servant girls. And then lastly, he puts his beloved wife Rachel with her son Joseph in the rear, which would have been the most protected position. So then, after Jacob divides up his women and children like this, Jacob then goes before them all, so that he will be the first to meet Esau. This shows a commendable heart of Jacob to want to protect his family, by putting himself in between them and Esau. And even though he assigns Rachel and Joseph to the most protected position, Jacob still puts himself in the least protected position. In other words, even the servant girls and Jacob’s children with them, are beloved and protected by Jacob.
Jacob then proceeds to approach Esau, as we see in verse 3. Let us appreciate the manner of his approach. He bows seven times as he draws near to Esau. Seven is that number of completion, so it symbolizes Jacob’s complete honoring of Esau. Let us also appreciate that for him to bow before Esau is for Jacob to take the place of a servant before Esau. Jacob sets himself in the role of a servant and Esau in the role of a lord. Indeed, that is the language Jacob repeatedly uses here in his conversation with Esau, as we will see in verses 5, 8, and 13-15.
Recognize that this is an expression of repentance on Jacob’s part. While we never see Jacob explicitly say to Esau, “Please forgive me for what I did to you in the past,” we do see actions that clearly show Jacob turning from his past ways. Think of how Jacob’s setting himself as Esau’s servant is a direct expression of this. When Jacob stole his father’s blessing from Esau, a major component of that blessing is which brother would be the master and which brother would be the servant. Once Jacob stole the blessing, his father Isaac it made it clear that the blessing set Jacob as the lord and Esau as the servant. But Jacobs doesn’t show up lording himself over Esau, demanding Esau’s submission. While even the divine prophecy foretold that ultimately Esau would serve Jacob, yet, Jacob makes himself nothing and puts himself as a servant to Esau. This demonstrates a measure of repentance on Jacob’s part.
Let us turn now in our second point to consider verses 4-11 and see Jacob finally meeting Esau. After all the buildup and suspense, verse 4 immediately sets the tone for the reunion. Esau runs out to meet his brother. He embraces him in a big hug. He kisses him. They both start to weep. The word in the Hebrew for embrace sounds similar to the word for wrestle, so in clever writing, we see the suspense lifted. Esau arrives and doesn’t wrestle Jacob but embraces him. Indeed, his words in verse 9 show that Esau doesn’t receive Jacob back as a mere servant, but as a brother. Esau’s warm and loving reception reminds me of the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son, who was eager to receive back his wayward son. In the past Esau had murderous fury for Jacob, but now he shows commendable forgiveness.
Their meeting then entails a series of questions by Esau. The first is in verse 5, “Who are these with you?” Esau sees all the family and essentially asks for an introduction. We know who all these women and children are, but Esau wouldn’t. He hadn’t seen Jacob in more than twenty years, and back then Jacob left as a single man. Jacob’s answer to Esau commendably gives glory to God, explaining that these are the children that God had graciously given him. Jacob’s family then comes in order of their divisions to meet Esau, each bowing down before him. It is not just Jacob who honors Esau, but the whole family bows to honor him. All of Israel submits themselves in that way to Esau.
The next question Esau asks is in verse 8. “What do you mean by all this company that I met”? Esau is referring to what we saw last passage, that Jacob had arranged for effectively a grand parade of gifts to be showered upon Esau in advance of Jacob and family meeting him. Jacob is very clear in response, “These are to find favor in the sight of my lord.” While we don’t see Jacob asking Esau for forgiveness, but this gets close. Again, we can recognize this as an expression of repentance on Jacob’s part. When long before Jacob had got Esau to foolishly sell his birthright for a bowl of soup, it was particularly a financial concern. The birthright represented wealth. If you had the birthright of the firstborn, it meant that from an inheritance standpoint you would receive a double portion of the inheritance. Afterwards, Esau would lament how Jacob got him to sell such a valuable right for such a meager sum, saying that Jacob had cheated him out of his birthright (27:36). We had also acknowledged that it was not in keeping with brotherly love for Jacob to have done that to Esau. So then, Jacob comes with a measure of repentance by coming with such a grand financial gift for Esau. Jacob doesn’t return back as a financial taker but giver to Esau. And Jacob makes it very clear that he hopes this generosity will be received favorably by Esau. This generous spirit reflects a changed heart of Jacob toward his brother. Before Jacob’s greed had made him fall out of favor with his brother. Now he hopes his heart of generosity will bring him into favor with Esau.
Esau initially replies to Jacob to try to graciously refuse the gift. He says that he has enough. It sounds like God had blessed Esau also with some wealth. Esau does not see that he has need to take what his brother wants to give. He says Jacob should keep it for himself. This is also very commendable of Esau. Yet, Jacob is insistent. Jacob asks Esau if Jacob has found favor in his sight, to then accept the gift. In other words, if Esau will accept the gift, it would give Jacob all the more confidence that Esau truly had forgiven him. At Jacob’s urgings, Esau does ultimately accept the gift.
Let us also note that Jacob gives Esau an additional reason why he should accept the gift. Jacob tells Esau in verse 10, that seeing Esau is like seeing the face of God and that you have accepted me. This is a very important additional reason why Jacob wants Esau to keep the gift. Not only does Jacob want Esau to have the gift so he knows that he has forgiven him. But also, he wants Esau to have the gift because Jacob sees how well Esau has received Jacob. Jacob is so pleased that Esau has received him so kindly, that he is full of gratitude and wants to give this gift too for that reason. This is easy to recognize if we compare his words here to what he had just said about God after he wrestled God in last chapter, verse 30. There, Jacob was thankful that he had seen God’s face and yet lived. Here then, in a similar vein, he is thankful that he seen Esau’s face and yet lived. In other words, when he finally reunited with Esau, Esau was kind to him. Jacob is thankful for Esau’s gracious response and all the more that makes Jacob want to give Esau this huge gift to express his gratitude.
So, stepping back, let us recognize how God is behind all of this. The way Jacob made a connection here between seeing Esau’s face like that of God’s face encourages us to draw this connection. What I mean is, why did Esau give Jacob such a warm welcome? Why did Esau have favor for Jacob instead of fury? Why do they reconcile like this after all their history of conflict? Surely, the answer is God. God answered Jacob’s prayer. God had worked in Esau’s heart, for the good of Jacob! God had also been working in Jacob’s heart too. The result is that Jacob and Esau have this peaceful reunion. Soli Deo Gloria, all glory be to God!
Let us then turn now to our third point as we consider verses 12-20. Here we see how Jacob, aka Israel, arrives safely back home in the Promised Land. Let’s note that Esau actually wants him to come back with him to the land of Sier where Esau had been living, a place that eventually becomes known as the land of Edom. That region was not technically in the land of Canaan, but a little to the southeast of the Dead Sea. Esau invites Jacob to come back with him to his home there in Seir.
First, in verse 12, Esau offers to personally accompany Jacob and his big moving entourage. Jacob politely refuses, basically saying that the youth of both the flock and children make it hard to travel too quickly. Then, Esau offers to leave some of his men with Jacob, presumably especially for protection. Though Jacob also politely declines that, saying he didn’t think it was necessary, it does seem to explain why Esau brought so many people with him. Apparently, Esau didn’t think it was that safe to be traveling around that area without sufficient numbers for protection. I would think that might especially be a concern given Jacob’s great amount of wealth in livestock that he is bringing back with him.
Let us note an interesting question here. Does Jacob lie to Esau when in verse 14 he says he will follow him slowly back to Seir at their own pace? The text doesn’t record Jacob going to Seir. Instead, we see he goes first to Succoth, which is actually pretty close to where Jacob and Esau were at here when they met. At Succoth he sets up some extended camp there, probably to give time and care to the nursing flocks he referenced. But then after that, he is recorded as continuing on to Shechem and then he is settling down there after buying some land from them. So, interestingly, Shechem is not Seir, and so it makes you wonder if Jacob did ever fulfill what he promised in verse 14, or if this is yet another act of duplicity on Jacob’s part. It certainly is suggestive. We could imagine that maybe Jacob still has enough fear of Esau as to not want to go to Seir. But we could also consider that God had told Jacob to return to the land of Canaan, and Seir would not be the right destination from that regard. The text doesn’t give us enough to really answer this question, but it does make us wonder if that despite Jacob’s growth, he still struggles with some of his past sins.
So then, at last, Jacob finally returns safely back to the land of Canaan, in verse 18. That verse emphasizes that he returned safely and back in the Promised Land of Canaan. We should give God the credit for that. God gave that specific promise to Jacob so long before at Bethel when he was first fleeing from Esau. Now, we come to the fulfillment of that great promise of God. He has reconciled with Esau, and now he has returned back to Canaan. Though I mentioned that Shechem is not Seir. Let me now also mention that Shechem is also not Bethel. It’s actually somewhat close to Bethel, but it’s not quite back all the way to Bethel. What I refer to is that after God promised Jacob at Bethel to be with him and keep him and bring him back to the Promised Land, that Jacob had responded with a vow. Jacob vowed back then that if God kept those promises, that Jacob would return to Bethel, worship God there, give God a tithe, and that God would be his God. Jacob has come back, but didn’t go quite far enough yet to Bethel to fully fulfill his vow. We will see God remind Jacob of this when we get to chapter 35 and then Jacob will go on to Bethel. But for now, he stays in Shechem.
Now I mentioned in Jacob’s previous vow at Bethel, he said that if God kept all his promises, “then the LORD shall be my God”. This the beautiful conclusion to the matter here in our passage. Look at verse 20. Now that he is finally back in the Promised Land, settled there in Shechem, what does he do? He buys some land and immediately builds an altar so he can worship God. He had promised to worship God upon his return to the land, and that is in fact what he does. But notice how beautiful that verse ends. He names the altar, “El-Elohe-Israel”. That translates to “God, the God of Israel.” Remember that God had just changed Jacob’s name to Israel. So what is Israel saying here when he finally arrives home in the Promised Land? Israel erects an alter to worship. Who does Israel worship? Does Israel worship the God of his fathers? Yes, but more. Israel now worships the God of his fathers as his own God. Israel worships Elohe Israel, the God of Israel.
What a wonderful culmination of Israel’s spiritual growth. Israel for so long talked about God as the God of his fathers. I’ve suggested that Jacob wasn’t sure if Israel was really his God or not. Here, as Israel safely returns, Israel knows the answer. The God of his fathers is also his God. Here, Israel beautifully professes this in his worship. Let us rejoice that God so grew Israel like this. Despite all Israel’s wrestling with God and man, God was gracious and favored him. God kept his promise and brought Israel safely home.
In conclusion, God was faithful to keep those promises to Jacob turned Israel. Israel did ultimately recognize God as his God. And there was yet another promise God had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that was not yet fulfilled. That promise was that through their offspring, all the nations would be blessed. That promise has now been fulfilled through Jesus. Jesus is of the lineage of Israel, born into this world to reconcile us with God. Jesus has called us to repent from our hearts and look to be reconciled to God. Jesus’s death on the cross was the atoning sacrifice to cover all our sin, so we could find peace with God. Indeed, as we turn back to God, we find him to be our father who runs to receive us in peace and great love.
Let us then join Israel here with the same confession. His God is our God. We worship our LORD again today. We present ourselves again to God as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our reasonable worship. While we know we fall short in giving him all that we ought, let us indeed strive all the more today to respond to his continued grace in our life with faithful worship and service of his great name. El-Elohe-Israel is our God too.
Amen.
Copyright © 2024 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
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