Looking at pictures of our younger selves can be alarming and humbling for many reasons.
We know this. I think one of the benefits of having Facebook is the daily memories that pop up in your notifications. I actually look forward to seeing those each day. One of them recently for me was a group of memories that had a bunch of pictures of Holly and I when we were younger, and it dawned on me just how much we’ve changed in the last 16 years. Believe it or not, before Holly and I started dating I generally lived in jean shorts and tank tops all year round. I didn’t really see any problems with this, it just made sense to me. It was an easy choice for comfort and for quick trips to the rock climbing gym, where I also worked, so it just became my go to ‘look’, if I could put it that way. Well, after Holly and I had began dating and she felt comfortable enough with me, she finally asked why I dressed the way I do. I honestly had never really given much thought to it and didn’t see it as a problem. But then Holly showed me a picture of myself wearing a pair of my favorite jean shorts, and I saw the light. The shorts were tighter than I thought they were, shorter than I thought they were, and a looked as if they were about to fall apart at any moment. Perhaps its needless to say, but since that day Holly has greatly aided me with many things, especially my clothing preferences.
Think about Jacob. We’ve been walking with him in these middle chapters of Genesis for literally his whole life, and we’ve gotten used to seeing him in a certain light. He has been a master deceiver all his days, and praise God, after having come face to face with God he has been thoroughly changed. So, though he is still Jacob, and though we can easily look back and see him as he used to be, when we come to Genesis 33 today, we see a new Jacob. The jean shorts are gone!
If you recall, last week we saw two things in Genesis 32. We saw Jacob fearfully preparing for his meeting with Esau. It had been 20 years since he last saw his older brother, who greatly desired to kill him for stealing his blessing. To save his life Jacob left the promise land and ran off to Laban’s house. Well now that he is coming back into the promise land Jacob knows he must deal with Esau, and he doesn’t know what to expect from Esau. Has his fury against him dissipated? Or has it simmered and grown over the past 20 years? Jacob has no idea, so, naturally he hopes for the best and prepares for the worst by giving Esau a massive gift of 550 animals, hoping this will appease Esau’s anger. That was the first thing we saw in Genesis 32, how Jacob prepared to enter the promise land with this great offering of peace for his older brother.
The second thing we saw in Genesis 32 was how God prepared Jacob for his re-entry to the promise land. He met him in the middle of night and wrestled with him until dawn. The result of this wrestling match was clear. In the Lord Jacob the deceiver had met his match, and received a new name and a new walk. Prideful Jacob had become humbled Israel, who would walk with a limp the rest of his days. Jacob has his own plans for his re-entry to the promise land, but God has bigger plans for him. To humble him and knock the swagger out of him.
After these two things in Genesis 32, the chapter ends, and we enter chapter 33, our text for today. See first…
A Humble Preparation (v1-3)
“And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.”
Picking up right where chapter 32 ends, 33:1 shows the long-anticipated moment.[1] Jacob lifts his eyes, sees Esau drawing near with his 400 men, and makes final preparations. But these preparations are different. You see that? Before in chapter 32 he made many preparations but he was driven by fear. He placed drove after drove after drove of his family and flocks in front of him just in case Esau and his men began making war. We see a selfishness in him there as he was using his family and flocks to protect himself. Now, after being humbled by God, he makes a different kind of preparation. He divides all his family and flocks into groups. Zilpah and Bilhah and their children first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. While obvious favoritism is still present among the wives and the children, it’s a great encouragement to see (in v3) that Jacob went on ahead of everyone first, to encounter Esau before the others. This is a man who has been changed.[2] No longer is he using his family as a shield while hiding behind them, now he goes out first, as he should, to lead and protect his family. So, if things go south and Esau begins making war on him, he’ll be the first to go down while his family will try and escape.
So off they all go. And as v3 concludes we’re all wondering what will happen. Let’s see it next in our next heading…
A Sweet Reunion (v4-11)
“But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” Then the servants drew near, they and their children, and bowed down. Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down. And last Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down. Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company that I met?” Jacob answered, “To find favor in the sight of my lord.” 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 present from my hand. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. Please accept my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” Thus he urged him, and he took it.”
How surprising and wonderful to see this. Jacob limping ahead of his family, fearful of Esau still, only to meet a brother who isn’t running to kill him but running to embrace him. v4 has a rapid fire series of verbs describing Esau’s warm welcome. Esau ran, embraced, fell, kissed, and wept. The pace of the narrative was slow leading up this reunion, but how when the moment finally comes we get all the action in one verse. In Hebrew there is a play on words here.[3] Earlier in chapter 32 the word wrestle is havaq while here in v4 the word embraced is the word chavaq. The similarity is noticeable, and so is the meaning. Both words imply physical contact, but for very different purposes. God in grace humbles Jacob in the wrestling match with His physical contact, and here Esau shows grace to Jacob in their reunion with his physical contact. And this lavish grace characterizes Esau throughout this entire chapter.
Esau then sees the great host that follows Jacob and asks him about it, “Who are all these with you?” We might forget how all of this appeared to Esau. We’ve watched Jacob’s family and flocks grow over the past many chapters. Esau only remembers Jacob leaving with just his staff. So naturally he asks who all these people are. And Jacob humbly confesses that these are all the children God has graciously given him. And then the waves of family come near and bows down before Esau. And Esau responds with a kind of amazement asking what Jacob means by all of this. Jacob could’ve responded with gut level honesty saying, ‘I was afraid. I thought you would kill me for stealing your blessing long ago.’ Rather he employs tact in his response saying, “To find favor in your sight.”
This is followed by a back and forth in v9-11 between them where it almost seems like a humility contest. Esau says he has enough. Jacob pushes him to accept his many gifts. Esau pushes back. Jacob pushes again, until finally Esau gives in and accepts the gifts. Notice though the language Jacob uses in v10 to encourage Esau to receive these gifts. Jacob says, “No, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God…” Is Jacob playing this up a bit too much? You can get such an impression here, but I don’t think he is. I actually think he’s being honest here. Jacob just met God face to face and was spared. The same happens here with Esau. He meets his brother face to face, and surprise, he doesn’t kill him.[4] So what Jacob says here is true. As he met God face to face without dying, now he has met Esau face to face without dying.[5] This is the second time his life has been spared in the last few hours, and he is staggered by it.
And also, notice what Jacob says in v11? He has been careful up until this point to call his gifts to Esau a present, but now he calls his gift a “blessing.” Which of course is a very direct way to tell his brother of his desire to make up the wrong done in the stolen blessing.
A Peaceful Parting (v12-20)
“Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead of you.” But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.” So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. But Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. And Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city. And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, he bought for a hundred pieces of money the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.”
The long awaited reunion is over and now the chapter ends with the brothers parting ways. There is another back and forth here between them. Esau begins in v12 asking Jacob to come with him to Seir. Some see Jacob’s response in v13-14 as more deception but I believe him to be honest here. 400 military men simply move too fast for all of Jacob’s family and flocks, it will be too hard for them. So Jacob then says he will come to Seir, but at the pace of the children. But does he intend to go to Seir? No, he’s going back into the promise land, God has called him home. So why tell Esau he will come? Rather than seeing this as disingenuous[6], it seems more like Jacob is seeking to part ways with Esau graciously without offending him.[7] Maybe he truly did intend, at least in this moment, to come to Seir one day, he just won’t be going there now.
Esau continues to persuade Jacob, offering to leave behind servants to help, but Jacob still denies the offer politely, desiring to not arouse Esau’s anger. And so the long estranged brothers, now reunited, part ways in v16-17. We do not read of them being together again until they bury their father Isaac after his death in chapter 35. Esau goes off to Seir and Jacob goes to Succoth. I don’t think Jacob intends to stay at Succoth very long, the word Succoth means ‘tents’ or ‘shelters.’ Which makes sense because in v18-20 we see Jacob move on and go to Shechem, a city within Canaan, buy a plot of land, build an altar, and worship. By doing this Jacob is declaring his affections. That God, the God of Israel, is his God, and he will worship him alone.
Conclusion:
As we conclude, out of all we could say, there are two truths rising out of this text we need to linger on.[8]
First, this chapter shows us what the gospel looks like. Esau’s warm welcome of Jacob is one of the most beautiful displays of grace in Scripture.[9] It’s nothing less than a full and free forgiveness, so much so, that upon being so welcomed Jacob confesses that seeing the face of Esau was like beholding the face of God. We cannot too quickly move past this. Many believe this is where Jesus got the inspiration for His parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15.[10] Perhaps its been a minute since you’ve read it, so I’ll summarize. A man had two sons. The older son was the rule follower while the younger son did his own thing. This younger son impatiently decided it was time for him to get his inheritance, and so after asking his father for it, and receiving it, he left home and squandered all he had in sensual escapades. After it all ran out he realized his mistake he decided to go home, and even had a whole speech rehearsed about what he was going to say to his father. But as soon as his father saw him off in the distance, he ran to him, embraced him, and rejoiced his son who was lost was now found, then he threw a party for him…to the great dismay of his older son. This parable in Luke 15 is a great gospel moment! It shows us what God is like. It shows us His great love for the lost, and His great joy in those who come home to Him. Church, we’ve seen the same thing in Genesis 33! Jacob was right to fear Esau, he had truly wronged him in many ways throughout their lives, and Esau was just to feel such anger toward Jacob. Yet, Jacob received what he didn’t deserve. He received welcome when he should’ve received hostility and wrath. In this we behold the glory of the gospel. In all our fear and worry over being rejected by God for our many sins, how great is it to see the father, undignified, running toward his son! To see such a welcome, and to see such a feast enjoyed! If you’ve never come to Jesus, may this push you to come, even now. He is eager, glad, and able to save all who come to him at the feather touch of faith! If you’ve come to Jesus, perhaps you’ve forgotten how great God’s love really is! His love is truly a strong and mighty fortress like we sang about earlier. The warm welcome of God, in the gospel, changes us. May it change us forevermore!
That’s the first thing to linger on from Genesis 33.
Second, this chapter shows us what gospel culture looks like. It is a glorious thing to see a whole community embrace the gospel we’ve just seen. But it’s not enough for a church to just embrace the gospel, we must live out the gospel too. Our faith is not about believing the right things, it’s a path to follow, a life to be lived. You see, we long for the beauty of Christ to shape every aspect of our lives and our churches. Not just the content of our teaching and not just the soundness of our doctrine but the quality and the flavor of our relationships. Romans 15:7 is true, “Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” Churches that believe the right things are indeed great churches, but churches who believe the right things and are changed by those things such that the culture of those churches transforms, those are the churches that make a difference in the world. Or in other words, churches that warmly welcome weary sinners are churches that make the welcome of Jesus a felt reality in this fallen world.
So, it’s not just gospel doctrine alone that we’re called to. We’re called to gospel doctrine creating a gospel culture. In such a church the gospel is articulated at the level of doctrine and embodied at the subtle level of vibe, ethos, feel, relationships, and community. Without gospel doctrine, a church’s culture will feel firmly planted in mid-air, but without gospel culture the church’s doctrine will feel stern and pharisaical. This is the kind of faithfulness our world needs to see.
[1] Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2001), 453.
[2] Waltke, 453.
[3] Waltke, 454, footnote 223.
[4] John D. Currid, Genesis 25:19-50:26, EP Study Commentary (Holywell, UK: Evangelical Press, 2015), 140.
[5] R. Kent Hughes, Genesis, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2004), 405.
[6] Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 16-50, WBC (Waco, TX: Zondervan, 2000), 299.
[7] Waltke, Genesis, 456.
[8] These two points come from Ortlund & Allberry’s You’re Not Crazy: Gospel Sanity for Weary Churches.
[9] Wenham, Genesis 16-50, 304.
[10] Derek Kidner, Genesis (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2008), 182.
