GENESIS

Notes on Genesis 33

• Genesis 33:1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.
• 2 And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindmost.

You would think seeing how his father favored Esau and his mother favored him, Jacob would resist favoritism. This is what caused Joseph to have so much trouble later on. Even though Jacob was chosen of God and he truly loved God, the mistakes he made cost him dearly. Everything that happened to Jacob happened because of his own shortcomings. Laban deceived Jacob as a result of Jacob's earlier deception. His preferring Joseph to all the other children caused jealousy in the brothers of Joseph. You can see here that Rachel and Joseph was last in line. Jacob thinking if the first groups were attacked, the last one would be spared. 

• Genesis 33:3 And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
• 4 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.

This is one of the most moving verses in the bible similar to the reunion that Jacob has with Joseph later on. Love is always the best way to live. The ability to forgive is a prized possession to have. Esau missed his brother and did not desire to harm him. He got over his anger. He forgave his brother.

We are all made up of flesh and spirit. The spirit wants to worship and serve God but the flesh is weak and we have to watch and pray always so that we overcome the desires of the flesh and learn to walk in the spirit of God. When one is "saved" or "born again" by the spirit of God, we become new creatures and our sins are washed away. We need to watch and pray to overcome the flesh and yield to the Holy Spirit instead of living just how we want to live without any concern for the needs of others.

Esau's desire to satisfy his craving for food caused him to sell his birthright. Jacob's desire to have that birthright but not wait on God for it to be given to him rightly, caused him to take advantage of his brother in his weakness.

• Genesis 33:5 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.
• 6 Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves.
• 7 And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.
• 8 And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord.
• 9 And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself.

What a great attitude to have. This shows that the presents are not what turned Esau's heart toward Jacob. God had prepared Esau's heart to receive Jacob after all these years. All the bowing, all the gifts did not do one thing to appease Esau. It was fear and guilt that caused Jacob to try to appease Esau with presents. All this was not necessary because God had everything under control.

• Genesis 33:10 And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.
• 11 Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it.
• 12 And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.
• 13 And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die.
• 14 Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir.
• 15 And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord. Esau left some of his servants to help Jacob on the way.
• 16 So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir.
• 17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him a house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.
• 18 And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan-aram; and pitched his tent before the city.
• 19 And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred pieces of money.
• 20 And he erected there an altar, and called it El-elohe-Israel.

Every place he went, he worshipped God. They worshipped by building an altar to sacrifice an offering from his flock. This pointed to the time when the supreme sacrifice was given to save not just Israel but all mankind from sin if they believe in this sacrifice to come or in our case who has come. It was commendable for Jacob to remember to take time to worship and be thankful for allowing him to return home to the land of promise.

Whether we keep Saturday or Sunday as our day of worship, we need a day set aside to worship God in spirit and in truth with a congregation of believers. Daily though, we need to worship God all the time. All these things are written for us to learn from their mistakes but most of all they are written to show us the way to salvation and to show us the lineage and plan of God to save all mankind from their sins by sending the "seed of the women" which was to come to bruise the heel of the serpent.

From Adam to Christ we see the lineage showing us that Jesus is this seed that had come to take away our sins and reverse the curse that came upon all through Adam's sin. All writings of the prophets are also to show us the way to repentance and the way to trust in the salvation God was going to bring to pass. They looked forward to that day whereas we look backward to that day. Now we look forward to the second coming when Jesus shall complete the work God sent Him to do. DC

Genesis 34