Verses 1-2 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 hindermost.
Jacob appears to have placed the women and children in a preferred order, his favorite wife and child being in the last position which was the safest.
Verses 3-4 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.
To Jacob’s credit, he placed himself between his family and Esau. However, God had prepared Esau’s heart and the greeting Jacob received from his brother was one of gladness and joy.
Verses 5-7 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.
Esau was seeing his niece and nephews and sisters-in-law for the first time. It must have been a bit overwhelming for Esau to match these new faces with names.
Verses 8-11 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. 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.
It appears that Esau had matured quite a bit in the 20 years that Jacob had been gone to Haran as he did not want to take the gifts Jacob had prepared for him. Remember that Jacob had the birthright, so all of Isaac’s possessions would go to him when Isaac died and not to Esau who was the legal first born son. So it would not have been unreasonable for Esau to view the gifts from Jacob as only fair as they would help replace the material goods that he had lost when Jacob deceived him. It appears that Esau was genuinely pleased to see his brother and that the gifts had been unnecessary. He only agreed to take them when pressed to do so by Jacob.
Verses 12-14 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.
Esau offered to help but Jacob still did not trust him.
Verses 15-17 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. 16 So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. 17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.
Esau’s offer to leave some of his men with Jacob was refused, and so he returned to his home and to his family. Jacob traveled to Succoth, which means “booths”. This area was one of the places where the Hebrew children stopped and camped when they left Egypt (Exodus) and it was eventually given to the tribe of Gad when the promised land was divided up under the leadership of Joshua.
Application: As mentioned in chapter 30, Gad was the 7th son born to Jacob and his name means a troop or a great company. The tribe of Gad eventually inherited Succoth which means “booths”. The original meaning of a booth is a temporary dwelling or shelter or a temporary tent. As also mentioned in chapter 30, the meaning of the name, Gad, was a foreshadowing of the multitude of God’s people from both the Old Testament days and the New Testament days, and His people have no permanent place on this physical Earth as they are just passing through on the way to eternity in the Kingdom of God. Therefore, the Israel of God which includes Old Testament saints and New Testament saints have lived/are living in a temporary physical body or booth, but their real home is in the spiritual Kingdom of God in Heaven with the LORD Jesus Christ.
Verses 18-20 And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; 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 an hundred pieces of money. 20 And he erected there an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel.
The name “Shalem” means “perfect” and refers to being peaceful, safe and complete. Jacob’s travels and re-entry into the life of Esau had been perfect and peaceful and safe because of God. “El-elohe-Israel” means “the mighty God of Israel”. By erecting an altar and naming it in this manner, Jacob let everyone in the area and the strangers passing by the altar know that there was a God who interfered in the affairs of man and whom he, Jacob, served. It was a testimonial.
Application: The LORD interferes in the affairs of every believer for their good, but is He given the credit in a manner that the unbeliever will see and understand? So often believers in the church will receive blessings from God and fail to tell others about His goodness and greatness. Believers need to be like Jacob and let others know how the LORD has cared for them and blessed them. Find someone to give your testimony to today and bless them with the knowledge of the mighty God of Israel.