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.

2And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.

3And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

4And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.

5And 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.

6Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves.

7And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.

8And 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.

9And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself.

10And 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.

11Take, 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.

12And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.

13And 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.

14Let 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.

15And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that arewith me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord.

16So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir.

17And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

18And 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.

19And 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.

20And he erected there an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel.

1. And Iacob lifted vp his eyes, and looked, and behold, Esau came, and with him foure hundreth men: and hee diuided the children vnto Leah, and vnto Rachel, and vnto the two handmaids.

2And he put the handmaides, and their chidren foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Ioseph hindermost.

3And hee passed ouer before them, and bowed himselfe to the ground seuen times, vntill hee came neere to his brother.

4And Esau ran to meete him, and imbraced him, and fell on his necke, and kissed him, and they wept.

5And he lift vp his eyes, and sawe the women, and the children, and said, who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously giuen thy seruant.

6Then the handmaidens came neere; they and their children, and they bowed themselues.

7And Leah also with her children came neere, and bowed themselues: and after came Ioseph neere and Rachel, and they bowed themselues.

8And he said, What meanest thou by all this droue, which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord.

9And Esau said, I haue enough: my brother, keepe that thou hast vnto thy selfe.

10And Iacob saide, Nay, I pray thee: if now I haue found grace in thy sight, then receiue my present at my hand: for therefore I haue seene thy face, as though I had seene the face of God; and thou wast pleased with me.

11Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with mee, and because I haue enough: and hee vrged him, and he tooke it.

12And he said, Let vs take our iourney, and let vs goe, and I will goe before thee.

13And hee said vnto him, My lord knoweth, that the children are tender, and the flockes and heards with yong are with mee: and if men should ouer-driue them one day, all the flocke will die.

14Let my lord, I pray thee, passe ouer before his seruant, and I will leade on softly, according as the cattell that goeth before me, and the children be able to endure, vntill I come vnto my lord vnto Seir.

15And Esau said, Let me now leaue with thee some of the folke that are with me: And hee said, What needeth it? let me finde grace in the sight of my lord.

16 So Esau returned that day, on his way vnto Seir.

17And Iacob iourneyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made boothes for his cattell: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

18 And Iacob came to Shalem, a citie of Shechem, which is the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan Aram, and pitched his tent before the Citie.

19And he bought a parcell of a field where hee had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor Shechems father, for an hundred pieces of money.

20And hee erected there an Altar, and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

I == Gen 32:6

 

 

 

 

 

 

III == Gen 18:2 42:6 ; 43:26

 

IV == Gen 32:28 ; 45:14-15

 

 

V == Gen 48:9 ; Ps 127:3 ; Isa 8:18

 

 

 

 

VIII == Gen 32:5 , 16

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

X == Gen 43:3 ; 2nd Sam 3:13 ; 14:24 , 28 , 32 ; Matt 18:10

 

 

XI == Judg 1:15 ; 1st Sam 25:27 ; 30:26 ; 2nd Kings 5:15 , 23 ; Phil 4:18

 

 

XIV == Gen 32:3

 

 

XV == Gen 34:11 ; 47:25 ; Ruth 2:13

 

XVII == Josh 13:27 ; Judg 8:5 ; Ps 60:6

 

 

XVIII == Josh 24:1 ; Judg 9:1 ; John 3:23

 

 

XIX == Josh 24:32 ; John 4:5 ; Acts 7:16

 

XX == Gen 35:7

1 Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, accompanied by four hundred men. So he divided his children among Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants,

2 putting the maids and their children first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last.

3 He himself went on ahead of them, bowing to the ground seven times, until he reached his brother.

4 Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, and flinging himself on his neck, kissed him as he wept.

5 When Esau looked about, he saw the women and children. "Who are these with you?" he asked. Jacob answered, "They are the children whom God has graciously bestowed on your servant."

6 Then the maidservants and their children came forward and bowed low;

7 next, Leah and her children came forward and bowed low; lastly, Rachel and her children came forward and bowed low.

8 Then Esau asked, "What did you intend with all those droves that I encountered?" Jacob answered, "It was to gain my lord's favor."

9 "I have plenty," replied Esau; "you should keep what is yours, brother."

10 "No, I beg you!" said Jacob. "If you will do me the favor, please accept this gift from me, since to come into your presence is for me like coming into the presence of God, now that you have received me so kindly.

11 Do accept the present I have brought you; God has been generous toward me, and I have an abundance." Since he so urged him, Esau accepted.

12 Then Esau said, "Let us break camp and be on our way; I will travel alongside you."

13 But Jacob replied: "As my lord can see, the children are frail. Besides, I am encumbered with the flocks and herds, which now have sucklings; if overdriven for a single day, the whole flock will die.

14 Let my lord, then, go on ahead of me, while I proceed more slowly at the pace of the livestock before me and at the pace of my children, until I join my lord in Seir."

15 Esau replied, "Let me at least put at your disposal some of the men who are with me." But Jacob said, "For what reason? Please indulge me in this, my lord."

16 So on the same day that Esau began his journey back to Seir,

17 Jacob journeyed to Succoth. There he built a home for himself and made booths for his livestock. That is why the place was called Succoth.

18 Having thus come from Paddan-aram, Jacob arrived safely at the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, and he encamped in sight of the city.

19 The plot of ground on which he had pitched his tent he bought for a hundred pieces of bullion from the descendants of Hamor, the founder of Shechem.

20 He set up a memorial stone there and invoked "El, the God of Israel."

v 1,2. Uncertain of his reception, Jacob placed all children with their own mother, with handmaids first, and his favorite, Rachel with Joseph, last

v 3. This Oriental bowing near the ground expressed humility and inferiority.

v 4. The welcome was the change God had wrought in Esau’s heart, not the gifts.

v 5-7. A kind of introduction as all the family humbly bow before Esau.

v 8-11. Jacob is so pleased Esau had forgiven him, he saw God’s favor to him in Esau. Esau is rich and has no desire to accept the great gift of livestock as a part of reconciliation, but finally accepts, or it would indicate he had not yet forgiven Jacob. Both men said they had enough, but Jacob really had everything that mattered.

v 12-14. Esau’s offer to travel together is turned down on the basis of over driving young stock, but Jacob really feels need of keeping distance between them.

v 15,16. Esau saw Jacob had no armed men for protection, but this offer of help is likewise rejected, as Jacob trusted God for protection. Each went their own way, Esau material, Jacob more spiritual, and we don’t know if they met again till Isaac’s funeral. Probably Isaac reminded Esau that the land had been given to Jacob, and sent him out of the way to the land of the people of his wives, as Abraham had sent Ishmael out of the land so he would be away from Isaac. Esau finally removed all his possessions to Edom or Seir, the land God had given him, Deut. 2:5, after seeing the great flocks of Jacob, Gen. 36:16.

v 17. Jacob should at least have traveled on to Bethel or Hebron, but he turned the other way, crossed back over the brook Jabbok and went west to Succoth. In turning from God’s way, he ran into serious trouble. Succoth means booths or shelters. Bible commentators wonder why he built booths or shelters there. From the standpoint of a retired farmer, it is ridiculously simple. Remember Laban was shearing sheep, and Jacob told Esau the herds with young must travel slowly. Obviously this was also lambing time of the year, and it was feasible to make shelters. He may have sheared sheep also. To stop at Succoth was probably wise, but only temporarily. Wrong to build his house there.

v 18,19. Later, moving from there, he crossed the Jordan and went west and came in peace to Shechem. Probably followed Jabbok to a place to ford Jordan, then followed another stream toward Shechem. At last he is in the promised land, but not yet being in possession, he buys the portion on which he camped.

v 20. He might in more wisdom not have camped so near a walled city of people. Nevertheless, he wants to do what is right and builds an altar, calling it “God, the God of Israel”, thus appropriating his new name there. While He is the God of all who come to him, Israel had a special relationship. Believers today have that special relationship with God. God may not have been pleased with this altar, because Jacob was supposed to go back to Bethel.