Genesis 33

Genesis 33 is the chapter in the Jacob narrative in which Jacob meets his brother Esau again. In the preceding chapter, Genesis 32, Jacob heard that Esau was coming with four hundred men and sent gifts ahead of him. He then wrestled through the night at the ford of the Jabbok and received the new name Israel.

Outline

• Verses 1–3: When Jacob sees Esau coming, he divides his household into three groups. The handmaids and their children go first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. Jacob himself goes on ahead of them and bows to the ground seven times.
• Verses 4–7: Esau runs to Jacob, embraces and kisses him, and the two weep together. Jacob introduces his household as "the children which God hath graciously given thy servant," and the members of his household come forward in turn and bow.
• Verses 8–11: When Esau asks about the droves of livestock he met earlier, Jacob answers that he sent them to find favor in his brother's sight. Esau declines at first but accepts when Jacob repeatedly urges him.
• Verses 12–16: Esau proposes that they travel together and offers to lead the way. Jacob replies that because of his young children and the flocks and herds with young, he must travel slowly, and that he will come to Esau at Seir. Jacob also declines Esau's offer to leave some of his men with him, and Esau returns that day to Seir.
• Verses 17–20: Jacob builds a house and booths for his livestock at Succoth. He then comes to the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan and buys the field where he had pitched his tent from the sons of Hamor for "an hundred pieces of money" (the Korean Revised Version reads "a hundred pieces of silver"). There he builds an altar and calls it El-elohe-Israel.

Key Verses

• Genesis 33:4: "And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, … and they wept." Esau, who in Genesis 27 had been robbed of the blessing and had intended to kill his brother, now receives Jacob.
• Genesis 33:10: "I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God." These words echo Jacob's confession at Peniel, "I have seen God face to face" (Genesis 32:30).
• Genesis 33:20: "El-elohe-Israel." Meaning "God, the God of Israel," this is the name Jacob gives the altar, incorporating his new name, Israel.

Characters and Places

• Jacob: The second son of Isaac; Jacob received the name Israel in the previous chapter.
• Esau: Jacob's twin brother, who had settled in Seir.
• Rachel and Leah: Jacob's two wives. The two handmaids are Bilhah and Zilpah, who appear in earlier chapters.
• Joseph: Rachel's son, who stands with his mother at the rear.
• Hamor: The father of Shechem, who appears again in the next chapter, Genesis 34.
• Seir: The hill country where Esau lives, which later becomes the land of Edom.
• Succoth: A place thought to lie east of the Jordan River. The name means "booths."
• Padan-aram: The region of northern Mesopotamia where Jacob lived in the household of his uncle Laban.
• Shechem: A city in central Canaan. It is also where Abraham built his first altar after entering Canaan (Genesis 12).

Points for Reflection

• Not going to Seir: Jacob said he would go to Seir but went instead to Succoth and Shechem. Some interpreters see this as another act of deception; others see it as a prudent decision to keep his distance from his brother. The text itself offers no judgment either way.
• The word "gift": The word translated "present" or "gift" in verse 11 is the Hebrew word for "blessing" (berakah); the KJV renders it "my blessing." For this reason, some read the verse as Jacob returning to his brother the blessing he had taken in chapter 27.
• Traditions outside the text: In the Hebrew Masoretic Text, special dots are written above the word "kissed" in verse 4. Jewish midrash (rabbinic commentary on Scripture) preserves differing interpretations of whether Esau's kiss was sincere. This is a later tradition, not something the text itself states.
• Connection to the Bethel vow: The expression "in peace" (or "safely") in verse 18, which the KJV renders as the place name Shalem, is read in connection with the vow Jacob made at Bethel: "So that I come again to my father's house in peace" (Genesis 28:21).
• Links to the New Testament: The field Jacob bought at Shechem later becomes the burial place of Joseph's bones (Joshua 24). John 4 records that Jesus met the Samaritan woman "near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph" (John 4:5).

In Korean Churches

Verses 1–11 are frequently used as the text for sermons on reconciliation between siblings or within families. The chapter is also often treated together with the wrestling at the Jabbok in chapter 32 to explain Jacob's transformation.