Genesis 33:1-20

And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and see, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants.

² And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all.

³ He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he drew near to his brother.

⁴ But Esau ran to meet him and hugged him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.

⁵ 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 graced your servant.”

⁶ Then the servants drew near, they and their children, and bowed down.

⁷ Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down. And last Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down.

⁸ Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company that I met?” Jacob answered, “To find grace in the sight of my lord.”

⁹ But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.”

¹⁰ Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found grace in your sight, then accept my gift from my hand. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have been pleased with me.

¹¹ Please accept my blessing that is brought to you, because God has graced me, and because I have enough.” Thus he urged him, and he took it.

¹² Then Esau said, “Let us travel on our way, and I will go ahead of you.”

¹³ But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a concern to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die.

¹⁴ 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.”

¹⁵ 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 grace in the sight of my lord.”

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

¹⁷ But Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house and made shacks for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.[1]

¹⁸ 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.

¹⁹ 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.

²⁰ There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel. _________________________________________

owning the relationship

Jacob limps away from Peniel, where he had seen the face of God, and his life was delivered. He now meets up with his brother Esau – whom he hadn’t seen for 20 years. God has been at work in Esau’s life too. He brings peace where there was once hostility and fear. And Jacob realizes that all that blessing is by grace.

But that does not mean that Jacob is going to accompany his brother to Seir. He resettles in Shechem, because where he is going is not about family anymore. He builds (or rebuilds) an altar and calls it El-Elohe-Israel: God, the God of Israel. Notice, reader, that it does not say El-Elohe-Abraham, or El=Elohe-Isaac.

There comes a time in every second or third generation believer when it is no longer about following the traditions passed on. The relationship with God which is real says not “the God of my fathers” but “my God.” He is my inheritance.

LORD, you are our inheritance. Our fellowship with you is what matters most.

[1] Succoth: shacks.