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📖 Check Your Understanding
2
The Story
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Genesis 33 begins with the moment Jacob had dreaded for twenty years: “Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men” (33:1).
Why Jacob was afraid. When Jacob left home, Esau had said in his heart, “I will kill my brother Jacob” (27:41). Now messengers had told Jacob about the four hundred men (32:6), and Jacob had prayed, “Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother” (32:11). The Bible never says Esau planned to fight. Jacob simply did not know.
Rachel and Joseph last. Jacob lines up his family: the maidservants and their children first, Leah and her children next, “and Rachel and Joseph last” (33:2). The order shows whom Jacob loved most, and it would cause trouble later (37:3-4).
Jacob goes first. Yet Jacob does not hide at the back. He “crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times” (33:3). That was how people showed deep respect to a king. Isaac's blessing had said, “let your mother's sons bow down to you” (27:29). Now the blessed son bows to his brother.
Esau runs. “But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept” (33:4). Esau, the brother who had been wronged, is the one who runs.
Genesis 33 opens with the meeting Jacob had dreaded ever since Esau's threat in 27:41.
The threat as Jacob saw it. Four hundred men was a fighting force, and Jacob took it that way: he “was greatly afraid and distressed” (32:7) and prayed for deliverance (32:11). Jacob did not know what was in Esau's heart. All he could do was pray and walk forward.
The arrangement. Jacob ranks his family from least to most protected: maidservants, Leah, then “Rachel and Joseph last” (33:2). It is the same favoritism we saw in 29:30, and it leads to the trouble of 37:3-4, where Joseph's brothers “could not speak peaceably to him.”
Seven bows. Jacob “crossed over before them” (33:3), placing himself between his family and Esau. Bowing seven times was how a servant showed complete submission to a king; ancient letters from Canaanite rulers to Pharaoh use the same phrase. It is a custom, not a hidden code. Isaac's blessing had said, “let your mother's sons bow down to you” (27:29), yet here the blessed son bows to his brother.
Four verbs. In 33:4 Esau does four things, one after another: he “ran,” “embraced,” “fell on his neck,” and “kissed.” The wronged brother takes every step. Jacob had planned to win him over with gifts (32:13-20), but Esau welcomed him before a single gift was mentioned. Then both brothers were in tears: “and they wept.”
Twenty years before, Jacob had tricked his brother Esau. Esau had been so angry that Jacob ran away. Now Jacob was coming home. Then he heard Esau was coming with four hundred men! Jacob was very afraid. He split his family into two groups. He prayed and asked God to save him. The next morning Jacob saw Esau coming. He walked out in front of his family. He bowed down low, again and again. Then something wonderful happened. Esau ran to meet him! He threw his arms around Jacob and kissed him. And both brothers cried. Jacob had prayed, and God had answered.
Jacob was afraid of Esau. But Esau ran to him! He gave Jacob a big hug. The brothers cried together.
👨👩👧 Parent Prompt
How do you make up with someone after a fight?
“The children whom God has graciously given.” When Esau asks, “Who are these with you?” Jacob does not say, “I worked hard for all this.” He says, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant” (33:5). Then the families come and bow, group by group (33:6-7).
The present. Jacob had sent hundreds of animals ahead as a gift (32:13-15). He had hoped, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me” (32:20). Esau asks what it all means, and Jacob says, “These are to find favor in the sight of my lord” (33:8).
“I have enough, my brother.” Esau does not want payment (33:9). Jacob keeps calling Esau “my lord,” the way a servant speaks to a master. Esau calls Jacob “my brother.”
The face of God. Jacob insists: “I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God, and you were pleased with me” (33:10). The night before, at Peniel, he had said, “I have seen God face to face” (32:30). Esau's kind welcome reminded Jacob of God's mercy to him.
“Take my blessing.” Then Jacob says, “Please, take my blessing that is brought to you” (33:11). Years before, Jacob took Esau's blessing (27:35-36). Now he gives one back, and Esau accepts it.
Two Hebrew words help us understand 33:5-11: grace and face.
Grace. Jacob describes his children as those “whom God has graciously given” (33:5), and in 33:11 he says “God has dealt graciously with me.” The verb is chanan (say: khah-NAHN), to show favor. The same root gives us chen (say: khen), “favor,” which Jacob asks for three times (33:8, 10, 15). Jacob is asking his brother for the same undeserved kindness God has already shown him.
The present. In 32:20 Jacob planned to “appease him,” literally to “cover his face,” with the gift. The gift was meant to buy acceptance. Esau's “I have enough” (33:9) refuses the bargain; the embrace of 33:4 had already settled the matter.
Face. The word panim (say: pah-NEEM), “face,” runs through 32:20-33:10. Jacob hoped to “see his face,” he named the place Peniel, “face of God” (32:30), and now he says, “I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God” (33:10). The man who struggled with God and lived now meets his brother and finds mercy there too.
The blessing returned. In 33:11 Jacob calls the gift birkati (say: beer-kah-TEE), “my blessing,” the same word Esau used in 27:36: “he has taken away my blessing.” Twenty years earlier Jacob stole a blessing from his brother. Now he gives a blessing back.
The procession. The families bow in the same order as 33:2: maidservants, then Leah, then Rachel's household. But 33:7 says “Joseph and Rachel came near,” naming the boy before his mother. The little boy at the back of the line is the one God will later use to save the whole family (50:20).
Esau saw all of Jacob's family. “Who are these?” he asked. “The children God has given me,” Jacob said. He did not say, “Look what I earned.” Jacob knew his family was a gift from God. Then Esau asked about the animals Jacob sent ahead. There were goats, sheep, camels, cows and donkeys. “They are a present for you,” Jacob said. “I have enough, my brother,” said Esau. Esau called him “my brother”! But Jacob begged him to take it. “Seeing your face is like seeing God's face,” he said. Esau's welcome felt like God's welcome. So Esau took the gift.
Jacob gave Esau a big gift. Esau said, “I have enough.” But Jacob asked him to take it. So Esau said yes.
👨👩👧 Parent Prompt
How can you show someone you care?
Now Esau offers to travel together: “Let us take our journey; let us go, and I will go before you” (33:12).
A careful shepherd. Jacob explains that “the children are weak,” and the flocks have young ones. “If the men should drive them hard one day, all the flock will die” (33:13). He will “lead on slowly” at a pace “the children, are able to endure” (33:14). Twenty years of shepherding had taught him that (31:38-40). It is a picture of gentle leadership.
Esau's kindness again. Esau offers to leave some of his men as an escort (33:15). Jacob politely says no.
Did Jacob go to Seir? Jacob said he would come to his brother “in Seir” (33:14). But Jacob went to Succoth instead (33:17), and we never read of a visit to Seir. We are not told why. Jacob may have been wisely careful after twenty years apart, or he may still have been holding something back from his brother. Either way, God was patiently changing Jacob, the same way He patiently changes us.
Peace, not one tent. The brothers go separate ways, but in peace. Years later they stand together at their father's grave: “his sons Esau and Jacob buried him” (35:29). Making peace does not always mean living side by side. It does mean the fighting is over.
In 33:12-16 the two brothers part kindly, but Jacob still keeps some distance.
Esau's offer. “I will go before you” (33:12) is generous: an escort for a family with small children and young animals. When Jacob declines, Esau offers some of his men (33:15). Esau is kind from start to finish.
Jacob's reason. The reason Jacob gives is real. Nursing flocks driven hard would die (33:13), and his twenty years with Laban's flocks had taught him that (31:38-40). He promises to move “at a pace which the livestock that go before me, and the children, are able to endure” (33:14). That is a beautiful picture of a good shepherd: the leader sets the pace by the weakest. Jesus, the good shepherd, leads His sheep the same way (Isaiah 40:11; John 10:11).
Seir and Succoth. Jacob promises to come “to my lord in Seir” (33:14), then goes in a different direction, to Succoth near the Jordan (33:17). We are not told why. It may have been wise caution after twenty years of distrust. It may also have been a last trace of the old Jacob, saying what pleases rather than what he means. Either way, God kept His promise to bring Jacob safely home (28:15).
Peace with distance. The brothers' later history shows a real peace, even though they lived far apart. They bury Isaac together (35:29), and 36:6-7 explains that Esau moved away because “their possessions were too great for them to dwell together.” Making peace restores a relationship; it does not always mean living side by side.
Esau wanted to travel with Jacob. “I will go in front of you,” he said. But Jacob had many little children. He had baby lambs and calves too. They could not walk fast. If they hurried, the baby animals would die. So Jacob said, “Please go on ahead.” “We will come slowly behind you.” Esau even offered some of his men to help. He was being kind and helpful. Jacob thanked him but said no. So Esau went home to Seir that day. Jacob was a good shepherd. He went at the speed the little ones could manage.
Esau said, “Let's go together.” But Jacob's children were little. They had to go slowly. So Esau went home first.
👨👩👧 Parent Prompt
Why is it good to be gentle with little ones?
Succoth. Jacob journeys to Succoth, builds a house and makes “booths for his livestock” (33:17). The name Succoth means “booths” or “shelters.”
Safe in Canaan. Then: “Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan” (33:18). That word “safely” matters. At Bethel, God had promised He “will bring you back to this land” (28:15), and Jacob had vowed that if he came back “to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God” (28:21). God kept every word.
A field of his own. Jacob buys the land where he pitched his tent “for one hundred pieces of money” (33:19). Abraham once bought a cave to bury Sarah (23:16); now Jacob buys a field. Many years later, Joseph's bones were buried in this very plot (Joshua 24:32).
An altar with a new name. Jacob “erected an altar there and called it El Elohe Israel” (33:20), which means “God, the God of Israel.” Jacob uses his new name, Israel (32:28), and calls God his own. Years before, he had spoken to his father about “the Lord your God” (27:20). Now he says, in effect, “God is my God.”
In 33:17-20 Jacob arrives home and worships the God who brought him there.
Succoth. The name Sukkot (say: soo-KOTE) means “booths.” Building “a house” there (33:17) suggests a stay of some length before Jacob crosses the Jordan.
“Safely.” 33:18 says Jacob came shalem (say: shah-LAME), “safe, whole, at peace,” to Shechem. The word echoes Jacob's vow at Bethel: “so that I come back to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God” (28:21). God had kept His side of that promise. Now it was Jacob's turn to follow through.
Land purchased. Jacob buys a plot from the sons of Hamor for a hundred qesitah (say: keh-see-TAH) (33:19), a unit whose exact value is unknown. Like Abraham's purchase of Machpelah (23:16), it is a small legal foothold in the promised land. Joshua 24:32 records Joseph's bones buried in this same field, linking the end of Genesis to the conquest.
El Elohe Israel. The altar's name (say: el eh-loh-HAY yis-rah-ALE) means “God, the God of Israel.” It is the first time Jacob uses his new name, and he uses it in a confession. Compare 27:20, where he called the Lord “your God” to Isaac. The vow of 28:21 is being answered: the Lord has become Jacob's God. His household still has foreign gods to put away (35:2), but the direction is set.
Jacob stopped at a place called Succoth. He built a house and shelters for his animals. Then he crossed into Canaan. He came safely to the city of Shechem. Do you remember God's promise at Bethel? “I will bring you back to this land.” God had done it! Jacob bought a field near the city. There he built an altar to worship God. He named it “God, the God of Israel.” Israel was Jacob's new name. Long ago Jacob said, “Then the Lord shall be my God.” Now he called God his own God.
Jacob came home safely to Canaan. He built an altar. He named it “God, the God of Israel.” God was Jacob's God!
👨👩👧 Parent Prompt
Where is a place you like to pray?
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📚 Story Questions
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The Gospel Connection
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Broken by sin. Jacob's lies broke his family. For twenty years two brothers lived apart, one angry and one afraid. Sin does that to every relationship it touches, including our relationship with God. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
Presents cannot pay. Jacob sent hundreds of animals ahead to “appease” Esau (32:20). But Esau's welcome was not bought. We cannot buy peace with God either. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
God runs to us. Esau ran to meet Jacob. Jesus told of a father who “ran and fell on his neck and kissed him” (Luke 15:20). That is what God is like. “When we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (Romans 5:10). Christ died for our sins and rose again the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
Peace through the cross. Jesus “made peace through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20). The war between us and God is over for everyone who trusts Him.
Our response. We receive God's peace by turning from sin and trusting Jesus. Then He sends us to make peace with others. “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18). Is there someone you need to say sorry to, or forgive?
Genesis 33 is a story of reconciliation between brothers, and the New Testament uses the same idea for what God does in Christ.
The breach. Jacob's deceit (27:35-36) produced murderous anger (27:41) and twenty years of separation. Sin breaks relationships: with God first, and then with others. Romans 3:23 states the universal condition: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Jacob's fear in 32:7 also shows what unresolved guilt does: it fills the future with dread.
The limits of appeasement. Jacob's strategy in 32:20 was to “appease” Esau, literally to cover his face with gifts. Human religion often works the same way, offering something to God to secure acceptance. But Esau's embrace came before the gifts were discussed, and his “I have enough” (33:9) refused the bargain. Romans 6:23 sets wages against gift: what we earn is death; what God gives is life.
God the reconciler. Paul writes that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Unlike Esau, God was not merely the injured equal; He was the holy one sinned against, and He took the first step at the cost of His Son. “Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18), and He rose again the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
The face of God. Jacob said Esau's welcome was like seeing “the face of God” (33:10). For the believer, the reality is greater than the picture: God gives “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).
The response. Those reconciled to God are given “the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18). Jesus makes it urgent: “First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:24). Paul is honest that it takes two people: “as much as depends on you” (Romans 12:18). You may not be able to fix every broken relationship, but you can take the first step, as Esau did. Esau's running is only a picture; the cross is the real thing. Because God ran to us first, we can run toward others, apologizing without excuses and forgiving without demanding payment.
Jacob had hurt his brother. Their family was broken for twenty years. Jacob was afraid of what Esau would do. Sin breaks friendships. It breaks our friendship with God too.
Jacob tried to fix it with presents. But gifts cannot pay for sin. We cannot buy God's love either.
Esau ran to Jacob with open arms. God does even more for us. He sent Jesus to bring us back. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Then God raised Him from the dead!
Now we can have peace with God. We are not His enemies anymore. It is a free gift.
We say sorry and trust Jesus. Then He helps us make peace with others. We can say sorry when we are wrong. We can forgive when others say sorry.
Jacob hurt his brother.
We all do wrong things too.
But Jesus came to bring us back to God.
He died on the cross for our sins.
Then He came back to life!
Now we can have peace with God.
👨👩👧 Parent Prompt
How did God make peace with us through Jesus?
📖 Complete the Open Bible section first!
✝️ Gospel Questions
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Memory Verse
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“But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.”
— Genesis 33:4 (NKJV)
💡 What This Verse Means
This verse is the happy ending to a twenty-year fight. Jacob had tricked Esau and run away. When he came home, he was terrified. He bowed down again and again, hoping Esau would not hurt him. But Esau did not wait for Jacob to finish bowing. He ran. He threw his arms around his brother, kissed him, and they both cried. The one who ran was not the brother who did wrong. It was the brother who had been wronged. Jesus told a story with almost the same words. A son wasted everything and came home ashamed, and while he was still far away, his father “ran and fell on his neck and kissed him” (Luke 15:20). That is how God welcomes sinners who come back to Him through Jesus. And it shows us how to treat people who hurt us. When someone says sorry, we do not have to make them beg. We can run to them, the way Esau did, because God first ran to us.
In Genesis 33:4 Esau does four things, one right after another: he “ran,” “embraced,” “fell on his neck,” and “kissed.” Jacob had spent all of chapter 32 getting ready, with messengers, divided camps, prayers and droves of animals. But Esau ended twenty years of hurt in a moment. Jacob came bowing; Esau closed the distance running. Jesus used almost the same words in Luke 15:20, where the father of the lost son “ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” In that parable the wronged father runs to welcome his son home, and Jesus told it to show how God welcomes sinners who come back to Him. This verse teaches two things. First, peace with God begins with God: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Second, those who have been welcomed this way are called to welcome others the same way: “forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). The order matters, too. Esau's embrace came before Jacob's gifts were ever discussed, just as God's love reached us before we had done a single thing to deserve it. Esau did not make Jacob earn his way back. Neither does God, and neither should we.
Jacob was scared of his brother. He had tricked Esau long ago. But Esau did not stay angry. He did not make Jacob pay. He just wanted his brother back. He ran to Jacob and hugged him! They both cried happy tears. Jesus told a story like this. A father ran to hug his son who came home. That is how God welcomes us. And we can welcome people who say sorry.
Esau ran to Jacob. He gave him a big hug. God runs to us with love too! We can hug and forgive too.
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