Genesis 33:1–17

Genesis 33:1–17

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Jacob and Esau Meet

1 Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. 2 And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last. 3 Then he crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

4 But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. 5 And he lifted his eyes and saw the women and children, and said, “Who are these with you?”

So he said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” 6 Then the maidservants came near, they and their children, and bowed down. 7 And Leah also came near with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel came near, and they bowed down.

8 Then Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company which I met?”

And he said, “These are to find favor in the sight of my lord.”

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

10 And Jacob said, “No, please, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present from my hand, inasmuch as I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God, and you were pleased with me. 11 Please, take my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” So he urged him, and he took it.

12 Then Esau said, “Let us take our journey; let us go, and I will go before you.”

13 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are weak, and the flocks and herds which are nursing are with me. And if the men should drive them hard one day, all the flock will die. 14 Please let my lord go on ahead before his servant. I will lead on slowly at a pace which the livestock that go before me, and the children, are able to endure, until I come to my lord in Seir.”

15 And Esau said, “Now let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.”

But he said, “What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” 16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, built himself a house, and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ge 33:1–17

• Transcript

  Text Message almost there all right, we're just waiting for Facebook to respond. So give it one moment. There we go. Perfect. Well, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions. This is where every day you and I we get together. We have a little bit of coffee. We get into God's word and we grow in our love for Lord together and this year 2023 Lord willing, we'll make it from Genesis to Leviticus. Sorry for being off for last couple days. Monday was crazy Tuesday and yesterday. We had a funeral in there was just a lot going on. So I couldn't jump on here with you. I'm really glad to be with you this morning. Why don't we have some coffee, we'll pray and we'll jump right back where we left off Genesis chapter 30. Genesis chapter 33. Let's pray. Father, it's a blessing to come back to your Word. Lord, we thank you so much for the grace and mercy that you have shown us and Father we pray now that as we read your word that you would let us understand it, that we would know the history of redemption that you have given and that you would teach us how to apply it to our lives in Jesus's name Amen. Okay, Genesis chapter 33. Genesis chapter 33. And we're going to read the first 17 verses. Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked in there, Esau was coming, and with him were 400 men. So he divided the children among the among Leah, Rachel and the two maid servants, and he put the maid servants and their children in front Leah and her children behind and Rachel and Joseph last, and then he crossed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother. But he saw ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him. And they wept. And he lifted his eyes and saw the women and children and said, Who are these with you? So he said, the children whom God has graciously given your servant. Then the maid servants came near, they and their children and bowed down. Leah also came near with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward, Joseph and Rachel came near and they bowed down. Then Esau said, What do you mean by all this company which I met? And he said, these are defined favor in the sight of my lord. But he's also said I have enough my brother keep what you have for yourself. And Jacob said, no, please, if I have now found favor in your sight and receive my present from my hand, in as much as I have seen your face, as though I had seen the face of God, and you were pleased with me. Please take my blessing that is brought to you because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have enough. So he urged him, and he took it. Then ease Olson, let us take our journey. Let us go, and I will go before you. But Jacob said to him, My Lord knows that the children are weak and the flocks and herds which are nursing are with me. And if the men should drive them hard, one day, all the flock will die. Please let my lord go on ahead before his servant. I will lead on slowly at a pace which the livestock that go before me and the children are able to endure until I come to my lord in sear. And Esau said, Now, let me leave with you some of the people who are with me, but he said, What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord. So Esau returned that day on his way to sear and Jacob journey to suck Earth, built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore he the name of the place is called suck us. Well, we need to ask ourselves a What's this about be what's the best versus sunrises and see, what are we called to do? The last time we had heard about Esau he was not just read in his hair, but he was ready to kill Jacob. And Jacob has been afraid of this meeting. He had been worried about what's going to happen. So he's already sent gifts on ahead, trying to appease his brother's anger. And as he's now coming face to face with Esau, he makes sure that he's in front of everyone. So with Esau comes, and he's ready to attack his family is able to scatter and flee. And as he's coming here comes Esau with hundreds of men. And he's coming and Jacob doesn't know if his anger has subsided or not. And as he gets closer and closer, he keeps bowing down and bowing down. And bowing down until Esau comes, and that pregnant moment of anticipation happens, is he going to draw his sword and kill his brother like he had been planning to do the day that he fled? And instead, he saw throws his arms around Jacob and he kisses his brother's anger has subsided in the ask these questions by what what's all the stuff that you said? And I want to lean in specifically on Jacobs language here. Notice what how he talks to him. The children whom God His gracious given graciously given your servant, all sudden, it's the Lord who's doing this work after he's wrestled with God. Now it's the Lord who has been gracious to him. And then Esau asked him What do you mean by all this company which I met? This is the gifts that he had sent to him. And he says, These are to find favor in the sight of my lord. Now who is he calling my Lord here? He's saying it's Esau. See, Jacob, once he wrestles with God Eponine now we find a different level of humility that we hadn't seen before. And Israel humbles himself before he saw time and time again he calls him My lord, my lord. He goes in he submits himself to Esau. And Esau says, you know, I don't need your stuff, brother. He says, Please take my blessing. That is brought to you. Notice it is now Jacob, who is no longer trying to scheme his brother but his brother whom he had stolen, the blessing from his brother whom he had purchased the birth right from now wants to bless his brother. He wants to give to his brother he wants to not just appease his brother, but he actually wants to bless him. So he still says all right, he's a gracious gracious receiver. He saw receives it and as it keeps going, you know, he's Esau. I think he has a little bit of suspicion, still not knowing exactly what's going on. He says, Alright, let's go we're gonna go home and she gives us I got nursing calves and and we have all sorts of little kids, they're not going to be able to make the big journey. Right? These kids aren't very old. Right? You got some of the everybody's 20 years and under are 19 years and under something like that, right. And so you're saying it's too far. Can't make it that far. So we'll stay here and you go on ahead. And he's also as well also only submitted with you right? I don't know if he's kind of looking at him sideways. Like I gotta keep an eye on this guy or not. Maybe he's he's learned his lesson. Well, and Jacob once again, humbles himself. And he says, let me find favor in the sight of my lord. He says, Please Be gracious to me. If please, please trust me on this one. And it seems like he saw Greece I think Esau notices that something has changed in his little brother. Something has changed in the one who had grabbed his heel as they were being birth. Something now is different about him so he doesn't leave as men behind but he takes them home with him. And Jacob stays there. He stays there and he actually builds booths. That's what Succoth means he so he build some booths there and allows his family to get some rest. So what's really at the heart of the story, what's going on here? Well, this is Jacob, being reconciled to Esau. This is repentance and action. This is humiliation in play. This is this new man Israel and he's telling his brother Esau I have wronged you. God has blessed me but I need to make things right with you as much as possible. And so he sends him costly, costly gifts and he's hard amazed by his actions. So we're starting to see a change in Jacob. This man who's now walking with a limp and 20 years older, a family of of many people. And so this is the beginning of a change. Well, what's the best verse? To summarize this? Well, I have a whole bunch underlined Bible, but I would probably say, verse four, I have underlined this is that moment and but Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him and they wept. But I would also I have double underlined. The first very first words of verse 11. Please take my blessing. That maybe you and underline something else, what would you underline in your Bible? What do you think it's at the heart of this passage? Well, let's see calling what are we called to do? Well, I think this shows us humiliation, repentance, and restoration. Right part of biblical repentance is a grief and hatred of our sins and apprehension of the mercy of God. A turning from our sin unto God, right endeavoring after newness of life and so as we see, Jacob now repenting, we see him apprehending the mercy of God. He sees that God has blessed him that God has increased his family, they got his increase his flocks, and he doesn't deserve this. And he sees his brother and he knows what he has done is wrong. He understands the reality of the situation that he's putting himself in. And he does as much as he can to send gifts of appeasement gifts of reconciliation to his brother. It's not just enough to say Hey, bro, I'm sorry. But we actually see him humbling himself and showing that he understands what he has done is wrong and Wiccan and his brothers, right? And just even bows down before his brother's seven times as he's heading towards him. Is this beautiful picture of the beginning of biblical repentance? And I think that that's what we're called to do. Right when we have wronged others, when we have sinned, we've seen this time and time again in the New Testament. When Matthew is called to be a disciple, he humbles himself. He's grieved over the way he has wronged people and he goes on and he restores what he has stolen. This is the way of repentance. Being grieved over our actions and our thoughts and our feelings, humbling ourselves before God and others understanding God's mercy and grace and then also as much as possible, seeking restoration and reconciliation. So I don't know what's going on in your life right now. I know in my life, this is something we have to work on quite regularly. We literally have a piece of paper that's on a magnet on our fridge for what is biblical repentance. Right and we've been working with this honor with our children and even in our own lives. When I sinned against Olivia, I can't just say I'm sorry I got mad but and then explain away the circumstances. No. We have to teach ourselves model it for our children and and show it in our own lives that the work of the Holy Spirit is truly turning us from sin unto righteousness. And so do you confess your sin to God? Do you confess your sin to the other person? Do you confess it without any reservations without saying but this that or the other explaining away? I gotta tell you, every good apology is ruined by a but just own the sin. And then after that name, but name that sins specifically. What did you do against that person? And then from there, how are you going to put that sin off? And what are you going to do in place of it? So if you stole Will you still no longer but will you work with your hands and give to those who have need will you restore what you have taken? This is not works righteousness? This is Holy Spirit change. We see it in Jacob's life. And I pray that by the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we might see that this is what Jesus Christ calls us to do. And so today I pray that you would practice biblical forgiveness and biblical repentance. Let's go ahead and pray now. Lord, we thank you so much that your Holy Spirit does work in our hearts and in our lives. We pray that we would be those who would have grief and sorrow for our sins but that we would apprehend, understand, grasp your mercy increase that we might turn for Marcin and turn on the life. Lord, we pray that you would please teach us to be those who would be quick to seek reconciliation. That we would be peacemakers. Lord, we thank You for this morning. We thank you for these verses in Jesus's name, Amen. Well, may the Lord bless you. May you walk in the joy of Jesus Christ. May His countenance be with you always. And I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Transcribed by https://otter.ai