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. 2 And he put the handmaids and their children
foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.
3 And he passed over before them, and
bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
4 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced
him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.
5 ¶
And 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. 6 Then the
handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves.
7 And Leah also with her children came
near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they
bowed themselves. 8 And 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. 9 And
Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself. 10 And 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. 11 Take, 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. 12 And he said, Let us take our journey, and let
us go, and I will go before thee. 13 And
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. 14 Let 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. 15 And Esau
said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he
said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord.
Esau, whom Jacob thought would be possessed of a wrath
and fury against him and want to kill him and his family, has clearly not kept
this burden of bitterness and anger in his heart. He has been blessed by God
and holds no resentment to Jacob. Here are several good lessons for us. Even a
person who felt he had been cheated out of his inheritance and birthright by
his brother can be forgiving. Also, no matter how badly you have been served by
someone God can still bless you abundantly and give you much more than you
believe you have lost. We will see this with Joseph, coming up, how bad
circumstances can have good endings. Esau does not now hate his brother, Jacob.
This is most admirable of Esau considering what state
he was in when Jacob left the family those decades ago considering many of us
still hold grudges from our childhood and young adulthood.
Genesis
27:41 ¶ And Esau hated Jacob because of
the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The
days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.
It doesn’t say that Esau had specifically forgiven
Jacob but so much water had gone under the bridge and God had blessed Esau so
abundantly it was no more a part of him. He had let it go.
But, Jacob still is not completely convinced. He
rejects the offer of traveling together or even Esau leaving some of his own
servants with Jacob to help. Better safe than sorry in case of some hidden
treachery, the suspicious Jacob probably thinks, a trickster paranoid about the
deception of others.
Is it not usually the case that a person who is sneaky
and crafty is suspicious that other people are just as conniving as he is? Of
course, Jacob, the trickster, did have to deal with Laban, the exploiter. It is
only natural he would fear Esau, whom he himself had manipulated and taken
advantage of earlier.
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