Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #8 of Genesis 33, and we will read Genesis 33:9-11:

And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself. 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. 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.

We are continuing in this historical account of the meeting between Jacob and Esau after 40 years apart.  Now they have come together once again.  As we have spent a good amount of time discussing, we see that the spiritual picture is that Esau is a figure of the Law of God and, therefore, as God Himself, and Jacob is a type of Christ, as well as a type of the elect.  But as Jacob goes before his wives, children, and flocks, he is clearly a type of the Lord Jesus who is interceding, and then all his family and livestock follow. 

Jacob is accepted by Esau, and we can understand the “presents” or offerings that were sent before him had appeased the anger of Esau.  As I mentioned, the word “appeased” is the English word used in chapter 32, and the underlying Greek word is the same word that is often translated as “atonement” in the Old Testament, so the “atonement” was received, which sets up this pleasant encounter.  There was no animosity, no anger, no smiting, and no warfare.  Instead, they embraced one another, and kissed one another, and wept together, and so forth.

The wives and the children presented themselves and bowed before Esau.  That is amazing.  Who would have thought that Jacob and his family and the children of Israel would bow themselves before Esau and call him “Lord”?  And there was Jacob’s statement, “These are to find grace in the sight of my lord.” when Esau asked, “What meanest thou by all this drove which I met?”  And yet, we understand it once we see that spiritual picture.  Esau (or Edom or mount Seir) identify with the Law of God.  Then it said in Genesis 33:9:

And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself.

But Jacob insisted, in Genesis 33:10:

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.

This word “pleased” is Strong’s #7521, and we are going to look at a couple of verses where this word is found.  First, let us go to Ezekiel 20:40:

For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord JEHOVAH, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them,

The word “accept” is a translation of the same word that is translated as “pleased,” when Jacob said to Esau, “…thou was pleased with me.”

Again, it says in Ezekiel 20:41-42:

…and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things. I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.

The reference to the “sweet savour” lets us know with what is being accepted here.  It has to do with an offering.  The word translated as “sweet savour” is the word used back in Genesis 8:20-21:

And Noah builded an altar unto JEHOVAH; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And JEHOVAH smelled a sweet savour; and JEHOVAH said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake…

So the “sweet savour” had to do with burnt offerings, the sacrifice that points to the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus in the atoning work of Christ performed at the foundation of the world.  All faithful sacrifices pointed to that, and by that I mean that they were done according to God’s commandments.  So when God says in Ezekiel 20:41, “I will accept you with your sweet savour,” it means God is pleased with your sweet savour because of that sacrifice. 

There are many verses that use the word “sweet savour,” and we will look at one more in Leviticus 1:9:

But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto JEHOVAH.

This is what makes the Lord pleased with a sinner – it is the sacrifice performed on the sinner’s behalf, and then God can accept it.  We read this same thing in Ecclesiastes 9:7:

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.

That is the same word.  God accepts your works.  How can God accept man’s works?  The Bible says that no man is justified by the works of the Law.  The answer is that God accepts your works because your works are the works of Christ, the works finished at the foundation of the world.  It is the work of faith that He accomplished on behalf of His people, and it was imputed to each of the elect, so that Christ’s faith becomes our faith, and His works that were performed in payment for our sins become our works, as God granted us salvation.  So we become accepted as God accepts our works.  Again, this is the word “pleased” that is used in Genesis 33:10, and it has to do with the offerings (presents) that were sent before Jacob to Esau, and Jacob said in Genesis 33:10:

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.

Or, we could say, “…and thou hast accepted me.”  The acceptance is without wrath or anger or bloodshed, and there is now peace, so that is the idea.

And this word translated as “pleased” is the same word we find in Psalm 149:4:

For JEHOVAH taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.

God takes pleasure in – and He has acceptance toward – His people, the whole company of elect that had been predestinated, and whose sins were laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ.  As a result, now we are accepted.  The enmity between God and us is removed, and now there is peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us return to Ezekiel 33, where it goes on to say in Genesis 33:11:

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.

The word translated as “enough” is a word that really means “all.”  He had “all.”  So the blessing that Jacob urged his brother Esau to take are the droves of animals, the “presents” or “offerings.”  He is saying, “Take it, receive it at my hand.”  As is common with a lot of people, when a gift is presented to them, they are hesitant to take it.  “No, no.  That is okay – you keep it.  I have plenty.”  And yet, Jacob insisted that it be received, and Esau did receive it.  He did take of the present, and we can understand this because this present is the offering.  The offering is representing the payment for the transgressions and sins of the people of God, so Jacob, a type of Christ, must pay.  He must give the sacrifice.  He must make the offering.  That is why he insisted.  Esau is a figure of the Law as the offended One because the Law must be satisfied in its demand for sacrifice.  So, finally, the Law accepts the sacrifice, and it becomes the acceptable sacrifice.  That is really what is in view here, and it brings grace to Jacob’s family – his wives, his children, and his flocks.  And the 400 men did not smite them and take all from them.  Instead, they were permitted to live and continue on to the Promised Land, the land of Canaan.

We read the word “blessing” and the word “urge” in Genesis 33:11, and both of these words are also found in 2Kings 5, so we have a similarity between these Scriptures, if only in the use of both words.  But we will see that grace is also in view in 2Kings 5.  We will also find that there is a major difference in the two passages.  So let us go to 2Kings 5.  Historically, this refers to Naaman the Syrian who was a leper, and he was a general in the Syrian army.  He came to Israel because his wife had a maid who said there was a prophet there who could deliver him from his leprosy.  So the king of Syria wrote to the king of Israel, and it ended up that Naaman finally came to the house of Elisha the prophet, and Elisha did not even come out to meet him, but sent a messenger to tell him to go wash in the river Jordan seven times.  At first, Naaman was angry about it because his pride was hurt, but after counsel from others, he humbled himself, as we read in 2Kings 5:13-16:

And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant. But he said, As JEHOVAH liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused.

The word “urged” is used in verse 16, and the word “blessing” is used in verse 15.  Naaman the Syrian was a leper, and we know that in the Bible “leprosy” typifies sin, so he was in his sins.  He is a picture of a sinner under the wrath of God who comes Elisha in Israel, and Elisha would be a type of Christ.  By the word of Elisha, he followed that word, and then he was cleansed, just as the Word of Christ cleanses the sinners that were chosen by God to obtain salvation.

Actually, Naaman the Syrian truly did become saved.  It was not just a picture of salvation.  He had his physical leprosy washed away, but also his sin.  We can see that with his testimony.  He knew there was no God in all the earth, but in Israel.  So he had become saved, and we know that when anyone becomes saved, it is by grace: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8)  After experiencing the “washing,” which points to salvation and being the recipient of God’s gift of grace and mercy, then Naaman came with a “blessing.”  We know what the “blessing” was because later on Elisha’s servant Gehazi would run after him, and Naaman gave him two talents of silver and two changes of garments.  So it was a gift of money and clothing, and in the Bible, “money” is tied closely to “work,” because that is how people get money.  They work, and then they are paid, so money is an indicator of work, or a result of work.  Normally, many hours of work was required to get that money, so it was an individual putting forth work for silver, or gold, or money.  Naaman the Syrian was trying to pay Elisha for the wonderful grace and mercy in salvation that he had received.  But Elisha, who is a type of Christ, would have none of it, as it says in 2Kings 5:16:

But he said, As JEHOVAH liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused.

There is the difference between this account and the account in Genesis 33.  At first, Esau refused the presents, and Jacob urged him to take it, just as Naaman was urging here.  But Esau relented and he received it from him.  But Elisha refused, and he did not take it.  We wonder, “Why the difference between the two accounts, as grace is really in view in both instances?” 

We know that Naaman is a picture of God’s elect that have received of God’s grace, and the Bible tells us in a few places that God does not “charge” for His grace.  One place would be in Isaiah 55:1:

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

God uses the language of a merchantman selling his wares, but there is no charge.  Come to the waters, the Word of God.  Come to the Bible in the day of salvation that you might drink of these waters.  Yet you needed no money to pay for it.  “Buy wine and milk without money,” which also typify the Gospel, and you would buy without money, or without price.

You know, Naaman would have been loving toward the God of Israel.  He wanted to help, and he was feeling grateful for what God has done for him, but it was refused because God is making the point, “You can do nothing to get saved.  You can do nothing to contribute to salvation.  You owe nothing, as far as money to purchase salvation.”  It is not being “sold” for that reason.  It is not something that your work could be involved with in any way.  The Gospel unto salvation was free, as it says in Matthew 10:7-8:

And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

There was no charge in any way for the Gospel, and that is the point the Lord is emphasizing in 2Kings 5 by having Elisha refuse payment.  Also, He is underscoring this fact after Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, ran after Naaman the Syrian in order to collect that blessing and get ahold of the gift.  Gehazi did receive the silver and the change of garments from Naaman, but it was at a cost because the leprosy of Naaman was given (by God) to Gehazi, and he became a leper.  So God is letting it be known that we are to require nothing for having received the Gospel, and it must be sent forth freely: “Freely ye have received, freely give.”

But again, why did Esau receive the gift?  We would expect that of Esau with our usual spiritual understanding of him as an unregenerate man that normally represents mankind, but he is representing the Law, and it is still the same context, as Jacob is saying, “If now I have found grace in thy sight,” and so forth.  Why the difference?  It is because Jacob represents Christ and Esau represents the Law, and that is a different dynamic than Naaman, who is a picture of the believers, and Elisha being a picture of Christ.  Christ is in both spiritual pictures, but in Genesis 33, it is Christ and the Law.  And the Law’s demand from the Lord Jesus Christ was the payment.  It was the offering that Christ must do to bring grace to His people, the family called by His name.  So that would be the reason that Esau did accept the offering at the hand of Jacob.