Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis. Tonight is study #9 of Genesis 33, and we are going to read Genesis 33:11-18:
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. And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee. 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. 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. 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. So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city.
I will stop reading there. In our last study, we were discussing verse 11, and how Jacob urged Esau to take of the presents (offerings) of the animals he had sent before him. Esau refused for a bit, but Jacob urged him and pressed him, and we read that he took it.
And we compared this to Naaman who, after his leprosy was cleansed, urged a blessing to be given to Elisha, and Elisha refused it. We saw that the relationship between Naaman and Elisha was a picture of the relationship of the elect child of God who has been cleansed from sin with the Lord Jesus, while the spiritual picture between the brothers Jacob and Esau is that Jacob is a type of Christ, and Esau is a picture of the Law. And the Law has its demands in order for grace to be bestowed upon the people of Christ (His bride or children), and there must be the receiving of the blessing, which is the payment for sin that the Lord Jesus made at the foundation of the world.
And that is why Jacob was insisting, and why Esau finally took the gift, the offering that had been offered up as an atonement which has appeased him.
Then it says in Genesis 33:12:
And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.
This is Esau who is speaking, and he is saying to Jacob, “I am going to go with you, along with my 400 men, and I will go before you, and you can follow.” This is not what Jacob wanted to hear. Historically, we can understand it. Jacob had been extremely fearful that his brother Esau had come to smite him and take vengeance for what had happened 40 years earlier when Jacob deceived his father (with his mother’s help) and obtained the blessing instead of Esau. While Esau was out hunting, Jacob came to his father, pretending to be Esau. He was wearing Esau’s raiment, and he had animal skin put on the smooth of his neck and his arms, and his father was fooled, and Jacob did receive the blessing. Historically, Jacob is thrilled that his brother Esau did not come to kill him, but has been pleased to see him, and he has accepted the droves of animals (the presents) that had been sent. All this has worked out well, but Jacob would much rather go on alone, and not with Esau. That is very clear, historically, because he sensed danger as long as he was with him. So when Esau said, “It is time to go, and we will go before you. We will protect you and watch out for you. We have a whole army here,” Jacob declined.
You know, anywhere in this world can be a dangerous place, and it is certainly dangerous to travel with so many flocks. Raiders could come. So it was an understandable offer on the part of Esau, but it is also understandable why Jacob would turn him down. So we read in Genesis 33:13:
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.
By the way, the word “overdrive” is a very unusual word, and I am not sure I understand it. It is found three times in the Old Testament, and it is Strong’s #1849, and it is translated as “overdrive” in this verse. It is also found in Song of Solomon 5:2 where the Beloved knocketh at the door, and the word “knocketh” is this same word. It is also found in Judges 19:22 when the men of the city beat at Lot’s door, and the word “beat” is this word translated here as “overdrive.”
You know, the Bible is not easy. And how God uses language is certainly not easy at times. Here, if you try to substitute “knock” here, it does not seem to fit. The word “beat” would be a more understandable word here: “If men would beat them one day, all the flock will die.” That is, by driving them so hard it would be like beating them.
It goes on to say in Genesis 33:14-15:
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. 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.
So Esau returned that day unto Seir, and Jacob journeyed to Succoth. Not only did Jacob not want Esau and his 400 men to go before him, but when Esau suggested, “I will leave some of my men that are with me,” Jacob does not want any of that either. He did not want any connection at all with Esau or the people of Esau. He said his children were young. And some of them would have been young. Actually Joseph was born when Jacob was 91 years old, so Joseph would have been about 9 (and the youngest). and the other children would have been in their teens or 20s, so it is not like they were toddlers. But this is what Jacob told his brother. He said the children were young, and the flocks and herds are with young, and they would all die if they drove them hard (beat them), and tried to move quickly. “We have to go softly. We have to go as the children and flocks are able to endure. We will just go at a slow pace that would slow you and your horsemen down, so you go on.”
What is interesting is that it says at the end of verse 14: “…and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir,” as though that were his destination. Was Jacob lying to his brother? He did not go to Seir. We read that he went to Succoth, and then he came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan. He did not go to Seir or Edom. Was he lying? Historically, it could be the case as we know that Jacob had a problem with the truth at times, but more than likely there would be a spiritual picture, as Seir identifies with the Law, the commandments of God. We will see that as the spiritual reason. Historically, it is fine that we get this overall picture, and it is understandable why Jacob did not want to follow his brother or have any of his brother’s men in his camp.
But spiritually, it was absolutely necessary and needful that Esau does not lead the way. Why? What does it make us think of when we think about Esau representing the Law? Keep in mind that Jacob has come out of Haran, and he has his bride, his children, and his flocks, just as Israel would one day come out of the land of Egypt, and all the people of Israel would experience that great deliverance. Jacob has experienced that deliverance from Haran. And when Israel came out of Egypt, who would lead them? Moses would lead them through the wilderness. And how long did they travel through the wilderness? It was 40 years, and this is not the 40th year that Jacob had been in Haran, and he was coming out and heading for the land of Canaan. And that would be the destination of the Israelites when they would come out of Egypt. They were going to the land of Canaan.
So we will find that it will help us to understand this picture of Esau if we take a look at Moses and the Bible’s language that would not permit Moses to lead them over the river Jordan into the Promised Land. Let us go to Numbers 20:9-12:
And Moses took the rod from before JEHOVAH, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. And JEHOVAH spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.
This was the situation when God told Moses to speak to the rock, but he smote the rock twice (or a second time), and because of this, God told Moses, “Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.”