I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 33-35.

Even in today’s passage we don’t find out why Esau had set out to meet Jacob with an army of 400 men.  However, it seems clear to me that it was not out of hostility to Jacob.  In fact, it seems obvious that Esau was glad to see his brother once more.  There are some interesting things which can be gleaned from the interactions between Esau and Jacob in this passage.  First, Esau initially refuses the gifts which Jacob had sent ahead of himself to Esau, but accepts them upon Jacob’s insistence.  

I am going to write what I think happened here.  Esau had heard that Jacob was coming home, being pursued by a hostile force. So, Esau gathered his men and marched out to protect his brother.  Esau did not realize that Jacob had become a force in his own right and anticipated welcoming him into his “household”.  Esau anticipated bringing Jacob under his protection.  Therefore, Esau was surprised to discover the size and strength of Jacob’s household.  Nevertheless, he was willing to bring his brother under his protection.  Especially since doing so would have made Esau a power in the region.  However, Jacob had no interest in becoming a subordinate in someone else’s household after gaining his independence from Laban.  But, Jacob did not wish to offend his brother by outright rejecting him.  When the brothers parted I believe it was in mutual agreement that they would live separately but without any hostility.  We see that the brothers were amicable from the end of the passage when they came together to bury their father Isaac.

Not long after settling near the town of Shechem, the ruler of Shechem tried to integrate Jacob, his family, and his wealth into the town.  The son of the ruler raped Jacob’s daughter thinking that Jacob would then have no choice but allow her to marry him afterwards, thus opening the door to the whole family intermarrying with the people of the town.  Jacob was not receptive to this idea, but felt that he was in a weak position relative to the people of the region.  However, Jacob’s sons, especially Dinah’s full brothers, were incensed at the idea that Shechem thought he could get away with doing this.  Proving they were their father’s sons, they deceived the local men into thinking they had won and convinced them all to be circumcised.  While the men were recovering, Jacob’s sons attacked the town, killed all of the men, and took all of the wealth, women, and children for themselves.

Jacob, fearing that the people of the area would conclude that he and his family were bandits, retreated to Bethel and rededicated himself and his family to serving God.  I suspect that Jacob was also afraid that his sons would get a taste for being raiders and bandits.  He knew that they could not survive if they roused the people of the region against them.  This explains his renewed insistence that his entire household give up the worship of other gods and dedicate themselves to the Lord.  The passage does not tell us this, but I suspect that during this time Jacob refreshed his family’s awareness of the stories which had been passed down to him from the time of Noah.