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.

Jacob was afraid that Esau had brought his small army (Esau had more men with him than Abraham had used to rescue Lot) in order to exact revenge on him for stealing Isaac’s blessing.  However, it seems to me that Esau brought this force in order to protect his brother from Laban, although Esau may have also been bringing that many men in order to demonstrate the level of protection he could offer Jacob.  In any case, I always find the negotiation between the brothers in this passage interesting.  Esau invites Jacob to join his household and Jacob declines diplomatically.  If Jacob had joined Esau, he would have been subordinate to Esau, but Esau would have provided protection to Jacob and his family.  Jacob chose independence over safety.

The story of Dinah and Schechem give us evidence of what joining with Esau would have given Jacob and his family.  It also gives us an insight into how wealthy Jacob and his family were.  The men of Schechem were willing to be circumcised as a way to add Jacob and his family to their nation.  If Jacob had joined Esau, the son of Schechem’s ruler would never have dared rape Dinah, and when his sons extracted revenge, he would not have feared to surrounding peoples.  However, it is this incident which finally inspired Jacob to make God, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, his God.  It was only at this point that Jacob gave up the worship of any other gods and made his household do the same.