Genesis 33

Abraham built his first altar in the land.

In Genesis 12, it's where Jacob bought a piece of ground.

You'll probably remember that too.

Then we made a big deal out of that.

Praying for three to her home.

It's where Jacob bought that land.

You remember that? You remember what a big deal all that mess was? It's in Genesis 33.

You can also go back and listen to it.

The rabbis of the Talmud love this game.

Like in Genesis 33, when Jacob and Esau meet up after so much sibling suffering, and there's all this bad blood between them, and yet, when Esau sees his brother's face, he runs up to Jacob and Bayan Seku.

He kisses his face.

In the Torah script, there are these little dots over that word.

We'll get to it tomorrow.

But the history here starts back at about the two-thirds mark of Genesis.

There's a guy named Jacob.

Jacob is the son of Isaac.

They're witty.

And Odysseus and Jacob both kind of come off weird to a modern audience because our sensibilities and our ethics are different and it's not the ancient Bronze Age.

So Jacob's kind of a mixed bag throughout the middle of Genesis.

But he gets a lot of stuff right.

at Peniel and saw God's grace and God's mercy working in his life in a very powerful way and today we finally get around to Jacob meeting with Esau.

okay good Genesis chapter 33 let's read the chapter shall we and I'll read it for you you can follow along as I read Genesis 33 and Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked and behold Esau came and with him 400 men and he divided the children under Leah and under Rachel and under the two handmaids and he put the handmaids and their children foremost and Leah and her children after and Rachel and Joseph hindermost And he passed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother.

And Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.

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.

God had promised to be with Jacob and God had not failed.

Remember, God had made that promise to Jacob.

He said, return to thy country and to thy kindred and I will be with thee, Genesis 31 verse 3.

Here we see in chapter 33, God fulfilling His promise to Jacob.

Well, Lisa, do you have it there in front of you?

It's in Genesis 33, 1 through 11.

And I think, let's share this reading.

Do you want to, Mark?

When in reality, the whole story of relationship with God in the Bible is one that, by definition, it must be a struggle.

Well, it's like if we don't struggle, we're missing something.

I'm struck by this last line we just read in verse 11 here of Genesis 33, where Jacob, now Israel, says, Please take my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me.

And because what? I have what?

Because we ended, I just ended Genesis 32.

In the very next verse, Genesis 33 verse 1.

That was the last verse of Genesis 32.

Genesis 33 and verse 1.

The Bible says that Jacob lifted his eyes and he looked.

And there, Esau was coming.

He wants to kill his brother.

Then in Genesis 33, there's a reconciliation.

They meet.

Jacob is terrified for his life.