And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.
Esau's words are a proposal to take the journey on together, with Esau himself going ahead to lead the way, including an invitation to his home in Seir, spoken after the two brothers were reconciled and after Esau had accepted Jacob's present and his old purpose to be revenged on Jacob for stealing his father's blessing was gone. Jacob did not accept the proposal but continued at a slower pace with his family and flocks. He did not outright refuse but explained the true condition of his party, that his flocks and herds could not travel as fast as would suit Esau and his band, and urged Esau to return to his own place while he himself would follow slowly behind. When Esau wanted to leave soldiers to guard him and his company, Jacob courteously declined because he knew they were guarded by a mighty host of heavenly angels. Jacob had no disposition to accept because Esau was then under the direct influence of the Spirit of God, but under another spirit his feelings could greatly change.
The verse stands in Jacob's journey back to Palestine from Haran toward Bethel, through the place of meeting toward Mount Seir and Succoth and on to Shalem and the field of Shechem between two famous mountains. There Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem ten or eleven years after he rejoiced under God's blessing at Peniel. It belongs to the time after his victory by faith in wrestling with the Angel of Jehovah at the Brook Jabbok, when his name was changed from Jacob, "the supplanter," to Israel, "the prevailer with God," after which his life was more peaceful as he journeyed back toward Bethel. It belongs to the crisis in which he becomes Israel and dedicates his household to God, with God's intervention changing Esau's purpose.
The meeting belongs to Jacob going forward in fear and distress to meet Esau, seeking to make amends for the wrong he did, humbling himself before God and relying on God's mercy. After he was met by angels he received a changed heart and a changed name in the crisis in which he became Israel and dedicated his household to God. God intervened to change Esau's purpose and miraculously delivered Jacob without the use of the sword, protecting him in trying circumstances and showing the power of the Lord to change men's hearts. The meeting signifies Jacob's mind with reference to his former course concerning the birthright: now wealthy, he returned to Esau the material blessing Esau had recklessly sold for a mess of pottage. His character had been greatly modified and refined by the blessing received from the angel in that night of terrible conflict so that ever after he was reverenced by all who knew him, and the contrast that Jacob erected altars to the Lord while Esau did not shows the difference in their lives.
The brothers were no longer separated by enmity, jealousy, and hatred, and they met and united their grief at their father's death-bed. They parted with tender feelings to journey and dwell apart not from hatred but because their possessions were too great to live together. That dwelling apart was also because Jacob knew their religious faith was so unlike that it was better to live apart. The verse belongs to the account of Jacob's family life whose later chapters show the sad fruits of his having more than one wife in partiality, jealousy, envy, low moral standards, and crime. It teaches forgiveness and calls for the spirit of forgiveness to be in the heart.
Esau's words are a proposal to take the journey on together, with Esau himself going ahead to lead the way, including an invitation to his home in Seir, spoken after the two brothers were reconciled and after Esau had accepted Jacob's present and his old purpose to be revenged on Jacob for stealing his father's blessing was gone. Jacob did not accept the proposal but continued at a slower pace with his family and flocks. He did not outright refuse but explained the true condition of his party, that his flocks and herds could not travel as fast as would suit Esau and his band, and urged Esau to return to his own place while he himself would follow slowly behind. When Esau wanted to leave soldiers to guard him and his company, Jacob courteously declined because he knew they were guarded by a mighty host of heavenly angels. Jacob had no disposition to accept because Esau was then under the direct influence of the Spirit of God, but under another spirit his feelings could greatly change.
The verse stands in Jacob's journey back to Palestine from Haran toward Bethel, through the place of meeting toward Mount Seir and Succoth and on to Shalem and the field of Shechem between two famous mountains. There Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem ten or eleven years after he rejoiced under God's blessing at Peniel. It belongs to the time after his victory by faith in wrestling with the Angel of Jehovah at the Brook Jabbok, when his name was changed from Jacob, "the supplanter," to Israel, "the prevailer with God," after which his life was more peaceful as he journeyed back toward Bethel. It belongs to the crisis in which he becomes Israel and dedicates his household to God, with God's intervention changing Esau's purpose.
The meeting belongs to Jacob going forward in fear and distress to meet Esau, seeking to make amends for the wrong he did, humbling himself before God and relying on God's mercy. After he was met by angels he received a changed heart and a changed name in the crisis in which he became Israel and dedicated his household to God. God intervened to change Esau's purpose and miraculously delivered Jacob without the use of the sword, protecting him in trying circumstances and showing the power of the Lord to change men's hearts. The meeting signifies Jacob's mind with reference to his former course concerning the birthright: now wealthy, he returned to Esau the material blessing Esau had recklessly sold for a mess of pottage. His character had been greatly modified and refined by the blessing received from the angel in that night of terrible conflict so that ever after he was reverenced by all who knew him, and the contrast that Jacob erected altars to the Lord while Esau did not shows the difference in their lives.
The brothers were no longer separated by enmity, jealousy, and hatred, and they met and united their grief at their father's death-bed. They parted with tender feelings to journey and dwell apart not from hatred but because their possessions were too great to live together. That dwelling apart was also because Jacob knew their religious faith was so unlike that it was better to live apart. The verse belongs to the account of Jacob's family life whose later chapters show the sad fruits of his having more than one wife in partiality, jealousy, envy, low moral standards, and crime. It teaches forgiveness and calls for the spirit of forgiveness to be in the heart.