Genesis 33:7, commentary and pictures

Leah with her children came near and bowed before Esau, and afterward Joseph and Rachel came near and bowed, in the order Jacob had arranged for his family to meet his brother. The meeting took place ten or eleven years after Jacob's blessing at Peniel, when Jacob was about 109, Joseph was 17, and Benjamin was a small child two to four years old. It belongs to Jacob's return to Palestine from Haran back toward Bethel, through the place of meeting toward Seir and Succoth and on to Shalem and the field of Shechem between its two famous mountains, leading to Jacob coming in peace to the city of Shechem.

The encounter belongs to the crisis through which Jacob became Israel, following Jacob's change of heart and the blessing received from the angel in the night of terrible conflict, by which his character was greatly modified and refined, and it is connected with his dedication of his household to God. Esau's former purpose to be revenged on Jacob for stealing his father's blessing had been greatly changed by God's intervention, so he met Jacob in a friendly spirit rather than as an enemy and the brothers stood without enmity, jealousy, and hatred. This shows the Lord's power to change men's hearts and gave Jacob deliverance from Esau without the use of the sword.

The bowing is part of Jacob's attitude in that meeting and signifies his mind with reference to his former course concerning the birthright. By this time Jacob was wealthy and restored to Esau the blessing of possession recklessly sold for a mess of pottage, and he was reverenced, yet because their possessions were great and their religious faith was so unlike, the brothers lived apart. The verse is included among the chapters illustrating the family troubles associated with Jacob having more than one wife, including partiality, jealousy, envy, low moral standards, and crime. The meeting gives a comparison of the lives of Jacob and Esau, including how often each erected an altar to the Lord and what that shows.