1 John 3:11-24 "BROTHERLY LOVE -THE GREAT MARK OF THE CHRISTIAN ”

General Outline 

1.     John’s  great objective  for writing this letter is found in 1 John 1:4 : “ ... and we are writing these things that your joy may be complete …”. That is the goal of the gospel- to give us true joy, even in the midst of many trials and troubles.

2.     This joy is possible, because believers (whom John calls “my little children”[1]) have fellowship with the Father and the Son (1:3) by the help of the Holy Spirit (3:24; 4:13)[2].

3.     This joy can be undermined quickly, and our sense of assurance may be affected when unconfessed sin has a hold on the believer. Sinning believers are urged to run to their Advocate for help (2:1). Habitual sin  proves that one is not a Christian (see 3:4-8) 

4.     John provides a number of tests by which we may know what are children of God (light) and what are children of the devil (darkness).  He shows us that the spirit of Christ constantly clashes with the spirit of the anti- Christ.  Righteousness clashes with unrighteousness. John wants his readers to have a sense of assurance, by helping them to understand the nature of   biblical faith, whilst also exposing false   forms of faith.

5.     One of the big marks of the children of God is their capacity to reflect the love of God that has been given to them (3:1 cf. Rom. 5:5) particularly as it relates to our brothers and sisters in the faith.

We now come to consider 1 John 3:11-24. 

Our text is rooted in what we have considered last week in 2:28-3:10. Let us revise what we learned there: 

1.   2:29: The imputed righteousness received from God in Christ enables the believer to practise righteousness.

2.     In 3:1ff we are told that the love of God has been given to every believer. And in John’s eyes we are the beloved.[3] The inevitable outcome of this love is that we love God so much that we want to obey His commandments (1:3). The greatest application of that commandment is that we must love our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is the greatest mark of Christlikeness (3:3). It is the sign given to the world by which the world may know that Christians are like God i.e. godly (see John 3:34,35).  Part of expressing that love is that we do not love what the world loves (2:15). In fact, biblical love is hatred of sin (3:4ff). Sin is of the devil for the devil has been sinning from the beginning (3:8). So, any definition of biblical love needs to incorporate a hatred for that which is contrary to the nature of God. But love cannot only be known by that which it disapproves. Love must be shown in a practical sense to our Christian brothers and sisters. 

3.     In 3:8-10 we take note of the 2 family groupings of mankind in this world. There are the children of God and the children of the devil. That is the only proper division that can be made on this earth. John makes a distinction between light and darkness, believers and unbelievers, children of God and children of the devil.    

So, with this is mind we are able to consider our text in 1 John 3:11-18.  Here we shall find two profound  thoughts expressed by John:

1.     3:11-18  Profound distinction  made between the two families of the earth.

2.     3:19-24  Profound pastoral counsel  given.

1.     A Profound Distinction

John likes to state things in clear terms. There are no grey areas in John's theology. The two key words, which distinguish these two families are (i) hate and (ii) love.  We are no strangers to these terms, for John has already introduced us to them in 2:7-11.

(i)           The family which is of the devil is represented by Cain. “Cain, who was of the evil one… murdered his brother… because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.” [4] (3:12). This family’s chief trait is hate. This family’ history starts with jealousy and it ends in murder. This family’s history continues in the world. This family killed the true prophets, because it despises and hates the truth of God. The Pharisees etc. hated Christ so much, that they murdered him.  That is why John adds this thought, “Do not be surprised brothers, that the world hates you.” (3:13). Jesus often warned his disciples concerning this.[5]  This conflict continues. Having been born in the last century  I never thought  that I would see such hatred  of the world for the Christian faith. I grew up in a society where Christ and the church were largely revered. This has changed totally, and all around the world Christians are now mocked, despised, persecuted and killed.

(ii)      The family of God is represented by Abel, and more specifically by our federal head, Christ. This family’s chief trait is love.  “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another” (3:11). This family is motivated by the love of God, which is imputed, or given  to the members of this family (cf. 3:1; 4:10,19).

What we learn here is that basic attitudes lead to basic actions. You will ultimately display what is in you.

(i)           If you are driven by the world’s way of thinking, rooted in the fall and acting as a fallen person, your fallen attitudes will lead to a life of hatred. It may not lead to physical murder, but we only need to be reminded of the words of our Lord Jesus in Matt. 5:21-26, where we are reminded that there is no moral difference between the murderer and the hater. Both Jesus and John say that hating is akin to murder.  Anyone possessed with perpetual hatred or jealousy or envy towards a brother or sister cannot claim to have eternal life (3:15).  Such a person cannot claim  to be  indwelt  by the Holy Spirit (3:24,4:13).

(ii)         By way of contrast, if you are indwelt by the love of Christ, that attitude will  lead to a very different action. “Christ laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers“ (3:16). Verse 17 continues to explain what this laying down of our lives means. It may not necessarily mean that we have to die for others. But something in us has to die. We must die to our own comforts and desires when it comes to the suffering we see in our brothers and sisters.  We cannot be indifferent to the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of our brothers (3:17).  Love is not an academic exercise. It is very practical (3:18).  Love is in deed and  in truth. We hear echoes of James 2:14-17.

Please note that these two contrasting attitudes and actions issue in two contrasting destinies, and they are summed up in 3:14: “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death”.

And so we must observe that practical love for our brothers and sisters is a defining mark of the Christian. If you have it this will be an assurance to you. If you don’t have it, you should be very concerned.

2.     1 John 3:19-24:  Wise Pastoral  Counsel

Most of us find that we have problems with assurance at some stage of our spiritual walk. Now may be the moment. You have been listening to this and you may be saying to yourself. “I wonder whether I am a Christian at all? Am I not failing this test?” John, in this section is addressing the challenge of a condemning heart, and he will give us wise pastoral counsel.

3:19-20: “By this (or ‘in this’)  we shall know  that we are of the truth and reassure our hearts before Him; for whenever  our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.”  John has just spoken about hating and loving brothers or sisters, and the consequences of that. Now we alone know our inner motives and struggles that we may have with a particular, brother or sister. We may feel that our hearts condemn us in this matter (3:19).  It is appropriate that this seasoned pastor and apostle John should stop here and deal with the hearts of his readers and listeners.

John does not encourage us to go into denial mode about these things. He wants to help us, and he wants to help our anxious hearts in this respect: “God is greater than our hearts and He knows everything.” (3:20). God is greater than our anxious hearts! It is not that God minimizes or ignores our failures. He knows us better than we do. He knows our imperfections.  So, when we face the crisis of a condemning conscience (and all Christians do, by virtue of their  sensitised hearts)  we  need to take that anxious conscience  to God, and  let Him work with us.

At times like this it is important not to get lost in the subjective experience of a moment of failure, but to fully  rest in the grace of God.  And we must  rest on the general tone and tenor  of our lives, and  based on  God’s truth and love  at work within us. We must  examine ourselves before God in prayer with regard to a particular situation or conflict that has arisen  between a brother /sister and ourselves. It may require repentance at that point (if we have truly sinned – do not just indulge in false guilt), but the main thing is that this is not  something that should rob us of  our peace. If our general behaviour is in line with the gospel, our heart after such examination  should not condemn  us.

From this follows the next line of argument. If our conscience do not condemn us we have confidence with God, and our prayers are in no way hindered (3:22). 

At all times we must remember that our assurance is not built by excessive navel gazing and introspection, but by looking  more to Jesus,  the Author and Perfecter of our faith. We are called to believe in the name of  his Son Jesus Christ (3:23)  and we need to revel in that relationship!   

John takes those many commandments  which  we need to obey (3:22)  and combines them all into  one great commandment ,”to  believe in the name  of his Son Jesus Christ, and to love one another.” (3:23) This is in essence the summary of the 10 commandments,  and of the Scriptures.

What then gives us ultimate peace and assurance? ANSWER ... believing in Christ.

What is the greatest outworking of our faith in Christ?  What are the fruit of our believing? ANSWER...that we love the brothers.  

Please note that  we must maintain that order, and never turn that order around. Never begin with the love  for your brothers. You will find enough to condemn you. The key  to  Christian assurance  is found  in that little word ‘abiding’ (cf. John 15, and so many times in this letter)  - abiding  in God and God abiding in us (25:4a). Make sure that your relationship  with God is right. Everything else follows.

But, finally, how does He abide in us?...By the Spirit  whom he has given us (3:24b). No-one less than the Holy Spirit can give us this level of  assurance  (see also  Rom 8:16).

With God at the centre we can truly live as God’s beloved children. We can truly love, even imperfectly.  Our final assurance  rests  in God’s finished  work in Christ. Amen

---

[1] 2:1,12,18,28; 3:7,,18; 4:1; 5:21

[2] The work of the Holy Spirit in 1 John :  3:24; 4:2, 6, 13; 5:6,8

[3] 2:7;3:2,21; 4:1,7,11

[4] The story is recorded in Genesis 4

[5] Jn. 15:18,19,25; 16:1ff ;17:14

Genesis 34 - The Awful Consequences of Settling in the Wrong Neighbourhood "

OUTLINE 

1.       34:1-4 Defilement

2.      34:5-12 Devastation

3.      34:13-24 Deception

4.      34:25-31 Destruction

When we ended with Genesis 33 last time, we had no idea how serious the consequence of Jacob not settling in Bethel [lit. the house of God, the gate of heaven- see 28:17-22] would be.  When Esau returned to Seir (33:16), Jacob did not join him there, although he said he would (33:14). Well, good for him.  

He could have never fitted in under his brother’s yoke, and Esau was not a spiritually minded man. His future tribe, the Edomites would in fact become bitter enemies of Israel.

Instead Jacob went to Succoth on the east bank of the Jordan river and built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock (33:17). We saw that this was only temporary, for he moved on into Canaan, the promised land, and to the city of Shechem (33:18).There he bought a piece of real estate (33:19) from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, a key player in Chapter 34. This, we shall see will have devastating consequences for the family. He should never have settled in Shechem. He was called to go to Bethel.

Chapter 34 introduces us to the cost of this seemingly innocent decision. It produces a real chain of evil in terms of rape, deceit and massacre, and general unhappiness.

34:1-4  The Defilement of Dinah

Here we find the first consequence of disobedience.   Jacob had settled in family in a challenging neighbourhood.  Parents have a responsibility to consider the children’s moral and spiritual well being when they settle anywhere. And so we read that, “Dinah, the daughter of Leah, who she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land” (34:1).  Dinah was tempted. Dinah acted unwisely. The commentator H.C. Leupold says, “she should have known that Egyptians and Canaanites regarded unmarried women of foreign descent as legitimate prey.”[1]  She was asking for trouble. She should not have gone alone. By the way, even today Arab and Muslim women do not go into public places alone.  

Now Shechem (who had the same name as the city), one of the sons of Hamor saw her, seized her, lay with her and humiliated  (NIV violated) her. This was classic rape.  However, rather than throwing her away, as many rapists would do, (e.g. the rape of Tamar by Amnon- 2 Sam. 13:14-19) we are told that “his soul was drawn to Dinah… he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her“ (34:3).  He approaches his father Hamor and he asks him to negotiate her hand in marriage.

34:5-12 Devastation

Jacob’s response  is recorded in  34:4.  “He held his peace”… until his sons came in from the fields with their livestock.  One can only guess what was going through Jacob’s  mind - “We should never have settled here”  or  “Am I the cause of my daughters misery”?   Whatever the case may be, it is clear that the consequences of Jacob's disobedience began to show. When his sons came home from the field, we read,”the men were indignant and very angry” …” this was an outrageous thing in Israel… such a thing must not be done” (34:7).  

The sons of Jacob  felt  violated. 

We also see that the sons of Israel thought of themselves as different from the Shechemites, who were Amorites or Canaanites, an accursed race by God (cf. Genesis  15:16[2]).  Even at this early stage of Israel’s history there is a distinctiveness about them. They knew themselves to be in  a  covenant which God had made with their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They were set apart by God. The law of God had been written upon their hearts in  a  distinct manner. They had higher moral values about marriage and sexual purity.  They would not intermarry with this tribe, so when Dinah was violated it was seen to be an outrageous thing in Israel.  

In the midst of this devastation and anger comes Hamor's  ‘innocent’ marriage proposal on behalf of his son.  Hamor did not feel sorrow for the wrong committed. Actually, it was going to be more than a marriage proposal. It was going to amount to a treaty, an invitation to Israel  to  integrate  with the people of Shechem, who are Amorite-Canaanites. It was, in spiritual terms an invitation to  compromise the covenant calling of Israel.  This is what happened to Lot, the nephew of Abraham, when he settled down in Sodom, mixing with the people of the land. We saw that he became compromised and corrupted.

Hamor’s marriage  proposal on behalf of his son Shechem  in 34:8-10  includes the following ‘reasonable’ arguments: 

(i) Shechem really loves Dinah  

(ii)  intermarriage will be beneficial to Jacob and his family. Jacob's family  would be  treated like citizens, with a  right to move freely in the country  and to  purchase property. 

(iii) In addition Shechem offers a bridal prize  whatever  Jacob and sons  would ask (34:11,12)

3.         34:13-24 Deception

The sons of Jacob, the brothers of Dinah,  raised  fundamental  religious  stumbling block to this marriage. They could not allow their sister to be married to an uncircumcised man from an uncircumcised tribe - see 34:14. They used the covenant stipulation of  Genesis 17:10 that ‘every male among you should be circumcised‘. But  34:13 indicates that they sensed an opportunity  for revenge here. We are told, “they answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully”. Their religious talk was part of a shocking plan.  The nature of the deceit will become apparent in a moment.

For now we see that “their words pleased Hamor, and Hamor’s son Shechem” (34:18).  The request seemed reasonable to them because Hamor sold the idea to his fellow city dwellers as a good business proposal (34:21-23). All the men agreed.   The circumcision procedure would be painful and debilitating to the men for several days. On the third day after the procedure, the pain and inflammation would be at their peak, and so the plan moved from deception to destruction.

4.         34:25-31 Destruction

Simeon and Levi, who were the oldest full- blood brothers of Dinah, were taking on themselves the responsibility of revenge. They killed the entire male population of Shechem. They took back Dinah, they pillaged and looted  the  city of Shechem, even taking  their women and children as captives.

When Jacob  heard of this  he was deeply troubled. He was not consulted in this matter. His sons  acted unilaterally in this  matter. They said, “ We had a right  to do this -  no one is going to treat our sister like a prostitute”.

LESSONS AND APPLICATION

1.     Stick with God’s plan. God’s plan was for Jacob to settle in Bethel in Canaan, merely a day’s journey away, and not Shechem in Canaan. Compromises can sound so reasonable, but they carry big price tags.

2.     The presenting problem of our passage does not start with a rape, but a bad decision         on the part of the head of a household.

3.     Heads of their homes  have to lead  in good and godly  decision making, settling their families  in safe surroundings. Jacob disobeyed – yet again and Dinah should never have gone out unaccompanied into this city. Is this a case of bad parenting?

4.     Don’t use your religious position for evil – Don’t abuse the holy. The sons of Jacob took circumcision, the sign of the Old covenant and they utterly abused it.  They used this sign of the covenant to commit murder!  The stench of this action follows Simeon and Levi to the end of the book of Genesis. As Jacob is dying his final words  to Simeon and Levi are these, "Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords. Let my soul come not into their counsel; O my glory, be not joined to their company. For in their anger, they killed men, and in their wilfulness they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel." (Gen. 49: 5-7). 

Don’t use your Christian faith abusively.  

Don’t abuse the church. 

Don’t abuse  the act of worship to offer strange fire. 

Don’t abuse the holy.

5.     Remember  that  God had appointed Abraham and his offspring  to be a blessing to the nations.  Israel and the church are called to be distinct from the nations. The purpose of their distinctness was so that they would be a blessing to the nations and lead the nations into a relationship with the one true God.  Sadly we see here once again how the people of the covenant exhibit  a negative example of behaviour.  In this passage they are not a blessing, but a curse. The NT teaches us principles of holiness (i.e. not flirting with the world; trying to see how close we can get to the world, but to  be salt and light to the world – Matt 6). The NT also teaches us not to sin in our anger (Eph. 4:26) and to leave any judgement to God (Rom. 12:17-21). Sadly, in this passage, the sons of Jacob were not a blessing but a curse. Sadly, we learn here what depth of sin professing believers are capable of. When you sin, look to  your Advocate (1 John 2:1)

6.      The brutal honesty of the Bible: The Bible does not  sweep the sins of covenant children, and even  the sins of even the greatest of God's people, under the carpet. It  tells it like it is, and it does not excuse sin. Passages like this constantly drive us to the need for the gospel of God. “Who will deliver us from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom.7:24,25)   

This is a hard chapter to read, hear and  digest. But it serves as a warning to all of us.  1 Corinthians 10  reminds us that  the sins of  God’s covenant people   were judged severely (see  10 :1-10), and 1 Corinthians  10:11 has this  to say:

“Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written  down for our instruction, on whom  the end of the ages has come. Therefore  let  anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”  

Stay close to Jesus. Look to Him. Always. Amen

---

[1] H.C. Leupoldt: Genesis Vol 2. p. 898

[2] see  Deut.  2:25; Joshua 10:12  for fulfilment

Genesis 33:1-20 “Jacob and Esau - Reconnecting With The Past”

OUTLINE:

33:1-2 Final Preparations

33: 3-7 The Meeting

33:8-11 The Gifts

33:12-17 The Separation

33:18-20  Settled in Canaan

This is the story of two brothers who had no contact with one another for 20 years. Their common history is one of lying, cheating and abusing. Jacob took Esau’s birth-right deceitfully. He cheated  Esau out of their father’s blessing and then he fled from  his brother to his uncle Laban, some 800 kilometres away. With so much bad history between them, can such brothers ever be reconciled?  Well, it’s time to face the music.

Going back home was always a part of Jacob’s desire (28:20,21).  Living for 20 years under the regime of his manipulative uncle Laban in Ch. 31 provides the impulse for the return home.

From ch.32 we learn that Jacob had dreaded the thought of meeting his tough hunter brother, Esau (32:7). True to himself, he schemed and planned in his own strength and according to his own wisdom. Then, in the last section of Chapter 32: 22-32, the LORD met him in a wonderful way. This encounter is described in terms of a wrestling match, in which God (in the form of a man) allowed Jacob to wrestle him to the point of Jacob’s exhaustion, disabling  Jacob in the process. When Jacob realised that he had been wrestling with God, it turned out to be a life changing event for him. He had seen God face to face, and yet his life had been delivered (32:30).  All dangers and all fears of the future become an anti-climax after we have encountered the LORD, the One we must really fear.  

33:1-2  Final Preparations

"Esau was coming and 400 men with him.”  In his preparation for the meeting he had divided his family in two groups. First the female servants, Bilhah and Zilpah and their children, and then Leah and Rachel and their children in the second group, behind.  Joseph in particular needs to be protected. He will be the key to the preservation of God’s covenant family in the future, as recorded at the end of Genesis.   Now, Jacob’s careful planning here is not necessarily  reflective of a lack of faith.  
The Puritan military leader, Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), a God fearing man during the English civil war, used the dictum, “pray and keep your gunpowder dry.”  We may use legitimate precautions for our safety.  It is no good to pray, ‘Lord keep me healthy’ and then neglect the proper care of your body. It is no good to pray, ’Lord keep us safe on the road’, and neglect the vehicle’s proper maintenance. It is no good to pray for financial provision, if we are not financially prudent. It is no good to pray  to get good grades in an examination, if  we haven’t studied diligently for  them.

We saw  in 32: 13 – 21 that  Jacob  prepared  for this meeting by  giving  Esau extravagant gifts, sending  them ahead  with the servants. Was he hoping to buy Esau’s favour? We are going to have to think about this for a moment.  Remember that before this meeting Jacob had been in a titanic struggle with the LORD, who had wrestled with him  and who had thoroughly humbled him (32:30). It is hard to imagine that with this great and overwhelming experience of the fearsome presence of God, that Jacob would feel the need to fear Esau.  So, what was this all about? In all likelihood Jacob  wanted to make up to his brother for the bad past.

33: 3-7  The Meeting

33:3 “He himself  went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times  until he came near to his brother." The bowing down seven  times  was apparently a customary homage  given to kings,  according to the el-Armana  tablets, historical  clay tablets, which  relate to this period.  The expression, "at the feet of the king my lord, seven times do I fall” [1] – is apparently found   more than 50 times on these tablets.  

By doing this Jacob put himself in Esau’s control. In  another sense  he was  confessing his sin to Esau.  But more so,  Jacob is also confessing his own  repentance  before  the LORD.  Although  God had promised him from the beginning that he would be the heir of the covenant (25:23), he had  used very fleshly means  (taught by his manipulative mother Rachel)  to obtain the promise.  

• He had taken the birth-right from Esau  by  deceit (25:29-34). 
• He obtained the blessing  of the firstborn of his father by deceit (27:27- 30). 
• He needed not have done all of that. 

The LORD had promised him that he would be  the heir of the covenant.  NO shortcuts were needed. That was the great lesson that Jacob needed to learn essentially. 
We all need to learn that lesson.  

But God had humbled Jacob, and now  he could humble himself before his estranged brother. There was no sense of self exaltation here. “I am in your hands- do as you will”. This was a different Jacob. He was a humbled Jacob. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6- Prov. 3:34)

Jacob’s humbling encounter with God prepared him for his encounter with his estranged brother Esau. His humility  won the day.

33:4 “But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and  fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.”  What a positive statement. What a meeting! And so Jacob’s nightmare and worst case scenario never came true. Haven’t we met this situation so very often in our lives? We feared something very much... and after committing ourselves to God in prayer, nothing  of what we feared came true. In fact, it all turned out much better than expected.

33:8-11 The Gifts

Esau saw these gifts, in fact waves of gifts arriving (32:13-15),  and he asks, “What do you mean by all this company that I met ?” (33:8). Jacob  answers, “To find favour in your eyes, my lord”. Again, this wasn’t an act  of trying  to  buy Esau off.  Jacob has passed that stage by now. No, this is an act of restoration. These gifts are the proof that he is repentant, and he desires the mercy of Esau for what he did to him.  In that sense we also understand  what  happened at  Bethel in 28:22.  God had once made wonderful promises to Jacob, and so Jacob gave a tenth of all he had to God. He was not buying favour from God. He was responding to God’s grace.  So, these  gifts to Esau were Jacob’s response to God’s grace to him.  Esau does not really need all these gifts. He has enough wealth of his own (33:9). 
But Jacob insists,“ No please, if I have found favour in your  sight, then accept my present from my hand. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and  you have accepted me. Please accept my blessings that is brought to you because God has dealt graciously  with me …” (33:10,11).  

In other words Jacob says, “They are gifts, Esau. . . please take them. I realise that they are not needed to win your love. You have shown your affection for me so sincerely, but  please- take these gifts as an expression of my love  affection for you. I am so sorry what has happened  in the past.”  

Esau’s forgiveness, acceptance and embrace  was a sign to Jacob that God had forgiven him. He was ready to move on.  This is a great theme in the book of Genesis and  of the Bible.  The mark of loving God is that we love one another. Being reconciled to God means that  we strive to be reconciled to one another. In Genesis 50, we  shall find another reconciliation, namely that of Joseph and his brothers, who had treated him so very  horribly. They had once hated one another so much that they couldn’t even speak to one another. This gives us great hope. God in His grace  can bring about a reconciliation  in family relationships that we never thought would be  possible. When  God  is at  work in humbling  us,  the  vital ingredient   for reconciliation  becomes possible.

Don’t give up  the hope of reconciliation from estranged  family members. Jacob  must trust in God’s providence in this matter. That is what God requires of us as well. As Jacob had to learn to trust God, especially when going into the unknown, uncertain of what  sort of reception  he was  going to meet, we too  must go, trusting  God  in terms of working out the details.  

33:12-17 The Separation

And now comes a complicate twist in the story. Esau thinks that he will call the shots in this brotherhood from now on, and he says to Jacob, “Let us journey on our  way and I will  go ahead of you” (33:12). Esau was assuming that they  were  now on the same wavelength, with identical ambitions and plans for the future.  But here is the problem. Esau’s land, Seir  or Edom is not in the Promised Land. Jacob had no intention of going to  Seir. He had lived outside of the Promised Land for two decades, and that was enough. Seir  is away from the promise  and presence of God. Esau is not a man of faith.  

So, what will Jacob do?

He declines Esau’s offer, but it is a very lame  sort of argumentation that he uses (see 33:13,14). Well we know about this, don’t we?  We  have just made peace in our family  and  now this great invitation from them comes as an invitation to abandon God’s  plan and purposes, and so  he tells  his brother  not quite the truth.  

He never  came to Seir, if the truth be told (33:17)

The chapter ends sadly, not with a report of Jacob finally returning to Bethel where God had told him to go, to the place where he had set up the memorial stone after seeing a vision of the staircase and hearing the voice of God and receiving his promises in Chapter 28. 

We are told that he  journeyed to  Succoth and built himself a house and made booth for his livestock (33:17). It is not Seir, but it is  not Bethel. It  is on the wrong side of the Jordan river.

Then some time later Jacob crossed the Jordan and moved on again to Shechem, and there he settled. He bought land there (33:18-19).   How sad. We shall see that  this would become a place of compromise. It was in Canaan in the Promised Land, but it wasn't in Bethel, which was only a days journey away. So near- and yet so far! 

Genesis 33 is followed by Genesis 34 and that chapter  tell us  of  the terrible cost to Jacob of not going to Bethel, but this will have  to wait for next time. 

---

[1] H.C. Leupoldt : Genesis Vol 2  p.886; The el Amarna tablets  (1360-1332BC)  give us insight into ancient Canaanite practices