Scripture Daily

Context No. 707 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 32:13-20: in context

13He stayed there that night, and took from that which he had with him a present for Esau, his brother: 14two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals. 16He delivered them into the hands of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass over before me, and put a space between herd and herd.” 17He commanded the foremost, saying, “When Esau, my brother, meets you, and asks you, saying, ‘Whose are you? Where are you going? Whose are these before you?’ 18Then you shall say, ‘They are your servant, Jacob’s. It is a present sent to my lord, Esau. Behold, he also is behind us.’” 19He commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the herds, saying, “This is how you shall speak to Esau, when you find him. 20You shall say, ‘Not only that, but behold, your servant, Jacob, is behind us.’” For, he said, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”

Jacob is almost home after twenty years away, and the closer he gets the more afraid he becomes, because home means Esau, the brother he cheated out of a blessing and who once swore to kill him. So the night before they meet, Jacob does what Jacob does: he manages the situation. He assembles a staggering gift out of his herds, hundreds of goats and sheep, camels, cattle, and donkeys, and hands them to his servants in separate droves with orders to leave space between each one.

Each servant is drilled to say the same thing when Esau meets him. These belong to your servant Jacob; they are a gift for my lord Esau; and he is coming behind us. Jacob's own explanation is candid: I will appease him with the gift that goes ahead of me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will lift up my face. Wave after wave of livestock is meant to wear his brother's anger down before the two ever speak. It is part bribe and part restitution, generosity in the service of fear, the man who took by trickery now trying to give his way back to safety. He would rather send gifts ahead than walk up and face the brother he wronged.

Jacob sent droves of gifts ahead so he would not have to meet Esau's anger unbuffered. Whom am I trying to buy back with things, because facing them directly costs more than I want to pay?

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