Jacob and Esau

9-4-11

To reconcile is to bring two or more parties together over differences that have separated them. It is to be friendly or harmonious again. It is to settle differences. Often time’s differences can come between family members. Jacob and Esau are a classic example of differences and reconciliation. As you know Jacob deceived Isaac by pretending to be Esau in order to receive the blessing from their father. Sure enough the deception worked and Jacob received the blessing from Isaac over his brother Esau, and soon thereafter we find Esau coming in to Isaac to give him the game which he had prepared in order to receive the blessing from his father. Esau soon found out along with Isaac that Jacob had struck again. Esau stated that Jacob was rightly named “the surplanter” and that this was the second time that Jacob had outdone his brother. Esau was very wroth. He was so angered that he now planned to kill his brother Jacob. The differences between the two were now too great to continue. Esau was going to extract revenge by murder. Jacob left home fearing for his life and fled from his brother and went to Laban. Jacob spent over 15 years away from his family and I am sure the hurt that he experienced was great by missing his family.

Jacob planned to go back to his family after being told to do so by God and most likely hoped that time had healed the wound between him and Esau. But just in case it hadn’t Jacob prepared to send gifts and presents to Esau ahead of time to persuade and appease him if at all possible. So Jacob went out of his way to lavish gifts upon Esau as he returned to his home land. Jacob sent the gifts ahead to Esau in stages to appease his brother’s anger that might still be lingering after the many years. When Jacob was told that Esau was coming to meet Jacob, fear and nervousness set in and Jacob became afraid of how the meeting would go. But in spite of the fear Jacob still pressed forward in meeting Esau.

The two brothers met in a tearful reunion and all the hostilities before that were between them were gone. Esau did not even want the gifts that Jacob had sent but Jacob pressured him to accept them and Esau did accept the gifts.

What can we learn from this? We must take the first step in reconciliation even if we were the ones at fault and caused the differences. We must go out of our way and offer gifts of appeasement to bring about the reconciliation even if it is to our own hurt. We must not be afraid to reconcile even when we don’t know how the other party will react. We must be willing to sacrifice in order to reconcile.

We must also accept other’s gifts of reconciliation when presented to us and in doing so we will find and maintain the peace that is needed within our family relationships.

Larry Bumgardner