Commentaria in Genesim
Chapter Thirty-three
Jacob by his submission and gifts appeases and wins over his brother Esau. Second, verse 17, he dwells in Socoth and in Salem, and erects an altar to God his deliverer.
1. And Jacob lifting up his eyes, saw Esau coming, and with him four hundred men: and he divided the children of Lia and of Rachel, and of the two handmaids. 2. And he put both the handmaids and their children foremost: and Lia and her children in the second place: and Rachel and Joseph last. 3. And he went forward and bowed down with his face to the ground seven times, until his brother came near. 4. Then Esau ran to meet his brother, and embraced him: and clasping him fast about the neck, and kissing him, wept. 5. And lifting up his eyes, he saw the women and their little children, and said: What mean these? and do they belong to thee? He answered: They are the little ones which God hath given to me thy servant. 6. And the handmaids and their children came near, and bowed themselves. 7. Lia also with her children came near, and when they had bowed down in like manner, last of all Joseph and Rachel bowed down. 8. And Esau said: What are the droves that I met? He answered: That I might find favour before my lord. 9. But he said: I have plenty, my brother, keep what is thine for thyself. 10. And Jacob said: Do not so, I beseech thee: but if I have found favour in thy eyes, receive a little present at my hands: for I have seen thy face, as if I should have seen the countenance of God: be thou gracious to me, 11. And take the blessing which I have brought thee, and which God hath given me, who giveth all things. He scarcely being constrained by his brother’s earnestness, took it, 12. And said: Let us go on together, and I will accompany thee in thy journey. 13. And Jacob said: My lord, thou knowest that I have with me tender children, and sheep and kine with young: which if I should cause to be overdriven, in one day all the flocks will die. 14. Let my lord go before his servant: and I will follow softly after him, as I shall see my children are able, till I come to my lord in Seir. 15. Esau answered: I beseech thee, that of the folk that are with me, some may stay to accompany thee in the way. He said: There is no need: I only desire to find favour in the sight of my lord. 16. So Esau returned that day, the same way that he came, to Seir. 17. And Jacob came to Socoth: where having built a house, and pitched tents, he called the name of the place Socoth, that is, Tents. 18. And he passed over to Salem, a city of the Sichemites, which is in the land of Chanaan, after he returned from Mesopotamia of Syria: and he dwelt by the town. 19. And he bought that part of the field, wherein he pitched his tents, of the children of Hemor, the father of Sichem, for a hundred lambs. 20. And raising an altar there, he invoked upon it the most mighty God of Israel.
3. He himself going forward. In Hebrew it is vehu abar lipnehem, and he passed over or went before them; whence it is clear that Jacob went after the first band of flocks and servants, as a father and leader before the second band of wives and children, offering himself for them to danger and death.
He bowed down with his face to the ground, not to God, as some will have it, but to his brother Esau. Jacob therefore adored, that is, showed to his brother reverence, not sacred nor divine, but human and civil, bowing himself to the ground as many as seven times, at short intervals, until he came to his brother. Learn here that the pride and anger of the powerful and fierce are broken by nothing more than by suppliant submission; namely, It is enough for the magnanimous lion to have laid bodies low. The fight has its end when the foe lies down.
So that holy Bishop, says Sophronius in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter 210, overcame another Bishop who had grievously offended him and his people, when “he fell at his feet with all his clergy, saying: Forgive us, Lord, we are thy servants; for the other, astonished and moved to compunction at such humility in the Bishop, held his feet, saying: Thou art my lord and father. And that humble man said to his clergy: Have we not conquered by the grace of Christ? You also, therefore, when you have an enemy, do so, and you shall be victors.” He has a like example in the last chapter, and another in the next to last. A soft, gentle and humble answer therefore breaks anger, as the Wise Man says.
Jacob is Christ: here He is first reconciled with Laban, that is, with the Gentiles, then with Esau, that is, the Jews; for when the fulness of the Gentiles shall have come in, then all Israel shall be converted to Christ and shall be saved.
Seven times. Why seven times? St. Ambrose answers allegorically, book 2 On Jacob, chapter 6, because he had regard to Christ, “who commanded that forgiveness be granted to a brother not only up to seven times, but even seventy times seven, Matthew 18. So that, moved by the contemplation of Him, Esau, meeting him, might remit to his brother the injury which he thought he had received, and, though hurt, return to favour, because for this reason the Lord Jesus was to take flesh and come upon the earth, that He might grant us forgiveness of sins multiplied.”
8. That I might find grace. As if to say: These things I sent before thee, as to a most loving and most honoured brother, in place of a gift, to deserve thy favour, that thou mayest be kindly disposed to me and forget all that is past.
Do not so: refuse not what I offer.
10. A little present. In Hebrew it is mincha, that is, a gift which is offered to God or to a prince, in token of subjection, to attest his excellence.
For I have seen thy face, as if I should have seen the countenance of God. As if to say: To me, fearful and anxious, the unhoped-for clemency and sweetness of thy countenance, joined with so great dignity and excellence, is as pleasant and reverend as would be the countenance of God, or of an angel showing by some sign his help and presence; which is commonly called “a god from the machine.” Chrysostom, homily 58: “With so great pleasure,” he says, “have I seen thy face, as one would see the face of God.” For so the Septuagint translate. Because in Hebrew Elohim signifies both God and an angel.
By this art Taxiles, the wise king of the Indians, soothed Alexander the Great and made a friend of an enemy; for saluting Alexander he said: “What need is there of wars between us, since you have not come to take from us water or the necessary food? for these alone men of sound mind are bound to fight for. If I am richer in other resources, I will gladly impart them to you; but if poorer, I do not refuse to receive a kindness from you with a grateful mind.” Alexander, delighted with this speech, and embracing him, said: “Do you think to escape a contest by this courtesy? You are mistaken; for I will contend with you in benefits, lest you surpass me in beneficence.” And having accepted many gifts and given more, he finally presented him with a thousand talents of coined silver, says Plutarch in his Alexander.
The same Alexander was merciful and kind to the wife and daughters of Darius, whom he had taken in war; whence Darius, vanquished, asked the gods that his empire might be restored to him, that he might repay Alexander for this kindness; or, if it seemed good to them to end the empire of the Persians, that they would transfer it to no other than Alexander: Plutarch is witness of the same.
Behold, says St. Chrysostom, with what gentle and dignified words Jacob soothes his brother’s fierce spirit: “For nothing,” he says, “is more forcible than meekness. For as water thrown upon a pyre, when it is burning fiercely, puts it out, so a word uttered with meekness extinguishes a spirit blazing like a furnace. And a double gain grows to us from it, both that we show meekness, and that we make our brother’s indignation cease and free his mind from disturbance. Fire cannot be put out by fire, nor can fury be soothed by fury; but what water is to fire, meekness and mildness are to anger.” So Esther to Assuerus, chapter 15, verse 16: “I saw thee, O lord, as an angel of God”; and Miphiboseth to David: “But thou, my lord the king, art as an angel of God.”
Be gracious to me. From this I shall gather that thou art kindly and gracious to me, if thou dost not spurn my blessing and the gift which I offer thee.
Note: the Hebrews call a gift or present a “blessing,” which they have received from God, and with which they bless others, that is, by their gift.
12. Let us go together, at least as far as my region of Idumea.
All: many, most. It is a hyperbole.
14. To my lord in Seir. So Jacob now proposed to do, but afterwards changed his mind, fearing lest Esau, stirred up by his presence, turning over former grievances again, should renew the old complaints and take up his angers anew; especially if he himself, receiving his brother on his arrival with hospitality and a meal, should have grown warm with wine.
17. Socoth. This place was not yet so called, but was called Socoth afterwards, from the tents which Jacob pitched there, and there afterwards a city was built, likewise called Socoth, which lies in the tribe of Gad, near Jaboc and Scythopolis. So St. Jerome in the Places House: a tent or hut.
18. And he passed over to Salem, a city of the Sichemites. The Chaldee, Cajetan and Oleaster take Salem not as a proper name but as a common noun, and translate: he came safe and whole (for this is what Salem signifies) to Sichem. But both the Septuagint and our version take “Salem” as the proper name of the place. For Salem is a city which was formerly called Sichem, and corruptly Sichar, John 4:5. The Hebrews will have it called Salem because Jacob was there cured of his lameness, as I said in chapter 32.
And he dwelt by the town. Jacob seems to have dwelt here easily nine years; for when Simeon and Levi came here from Mesopotamia they were about eleven years old, and afterwards, on account of the violation of Dina, they overthrew Sichem, in the next chapter. They were therefore then easily twenty years old.
19. Of the children of Hemor. Hemor was prince of the Sichemites, whence his sons are called Sichemites, that is, subjects; for a true prince is the father of his people. So the servants of Naaman call their lord father, 4 Kings 5:13. But since this Hemor is called the father of Sichem, and was properly his father, as is clear from the next chapter, verse 2, hence it is better in the proper sense to take the sons of Hemor as so called here, namely the brothers of Sichem.
Of the father of Sichem. Thou wilt say: in Acts 7:16 they are called “the sons of Sichem.” I answer: perhaps there “father of Sichem” is to be restored for “sons,” as it is here; and so St. Jerome seems to have read it, writing to Pammachius. Or certainly, as Bede will have it, there were two Sichems: one the father of Hemor, the other the son of Hemor. Whence the Greek has Sychem without distinction, which however is commonly taken and explained of the son of Sichem. Add that St. Stephen, Acts 7, names Abraham, and so seems to speak of the purchase made not by Jacob here but by Abraham, Genesis 23:16. Of which matter I shall say more at Acts 7.
For a hundred lambs. For lambs the Hebrew is kesita, which more recent writers translate coins. But St. Jerome, the Chaldee, Lyranus, Pagninus, Vatablus, Oleaster and Aben Ezra translate lambs. Whence also the Septuagint translate, lambs; for which Eugubinus wrongly reads minas, that is, pieces of money.
Thou wilt say: kesita in Arabic signifies a coin, therefore it signifies the same in Hebrew.
I answer: I deny the consequence; for the Rabbis err when they search out and borrow the meanings of Hebrew words from the Arabic language, as Oleaster rightly noted.
Thou wilt say, second: St. Stephen, Acts 7:16, says that this field was bought not for a hundred lambs but for a price of silver.
I answer: “for a price of silver” means for a just price; for by the name of silver or money we signify all wealth, which formerly consisted in sheep and cattle. Whence also pecunia (money) is named from pecus (cattle), or pecu; hence also copper was first stamped with the mark of a beast, that is, a sheep, a pig or an ox, as Plutarch testifies in Poplicola, and Pliny, book 33, chapter 3. By the name of money, therefore (says Hermogenianus, law Pecunia, Digest, On the Meaning of Words), are contained not only coins, that is, counted money, but all things, both solid and movable, both bodies and rights.
I answer, second, that with Pineda by a hundred lambs or sheep may be understood four hundred coins, which are called lambs or sheep because they had the figure of a sheep engraved on them, as I have already said, if indeed the stamping of money is so ancient; for it is established that the ancients used it unstamped. Add that St. Stephen speaks not of this purchase of Jacob’s, but of another purchase of Abraham’s, as I said.
Thou wilt say, third: Genesis 48, at the end, Jacob says that he took this field with his sword and bow.
St. Jerome answers that the arms of a peaceful man were this payment and the price of the hundred lambs; and in the Hebrew kescet, that is, a bow, beautifully alludes to kescita, that is, a lamb. But of this place I shall speak at Genesis 48.
20. And he invoked upon it the most mighty God of Israel. The God of Israel: the God of Jacob, who was called Israel. Second, the God of the posterity of Jacob, namely the Israelites, among whom He, as el, that is, most mighty, and as elohim, that is, judge and avenger, shall rule, protecting and vindicating them from the Chanaanites, Philistines and other enemies, as He protected and vindicated Jacob. This God is God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost; but above all God the Son, who was to be born of Jacob and to become man, and so to reign in the house of Jacob for ever, Luke 1:33; for among other names His name is el, that is, mighty, Isaias 9:6.
Morally, from this chapter, and indeed from the whole life of Jacob, Joseph, Abraham and Isaac, it is clear that God tries His servants and friends with various tribulations and persecutions, that He may advance them to the glory and honour of virtue; for what fire is to gold, the file to iron, the winnowing-fan to wheat, lye to cloth, salt to flesh, this tribulation is to just men. A cautery seems to be a wound, but is in truth the remedy of a wound: so vexation seems an evil, but is in truth the remedy of evils, and through it we are taught to love better things, “lest the traveller, hastening to his native land, love the inn instead of home,” says St. Augustine in the Sentences, sentence 180.
Hence let the faithful learn, first, that tribulations are signs not of God’s hatred but of His love. For they are tokens of divine election and sonship. This is what He Himself says by Zacharias 13:9: “I will try them as silver is tried, and I will prove them as gold is proved”; and Apocalypse chapter 3, verse 19: “Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise”; and the Apostle, to the Hebrews 12:6: “Whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth; and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth”; and Wisdom 3:6: “As gold in the furnace he hath proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust he hath received them.”
Let them learn, second, that tribulations do not hurt, but purge and perfect the afflicted. Hence Job 23:10: “He hath tried me, as gold that passeth through the fire.” And David, Psalm 16:3: “Thou hast proved my heart, and visited it by night; thou hast tried me by fire, and iniquity hath not been found in me.” And Ecclesiasticus 27:6: “The furnace trieth the potter’s vessels, and the trial of tribulation just men.” Truly, therefore, does Blessed Antiochus say, homily 78: “As wax, unless it be warmed or first softened, does not easily receive the impression of the seal, so a man, unless he be proved by the exercise of labours and manifold weakness, will in no way suffer himself to be marked with the seal of divine grace. For this the Lord answered Paul: My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity.”
Let them learn, third, that calamities destroy those who reject endurance, and protect those who embrace it.
For tribulation patiently borne is the gate of heaven. Hence it is said of Christ, Luke 24:26: “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into his glory?” Paul and Barnabas, Acts 14:21: “Through many tribulations,” they say, “we must enter into the kingdom of God.” On the contrary, the prosperity and happiness of this life is the gate of hell. For this reason God gives it to the wicked; but the pious and those strong in virtue He tries by various crosses, and leads through the bitter straits of calamities to immortal life; for this is what they say, Psalm 65:10: “Thou hast proved us, O God; thou hast tried us by fire, as silver is tried.” And Christ, Matthew 5:5: “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted”; and: “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” So the Patriarchs, so the Machabees, so the martyrs and other heroes of faith, tried by persecutions, prisons, blows, racks, tortures and fires, came forth purer, stronger and more illustrious, and consecrated their names to heaven and immortality.