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16 So that day Esau started back to Edom. 17 But Jacob went to Succoth, where he built a house for himself and shelters for his animals. That is why the place was named Succoth. 18 Jacob left Northwest Mesopotamia and arrived safely at the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan. There he camped east of the city. 19 He bought a part of the field where he had camped from the sons of Hamor father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of silver. 20 He built an altar there and named it after God, the God of Israel. ~ Genesis 33:16-20
Today, we conclude our study of Genesis 33 where Jacob has been enrolled in God's school of sanctification. Jacob had seen God and he had been given a new name and a new limp but the benefits of his experience with God didn't appear immediately. Very often this is the case with our sanctification, I have found that the work that He is preparing me for later has to do with the lessons He is teaching me now. When this is the case, we have a hard time seeing the purpose behind our trials, but when we give Him time, He will make it clear to us. The growth that Jacob was realizing in his life resulted in reconciliation with his brother, Esau. Once Jacob encountered his brother, there was ample enough evidence that he had been changed by God. The most notable change was Jacob's servant attitude and his humility in relation to his brother.
In v.16-17 of today's passage we read, "16 So that day Esau started back to Edom. 17 But Jacob went to Succoth, where he built a house for himself and shelters for his animals. That is why the place was named Succoth."
On the same day they met for the first time in 20 years, Esau departed for home. Both were probably immensely relieved at the reunion and the end of their animosity that had driven them apart for so long. Esau returned to Seir, the land which means "hairy" a name akin to Esau which also means hairy. Hair in the Bible denotes awareness. Having met with his brother and having cleared up their differences, Esau returned to his normal life with a new awareness of God's work being done in his life.
Jacob journeyed to Succoth which gets its name from the meeting between Jacob and Esau which pictured the first coming of the Lord Jesus. Succoth was east of the Jordan river and it was there that Jacob "built himself a house." Succoth was named in honor of the building of the tabernacles for his livestock, not his house! In Leviticus 23:34 we read, "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord.'" The word translated "Tabernacles" is the word Succoth. This feast of the Lord pictures the dwelling of God with man. It pictures the day the Lord Jesus came and "tabernacled" among us. The house Jacob built pictures the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers who are known as the church in the New Testament.
Jacob's meeting with Esau represented the fact that the Lord Jesus came to remove that which was between us and God. Now that the enmity created by our sin before God is forgiven and removed from us, there is now peace between God and us. In his first epistle Peter tells us that God is now building a house of living stones. All who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ are the living stones that make up this so-called building of believers in Christ. This, perhaps is why so many wrongly refer to the church as a building. No where in the New Testament is the church a building for the church are the people.
In v.18-19 of today's passage we read, "18 Jacob left Northwest Mesopotamia and arrived safely at the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan. There he camped east of the city. 19 He bought a part of the field where he had camped from the sons of Hamor father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of silver."
The name Shechem comes from a verb which means "to rise early." The noun form means "shoulder." These two concepts indicate wisdom and diligence. To rise early is indicative of having a good start to the day. Carrying a load on the shoulder also shows wise diligence. These two concepts point us to the Lord Jesus who arose from the grave early on Sunday morning who also and of whom the Scripture says, "The government shall rest on His shoulder."
Jacob arrived safely at the city of Shechem "in the land of Canaan." Canaan means "servant." It pictures the bringing of a once proud but now wise people into subjection to God. There are those who complain that God is power hungry. This could not be further from the truth, just look to the cross to smash that idea. God knows infinitely what is best for us and we do well to submit to His kind wisdom.
Jacob "pitched his tent" before the city, in so doing, Jacob yet again pictured the Lord Jesus who came and tabernacled among us. This place was the spot where the Lord Jesus would later sit with in the presence of the woman who had six different men in her life and she was still empty. As her seventh man, the Lord Jesus offered the woman at that well living waters which would flow out of her continuously. This living water speaks of the personal relationship which God offers to all willing enough the believe. The woman at the well received the living waters and her life was dramatically changed that day in Samaria.
In v.20 of today's passage we read, "He built an altar there and named it after God, the God of Israel."
During the twenty years that Jacob was outside of the Land of Canaan, there is no record of him having built an altar. But now that his time of exile was over he had returned to the land of his fathers just as God promised him, he built an altar. Before Jacob left Canaan 20 years earlier, he made a vow to God that he would do something if God would protect him and return him home safely. The building of this altar was the fulfillment of Jacob's promise, proving that the Lord had been faithful to Jacob.
Jacob stopped in Shechem just 20 miles short of his target. Earlier in Genesis 28 Jacob vowed to return to Bethel but he stopped in Shechem where he stayed for 10 years before he moved on to Bethel, the place where he first met God. This was a bad decision because in Genesis 34 all kinds of horrible things happen to his children while in Shechem due to his procrastination and compromise. When we compromise, we give sin a greater capacity at pulling us away from God. And, before we know it we are diving into all kinds of sin and experiencing the effects of that sin. No one takes large leaps away from God. No, it is through a series of small steps that we find ourselves removed from God. And, it always begins with one small compromise which leads to another and yet another. And, before we know it, we discover sin has taken us to a place we could not have imagined was possible.
All of this happened because Jacob forgot the message of the altar which is at the center of our sanctification. The altar was the place of the sacrifice. Being a "living sacrifice" is the product of growing in intimacy with God. And, this type of intimacy is only experienced by those who go through deep waters with the God of the Bible. The essence of sin is the self, and, when we follow the self, we will deviate from our sanctification every time. When we die to self, God is always faithful to usher us into deeper intimacy with Him. The way of the self is not the way of our Savior. His way leads us to selflessness or down the pathway of the servant of the Lord.
