When we last left Esau, he was conspiring in his heart how to kill his brother Jacob. So what are we (and Jacob) to think when Esau comes to "greet" Jacob with 400 hundred men? Seems a little excessive and ominous.
Is Esau, who was deceived out of his father's blessing, doing a little deceiving himself? Is he making his brother squirm? Well, if so, he succeeds. And is Jacob's wrestling with God a portent of his struggles with his brother and the Lord letting him know it will be ok?
While man is always trying to change his identity through deceptive means, God is constantly giving his people a new identity by purging them of their past. So Abram becomes Abraham and Sarai becomes Sarah. Saul will become Paul. And, here, Jacob becomes Israel. His identity is changed before he meets his brother...and his sins are forgiven.
When he sees that his brother Esau holds no ill will for him or his children, Jacob responds:
"For to see your face is like seeing the face of God now that you have received me favorably." [Genesis 33:10]
In forgiveness we see the true face of God.
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