to send away · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
messengers
מַלְאָכִים֙mal.'a.Khim
H4397
a messenger · noun, common masculine plural absolute
him
לְפָנָ֔יוle.fa.Nav
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Esau
עֵשָׂ֖ו'e.Sav
H6215
Esav · proper noun, a man's name
brother
אָחִ֑יו'a.Chiv
H251
a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relation… · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
land
אַ֥רְצָה'Ar.tzah
H776
the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular construct + directional suffix
Seir
שֵׂעִ֖ירse.'Ir
H8165
Seir · proper noun, a place name
country
שְׂדֵ֥הse.Deh
H7704
a field (as flat) · noun, common masculine singular construct
Edom
אֱדֽוֹם'e.Dom
H123
Edom · proper noun, a man's name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 25:30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.
Joshua 24:4 And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.
Genesis 14:6 And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto El-paran, which is by the wilderness.
Genesis 33:14 Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the chil…
Deuteronomy 2:5 Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau fo…
Genesis 27:41-42 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my fathe…
Genesis 33:16 So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir.
Genesis 36:6-9 And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 32:3-8
Now that Jacob was re-entering Canaan God, by the vision of angels, reminded him of the friends he had when he left it, and thence he takes occasion to remind himself of the enemies he had, particularly Esau. It is probable that Rebekah had sent him word of Esau's settlement in Seir, and of the continuance of his enmity to him. What shall poor Jacob do? He longs to see his father, and yet he dreads to see his brother. He rejoices to see Canaan again, and yet cannot but rejoice with trembling because of Esau.
I. He sends a very kind and humble message to Esau. It does not appear that his way lay through Esau's country, or that he needed to ask his leave for a passage; but his way lay near it,…
MISSION TO ESAU. (Gen_32:3-32)
Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau--that is, "had sent." It was a prudent precaution to ascertain the present temper of Esau, as the road, on approaching the eastern confines of Canaan, lay near the wild district where his brother was now established.
land of Seir--a highland country on the east and south of the Dead Sea, inhabited by the Horites, who were dispossessed by Esau or his posterity (Deu 11:12). When and in what circumstances he had emigrated thither, whether the separation arose out of the undutiful conduct and idolatrous habits of his wives, which had made them unwelcome in the tent of his parents, or whether his roving disposition had s…
Jacob sent messengers - מלאכים malachim, the same word which is before translated angels. It is very likely that these messengers had been sent some time before he had this vision at Mahanaim, for they appear to have returned while Jacob encamped at the brook Jabbok, where he had the vision of angels; see Gen 32:6, Gen 32:23.
The land of Seir, the country of Edom - This land, which was, according to Dr. Wells, situated on the south of the Dead Sea, extending from thence to the Arabian Gulf, Kg1 9:26, was formerly possessed by the Horites, Gen 14:6; but Esau with his children drove them out, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead, Deu 2:22; and thither Esau went from the face of his brother…
The Church Fathers
Jacob did not want to see Esau before he had appeased him with presents, and he only saw him afterward when the presents had been accepted. And when Jacob came to him, he bowed down to him from a long way off. So how shall the elder be slave to the younger, when the younger manifestly bows down to the elder? But the reason why these things were not fulfilled in the actual history of the two men is to make us understand that they were said of a future Jacob. The younger son received the first place, and the elder son, the people of the Jews, lost the first place. See how Jacob has filled the whole world, has taken possession of nations and kingdoms.
See how great was Jacob's fear even after the vision had affected the good man. He was afraid of his brother's aggression and was concerned lest the memory of what had been done by him previously might provoke Esau into an attack on him. "Say to my lord Esau, 'Thus says your servant Jacob: I was dwelling with Laban and tarried until now; I acquired cattle and asses and sheep, servants male and female. I have sent word to my lord in the hope that your servant may find favor with you.' " Notice how Jacob was afraid of his brother, and hence out of a wish to placate him he sent word ahead alerting him to his coming, the wealth acquired by him and where he had spent all the time, so as to calm Esau's anger and succeed in making him gracious. This in fact happened, for God placated his heart, allayed his anger and rendered him gracious. After all, if by the words Jacob spoke to Laban, who had hunted him down in such awful rage, he caused him to suffer such great apprehension, much more did he cause his brother to be more affable to the good man.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Edom — (1.) The name of Esau (q.v.), Gen. 25:30, “Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage [Heb. haadom, haadom, i.e., ‘the red pottage, the red pottage’] ...Therefore was his name called Edom”,…
Edom, Idumaea Or Idumea — (red). The name Edom was given to Esau, the first-born son of Isaac and twin brother of Jacob, when he sold his birthright to the latter for a meal of lentil pottage. The country which the Lord…
Seir — Rough; hairy. (1.) A Horite; one of the “dukes” of Edom (Gen. 36:20-30). (2.) The name of a mountainous region occupied by the Edomites, extending along the eastern side of the Arabah from the…
Edom · .It exten — .It exten
Edomites · Land of — Land of
Edomites, The · Dwelt in Mount Seir — Dwelt in Mount Seir
Prudence · .Jacob, in his conduct toward Esau — .Jacob, in his conduct toward Esau
Seir · the Horim people — the Horim people
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
And Jacob sent messengers before him unto Esau his brother,.... Or "angels": not angels simply, as Jarchi, for these were not under the command, and in the power of Jacob to send, nor would they have needed any instruction from him afterwards given, but these were some of his own servants. Esau it seems was removed from his father's house, and was possessed of a country after mentioned, called from his name; and which Aben Ezra says lay between Haran and the land of Israel; but if it did not directly lie in the road of Jacob, yet, as it was near him, he did not choose to pass by without seeing his brother; and therefore sent messengers to inform him of his coming, and by whom he might learn…
And Jacob sent messengers. It now happened, by the providence of God, that Esau, having left his father, had gone to Mount Seir of his own accord; and had thus departed from the land of promise, by which means the possession of it would remain void for the posterity of Jacob, without slaughter among brethren. For it was not to be believed that he had changed his habitation, either because he was compelled by his father's command, or because he was willing to be accounted inferior to his brother. I rather conjecture that he had become greatly enriched, and that this induced him to leave his father's house. For we know that profane persons and men of this world so vehemently pant for present a…
