The dreaded meeting with Esau passes off happily (33''"). Jacob prepares for the worst (vv.'"') ; but Esau shows a generous and magnani- mous spirit: he receives his brother with all friendliness, and inquires with interest after his children (vv.*''). lie at first refuses Jacob's present: but Jacob by pressure induces him to
* in the sense of the tradition, the contest, as Dillm. remarks, is plainly an external and physical one.
t In theran word p^.xj for vn-estle, w.M. 25^ there is a play on the name Jablx)k (P^!), if not an explanation of its origin, as though it meant Wrestliruj (■stTcam).
J Sayce's derivation (EHII 73, and elsewhere) from ydshar, * to be upright,' ' to direct' (I), has nothing to recommend it.
§ Cf. Arab, ahariya, to peTsii^t, or persevere ; conj. iii. ^ex- pressing the idea of riralry) to persist or persevere against another (viz. in contention or wrangling). The same root is contained in Seraiah, ' Jah persists.' (The root means 'to strive ' (RVm) only in the sense of to exert oneself, not in that of (0 contend. It has no connexion with sar, ' prince,' from sdrar).
I J from this point prefers, though not (in our existing text«) quite uniformly, Israel to Jacob as the designation of the patriarch.
U With allusion to the often expressed beUef that no one could 'see Ood and live' (Ex 1921 332ti_ jj, 622f. 1322). Notice the adversative force of the Wdw consecutive (Ges. § 111^).
•• See Moore, Judqes, 22nf., 223; G. A. Smith, HOBL 586f. There was a Phienician headland called flwi/ vpira^o^ ; and Penuel * may really, like this headland, have derived its name from some physical feature presented by it.
accept it, no doubt hoping thereby to purchase the continuance of his good -will in the future (vv. '"").* Esau afterwards otVers Jacob his pro- tection for the rest of the journey, or at least some of his people as an escort ; but Jacob declinea both these oilers ; he will lay himself under no obligation to his brother, nor will he incur any risk of a rupture in the cordial relations now established between them (vv. '-•'"'). E.sau accord- ingly returns to Edom ; while Jacob moves on to Succoth (the name of which is explained from the booilis ["i=-] built by him there for his cattle). The site oi Succoth is not more certainly known than that of Penuel : it was on the E. of Jordan (Jg 8*- °), in the valley, perhaps (Uillm.) near the ford of ed-D.lmiyeh (on the road from es-Salt to Nflblus), a little S. of the point where the Jal>b<il> enters the Jordan. t After crossing the Jordan, Jacob advanced into the heart of the country, to Shechem. There he encamped in front of tlie city, and bought the plot of ground on which his tent rested, of the native Shechemites for lOu kesUalix.X The purchase of this land is mentioned on account of the sequel : it was the place in which the bones of Joseph ultimately reposed (Jos 24'-) ; and it had the same interest and significance for the N. kingdom which the cave of Machpelah at Hebron (ch. 23) had for the king- dom of Judah.§
We come (ch. 34) to the somewhat remarkable narrative of the dealings of Jacob with Shechem. The chapter is plainly composite ; but the criteria are in some cases ambiguous, so that critics are not fully agreed in their results. The main character- istics of the two narratives of which it is composed are, however, suHicicntly clear. According to J,;i Shechem, son of Ilamor, having seduced Jacobs daughter, Dinah, desires to obtain her from her father and brothers in marriage : they agree, only imposing a condition the nature of which in the existing text of J is not specified, but whi<li Hamor at once accedes to (w.''- '■'• ") ; afterwards, however, Simeon and Levi, resenting keenly Hamor's treatment of their sister, fall upon him, without their brothers' knowledge, slay hini and his father, and rescue Uinah ; their father blames them severely for making him and his family unpojiular among the native Canaanites, and endangering their lives; they reply that the honour of their tribe is above all such considerations : ' Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?' Here the transaction \\aa a, j^ersonal character: only Shechem is involved ; and his aim is the personal one of securing Uinah as his wife. According to the rest of the narrative, II Shechem equally desires to obtain Dinah as his wife, but much wider interests are involved : the transaction assumes a notional significance : Uamor
• V.io * forasmuch as I have seen thy face, as when one seetb the face of tJod' (i.e. 1 have found it as favourable), is mani- festly, as Wellh. remarks, another explanation of the name Pi-nitel. 'To see the face ' is the phrase used of one adniitti-0 to the presence-cliamber of a monarch, or other ruler (On 43**^ 2 S 14" 2a, 2 K 25>a ; of God, Ps 11', Job 832<l), and, it ie im plied, viewed by his superior favourably. Jacob, by using this expression, pays Esau a high compliment. ' Beiden \Vendungen dcr Sage liegt'zu Grund, dass man in Peniel denunfreundlicheo Oott als freundlichen erfahrt ' (Dillm. >.