Genesis 33:16

Here, 1. Jacob comes to Succoth. Having in a friendly manner parted with Esau, who had gone to his own country (Gen 33:16), he comes to a place where, it should seem, he rested for some time, set up booths for his cattle, and other conveniences for himself and family. The place was afterwards known by the name of Succoth, a city in the tribe of Gad, on the other side Jordan (it signifies booths), that when his posterity afterwards dwelt in houses of stone, they might remember that the Syrian ready to perish was their father, who was glad of booths (Deu 26:5); such was the rock whence they were hewn. 2. He comes to Shechem; we read it, to Shalem, a city of Shechem; the critics generally incline to read it appellatively: he came safely, or in peace, to the city of Shechem. After a perilous journey, in which he had met with many difficulties, he came safely, at last, into Canaan. Note, Diseases and dangers should teach us how to value health and safety, and should help to enlarge our hearts in thankfulness, when our going out and coming in have been signally preserved. Here, (1.) He buys a field, Gen 33:19. Though the land of Canaan was his by promise, yet, the time for taking possession not having yet come, he is content to pay for his own, to prevent disputes with the present occupants. Note, Dominion is not founded in grace. Those that have heaven on free-cost must not expect to have earth so. (2.) He builds an altar, Gen 33:20. [1.] In thankfulness to God, for the good hand of his providence over him. He did not content himself with verbal acknowledgments of God's favour to him, but made real ones: [2.] That he might keep up religion, and the worship of God, in his family. Note, Where we have a tent God must have an altar, where we have a house he must have a church in it. He dedicated this altar, where we have a house he must have a church in it. He dedicated this altar to the honour of El-elohe-Israel - God, the God of Israel, to the honour of God, in general, the only living and true God, the best of beings and first of causes; and to the honour of the God of Israel, as a God in covenant with him. Note, In our worship of God we must be guided and governed by the joint-discoveries both of natural and revealed religion. God had lately called him by the name of Israel, and now he calls God the God of Israel; though he is styled a prince with God, God shall still be a prince with him, his Lord and his God. Note, Our honours then become honours indeed to us when they are consecrated to God's honour; Israel's God is Israel's glory.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Gen 33:16 So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir.

Ver. 16. On his way unto Seir.] Whither God had sent him beforehand to plant, out of Jacob’s way. He was grown rich, desired liberty, and saw that his wives were offensive to the old couple; therefore he moved his dwelling to mount Seir, and left better room for Jacob; who, perhaps, had intelligence thereof from his mother, by Deborah, and so was the rather willing to return.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33:16-17 Instead of following Esau south to Seir as promised, Jacob again deceived his brother, then headed in the opposite direction to Succoth, east of the Jordan River and north of the Jabbok.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. Took his leave of Jacob the same day he met him, and proceeded on in his journey towards Seir; whether he arrived there the same day is not certain, probably it was more than a day's journey.

So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. Took his leave of Jacob the same day he met him, and proceeded on in his journey towards Seir; whether he arrived there the same day is not certain, probably it was more than a day's journey.

Genesis 33:17

gen 33:17

gen 33:17

gen 33:17And Jacob journeyed to Succoth,.... Perhaps after he had been at Seir, and stayed there some little time. Succoth was on the other side of Jordan, so called by anticipation, for it had its name from what follows; as yet there was no city built here, or at least of this name; afterwards there was, it lay in a valley, and belonged to Sihon king of Heshbon, and was given to the tribe of Gad, Jos 13:27; it is mentioned along with Penuel, and was not far from it, Jdg 8:8. It is said to be but two miles distant from it (u), but one would think it should be more:

and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle; an house for himself and family, and booths or tents for his servants or shepherds, and for the cattle they had the care of, some for one, and some for the other. This he did with an intention to stay some time here, as it should seem; and the Targum of Jonathan says he continued here a whole year, and Jarchi eighteen months, a winter and two summers; but this is all uncertain:

therefore the name of the place is called Succoth; from the booths or tents built here, which this word signifies.

(u) Bunting's Travels, p. 72.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Vers. 16, 17. So (literally, and, complying with his brother"s request) Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir from which he had come to meet Jacob. (vide Gen_32:3) And Jacob journeyed to Succoth. Succoth, so called here by anticipation, and afterwards belonging to the tribe of Gad, was situated in the valley of the Jordan, on the east side of the river, and to the south of the Jabbok (Jos_13:27; Jud_1:8:4, 5) and consequently is not to be identified with Sakut, on the western side of the Jordan, ten miles north of the Jabbok, and opposite the Wady Yabis (Robinson, vol. 3. p. 175; Thomson, "Land and Book," p. 456); but is to be sought for at the ford opposite the Wady-el-Fariah, "down which the little stream from Shechem drains into the Jordan" (Tristram, "Land of Israel," p. 144; Porter in Kitto"s "Cyclop.," art. Succoth; cf. Keil and Kalisch in loco). And built him a house. This was an indication that Jacob purposed some considerable stay at Succoth; and, indeed, if a period of repose was not now demanded by the state of Jacob s health after his long servitude with Laban, his exhausting conflict with the angel, and his exciting interview with Esau (Lange), an interval of some years appears to be imperatively required by the exigencies of the ensuing narrative concerning Dinah, who could not at this time have been much over six years of age (Murphy, Afford, Gosman, et alii). And made booths for his cattle. Porter states that he has frequently men such booths (Succoth, from saccac, to entwine) occupied by the Bedawin of the Jordan valley, and describes them as rude huts of reeds, sometimes covered with long grass, and sometimes with a piece of tent (vide Kitto"s "Cyclop.," ut supra). Therefore the name of the place is called (literally, he called the name of the place) Succothi.e. booths.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Jacob journeyed to Succoth - Having in a friendly manner parted with Esau, who was gone to his own country, he comes to a place, where he rested, set up booths for his cattle, and other conveniences for himself and family. The place was afterwards known by the name of Succoth, a city in the tribe of Gad, on the other side Jordan; it signifies booths: that when his posterity afterwards dwelt in houses of stone, they might remember that the Syrian ready to perish was their father, who was glad of booths, Deut. xxvi, 5.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Esau set off the same day for Mount Seir, whilst Jacob proceeded to Succoth, where he built himself a house and made succoth for his flocks, i.e., probably not huts of branches and shrubs, but hurdles or folds made of twigs woven together. According to Jos 13:27, Succoth was in the valley of the Jordan, and was allotted to the tribe of Gad, as part of the district of the Jordan, "on the other side Jordan eastward;" and this is confirmed by Jdg 8:4-5, and by Jerome (quaest. ad h. l.): Sochoth usque hodie civitas trans Jordanem in parte Scythopoleos. Consequently it cannot be identified with the Scut on the western side of the Jordan, to the south of Beisan, above the Wady el Mlih. - How long Jacob remained in Succoth cannot be determined; but we may conclude that he stayed there some years from the circumstance, that by erecting a house and huts he prepared for a lengthened stay. The motives which induced him to remain there are also unknown to us. But when Knobel adduces the fact, that Jacob came to Canaan for the purpose of visiting Isaac (Gen 31:18), as a reason why it is improbable that he continued long at Succoth, he forgets that Jacob could visit his father from Succoth just as well as from Shechem, and that, with the number of people and cattle that he had about him, it was impossible that he should join and subordinate himself to Isaac's household, after having attained through his past life and the promises of God a position of patriarchal independence.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Jacob Returns to Canaan

v. 16. So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir, in the valley of Zin, south of the Dead Sea, the country which he had selected for his home.

v. 17. And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle; therefore the name of the place is called Succoth (booths). Jacob, from the neighborhood of Peniel, turned toward the Jordan, where he built a more permanent encampment, by erecting a house for himself and sheds, or booths, for his cattle. This place probably remained one of his stations for his rapidly growing herds and flocks. Cf Jos 13:27; Jdg 8:4-5.

v. 18. And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city. After living at Succoth a number of years, until Dinah, his daughter, had become a young woman, during which time Jacob also made a visit to his aged father at Hebron and brought back the old nurse of his mother, Deborah, he finally entered Canaan proper with his family and at least some of his herds and flocks. He came into his home country in good health, as the Lord had promised him, and encamped before the city of Shechem, which the Hivite prince Hamor had built since the time of Abraham, calling it after the name of his son.

v. 19. And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, for an hundred pieces of money. Jacob, trusting in the promises of the Lord and preparing for an even more permanent residence in Canaan than Abraham, bought a possession for himself during his lifetime. This piece of land, with the so-called Jacob’s well, is shown to this day at the southeast opening of the valley of Shechem. Jacob paid for this land one hundred pieces of money, the value of which can no longer be determined. Some scholars think that each piece of money was worth as much as a lamb, while others are of the opinion that there was money in those days which, in a crude manner, had the figure of a lamb stamped upon it.

v. 20. And he erected there an altar, and called it Elelohe Israel (God, the God of Israel). That was Jacob’s confession after the many years of travel and sojourn in strange countries: The strong God is the God of Israel. He had experienced the mighty power of God in numerous instances, and was thankful for the days of peace and rest which he now enjoyed. For this reason also his worship, which he formally instituted at Shechem, consisted chiefly in proclaiming the name of this true God. In this all believers, who ever and again enjoy the rich blessings of the Lord in wonderful measure, will cheerfully imitate the aged patriarch.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

וישב ביום ההוא עשו לדרכו SO ESAU RETURNED THAT DAY ON HIS WAY — Esau alone returned, but the four hundred men who had accompanied him slipped away from him one by one. When did the Holy One, blessed be He, reward them for this? In the days of David, as it is said (1 Samuel 30:17) (in reference to an attack which he made upon the Amalekites, descendants of Esau) “[and there escaped not a man of them] save four hundred young men who rode upon camels” (Genesis Rabbah 78:15).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.