Genesis 33:10
A plain-spoken deep dive on this verse. Read the chapter →
But Jacob insisted, “No, please! If I have found favor in your sight, then receive this gift from my hand. For indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing the face of God, since you have received me favorably.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
"For therefore," sc., to be able to offer thee this present, "have I come to see thy face, as man seeth the face of God, and thou hast received me favourably." The thought is this: In thy countenance I have been met with divine (heavenly) friendliness (cf. Sa1 29:9; Sa2 14:17). Jacob might say this without cringing, since he "must have discerned the work of God in the unexpected change in his brother's disposition towards him, and in his brother's friendliness a reflection of this divine."
Open source ↗We read, in the former chapter, how Jacob had power with God, and prevailed; here we find what power he had with men too, and how his brother Esau was mollified, and, on a sudden, reconciled to him; for so it is written, Pro 16:7, "When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." Here is, I. A very friendly meeting between Jacob and Esau (Pro 16:1-4). II. Their conference at their meeting, in which they vie with each other in civil and kind expressions. Their discourse is 1. About Jacob's family (Pro 16:5-7). 2. About the present he had sent (Pro 16:8-11). 3. About the progress of their journey (Pro 16:12-15). III. Jacob's settlement in Canaan, his house, ground, and altar (Pro 16:16-20).
Open source ↗33:10 Jacob knew that Esau’s friendly greeting was God’s work, secured at Peniel when he saw God face to face.
Open source ↗Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
He prays to God and finds favor; he sees God’s face and shouts for joy, and God restores His righteousness to that man.
They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.
This is what the LORD says: “The people who survived the sword found favor in the wilderness when Israel went to find rest.”
So Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, “Indeed, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
But David again vowed, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or he will be grieved.’ As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”
But the king added, “He may return to his house, but he must not see my face.” So Absalom returned to his own house, but he did not see the king.
“Good,” replied David, “I will make a covenant with you. But there is one thing I require of you: Do not appear before me unless you bring Saul’s daughter Michal when you come to see me.”
When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise to show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt,
Now Absalom lived in Jerusalem two years without seeing the face of the king.
Your servant has indeed found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life. But I cannot run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die.