What Does Genesis 32:3 Mean?

And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. The first action Jacob takes after the angelic encounter is to send messengers to Esau. The location, "the land of Seir, the country of Edom," indicates that Esau has already moved south and east from Canaan into the territory that will Bear his name: Edom (from Esau's red lentil stew, Genesis 25:30). Esau has built a life in a different land; Jacob is returning to encounter a brother who has become the lord of his own territory.

The sending of messengers before the meeting is standard diplomatic protocol in the ancient world: a formal announcement of arrival, giving the other party time to prepare a response. Jacob's message (verse 4-5) is structured as the greeting of a lesser to a greater: "my lord Esau," "your servant Jacob." The diplomatic language pre-emptively acknowledges Esau's status and Jacob's subordination, reversing the "lord over your brothers" blessing Jacob took from Isaac (Genesis 27:29). Jacob speaks to Esau as if the stolen blessing were void.

The mention of Esau's settlement in Seir sets up the later Genesis account of Edom (Genesis 36) and the long history of Israelite-Edomite relations that runs through the prophets (Obadiah, Malachi, Amos 1:11). The brother who was supplanted receives a territory too, a lesser territory east and south of Canaan, but one that his descendants will hold. The God who worked the covenant through Jacob did not abandon Esau to landlessness; he gave Esau Seir.