Reconciliation, Conflict, and Covenant Renewal

Genesis 33:1–35:29

Genesis 33–35 alternates between relief and crisis. Jacob and Esau meet peacefully after years of fear, creating one of Genesis's most moving reconciliation scenes. That peace is followed by the Dinah incident and retaliatory violence by Simeon and Levi, then by a renewed call from God to return to Bethel. The section closes with major family losses and transition markers that carry Jacob's household toward the Joseph narrative.

The Reunion

Jacob sees Esau coming with four hundred men. He divides his children among Leah, Rachel, and the two servants. He goes ahead and bows to the ground seven times as he approaches Esau.

Esau runs to meet him, embraces him, and weeps. The long years of fear and separation dissolve in that moment. Esau asks about the gifts Jacob sent ahead. Jacob says: "To find favor in the sight of my lord."

Esau says: "I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself." But Jacob insists: "Please accept my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough." Esau accepts.

Jacob and Esau speak peaceably. Esau offers to travel with Jacob, but Jacob declines, saying his children are young and his flocks need rest. They part in peace, though they continue separately afterward. Commentators often read Genesis 33 as authentic reconciliation that still preserves prudent boundaries; forgiveness does not require erasing every structural difference.

Jacob settles in Canaan and builds an altar, naming it El-Elohe-Israel, "God, the God of Israel." The name marks his new identity and his covenant relationship with God.

The Dinah Incident

Dinah, Jacob's daughter by Leah, goes out to visit the women of the land. Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, sees her and takes her and lies with her. But then he loves her and speaks tenderly to her.

Shechem asks his father: "Get me this girl for my wife." Hamor comes to Jacob to negotiate. He says: "My son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him in marriage."

Jacob's sons answer deceitfully. They say: "We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. Only on this condition will we agree with you, that you become as we are by circumcising every male among you."

Hamor and Shechem agree. They convince the men of their city to be circumcised.

But while the men are still sore from circumcision, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, attack the city and kill all the males. They kill Hamor and Shechem and take Dinah out of Shechem's house. The brothers plunder the city, taking their flocks, herds, donkeys, and everything in the city and in the field.

Jacob rebukes them: "You have brought trouble on me by making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, my household and I."

The Dinah chapter has generated extensive ethical discussion because Genesis reports violence at multiple levels while withholding simplistic resolution. The text records profound injustice—Dinah's violation—and escalated revenge—the brothers' massacre—without endorsing either. The narrative does not present the brothers as heroes; it presents them as having brought danger to the household.

Return to Bethel

God appears to Jacob and says: "Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau."

Jacob tells his household: "Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments." They give Jacob all their foreign gods and their earrings, and Jacob buries them under the oak tree near Shechem.

Jacob and his household travel to Bethel. God appears to Jacob again and says: "Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name." God restates the covenant promises: "I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you."

Jacob sets up a stone pillar at Bethel and anoints it with oil. He names the place Bethel, "house of God." The household is recentered around worship and promise. Calvin and others emphasize Bethel renewal as theological recentering: after conflict and contamination, the household is called back to worship and covenant identity.

Deaths and Transition

Jacob and his household leave Bethel. Rachel goes into labor while they are traveling. She gives birth to Benjamin, but the labor is difficult and she dies. Jacob sets a pillar over her grave. He names the child Benjamin, "son of the right hand."

The text briefly reports: "And Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine." This signals family instability and will have consequences later in the narrative.

The sons of Jacob are listed: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. These are the twelve sons who will become the twelve tribes of Israel.

Jacob comes to his father Isaac at Mamre. Isaac dies at the age of 180 years. Esau and Jacob bury him together. The section closes with both continuity and unresolved strain. The patriarchal line continues, but the household carries wounds and divisions.

What to Notice

Jacob and Esau's reunion is a major narrative release. After years of fear and separation, the brothers meet in peace. The reconciliation is genuine, though they continue to live separately.
Genesis 34 should be read as tragedy and warning, not as hero story. The Dinah incident exposes the capacity for violence within the covenant family. The brothers' revenge is presented as bringing danger to the household, not as righteous action.
Jacob's name Israel is reaffirmed in covenant context. At Bethel, God reaffirms Jacob's new name and restates the covenant promises. The name change is not merely personal; it is covenantal.
The closing deaths and births signal transition to the next generation. Rachel's death, Benjamin's birth, Isaac's death, and the listing of the twelve sons all mark the movement toward the Joseph narrative and the future of Israel.