Genesis 33:3

3 And he himself, going before them, went down on his face to the earth seven times till he came near his brother.

Genesis 33:3 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 33:3

And he passed over before them
At the head of them, as the master of the family, exposing himself to the greatest danger for them, and in order to protect and defend them in the best manner he could, or to endeavour to soften the mind of his brother by an address, should there be any occasion for it: and bowed himself to the ground seven times;
in a civil way, as was the manner in the eastern countries towards great personages; and this he did to Esau as being his elder brother, and as superior to him in grandeur and wealth, being lord of a considerable country; and at the same time religious adoration might be made to God; while he thus bowed to the ground, his heart might be going up to God in prayer, that he would appear for him at this instant, and deliver him and his family from perishing by his brother; and so the Targum of Jonathan introduces this clause,

``praying, and asking mercies of the Lord, and bowed''

seven times, perhaps, may not design an exact number, but that he bowed many times as he came along: until he came near to his brother;
he kept bowing all the way he came until they were within a small space of one another.

Genesis 33:3 In-Context

1 Then Jacob, lifting up his eyes, saw Esau coming with his four hundred men. So he made a division of the children between Leah and Rachel and the two women-servants.

2 He put the servants and their children in front, Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph at the back.

3 And he himself, going before them, went down on his face to the earth seven times till he came near his brother.

4 Then Esau came running up to him, and folding him in his arms, gave him a kiss: and the two of them were overcome with weeping.

5 Then Esau, lifting up his eyes, saw the women and the children, and said, Who are these with you? And he said, The children whom God in his mercy has given to your servant.