Genesis 33:3

3 Er aber ging vor ihnen her und beugte sich siebenmal zur Erde nieder, bis er nahe zu seinem Bruder kam.

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 Und Jakob hob seine Augen auf und sah: und siehe, Esau kam und mit ihm vierhundert Mann. Und er verteilte die Kinder auf Lea und auf Rahel und auf die beiden Mägde;

2 und er stellte die Mägde und ihre Kinder vornan und Lea und ihre Kinder dahinter und Rahel und Joseph zuletzt.

3 Er aber ging vor ihnen her und beugte sich siebenmal zur Erde nieder, bis er nahe zu seinem Bruder kam.

4 Und Esau lief ihm entgegen und umarmte ihn und fiel ihm um den Hals und küßte ihn; und sie weinten.

5 Und er hob seine Augen auf und sah die Weiber und die Kinder und sprach: Wer sind diese bei dir? Und er sprach: Die Kinder, die Gott deinem Knechte beschert hat.