GENESIS CHAPTER 33
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Verses 1-2, Jacob had just enough time to arrange his family,
  putting his children with their mothers and putting those that
  he loved most to the rear.

Verse 3, This was an eastern custom done to great personages.
  So, from these first three verses we can see that Jacob greatly
  feared Esau.

  Instead of trusting God to deliver him, he again turns to the
  confidence of the flesh.
  He went from clinging to the "Divine Wrestler" as Pink called
  him, to bowing before Esau as his master and lord, knowing all
  along that God had promised that He would bless him and his
  seed, and that the "elder shall serve the younger."

  Those who came before him and after him were no different, and
  we are no different either.
  Pink says: "Abraham in faith-obedience to the call of God went
    out 'not knowing whither he went.' but after his arrival in
    Canaan, when a famine arose, he seeks refuge in Egypt. Elijah
    displays unexampled courage on Mt. Carmel, as alone he
    confronted the four hundred priests of Baal; but the next we
    hear of him he is fleeing from Jezebel! David dares to meet
    Goliath, but later, he runs away from Saul."

  Just as Jacob had a new name, so do we! "Saint," "son," and
  "heir."

Verse 4, We can come to one of two conclusions here. Either Esau
  is a gracious and loving person, full of mercy and compassion;
  or, God is gracious Father to his elect, full of mercy and
  compassion, in turning Esau's heart away from any anger he had
  for Jacob to a kind and generous reception for him.
    Pr 21:1 The king's heart [is] in the hand of the LORD, [as]
      the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

  Here we have again a demonstration of the sovereignty of God in
  the affairs of men. The world says, that Esau was a
  compassionate person, good, while Jacob was the deceiving
  brother, which he was. But, it was the God of all grace that
  turned Esau's heart to do good toward Jacob.
    God said of the good and compassionate Esau:
      "[Was] not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I
      loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and
      his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness."
        (Mal 1:2-3).
      "Lest there [be] any fornicator, or profane person, as
      Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright."
        (Heb 12:16)

Verse 5-7, Jacob introduces his family to Esau, who again, he
  calls his master and him his servant. Jacob's whole family bows
  before Esau.

Verse 8, Esau inquires about the droves that he met as he
  approached Jacob.
  Jacob said, "[These are] to find grace in the sight of my
  lord."
  He again addresses Esau as his "lord."

  Notice he trusted in his own presents to appease the wrath of
  Esau, rather than the power of God.
  Remember Jacob had said in the previous chapter, before he
  wrestled with God, "I will appease him with the present that
  goeth before me" (Gen 32:20).

Verse 9, Esau says that he has enough and for him to keep what he
  has.

Verses 10-11, You would think that Jacob, after beholding the
  manner of Esau, and recognizing that it was God that had turned
  his heart, that he would have left off in insisting that Esau
  take his presents; but Jacob presses Esau to accept the gifts
  and Esau does so.

  Pink says, "The receiving of a present at the hands of another
  has always been regarded as a pledge of amity and good-will.
  None will receive a present from the hand of an enemy."

  Jacob was still trusting in a present to secure his safety
  before Esau.

  Jacob builds up Esau, in saying that it was "as though I had
  seen the face of God."

Verses 12-16, Jacob stilled feared his brother. Esau wanted to go
  with Jacob, but Jacob wanted Esau to go on before him, making
  excuses as to why. We know that it was an excuse, because Jacob
  went to Succoth rather than Seir.

  When Esau insisted on leaving some men with him for protection,
  Jacob said, "What needeth it?" The reason being was because he
  had no intentions on returning to Seir, where Esau dwelt. So
  Esau departed with his men to Seir.

Verse 17, We see that Jacob had just lied to Esau telling him
  that he would come unto his "lord" in Seir.
  He journeyed in another direction entirely.
    Ps 39:5  Behold, thou hast made my days [as] an handbreadth;
      and mine age [is] as nothing before thee: verily every man
      at his best state [is] altogether vanity. Selah.
      {at...: Heb. settled}

  Seir = "hairy" or "shaggy"
    1) the land of Edom, south of the Dead Sea
  Succoth = "booths"
    1) the site where Jacob put up booths for his cattle and
      built a house for himself; apparently east of the Jordan
      near the ford of the torrent Jabbok and later allotted to
      the tribe of Gad.

Verses 18-19, He then came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which
  [is] in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram.
    Gen 28:6  When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and
      sent him away to Padanaram, to take him a wife from thence;
      and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying,
      Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; 7
      And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was
      gone to Padanaram;
  Padanaram was the place he went when he was fleeing from Esau
  where his mother's brother, Laban, lived.

  Here he bought a piece of land for a 100 pieces of money from
  Shechem.

    Shalem or Salem = "peace"
      AV - Salem 2, Shalem 1; 3
      1) the place of which Melchizedek was king
         1a) most Jewish commentators affirm that it is the same
         as Jerusalem

    Shechem = "back" or "shoulder"
      1) son of Hamor, the chieftain of the Hivites at Shechem at
        the time of Jacob's arrival

  We see that Jacob did this after God had said,
    "And the LORD said unto Jacob, Return unto the LAND OF THY
    FATHERS, and to THY KINDRED; and I will be with thee."
    (Gen 31:3).

  Jacob paid a dear price for disobeying God as we shall see in
  the next chapter. His only daughter is defiled and his sons
  used deceit and then slaughtered the men of this place.
  Jacob said to his sons, Simeon and Levi,
    "Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the
    inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the
    Perizzites: and I [being] few in number, they shall gather
    themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be
    destroyed, I and my house." (Gen 34:30).

Verse 20, Here he erected an altar, perhaps in faith, but in the
  wrong place.
  The next time that we see God speaking to him, he says,
    "Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an
    altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest
    from the face of Esau thy brother." (Gen 35:1)

  Elelohe-Israel: that is God the God of Israel