Commentary - Genesis 33:18-20

Bird's-eye view

In these concluding verses of Genesis 33, Jacob, fresh from his terrifying and ultimately peaceful reunion with Esau, finally re-enters the Promised Land. This is not a tentative or fearful return. He arrives safely, in peace, and immediately begins to act like an heir of the promise. The passage details three crucial actions that define his renewed faith and establish a pattern for God's people. First, he settles and camps near a major Canaanite city, Shechem, demonstrating a posture of confident engagement rather than fearful isolation. Second, in an act echoing his grandfather Abraham, he purchases a piece of the land, a tangible, economic expression of his faith in God's promise to give him the whole land. This is a down payment on his inheritance. Third, and most importantly, he erects an altar, consecrating his new property to God and publicly identifying the Mighty God as the covenant God of Israel. This short narrative is a paradigm of faithful settlement: arrival, purchase, and worship.

This is Jacob the patriarch, the prince with God, acting out the implications of his new name. He is no longer the conniving runaway but a man of substance and, more importantly, a man of faith. He is staking a claim, not with a sword, but with a purchase order and an altar. This act of planting a flag for Yahweh in pagan territory sets the stage for both the future conquest of Canaan and the inevitable conflict that arises when the City of God dwells next to the City of Man, a conflict that will erupt tragically in the very next chapter.

Outline

Context In Genesis

This passage marks a major turning point in the life of Jacob and in the narrative of Genesis. Jacob has been in exile for over twenty years, having fled the murderous wrath of his brother Esau. The preceding chapters detailed his service under Laban, his wrestling with the angel at Peniel where he received his new name, Israel (Gen 32), and the miraculous reconciliation with Esau (Gen 33:1-17). God has systematically stripped Jacob of his self-reliance, humbled him, and blessed him. Now, having been delivered from both a duplicitous father-in-law and a feared brother, Jacob is led by God back into the heart of Canaan. This is the fulfillment of the promise God made to him at Bethel as he was fleeing the land: "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land" (Gen 28:15). His actions here at Shechem are his first as a free man, a patriarch, and a prince with God back in the land of his inheritance. It is a high point of faith that will soon be tested by the sin of his sons in Genesis 34.

Key Issues

A Down Payment on the World

We often think of the patriarchs as wandering nomads, living in tents and having a minimal footprint on the world around them. But this is a misunderstanding. They were men of great substance, and when they acted in faith, they acted in ways that had tangible, lasting, and public consequences. Abraham bought a tomb, a permanent claim on the land even in death. Here, his grandson Jacob buys a field, a place for life, for his tents and his flocks. This is not a retreatist pietism that sees the world as belonging to the devil, with Christians just passing through on their way to heaven. This is dominion faith. It is the faith that says, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof," and then proceeds to write a check. Jacob is not just passing through; he is staking a claim. He is buying a small piece of what God has promised will one day be entirely his. This is a gospel-driven real estate transaction, a down payment on the world that Christ will inherit.

Verse by Verse Commentary

18 Now Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city.

The key word here is safely. The Hebrew is shalem, which is richer than just "without incident." It means to arrive whole, complete, at peace. After twenty years of turmoil, wrestling with Laban, wrestling with God, and fearing Esau, Jacob arrives in a state of shalom. God has fulfilled His promise to bring him back, and not just physically, but spiritually restored. He is now Israel. He doesn't hide out in the wilderness. He goes right to Shechem, a major Canaanite hub, and camps before the city. This is a position of visibility and engagement. He is not seeking to be assimilated, but neither is he hiding in a holy huddle. He is present, a witness to the watching pagan world.

19 Then he bought a portion of a field where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred qesitah.

Faith without works is dead. Jacob's faith in God's promise is immediately translated into a concrete, economic act. He buys land. This is immensely significant. He is no longer a mere sojourner or renter. He is a property owner in the Promised Land. This purchase is a direct echo of Abraham buying the field of Machpelah (Gen 23). Both patriarchs, long before the conquest under Joshua, laid claim to their inheritance through a lawful purchase. They did not steal the land; they bought it, honoring the principle of private property while simultaneously acting on God's covenant promise. The price, "one hundred qesitah" (likely pieces of silver, though the exact value is unknown), shows this was a significant, above-board transaction. He is putting his money where God's mouth is. This is what faith looks like when it engages with the world. It builds, it buys, it invests, it plans for the future on the basis of God's word.

20 Then he set up there an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

What is the first thing a man of faith does with his new property? He dedicates it to God. Before he builds a better sheep pen, before he digs a well, he builds an altar. Worship is the foundation of culture. Jacob consecrates his piece of Canaan to the true God, effectively planting the flag of God's kingdom in hostile territory. And the name he gives the altar is his personal confession of faith. El-Elohe-Israel. This can be translated "God, the God of Israel." El is the name for God as the mighty, transcendent Creator. Elohe-Israel identifies this one great God as the personal, covenant-keeping God of Jacob, the one who now bears the name Israel. Jacob is publicly declaring, "The mighty God who made heaven and earth is my God, the God of Israel." He is not ashamed of his God or his new identity. This altar at Shechem is a public statement that this land belongs not to the gods of the Canaanites, but to Yahweh, the God of the man who wrestled with Him and was blessed.

Application

This short passage provides a robust theology for Christian engagement in the world. We too have been brought into a land of promise, the kingdom of God, through the work of our Lord Jesus. And like Jacob, we are called to live faithfully in this new reality. First, we live at peace, shalem, knowing that God has brought us safely through our own struggles and reconciled us to Himself. We do not live in fear of the world.

Second, we are to make our own "land purchases." This doesn't mean every Christian must be a real estate mogul. It means we are to take ownership of the spheres of influence God has given us. Your vocation, your business, your home, your craft, your intellectual pursuits, these are the fields you are to "buy." You are to invest in them, work them diligently, and do so with the faith that you are staking a claim for the kingdom of God. We are not to be passive renters in a world that belongs to the devil; we are to be faithful owners in a world that belongs to our Father.

Finally, and fundamentally, every "field" we purchase must have an altar built on it. All of our work, all of our commerce, all of our culture-building must be consecrated by worship. Our work must be done for the glory of God. Our homes must be centers of worship. Our businesses must operate according to biblical principles. We must publicly and unashamedly name the God we serve: El, the mighty God, is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore our God. Like Jacob, we are to declare that our little patch of the world belongs to Him. This is how we, piece by piece, altar by altar, take dominion and fill the earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.