1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids.
2 And he put the maids with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all.
Jacob, now become Israel, was reunited with Esau after he crossed the ford Jabbok ("wrestling"). The universal law of the unity of all things was fulfilled. The way in which the mind (Israel) projects its thoughts toward the body (Esau) is symbolized by the way in which Rachel and her children, Leah and her children, and the handmaids with their children were presented to Esau. The handmaids were presented first because they represent physical thoughts. Leah and her children, presented next, represent intellectual thoughts. Rachel (most beloved) and her son Joseph were presented last because they represent the more spiritual thoughts.
3 He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
Then Jacob himself "passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother." This means that the intellect recognizes the body as its equal and the body's well-being as necessary to harmonious existence. In his spiritual self man must give his body place as a divine creation and co-operate with it in his evolution.
4 But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.
The body always obeys the conscious or subconscious behests of the mind. "Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept." He refused at first to accept the proffered gifts of Jacob. The body, at first, feels its own completeness and resists the rich ideas that the mind has developed in its unfoldment. Jacob (illumined intellect) said, "Receive my present at my hand; forasmuch as I have seen thy face, as one seeth the face of Gods."
5 And when Esau raised his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, "Who are these with you?" Jacob said, "The children whom Gods have graciously given your servant."
6 Then the maids drew near, they and their children, and bowed down;
7 Leah, likewise, and her children, drew near and bowed down; and last Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down.
The mind must understand the body as Divine substance. This will raise the body to the higher consciousness of its innate divinity. The Divine Mind does not make spiritual union with the body until it sees it as the pure and holy temple of Gods.
8 Esau said, "What do you mean by all this company which I met?" Jacob answered, "To find favor in the sight of my Lord."
9 But Esau said, "I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself."
10 Jacob said, "No, I pray you, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand; for truly to see your face is like seeing the face of Gods, with such favor have you received me.
11 Accept, I pray you, my gift that is brought to you, because Gods have dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough." Thus he urged him, and he took it.
The gifts that Jacob gave to Esau represent the innate abilities that are wrapped up in the body and that can be expressed only through union with the mind. Persons who are skilled in exercises of agility and strength must have the will to win a contest before they are victorious, and trainers are giving more and more attention and assigning ever greater importance to the mental state of their athletes.
12 Then Esau said, "Let us journey on our way, and I will go before you."
13 But Jacob said to him, "My Lord knows that the children are frail, and that the flocks and herds giving suck are a care to me; and if they are overdriven for one day, all the flocks will die.
14 Let my Lord pass on before his servant, and I will lead on slowly, according to the pace of the cattle which are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my Lord in Seir."
The children of the mind are the new ideas ushering in the untried capacities of both mind and body.
15 So Esau said, "Let me leave with you some of the men who are with me." But he said, "What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my Lord."
16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.
Here is a lesson in co-operation between mind and body. This unity is essential not only to the development of the mental and the physical but to the expansion of the Spirit. The body is lifted up and the mind strengthened when they work in unison. The new ideas that bring in untried capacities of both mind and body were now penetrating into the body consciousness (Seir) or the home of the physical (Esau), where the mind will lay hold of the essential physical elements and lift them up to a higher plane.
17 But Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house, and made booths for his cattle; therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.
The name Succoth means "interwoven," "booths," "tents." Booths or tents represent temporary abiding places as compared with permanent houses. Succoth represents the seeming temporary, carnal, material organism of man, which is the fruit or manifestation of the belief that the spiritually blind man holds concerning his physical body.
The abiding, spiritual body will come into manifestation when man learns that he is wholly spiritual and that no part of him, not even his body, is material and subject to corruption. Spiritual, true thinking will transform the present material seeming and will bring forth immortality, eternal life, throughout the whole man's being.
18 And Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram; and he camped before the city.
Jacob again entered the land of Canaan, as the Lord had promised he should, and encamped there. His fears gone--he came in peace to Shechem--he was free to pitch his tent wherever he pleased. So we, studying his example, may overcome the self through the transforming power of love. We may have a vision of the power of God indwelling, and in the patience that this vision teaches us we may cease striving with the personal self and henceforth strive only for the possession of the eternal ideal. Thus we make a new name for ourselves, supplanting the former natural self with the divine self. We find our new name written on the white stone that no one else knows, for it is "I."
When love has preformed its work in his consciousness man ceases to struggle against the seeming evils in the world without and turns his attention to overcoming the Chaos of the world within himself.
19 And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, he bought for a hundred pieces of money the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent.
20 There he erected an altar and called it El-El hi-Israel.
The name El-Elohe-Israel means "God: God of one who struggles with God". The altar symbolizes the giving up of the "mind of the flesh" in individual consciousness to make way for the spiritual so that the spiritual may prevail throughout and God alone may be recognized. Thus, Israel (the true, spiritual thoughts, beliefs, and faculties) may indeed become a prince, prevailing and ruling with God, having power with both God and Man; that is, having power for good in every phase of the consciousness, from the very highest to the most material plane.