Genesis 33:12-17

"And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee. And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and that the flocks and herds with me have their young; and if they overdrive them one day, all the flocks will die. Let my Lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant; and I will lead gently, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come unto my Lord unto Seir. And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find favor in the sight of my lord. So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him a house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth."

The brothers parted amicably in this scene. The offer of an escort by Esau was probably in good faith, but it would have been an embarrassment to Jacob. And, besides, there could have developed friction between his men and those of Esau. When Esau understood Jacob's unwillingness to receive it, he left off suggestions and returned on the way to Seir.

"Until I come unto my lord unto Seir ..." The meaning of this, like that of many things in the passage, is disputed. Some credit Jacob with a deceptive falsehood here, alleging that he never had any intention of going to Seir. It is more likely that Esau had invited Jacob to visit him in Seir, and that this is Jacob's promise to do so, a promise that he might very well have kept. "They could, and no doubt did, continue to see each other."[18] That Esau fully understood this is likely. After all, he had not invited him to bring his cattle and all his family to Seir, which would have been what Jacob did if he had followed Esau to Seir at this time. There is no justification for the judgment that, "Jacob here made a promise he had no intention of keeping."[19]