Genesis 33:12 - Exposition

And he ( i . e . Esau) said (in further token of his amity), Let us take our journey, and let us go ,—but whether he intended to accompany Jacob on his way (Keil, Kalisch, et alii ) or invited Jacob to go with him to Mount Seir (Ainsworth, Clericus) is uncertain. On the first hypothesis it is difficult to explain how Esau came to be traveling in the same direction as his brother, while the adoption of the second will serve in some measure to elucidate Jacob's language in Genesis 33:2 . But whichever way the words of Esau are understood, they amounted to an offer to be an escort to Jacob through the desert regions with which his excursions had made him familiar, since he added, and I will go before thee — i . e . to lead the way.