And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob.
Ver. 6. From the face of his brother Jacob.] Or, Before the coming of his brother Jacob; by a special providence of God, to make room for the right heir. It is he that "determineth the bounds of our habitations." Act 17:26 It was he that espied out this land for his peculiar people; and that kept the room empty all the time of the Babylonish captivity, till the return of the natives; though it were a pleasant country, left destitute of inhabitants, and surrounded with many warlike nations. Piscator renders this text, propter Iacobum, and expounds it, Because he knew that the land of Canaan should be Jacob's, according to God's promise made to him in his father's blessing of him. But I doubt whether Esau would yield to him for any such reason.