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.
Esau ... went into the country from the face - literally, a country, without any certain prospect of a settlement. The Septuagint translators, who seem to have had a different reading in the Hebrew text, render this clause-`and went ek tees gees Chanaan, from the land of Canaan.' In the King James Version something appears wanting to complete the sense and accordingly Knobel, Delitzsch, and others are of opinion that the word 'Seir' or 'Edom' has dropped out of the text.
Of his brother Jacob. This does not mean that he had remained in Canaan until his brother Jacob's return to that country, and then was driven out; for it appears (Genesis 32:3; Genesis 33:16) that Esau had effected a settlement in Seir before Jacob left Padan-aram. But the statement of the sacred historian seems to be this, that Esau having been apprised by his father that he was not the destined heir of Canaan, had early begun to look out a domain for himself elsewhere; and having, doubtless, through the influence of his father-in-law, Ishmael, succeeded in attaining that consummation of his wishes, he withdrew the cattle and other property he had possessed in Palestine to his adopted land, so that it might be said, on his removal from Canaan, that 'he went into the country (Edom) from the face of his brother Jacob.'
The design of this historical sketch of Esau and his family is to show how the promise (Genesis 27:39-40) was fulfilled. In temporal prosperity he far exceeds his brother; and it is remarkable that, in the overruling providence of God, the vast increase of his worldly substance was the occasion of his leaving Canaan, and thus making way for the return of Jacob.