Faith & Family Business

Forgiveness in the family business (Genesis 33:4)

Welcome to my weekly Faith and Family Business reflections, where I (briefly) probe important questions that arise in family business – questions relating to behavior, relationships and legacy – from the angle of a Biblical story. For more information about this series, click here.

Jacob was worried about how his brother Esau would receive him. The last time he had seen Esau, twenty years previously, Esau was mad enough to kill him. Now Esau was coming at him with 400 men.

But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. (Gen. 33:4)

Consider what Esau had to overcome in order to “embrace” his brother. From personality differences early in life, to Jacob taking advantage of Esau’s hunger in the birthright-for-stew trade, to Jacob’s deception and the stealing of Esau’s blessing. Yet Esau not only welcomes Jacob, but weeps with him!

There is always a list of offenses between family members who are in business together. When you feel hurt by a family member with whom you work (and surely you will), the question is whether you will be able to embrace your relative in the months and years after the wrongdoing. Lewis Smedes said “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”

Have you been hurt by a family member? What would it take for you to embrace that person?