“The messengers returned to Jacob, saying: We came to your brother, to Esau; moreover he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men with him” (Genesis 32:7). “The messengers returned to Jacob, saying: We came to your brother, to Esau” – you treat him like a brother, but he treats you like Esau.18He wants to harm you, and does not relate to you as a brother. “Moreover he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men with him” – Reish Lakish said: “With him” – those who are with him are like him.
Just as he is mighty and capable of standing against four hundred men, so, each and every one of them is capable of overcoming four hundred men. Rabbi Levi said: He went and took a license from Egypt to collect taxes. He said: ‘If I can overcome him, fine. If not, I will say to him: Pay taxes, and as a result, I will confront him and kill him.’