“And You said: I will benefit you, and render your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be enumerated for multitude” (Genesis 32:13). “And You said: I will benefit [heitev eitiv] you” – heitev, by your merit; eitiv, by the merit of your fathers. “He stayed there that night; he took from that which was in his possession a gift for Esau his brother” (Genesis 32:14). “Two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams” (Genesis 32:15).
“Thirty nursing camels and their offspring, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys” (Genesis 32:16). “He stayed there that night; he took from that which was in his possession a gift for Esau his brother. Two hundred female goats and twenty male goats…” – Rabbi Elazar said: From here one derives the period of conjugal rights of a woman that is stated in the Torah: The men of leisure – every day; the laborers – twice a week; the seafarers – once in six months.
“Two hundred female goats” that need “twenty male goats,” “two hundred ewes” that require “twenty rams.” “Thirty nursing camels and their offspring [uvneihem]” and their males [boneihem]21Boneihem means those who build them, which also can mean those with whom they have offspring. Being built can refer to having offspring (See Genesis 16:2). thirty; Rabbi Berekhya said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel: Because it is modest in its sexual relations, the verse did not publicize it, but just, “thirty nursing camels and their offspring.”
“Forty cows and ten bulls,” as they need ten bulls. Twenty female donkeys and they need ten male donkeys – why did it place the camels in the middle? It is, rather, as though he [Jacob] was saying to him [Esau]: ‘Consider yourself as though you are sitting on the platform and judging, and I am being judged before you, and you become filled with mercy over me.’22The tall camels, after the goats and sheep and before the cows and donkeys, evoke the courtroom, with the judges elevated over those present.