“And he placed them in the hands of his slaves, each flock separately, and he told them: Go before me, and leave space between the flocks” (Genesis 32:17). “He commanded the first, saying: When Esau my brother meets you, and asks you, saying: To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and whose are these before you” (Genesis 32:18). “You shall say: They are from your servant, Jacob; it is a gift sent to my lord, to Esau and, behold, he too, is behind us” (Genesis 32:19).
“He commanded also the second, and also the third, and also all that followed the droves, saying: In this manner shall you speak to Esau, when you find him” (Genesis 32:20). “He commanded the first, saying: When Esau my brother meets you…You shall say: They are from your servant, Jacob; it is a gift sent to my lord, to Esau” – Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi] and Rabbi Yosei ben Rabbi Yehuda were walking along the way.
They saw a gentile coming toward them. They said: ‘He will ask us three things: What are you? What is your trade? Where are you going?’
What are you? Jews. What is your trade? Merchants.
Where are you going? To purchase wheat from the storehouses of Yavne. Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi] stood opposite the gentile to see what he would ask, and Rabbi Yosei ben Rabbi Yehuda waited for him. He said: ‘If he says something, I [worry I] will say something else.’23If the gentile asks Rabbi Yehuda a question and then asks me the same question, if I don’t hear Rabbi Yehuda’s answer and I give a different answer, we may appear suspicious.
He said to him: ‘From where do you know this?’ He said to him: ‘From Jacob our patriarch.’24Jacob prepared his messengers for all contingencies. “And, behold, he too, is behind us.” “He commanded the first…also the second” – Rabbi Pinḥas and Rabbi Ḥilkiya in the name of Rabbi Simon: “When you find him” in his greatness.25But if he is no longer in his greatness, approach him differently.
“You shall say: Moreover, here is your servant Jacob, behind us. For he said: I will appease him with the gift that goes before me, and thereafter I will see his face; perhaps he will favor me” (Genesis 32:21). “You shall say: Moreover, here is your servant Jacob, behind us” – that is what is written: “The earth is given into the hand of the wicked one; he covers the faces of its judges…” (Job 9:24).26This verse is quoted in response to the fact that the righteous Jacob calls himself the slave of the wicked Esau.
“He placed them in the charge of the servants, each drove by itself” – why did he not introduce them intermingled? It was in order to astonish him with his gift.27So he would see the variety and the number of each of the species. Why did he not introduce them all at once? It was in order to satiate the eyes of the wicked one.
He came to end it, but he said: ‘Receive’; He came to end it, but he said: ‘Receive.’28Each time Esau thought that the gift was complete, Jacob’s servant would say: There is more for you to receive. “The gift went before him and he stayed that night in the camp” (Genesis 32:22). “The gift went before him [al panav]” – he, too, was distressed.29The word panav is found in the context of distress. See I Samuel 1:18.