“The wicked flee without a pursuer, but the righteous will be secure as a young lion” (Proverbs 28:1) – the wicked flee, but no one pursues them, as it is written: “[Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, all the members of his household, his livestock, all his animals, and all his possessions that he acquired in the land of Canaan,] and went to a land” (Genesis 36:6). Rabbi Elazar said: Due to a promissory note.2When God promised the Land of Israel to Abraham, he also stated that his descendants would be oppressed for many years in a strange land (see Genesis 15:6–16).
Esau was willing to leave the Land of Israel and his claim to it so as not to have to endure that part of the prophecy. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Due to the shame.3The shame of selling the birthright to Jacob. “But the righteous will be secure as a young lion” – “Jacob settled.”