Jacob Calls Esau My Lord and the Eight Kings of Edom

"And he commanded them, saying" (Genesis 32:5). Jacob said: Say to Esau, "This livestock which is mine"—do not say they are from the possessions of my father's holdings; rather, by my wages I acquired this livestock for myself, and by my own strength, as it is said, "and now I have become two camps" (Genesis 32:11). And at that hour when Jacob our father called Esau the wicked "my lord," the Holy One, blessed be He, said: You have lowered yourself before Esau and called him "my lord." By your life, I will raise up from his sons eight kings, corresponding to the eight times you called him "my lord," before a king reigned in Israel, as it is said, "And these are the kings" (Genesis 36:31). Jacob said to the messengers whom he dispatched to Esau: Say to him, if you come for peace [I am prepared toward you, and if you come for war,] behold, I am prepared against you, and I have mighty men and men of strong arm who will pray before the Omnipresent, and He will do their will, as it is said, "He will do the will of those who fear Him" (Psalms 145:19). "I sojourned (garti) with Laban" (Genesis 32:5). Even though I dwelt with Laban the wicked, I kept the whole Torah in its entirety; "garti" in gematria equals six hundred thirteen commandments.