Why Jacob Fled and the Hour Fell Into His Hand

Another interpretation of "And Jacob went out." It is written: "Come, My people, enter into your chambers and shut [your doors] behind you; hide yourself for a brief moment until the wrath has passed" (Isaiah 26:20). At the hour when you see the hour insolent, do not stand against it, but give it room, as it is said, "Come, My people, enter into your chambers." Look at Me, as it were: for when I saw the hour insolent through your iniquities, I did nothing but give it room, as it is said, "He has drawn back His right hand" (Lamentations 2:3). And you too, "Come, My people." For everyone who stands against the hour falls into its hand, and everyone who gives room to the hour, the hour falls into his hand. Naboth stood against the hour [and fell into its hand], for Ahab said to him, "Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs" (1 Kings 21:2). What did he do? He said, "Far be it from me, by the LORD" (ibid. 21:3). What was done to him? He fell into the hand of the hour, as it is said, "And the men of Belial bore witness against [Naboth before the people, and they stoned him with stones, that he died]" (ibid. 21:13). Abraham gave room to the hour and fled before Nimrod king of the Chaldeans, and the hour turned and fell into his hand, and he killed sixteen kings, as it is said, "And he divided himself against them by night" (Genesis 14:15). And Isaac gave room to the hour at the hour when the Philistines said to him, "Go from us" (Genesis 26:16); immediately, "And Isaac went from there" (ibid. 26:17), and the hour turned and fell into his hand, as it is said, "And Abimelech went to him from Gerar... and Isaac said to them, Why have you come to me...? And they said, We have surely seen that the LORD was with you" (Genesis 26:26-28). And Joseph gave room to the hour: at the hour when his brothers sold him, he could not say, "I am your brother," but he gave room to the hour, and the hour turned and fell before him, as it is said, "And his brothers also went and fell down before him" (Genesis 50:18). Moses gave room to the hour, as it is said, "And Moses fled from before Pharaoh" (Exodus 2:15), and the hour turned and fell into his hand, as it is said, "Also the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of Pharaoh's servants and in the eyes of the people" (Exodus 11:3). And David gave room to the hour, as it is said, "And David fled from Naioth" (1 Samuel 20:1), and it is written, "When he fled from before Absalom his son" (Psalms 3:1), and it is written, "[When he fled] from before Saul in the cave" (Psalms 57:1), and the hour turned and fell into his hand, for Saul said to him, "Behold, I know well that you shall surely reign, and the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand" (1 Samuel 24:21). And so too Jacob, who fled before the hour: "And Jacob fled to the field of Aram" (Hosea 12:13), and the hour fell into his hand, as it is said, "And Esau took his wives... and went into a land away from Jacob his brother" (Genesis 36:6). Thus, "Come, My people, enter into your chambers."