Thus Shall You Say Unto My Lord Esau

"And he commanded them, saying." Rabbi Yehudah bar Simon opened: "A troubled fountain and a corrupted spring is a righteous man who falls before a wicked man" (Proverbs 25:26). Like a troubled fountain and a corrupted spring, so is a righteous man who falls before a wicked man. "So shall you say to my lord, to Esau" (Genesis 32:5): Jacob calls Esau "my lord." The Torah teaches proper conduct, to give honor to the kingdom. Rabbi Ishmael said: See what is written: "And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and gave them a charge to the children of Israel, and to Pharaoh" (Exodus 6:13). He taught them to give honor to the kingdom. And likewise our holy Rabbi would write to Antoninus: "Judah your servant inquires after your welfare" to give honor to the kingdom. And so did Jacob do, as it is said: "So shall you say to my lord, to Esau." And Jacob was sleeping, and the Holy One, blessed be He, and the angels were guarding him, as it is said: "And behold, the angels of God ascending" and so forth (Genesis 28:12). And it is written: "And behold, the LORD stood beside him" (Genesis 28:13). Yet he was sending word, "So shall you say to my lord, to Esau." This is what is meant by "a troubled fountain" and so forth. And from where had the angels come? See what is written above: "And Jacob said when he saw them, This is God's camp" (Genesis 32:3). What is the meaning of Mahanaim? Two camps. For when Jacob went to Aram Naharaim, the angels of the Land of Israel guarded him and escorted him. When they reached outside the Land, they departed, and others descended and joined him. When he returned from Laban, those angels who had been assigned to him escorted him as far as the Land of Israel. When the angels of the Land of Israel sensed that Jacob was coming, they went out to meet him to escort him, as it is said: "And the angels of God met him" (Genesis 32:2). The two camps began to stand alongside Jacob, as it is said: "Mahanaim" (two camps). What did he do? He sent some of them on his errand. Immediately they went and confronted Esau and made themselves like two heads of armies. The first company, in which there were four troops, struck him; they fell upon him, beat him, and broke him. He said to them: Leave me, for I am the son of Abraham's son. They beat him still more. He said to them: Leave me, for I am the son of Isaac, who was bound upon the altar. They beat him still more. He said to them: Leave me, for I am the brother of Jacob who has come from Paddan Aram. He began to plead with them and to say to them: My brother Jacob has come after a full twenty years, and I wish to see him. As soon as he mentioned Jacob to them, they left him. They said to him: Are you the brother of Jacob, our beloved? Behold, we leave you for the sake of his honor and his love. Inquire after his welfare for us. When the first company had departed from him, the second company confronted him and did to him just as the first company had done. And so the third, and so the fourth. And from where do we know this? For so Esau says to Jacob: "What do you mean by all this camp which I met?" (Genesis 33:8). When the angels had gone, what did Jacob do? He told them to say to Esau: "And I have ox and donkey" (Genesis 32:6). But did he have only an ox and a donkey alone? From his gift you know what he had with him: "two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats" and so forth (Genesis 32:15). Rather, the righteous diminish themselves, while the wicked exalt themselves. For so Esau says: "I have much" (Genesis 33:9). Of them it is said: "There is one who pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; one who pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth" (Proverbs 13:7).