The Fox Who Forgot His Fables and Jacob Bowing Seven Times

"And Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming" (Genesis 33:1). Rabbi Levi said: the lion was angry at the domestic and wild beasts. They said: who will go and appease him? They said: let this fox go, for he knows three hundred fables and he will appease him. They said to him: go. He went a little way and stopped. They said to him: why are you standing? He said to them: I have forgotten a hundred. They said to him: you still have two hundred fables. He went a little way and stopped. They said to him: why are you standing? He said to them: I have forgotten two hundred. They said to him: you still have a hundred. When he reached there he said to them: I have forgotten them all, so let each one appease for his own self. So Jacob said: I have strength in me to arrange prayer, I have strength in me to wage war. And when he came to "and he divided the children" (Genesis 33:1), he said to them: let each one's own merit stand for him. "And he put the maidservants and their children first" (Genesis 33:2). This says: the last is the most beloved. "And he himself passed over before them" (Genesis 33:3). This is what is written, "as a father has compassion on his children" (Psalms 103:13), like the most compassionate of the fathers, this is Jacob, "and he himself passed over before them." Better that the trouble reach me and not them. "And he bowed to the ground seven times": why seven? Because of "for a righteous man falls seven times and rises" (Proverbs 24:16).