Esau Rides To Meet Jakob With Four Hundred Warriors

Midrash Aggadah Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 32:7 View source

Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team · Published January 11, 2025

The messengers returned with the news every fleeing brother dreads. We came to thy brother, to Esau, and he also cometh to meet thee, and four hundred chief-warriors with him (Genesis 32:7).

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan does not soften the arithmetic. Four hundred chief-warriors — not farmhands, not a curious retinue, but a military escort of named commanders. Esau was not riding to embrace his brother. He was riding to meet him at the head of an army.

For twenty years Jakob had hoped the rage had cooled. The numbers on the horizon told him otherwise. The twin he had not seen since the day of the stolen blessing was approaching in formation, and every warrior on those horses had presumably been briefed on who was coming home.

The Maggid teaches: the enemy you have been praying about for twenty years may still be armed when you see him again. Time does not automatically soften a grudge; it can harden into organization. Jakob's work of reconciliation was only beginning when the messengers delivered their count. Four hundred. Named. Ready.

Themes

Patriarchs Community Prayer

Biblical References

Genesis 32:7

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