Compiled by Rabbi Louis Ginzberg, it was a near-death experience involving Esau's son, Eliphaz.
Fueled by rage and a thirst for revenge, Esau doesn't waste any time. He calls for his son Eliphaz, who Ginzberg describes as "dexterous and expert with the bow," and gives him a chilling order: hunt down Jacob, kill him, and take everything he owns. A pretty direct command. Eliphaz, only thirteen years old at the time, gathers ten of his mother's brothers and sets off in pursuit. He finds Jacob near Shechem, ready to fulfill his father's command.
Imagine the scene: Jacob, alone on the road, sees Eliphaz and his men approaching, swords drawn. He's confused, unsure of their intentions. "Wherefore have you come hither, and why do you pursue with your swords?" he asks, according to Ginzberg's retelling.
Eliphaz delivers the grim news: "Thus did my father command me, and now therefore I will not deviate from the orders which my father gave me."
Desperate, Jacob pleads for his life, offering everything he has – all the possessions given to him by his parents. He begs them to spare him, promising that this act of mercy will be considered righteousness on their part.
And here, something interesting happens. "The Lord caused Jacob to find favor in the sight of Eliphaz and his men," Ginzberg writes. They listen to Jacob, but they don't let him go scot-free. They take everything – his possessions, his silver, his gold, leaving him with nothing.
When Eliphaz returns to Esau, empty-handed in terms of blood spilled, Esau is furious. Why didn't they kill him?! Eliphaz explains that Jacob's pleas moved them to pity, so they only took his belongings. Esau, ever the opportunist, takes the stolen goods and adds them to his own treasury, but still, he's not satisfied. He really wants Jacob dead.
Esau continues his pursuit, setting up an ambush on the road to Haran. But Jacob, sensing the danger, miraculously parts the waters of the Jordan River with his staff, escaping to the other side.
But Esau doesn't give up. He anticipates Jacob's path, lying in wait near the hot springs of Baarus. Jacob, unaware of the trap, decides to bathe in the springs, seeking warmth and respite. Esau blocks every exit, ready to trap him in the scalding water.
But again, a miracle occurs! As Ginzberg tells it, a new opening appears in the spring, allowing Jacob to escape certain death. This escape, Ginzberg notes, fulfills the words, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt," a passage we find in (Isaiah 43:2).
And just when you think the story couldn’t get any stranger, Ginzberg adds a final twist: a rider, cooling off in the river, drowns. Jacob takes the dead man's clothes and horse, a lucky break that allows him to continue his journey without shame after being stripped of everything by Eliphaz.
Despite being robbed and nearly killed, Jacob doesn't lose hope. He trusts in the merits of his ancestors, believing that God will aid him. And God, according to the narrative, responds, promising to protect him from all evil, day and night. "He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep," God says, echoing the words of Psalm 121.
Before leaving the Holy Land, though, Jacob seeks divine guidance at Beer-sheba. He wants to ensure he's acting according to God's will, referencing the precedent of Isaac receiving permission to leave Canaan in the past (Genesis 26). He avoids the Philistines, fearing a covenant that could bind his descendants. He also avoids fighting Esau, understanding the wisdom of avoiding unnecessary danger, a lesson learned from his ancestors.
What does this story tell us? It’s a reminder that even when we face immense challenges and feel utterly alone, faith and the merits of our ancestors can provide strength and protection. Jacob's journey to Haran wasn't just a physical one, but a spiritual odyssey marked by divine intervention and unwavering trust. It makes you wonder about the unseen forces at play in our own lives, doesn't it?
When Jacob went away to go to Haran, Esau called his son Eliphaz, and secretly spoke unto him, saying: "Now hasten, take thy sword in thy hand and pursue Jacob, and pass before him in the road, and lurk for him and slay him with thy sword in one of the mountains, and take all belonging unto him, and come back." And Eliphaz was dexterous and expert with the bow, as his father had taught him, and he was a noted hunter in the field and a valiant man. And Eliphaz did as his father had commanded him. And Eliphaz was at that time thirteen years old, and he arose and went and took ten of his mother's brothers with him, and pursued Jacob. And he followed Jacob closely, and when he overtook him, he lay in ambush for him on the borders of the land of Canaan, opposite to the city of Shechem. And Jacob saw Eliphaz and his men pursuing after him, and Jacob stood in the place in which he was going in order to know what it was, for he did not understand their purpose. Eliphaz drew his sword and went on advancing, he and his men, toward Jacob, and Jacob said unto them, "Wherefore have you come hither, and why do you pursue with your swords?" Eliphaz came near to Jacob, and answered as follows, "Thus did my father command me, and now therefore I will not deviate from the orders which my father gave me." And when Jacob saw that Esau had impressed his command urgently upon Eliphaz, he approached and supplicated Eliphaz and his men, saying, "Behold, all that I have, and that which my father and mother gave unto me, that take unto thee and go from me, and do not slay me, and may this thing that thou wilt do with me be accounted unto thee as righteousness." And the Lord caused Jacob to find favor in the sight of Eliphaz and his men, and they hearkened to the voice of Jacob, and they did not put him to death, but took all his belongings, together with the silver and gold that he had brought with him from Beer-sheba. They left him nothing. When Eliphaz and his men returned to Esau, and told him all that had happened to them with Jacob, he was wroth with his son Eliphaz and with his men, because they had not put Jacob to death. And they answered, and said unto Esau, "Because Jacob supplicated us in this matter, not to slay him, our pity was moved toward him, and we took all belonging to him, and we came back." Esau then took all the silver and gold which Eliphaz had taken from Jacob, and he put them by in his house. Nevertheless Esau did not give up the hope of intercepting Jacob on his flight and slaying him. He pursued him, and with his men occupied the road along which he had to journey to Haran. There a great miracle happened to Jacob. When he observed what Esau's intention was, he turned off toward the Jordan river, and, with eyes directed to God, he cleft the waters with his wanderer's staff, and succeeded in crossing to the other side. But Esau was not to be deterred. He kept up the pursuit, and reached the hot springs at Baarus before his brother, who had to pass by there. Jacob, not knowing that Esau was on the watch for him, decided to bathe in the spring, saying, "I have neither bread nor other things needful, so I will at least warm my body in the waters of the well." While he was in the bath, Esau occupied every exit, and Jacob would surely have perished in the hot water, if the Lord had not caused a miracle to come to pass. A new opening formed of itself, and through it Jacob escaped. Thus were fulfilled the words, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt," for Jacob was saved from the waters of the Jordan and from the fire of the hot spring. At the same time with Jacob, a rider, leaving his horse and his clothes on the shore, had stepped into the river to cool off, but he was overwhelmed by the waves, and he met his death. Jacob put on the dead man's clothes, mounted his horse, and went off. It was a lucky chance, for Eliphaz had stripped him of everything, even his clothes, and the miracle of the river had happened only that he might not be forced to appear naked among men. Though Jacob was robbed of all his possessions, his courage did not fail him. He said: "Should I lose hope in my Creator? I set my eyes upon the merits of my fathers. For the sake of them the Lord will give me His aid." And God said: "Jacob, thou puttest thy trust in the merits of thy fathers, therefore I will not suffer thy foot to be moved; He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Yea, still more! While a keeper watcheth only by day as a rule, and sleepeth by night, I will guard thee day and night, for, behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord will keep thee from all evil, from Esau as well as Laban; He will keep thy soul, that the Angel of Death do thee no hurt; He will keep thy going out and thy coming in, He will support thee now thou art leaving Canaan, and when thou returnest to Canaan." Jacob was reluctant to leave the Holy Land before he received direct permission from God. "My parents," he reflected, "bade me go forth and sojourn outside of the land, but who knows whether it be the will of God that I do as they say, and beget children outside of the Holy Land?" Accordingly, he betook himself to Beer-sheba. There, where the Lord had given permission to Isaac to depart from Canaan and go to Philistia, he would learn the will of the Lord concerning himself. He did not follow the example of his father and grandfather and take refuge with Abimelech, because he feared the king might force also him into a covenant, and make it impossible for his descendants of many generations to take possession of the Philistine land. Nor could he stay at home, because of his fear that Esau might wrest the birthright and the blessing from him, and to that he would not and could not agree. He was as little disposed to take up the combat with Esau, for he knew the truth of the maxim, "He who courts danger will be overcome by it; he who avoids danger will overcome it." Both Abraham and Isaac had lived according to this rule. His grandfather had fled from Nimrod, and his father had gone away from the Philistines.
