The Torah says simply that Esau took his wives, his sons, his flocks, and moved to another land. It sounds like a practical decision — too many cattle, not enough grass. The verse even gives an economic reason in the next line.
But Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 36:6) will not let us believe the official story. The real reason Esau left, the Targumist reveals, was that there fell upon him a fear of Jacob his brother.
This is extraordinary when you remember the meeting at the Jabbok. It was Jacob who had trembled all night — wrestling with the angel, sending gifts ahead, bowing seven times, expecting to be slaughtered by his warlord brother and his four hundred men. And now, years after that encounter, the Targumist reverses the picture entirely. It was Esau who was afraid.
Why? Because Esau had seen something at Peniel. He had seen a brother who wrestled with God and lived. He had felt the weight of a blessing that would not come to him. He understood, even without words, that the land of Canaan belonged to Jacob's line, and that staying near him would be dangerous — not because Jacob would strike, but because the presence of the covenant itself would push Esau out.
The Targum is teaching a spiritual physics. When the righteous settle, the profane migrate. Esau did not need to be driven out. The land's holiness did the work. His flocks were the excuse. His fear was the truth.