Jacob and Esau
83
dream, encamping around about him. Jacob sent a humble conciliatory
message to his brother Esau. “And the messengers returned to Jacob,
saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee,
and four hundred men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and
distressed; and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks,
and herds, and the camels, into two bands; and said, if Esau come to
the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left
shall escape.
“And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my
father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country,
and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee. I am not worthy of
[128]
the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed
unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now
I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my
brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he will come and
smite me, and the mother with the children. And thou saidst, I will
surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which
cannot be numbered for multitude.”
* * * * *