בן איש חי – 33:12
“ויאמר נסעה ונלכה ואלכה לנגדך” – “And he said: Travel on and let us go – I will proceed alongside you.” We know that Eisav went to meet Yaakov with great hatred in his heart for him. He wanted to kill Yaakov. How was it that he had a complete turnaround, and he asked Yaakov to travel with him, and they would be friends? This was certainly the Hand of Hashem, as Chazal tell us on the word, “וישקהו” – and Eisav kissed Yaakov – and it was a heartfelt kiss. While at that moment he may have had true love for Yaakov, but that does not mean that those sentiments remained throughout. In Shemos 1:13 the Posuk says, “ויעבידו מצרים את בני ישראל בפרך” and the Gemara in Sotah 11b says that it was “בפה רך” – with a soft mouth. Meaning, that the Mitzriyim at first were very nice to Klal Yisroel. They spoke softly to Klal Yisroel, and gave them much. Their goal was to inculcate Klal Yisroel with Tumah. Eisav initially came to Yaakov with the sword; he sought to kill him. Then Eisav took a different method of fighting him. He took the approach of the Mitzriyim, of pretending he wants to be his friend. Eisav tells Yaakov, “let’s go together”, as if there was love between them, but in truth, there was pure hatred from Eisav against Yaakov. Yaakov understood this, and he told Eisav, “הילדים רכים” – the children are very weak, and I know that you want to destroy them from the inside, and being that they are weak they will not be able to resist you. “ודפקום” – The antagonizers, “יום אחד” will take that one holy day, the day of Yom Hakippurim, the day that the Satan does not have any power over, and you will ruin Klal Yisroel. Klal Yisroel will be so morally depraved because of you, that even on Yom Hakippurim, when the Satan is not there, Klal Yisroel will not be able to achieve a Kapparah, and, “ומתו כל הצאן” – and they will all die. Yaakov was telling Eisav that he did not want his sting nor his honey, for all of it was bad for Klal Yisroel. Yaakov Avinu did tell Eisav, that he would be able to meet up with him in Seir, when Moshiach will come, and Klal Yisroel will be strong, so that the evil of Eisav cannot have an effect upon them.
