“Please save me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav, for I am afraid of him, lest he come and attack me, mother upon child.” (Beraishis 32:12)
Told that Esav was coming to meet him, accompanied by 400 generals, Yaakov was afraid. He separated his camp into two, so that if Esav attacked one, the other would either escape, or come to its aid.
Then, he prayed to Hashem. He asked Hashem to save him from Esav, because he was afraid of what he might do. Then he recalled Hashem’s promise to do good to him and make his children as numerous and innumerable as the sand of the sea.
Though Hashem had promised to protect him, Yaakov was fearful of Esav. Some explain it was because he had gotten that promise when he was a lone traveler heading to Charan to find a wife. Now, he had two camps full of family, servants, and animals. Perhaps the promise didn’t extend that far. Maybe Yaakov would be spared, but not the “mothers and children.” It wouldn’t be “good” if he had to watch the destruction of his family. These ideas are suggested by the meforshim, but there’s perhaps another lesson to gain from our grandfather Yaakov.
While we know Yaakov Avinu to be a tremendous Baal Bitachon, he was also a human being. It is possible that he felt the fear of the wicked in this world, though he knew intellectually that no one can harm you (or help you) without Hashem’s decree. So how does Yaakov deal with this fear? He prays.
He says, “Hashem, please save me from Esav. I’m afraid of him, even though You promised to protect me and be good to me.” Despite my fears, I know that I should not be afraid, because You are in control, so I turn to you.
In essence, when Yaakov’s Bitachon was perhaps a bit shaky, when he couldn’t make himself fully feel confident, he knew the correct course of action. Separating his camps was a step to be taken out of caution, but the real precaution was to turn to Hashem.
Despite knowing in our minds that Hashem runs the world, sometimes our hearts and bodies can’t feel it. What are we to do about it? Follow the example of our patriarch, Yaakov Avinu, and turn to Hashem again and again. When we ask Him to save us, we are instilling in our hearts the confidence that this is the answer to our predicament. Bitachon is something we all must work on, from the actions of Yaakov Avinu, we learn to keep working on our faith and trust in Hashem, because that’s where our salvation lies.
