[Avodah] esav

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 01:10:38AM +1100, SBA wrote:
: The next pasuk: "Vayira Yaakob me'od vayetzer lo.vayomer im yovoy Esav el
: hamachneh ha'achas vehikohu."  See how the Rashbam explains that.

: I had another look at the Rashbam today. (BTW, the Chizkuni more or less
: says the same thing as the Rashbam.)

: Lulei demistafina, I would suggest that the Rashbam is saying that while the
: Malochim came back to Yaakov saying that they had no doubt that Esav is
: coming with his 400 chevra  to give you a nice welcome,  Yaakov was far
: cleverer than them. 
: He knew Esav only too well and had plenty reason to be afraid.

: KNLAD.

I took a look, and it seems to be explicitly what he's saying (minus the
bit of /why/ Yaakov expected worse of Esav than the messengers did).
But, leshitaso, the messengers were right. Yaakov thought he knew Eisav,
but he erred and prepared for a war Eisav never planned on.

Mind you this only works because the Rashbam not only goes with strict
peshat, but he is also a minimialist when it comes to supernatural
claims. The Rashbam went with mal'akhim as human messengers instead of
the more frequent meaning (and thus default peshat) of supernatural beings.

Had the been supernatural beings, Yaaqov would have known that they
could literally sense Eisav's state of mind (which would be more real
to them than his actios), and trusted their assessment.

Gut Voch!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             One who kills his inclination is as though he
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