<div>SBA wrote: </div>
<div><em>32:8/9 - 'Vayachatz es ha'am'...'vehoyo hamachneh hanishor lifleita'.<br>Yaakov split up his camp into 2 (and according to the Midrash - <span class="st" id="st" name="st">a</span> day's<br>
travel apart from each other).<br><br>Presumably Yaakov's main concern here in doing this 'yachatz' wasn't to save<br>his cattle or his servants - but rather his wives and children.<br><br>But what do we see further
<span class="st" id="st" name="st">on</span> 33:1/2 ?<br>"Vayachatz es hayeladim" (BTW, there's that word again), but he had all the<br>wives and children together welcoming Esav !<br><br>So what then was the purpose of the 'shney machnos'?
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<div>I just saw your question, but always assumed that the need for two camps was no longer applicable after Yaakov defeated the malach, so Yaakov recombined them before eventually reaching Eisav...<br> </div>