According to the author of Bereishit Rabba (74:4) the messengers sent ahead by Jacob were of the flesh and blood variety; other scholars claim that they were angels. Remember that the struggle between Jacob and his adversary occurred on two levels: the physical and the spiritual, Esau in this world and Samael in the celestial regions. The latter had an excuse to challenge Jacob's moral integrity for Jacob had married two sisters. We have mentioned that though Jacob had a legal excuse for what he did, it was not considered appropriate for a man of his stature, whose features were engraved on G‑d's throne, to avail himself of such an excuse. Jacob's name on G‑d's throne made a profound impression in the celestial regions…

Jacob's name on G‑d's throne made a profound impression in the celestial regions. We know from the description in Talmud Chulin 91 that in Jacob's dream the two angels ascending and the two angels descending compared the features engraved on the throne of G‑d to the features of Jacob on earth. They threatened Jacob's life because they found discrepancies between the respective features. As a result, G‑d quickly intervened and placed Himself on top of the ladder in order to protect Jacob.

Those Rabbis who declared that the emissaries Jacob dispatched were angels, and those who claimed that they were human beings, were all correct. The messengers dispatched on earth to report to Jacob on Esau's plans and attitude were human, whereas the messengers sent out to scout out Samael were angels of the celestial regions. Jacob sent out angels to confront those angels who were jealous of his image being engraved on G‑d's throne.

Jacob's purpose in dispatching human messengers down here on earth was to humble himself before Esau with words and to show Esau that he accepted him as master. This is why every utterance addressed to Esau was one of submission.

The purpose of dispatching angels to the celestial regions, on the other hand, was the reverse. There Jacob pointed to his moral and ethical merits, his moral superiority over his accuser, Samael. Jacob spoke very confidently and self-assuredly in his confrontation with his celestial accuser [For example: "I have stayed these many years with the wicked Laban and have maintained my spiritual integrity."] Every good deed in this world creates an angel…

It is even possible to understand the Hebrew word for "angels", "melachim", as the very merits which Jacob had accumulated. He "sent" these ahead of him to impress any would-be accuser in the Heavenly Regions. We have a tradition that every good deed in this world creates an angel, whereas every sin creates a destructive force. This idea is expressed in the verse "Your righteousness will walk ahead of you" (Isaiah 58:8). The word "in front of him" in our verse (Gen. 32:4) may well allude to this, seeing that the word is apparently redundant. It would have been enough for the Torah to write: "Jacob sent messengers to Esau."

The words "The land of Seir, a field of Edom" (Ibid.), two names for Esau's territory, allude to both the physical and the spiritual domain. The "Land of Seir" is an allusion to Samael, whose share in the world is the "seir" - literally the "goat", or scape-goat, which is offered to him "as a bribe" on the Day of Atonement. For the righteous…the threat of the evil urge looms as large as a mountain…

Another reason he is called Seir is that Samael is identical with Satan, or the evil urge; to his people [those who are held in his sway, Ed.], he appears like a "se'ar", literally "hair" in Hebrew [from the same three letter root as the word "seir"], meaning as thin and insignificant as a hair. The message is that for the righteous, Mount Seir, i.e. the threat of the evil urge looms as large as a mountain, whereas for the sinners it appears as insignificant as a hair. To carry this hyperbole a little further: When the Torah described Esau-Edom-Seir as completely covered with hair, (25:25) it alludes to his being as full of sins as a fur coat is full of hair. When the Torah also described the destination of Jacob's emissaries as "the field of Edom", it merely described the Esau-Edom aspect, their destination on earth.

[Translated and adapted by Eliyahu Munk.]