Page 477 - BERESHIT

Yaakov sent messengers to Eisav with a message. Despite his evil
surroundings, he remained steadfastly religious. He did not learn from
Lavan’s abhorrent practices and aberrant behavior. He kept the mitzvot
and withstood his nisayon.

What did Yaakov think he would accomplish by delivering such a
message? Eisav wasn’t very concerned about Yaakov’s spiritual level.
How could Yaakov even pretend not to be a wealthy man? And what did
he mean that it was not worth Eisav’s while to hate him? Isn’t there is a
halachah which states that Eisav hates Yaakov?

Yaakov wanted to give Eisav spiritual ‘resuscitation.’ He felt that that the
son and grandson of such great tzaddikim had the potential to do teshuvah.
Eisav’s worthy ancestry could easily have paved the way for him to use
his physical prowess for more spiritual pursuits.

Yaakov sought to point Eisav in the right direction by stressing the real
source of his wealth. Any wealth he had obtained was only in the merit
of his Torah, and should not have been a source of contention to Eisav.