Genesis 32:16

Gen 32:16 And he delivered [them] into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.

Ver. 16. Every drove by themselves.] That Esau, having occasion of viewing the present, questioning the servants, and hearing Jacob’s submission, might be somewhat mollified, and his anger abated. "Be wise as serpents". {Mat 10:16}

“Ut fragilis glacies, occidit ira mora.”

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

every drove by themselves--There was great prudence in this arrangement; for the present would thus have a more imposing appearance; Esau's passion would have time to cool as he passed each successive company; and if the first was refused, the others would hasten back to convey a timely warning.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(16) A space.—Heb., a breathing place. These paration of the droves would be a matter of course, as each kind would travel peaceably onward only by itself. But Jacob rightly concluded that the repeated acknowledgment of Esau as his lord, added to the great value of the gift, would fill his brother’s heart with friendly feelings, and perhaps therefore he put a longer space than usual between the successive droves.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he delivered them into the hand of his servants,.... To present them to Esau as from him:

every drove by themselves; there seems to have been three droves, see Gen 32:19; very probably the two hundred and twenty goats, male and female, were in the first drove; and the two hundred and twenty sheep, ewes, and rams, were in the second drove; and the thirty camels, with their colts, and the fifty cows and bulls, with the twenty she asses and ten foals, which made in all one hundred and forty, were in the third drove: though Aben Ezra thinks there were five droves; nor is it improbable, the goats in one drove, the sheep in another, the camels and colts in a third, and the kine and bulls might make a fourth, and the asses with their foals a fifth:

and saith unto his servants, pass over before me: over the brook Jabbok, Gen 32:22, a day's journey or less before him, as Jarchi observes, or rather a night's journey, as seems by the context; for these were sent out at evening, and Jacob stayed behind all night, as appears by what follows:

and put a space betwixt drove and drove; his meaning is, that they should not follow each other closely; but that there should be a considerable distance between them, and which he would have them careful to keep: his view in this was, partly to prolong time, Esau stopping, as he supposed he would, at each drove, and asking questions of the men; and partly that he might the better and more distinctly observe the largeness of his present, and his munificence in it, and so, both by the present, and by the frequent repetition of his submission to him as his servant, his wrath, if he came out in it, would be gradually abated, and before he came to him he would be in a disposition to receive him with some marks of affection and kindness, as he did.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That his gift might be represented to Esau with most advantage, and his mind might by little and little be sweetened towards him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And he delivered them into the Band of his servants, every drove by themselves (literally, drove and drove separately); and said unto his servants, Passover (the river Jabbok) before me, and put a space (literally, a breathing-place) betwixt drove and drove as is still the manner with Oriental shepherds (cf. "Land and Book," p. 331).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

גמלים מיניקות MILCH CAMELS שלשים THIRTY, ובניהם means AND THEIR COLTS with them — A Midrashic explanation of ובניהם is that it is the same as וּבַנָּאֵיהֶם their builders (those that build them up) i.e., one male for each female. Because, however, it (the camel) is chaste in its ways Scripture does not state this plainly (Genesis Rabbah 76:7) but employs a term from which it may be inferred.

ועירים means MALE ASSES.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

גמלים מיניקות, we did not know why Yaakov sent along young camels that were so tender that they still depended on mothers’ milk. (according to the words of the author Yaakov also sent such young male calves and male donkeys with their mother animals.) ובניהם together with their young there were a total of 30 camels. The number of animals in each herd was proportionate to the respective size of Yaakov’s total herds of that category of animal. Seeing that he owned relatively few camels, his gift of camels represented a certain percentage of the total number of camels he owned. The reason why the Torah bothered to give us the details of the gift Yaakov sent to his brother was to show us that he sent a substantial gift, and to teach us that if we ever need to atone for having deeply hurt someone and to hope that he will forgive us, it is appropriate to demonstrate our contriteness not so much with words as with a gift of substantial proportions. Yaakov enhanced the impression his gift made upon Esau by leaving a good amount of space between each of the flocks, making Esau feel repeatedly that he had already seen the whole gift, only to find that more was to follow. Bereshit Rabbah 76,8 also addresses the question of the space between the herds which Yaakov insisted the messengers must allow for. According to the Midrash he wanted Esau to feast his eyes on the size of the gift. When one part of the gift had been received and he thought that he had seen it all, another messenger with another herd would appear and request that Esau accept his herd as a gift from Yaakov.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.