Genesis 32:17

Gen 32:17 And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose [art] thou? and whither goest thou? and whose [are] these before thee?

Ver. 17. Whose art thou? &c.] Short questions, such as great ones used to ask {a} {See Trapp on "Gen 33:12"}

{a} Imperatoria usus est brevitate.

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.

he commanded the foremost--The messengers were strictly commanded to say the same words [Gen 32:18, Gen 32:20], that Esau might be more impressed and that the uniformity of the address might appear more clearly to have come from Jacob himself.

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

And he commanded the foremost,.... He that had the care of the first drove, which consisted of goats, male and female:

saying, when Esau my brother meeteth thee; as there was reason to believe he would, being on the road, and him first of all, being the foremost:

and asketh thee, saying, what art thou? that is, whose servant art thou? to whom dost thou belong?

and whither goest thou? what place art thou travelling to?

and whose are these before thee? whose are these goats? to whom do they belong thou art driving? for in driving and travelling on the road, sheep and goats went before those that had the care of them; whereas, in leading out to pastures, the shepherds went before, and the flocks followed, Joh 10:4.

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

Vers. 17-20. And he commanded the foremost, saying (with admirable tact and prudence), When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee! then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob"s; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he (Jacob) is behind us. And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him literally, in your finding of him. And say ye (literally, and ye shall say) moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is Behind us" for he thought that this would convince Esau that he Went to "meet him with complete confidence, and without apprehension" (Kalisch)for he said (the historian adds the motive which explained Jacob"s singular behavior), I will appease him (literally, I will cover his face, meaning I will prevent him from seeing my past offences, i.e. I will turn away his anger or pacify him, as in Pro_16:14 with the present that goeth before me, literally, going before my face. So Abigail appeased David with a present (1Sa_25:18-32) and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me literally, lift up my face; a proverbial expression for granting a favorable reception (cf. Gen_19:21; Job_42:8) "Jacob did not miscalculate the influence of his princely offerings, and I verily believe there is not an emeer or sheikh in all Gilead at this day who would not be appeased by such presents; and from my personal knowledge of Orientals, I should say that Jacob need not have been in such great terror, following in their rear. Far less will now "make room," as Solomon says, for any offender, however atrocious, and bring him before great men with acceptance" ("Land and Book," p. 371).

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

He sent him also a very humble message, which he ordered his servants to deliver in the best manner. They must call Esau their Lord, and Jacob his servant: they must tell him the cattle they had was a small present which Jacob had sent him. They must especially take care to tell him that Jacob was coming after, that he might not suspect him fled. A friendly confidence in mens goodness may help to prevent the mischief designed us by their badness.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

He instructed

"He commanded"

asks you ... that are in front of you?'

This is a quotation within a quotation. It can be stated as an indirect quotation. AT: "asks you who your master is, where you are going, and who owns these animals that are ahead of you" (See: Quotes Within Quotes and Direct and Indirect Quotations)

To whom do you belong?

"Who is your master?"

Whose animals are these that are in front of you?

"Who owns these animals that are in front of you?"

Then you will say, 'They are your servant Jacob's. They are a gift sent to my master Esau. See, he is also coming after us.'

This is a quotation within a quotation. It can be stated as an indirect quotation. AT: "Then I want you to tell him that all of these things belong to Jacob, his servant, and he his giving them to his master, Esau. And tell him that Jacob is on the way to meet him" (See: Quotes Within Quotes and Direct and Indirect Quotations)

your servant Jacob's

Jacob is referring to himself in a polite way as Esau's servant.

to my master Esau

Jacob is referring to Esau is a polite way as his master.

coming after us

Here "us" refers to the servant speaking and the other servants bringing herds to Esau. (See: Exclusive and Inclusive "We")

translationWords

servant

gift

lord

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

עדר עדר לבדו EVERY DROVE BY ITSELF — each species forming a drove by itself.

עברו לפני PASS ON BEFORE ME, a day’s journey or less and I shall follow you).

ורוח תשימו AND PUT A SPACE — one drove before the other at a distance as far as the eye can see, in order to satisfy the eye (the cupidity) of that wicked man and to amaze him by the size of the gift (Genesis Rabbah 76:8).

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.

AND PUT A SPACE BETWEEN DROVE AND DROVE. I.e., in order to satisfy the covetous eye of that wicked man and to amaze him by the size of the gift. In Bereshith Rabbah the Rabbis express the opinion that there is an allusion to the future in this matter: “Jacob said before the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘O Master of the universe! If troubles will come upon my children, do not bring them one after another, but allow them intervals from their troubles.’” On the basis of this verse, the Rabbis thus hinted that the tributes and taxes which the children of Esau will collect from Jacob’s seed will have intervals and cessations between one another.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ויתן, he set

ורוח, according to Bereshit Rabbah the רוח mentioned here was Yaakov’s prayer to G’d that if and when his descendants would be punished by G’d for collective wrongdoing, such punishments would be meted out at intervals and not all at once, to give the people a chance to recover from the previous disaster’s impact.

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.