Kabbalah Library

117) “And he passed before them, and bowed to the ground seven times until he came near his brother.” It is written, “For you shall bow down to no other god.” How did Jacob, the senior among patriarchs—who was selected as a whole part to the Creator and drew very close to Him—bow before that wicked one, Esau, who is on the side of another god? And one who bows before him bows before another god! Did he bow before him as before that fox whose time has come?

There is an allegory that there is a time when the fox rules over all the animals. At that time, even though he is the smallest of the animals, everyone bows before him. Did Jacob also bow before Esau, since this was his time? This is not so. Rather, Esau is like another god, and Jacob would never bow down to that side and to that part.

118) We learn that it is forbidden to greet the wicked first. If it is forbidden, why did David say it unto wicked Nabal? And you said good for Him, meaning to Him that lives forever, the Creator, and not to Nabal, he spoke, while Nabal thinks that he speaks of him.

119) Similarly, “And Israel bowed down upon the bed’s head.” Did he bow before his son? Rather, he bowed before the Shechina, who was at the head of the bed, because the Shechina is next to the sick man’s head.

Here, too, it is written, “And he passed over before them, and bowed to the ground.” This is the Upper the Shechina, who was walking before him, and she is the Upper guarding, which was watching over him. Since Jacob saw her, he said, “Now the time has come to bow before the Creator, who was walking before him.”

120) “…and bowed to the ground seven times until he came near his brother.” It does not say, “they bowed before Esau.” Rather, since he saw that the Creator was walking before him, he bowed before Him, to not give honors, to bow before another one besides Him. Happy are the righteous whose every deed is for the glory of their Lord, so they will not stray to the right or to the left from the straight and middle way.