וַיִּירָ֧א יַעֲקֹ֛ב מְאֹ֖ד וַיֵּ֣צֶר ל֑וֹ וַיַּ֜חַץ אֶת־הָעָ֣ם אֲשֶׁר־אִתּ֗וֹ וְאֶת־הַצֹּ֧אן וְאֶת־הַבָּקָ֛ר וְהַגְּמַלִּ֖ים לִשְׁנֵ֥י מַחֲנֽוֹת׃
Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. And he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two camps.
Tiferet Shlomo
If Esau comes to one of the camps and strikes it, and the remaining camp escapes. Rashi explained that he prepared himself for three things: a gift, prayer, and war. It seems to hint at this without us delving into grammatical details (a) what does the language of "and he struck it" mean? (b) How did such words come out of his mouth? It is not good for a righteous person to decisively say such words, "If he comes to one of the camps and strikes it," lest it be, God forbid, like a mistake uttered by a ruler). However, it is explained in the writings of the Ari zal that the primary sustenance of the wicked in this world is through the swallowing of holy sparks that are within them, and through the utterances of Balaam's words from their mouths they are annulled. As it is explained in the Gemara regarding the matter of "he cast his eyes upon her and she became a heap of bones," which is through the sight of his eyes and the gaze of the righteous one, he removes the holy sparks from within him, and thus he immediately dies and becomes a heap of bones. It is already explained that Esau the wicked had many great holy sparks, which are what he spoke from within him, as explained in the Ari zal about "hunting is in his mouth," which are the souls of the righteous that were in his mouth. And here it says, "and four hundred men with him," meaning four hundred holy sparks were with him, right within him, and therefore this wicked one strived to go out to meet Jacob. But when Jacob our father looked at him, he removed these holy sparks from him and they returned to holiness. And that is what is meant by "therefore I saw your face as seeing the face of God," through the removal of holy sparks to return them to holiness, and thus the power of the wicked one was annulled and he returned to love Jacob, because the four hundred men went out of him. And that is what Rashi means by "and Esau returned that day on his way, Esau alone," but the four hundred men who went with him were removed from him, one by one. Meaning the four hundred holy sparks were removed and went out of him and attached themselves to the One who is holy. And this is the "one by one" of the Shema in the upper unity. And the prophet says, "from the violence of your brother Jacob you shall cover shame," meaning the violence of the holy sparks that you violently took from your brother Jacob, because of this you shall cover shame, because nothing remained in your hand. And it is called violence because he violently took their blood. And here too, through the gift that he gave him, he removed the holy sparks from him. And that is what Rashi means that he prepared himself for three things: a gift, prayer, and war. All three are to remove holy sparks. His action is what is called war, as it says, "The Lord is a man of war," through the raising of the sparks of Egypt, the Lord's name was sanctified, and this is why it says in the Book of the Wars of the Lord, "He gave them at the end," meaning He gave them at the end, the holy sparks. And that which is said here, "and the remaining camp escaped," is the escape of the holy sparks that were within him, they went out to holiness.