Comentario sobre Génesis 32:13

היטב איטיב I WILL SURELY DO [THEE] GOOD — The use of two words denoting “doing good” is intended to signify: היטב doing good to thee on account of your own merits, איטיב I will also do good to thee on account of your father’s merits (Genesis Rabbah 76:7).

AND THOU SAIDST: I WILL SURELY DO THEE GOOD. Even though he was afraid lest the sin cause him to lose that which he was promised, Jacob said: “You have done great kindnesses for me even though I was unworthy of them. Certainly You will do for me this undeserved kindness which You have promised me, namely, that You will bestow good upon me and increase my seed. My sin should not withhold from me the good You have promised me, for in the beginning I was also unworthy of it had You marked against me mine iniquities.³⁵See Psalms 130:3. And You did not promise it to me on account of my deeds, but only out of Your abundant mercies.”
And some commentators say³⁶Ibn Ezra. Thus Jacob’s fear was not lest his sin cause him to lose that which he was promised, but because he did not know, etc., as explained in the text. that Jacob had compassion for his children and household lest Esau smite them, because he did not know whether the promise, And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth,³⁷Above, 28:14. applied to these or to others, it being possible that he himself would escape and have additional children. But in my opinion this is not correct, for if this was his thought, how did he say in his prayer, And Thou saidst: I will surely do thee good and make thy seed as the sand of the sea? Moreover, it was told to him in Beth-el, And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and I will bring thee back into this land.²⁶Above, 28:15. If his children were to fall before his brother’s sword, this promise would not be fulfilled, and it is to this promise that Jacob alluded when he said, And Thou saidst: I will surely do thee good. Similarly with the promise, And I will do thee good:²⁸Verse 10 here. all this Jacob said on the basis of it having been said to him, And I will be with thee.²⁷Ibid., 31:3. But all his misgivings were on account of the fear of sin, for it is the way of the righteous to be always fearful. Thus Jacob was fearful that perhaps even after he left Haran, he sinned by entering into a covenant with Laban, who was an idol-worshipper, or in some other matter, and Who can discern errors?³⁸Psalms 19:13.

ואתה אמרת היטב איטיב עמך; even though You are under no obligation to keep the promise You have made to me seeing that I am not worthy of it, do it for the sake of Your Holy Name which obligates You to keep Your promises (as Moses argued when he reasoned with You not to destroy Israel in spite of their having sinned with the golden calf. His argument had been: “Why should the impression be created that You are unable to keep promises You have made?”) The argument used by Moses he used more than once when he repeated it after the sin of the spies (Numbers 14,16)

Like the sands of the sea. In favorable times the Israelites are likened to the stars and in bad times they are trampled like the dust. But in intermediate times they are like the sand of the shore, which the waves continually threaten to overwhelm, but upon which they are broken instead.

ואתה אמרת היטב איטיב עמך, if what I am afraid of were to happen this would be the reverse of Your promise to me. How can I watch the destruction of my family?

ואתה אמרת, Yaakov’s formulation is reminiscent of that of David in Psalms 119,49 “remember Your word to Your servant through which You have given me hope.”

ואתה אמרת היטיב איטיב עמך, ”and You have said: “I will keep on doing good with you.” Nachmanides explains that although Yaakov was afraid that sins he might have committed would prevent G’d from making good on His promises to him, he refers to very generous kind deeds G’d had already performed, implying that he had not been worthy of these favours. He argues that if G’d had seen fit to perform favours for him which He had not promised, He will most certainly perform those which he had promised him, regardless of any sins he might have become guilty of inadvertently in the meantime. Some commentators claim that Yaakov was concerned as a loving father that Esau should not be allowed to harm members of his family, as it was possible that he would stage a hit and run raid, and only he, Yaakov, would escape due to G’d’s protection of him as promised. In such an event, G’d could still fulfill His promise by enabling Yaakov to start a new family and to raise children. This scenario, as something which Yaakov had in mind with his words here, is not plausible, as if this was what Yaakov had in mind he could not have formulated his prayer with the words “and You yourself have said, etc.,” a reference to people whose very life he attributed to G’d having already fulfilled part of His promise. Furthermore, part of G’d’s promise during the dream of the ladder had been that He would protect Yaakov on all his journeys etc. If his family would become victims of Esau’s vengeful attack, how could this promise still come true? We must attribute Yaakov’s fear as worry only about any sins committed since the promise of G’d had been received as a cause of invalidating such a promise.

היטיב on account of your merits, and איטיב on account of your fathers’ merits. Although the Torah speaks in the language of man, [thus a double verb need not be expounded,] here it is clear that it is to be expounded. For it should have said היטב תיטב, in second person, like העניק תעניק (Devarim 15:14). This is preferable to Re’m’s explanation, that whenever an exposition can be made it should be made. You might ask: Rashi explained on v. 11 that Yaakov said, “My merits have diminished.” [Why did he pray here on account of his own merits?] The answer is: He surely was not praying here on account of his merits, but on account of his fathers’ merits. That is why Rashi adds, “I will do good on account of your fathers’ merits.”

ושמתי את זרעך כחול הים AND I WILL MAKE THY SEED AS THE SAND OF THE SEA — Where, indeed, did God promise him this? Did he not promise him only (Genesis 28:14) “And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth"? But the explanation is that He had at the same time promised him (Genesis 28:15) “for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken about thee”, and to Abraham he had promised (Genesis 22:17) “and I will greatly multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is upon the seashore”.

ושמתי את זרעך, even if only my children will be killed this will be the opposite of what You promised. It behooves You to let them survive for the sake of Your great name, even if I myself do not deserve to survive. We use this kind of argument in our prayers when we say (based on Jeremiah 14,7) אם עונינו ענו בנו עשה למען שמך, “if our sins testify against us, (save us) for the sake of Your name!”

היטב אטיב עמך, it is the custom for Scripture to write the verb in the infinitive mode together with the appropriate mode of the verb in order to reinforce what the verb expresses. According to Bereshit Rabbah 76,7 the word היטב refers to G’d’s support for Yaakov based on his merits, whereas the word איטיב refers to G’d’s support for him based on the merit of his father and grandfather.

Until I have done. Also this verse shows that, “Until I have done that which I have spoken for you,” refers to [what Hashem spoke to] Avraham, as Rashi explained on v. 28:15. Otherwise, the difficulty [remains]: Hashem never said this to Yaakov.

כחול הים, an inaccuracy, as in the verse Yaakov referred to G’d had promised that his descendents would be as numerous as the “dust of the earth,” not like the sand on the beaches of the sea. (28,14) The change in syntax is irrelevant, as we explained repeatedly that when the Torah repeats the same theme with different words, the reason is not to alert the reader to an additional dimension of the message, but only to stress the message, to draw attention to its importance.