פירוש על בראשית 33:16

וישב ביום ההוא עשו לדרכו SO ESAU RETURNED THAT DAY ON HIS WAY — Esau alone returned, but the four hundred men who had accompanied him slipped away from him one by one. When did the Holy One, blessed be He, reward them for this? In the days of David, as it is said (1 Samuel 30:17) (in reference to an attack which he made upon the Amalekites, descendants of Esau) “[and there escaped not a man of them] save four hundred young men who rode upon camels” (Genesis Rabbah 78:15).

On that day Eisov returned. He was perturbed by Yaakov’s attitude towards him and did not part from him with a kiss as Lavan had done. For this reason Yaakov refrained from visiting him in Seir as he had said he would do.

Eisov alone. Whereas the four hundred men that had gone with him slipped away... You might object: Although Eisov alone is mentioned in the verse, his men are tacitly included, for the verse speaks of the primary figure. [And the proof is that] the next verse says, “Yaakov traveled to Sukkos,” which includes Yaakov’s wives and children. Why does the same not apply here? The answer is: Eisov said, “Let me leave some of the people with you,” and we might mistakenly think that they indeed stayed with Yaakov. Thus, it should be clearly written that they went with Eisov, [if in fact they did]. (Re’m) Another answer: It is written in v. 1, “He saw Eisov was coming, and with him, four hundred men.” Since the verse [specially] mentions the four hundred men, it is implied that Eisov was secondary to them. Accordingly, our verse should have mentioned them, too. But this is not the case with Yaakov.

וישב לדרכו שעירה, dieses לדרכו ist nicht ganz klar. Vielleicht ist es bezeichnend für die Richtung, zu welcher Esau nunmehr in seiner Lebens- und Sinnes- weise wieder zurückkehrte. Es ist ja das letzte Mal, dass wir Jakob und Esau zusammen sehen, von da an trennen sich ihre Lebenswege völlig. Wie das ganze Gid Hannascheh- Ereignis erst in fernster Zukunft seiner Verwirklichung und Vollendung harrt, so war dies Zusammentreffen in dem gehobenen Momente nur ein Wahr- und Anzeichen, wie einst am Ende der Tage sich die Beziehungen Jakobs und Esaus zu einander gestalten werden. Für die damalige Gegenwart und für noch geraumere Zeit hinaus heißt es jedoch: Noch desselbigen Tages zog Esau gen Seir zurück "zu seiner gewohnten Weise". Vielleicht!

וישב ביום ההוא עשו, “on that day Esau returned;” according to Rashi, from this verse we derive that the four hundred men who had formed Esau’s entourage had simply melted away, seeing Esau is described as returning alone. They had clearly still been with him in verse 15.