창세기 33:11의 주석

ברכתי means MY PRESENT — a present such as this that is brought, when one has an audience with a person after an interval of time is intended only as a greeting. Now wherever the term "blessing” (ברכה) is used in connection with an audience — as for example, (47:7) “Jacob blessed (ויברך) Pharaoh”, and (2 Kings 18:31) "make your peace (ברכה) with me” mentioned in connection with Sennacherib, and also (2 Samuel 8:10) to salute him and to bless him (לברכו)” mentioned in connection with Toi, King of Hamath — they all signify greeting, O.I. saluer. So that here, too: ברכתי really means “mon salut” — my greetings and the term is then transferred to the greeting-present.

TAKE, I PRAY THEE, MY BLESSING. I.e., the gift. Likewise, Make your blessing with me⁸⁸II Kings 18:31. means “bring me a gift” or “make your peace with me.” So also, Take a blessing of thy servant⁸⁹Ibid., 5:15. means “take a present from thy servant.” They called a gift which a man sends of his own free will “a blessing” because he sends it from that with which G-d had blessed him, just as the verse states, Wherewith the Eternal thy G-d hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him,⁹⁰Deuteronomy 15:14. and just as Scripture said above, And he took of that which he had with him.⁹¹Above, 32:14. However, a specific gift of that which has been agreed upon as due the king is called mas (tribute).

ויפצר בו, in order for him to accept the gift. Yaakov was aware that bribes sway people’s minds; in this case he used the bribe to blind Esau’s judgment. We encounter the very opposite with the prophet Elisha in Kings II 5,16 where he is urged to accept a well deserved gift and refuses, so that Naaman will know that a true servant of the Lord does not accept a reward for someone else’s accomplishment, i.e. G’d having cured Naaman from his leprosy.

קח נא את ברכתי, the word ברכתי here means: “my gift.” It occurs in this sense in Kings II 5,15 קח נא ברכה מאת עבדך, “please accept a gift from your servant.”

חנני, this should by rights be חננני, that is why the first letter נ has a dagesh.

קח נא את ברכתי, “please accept my gift.” When man sends a totally free-willed gift, מנחה, such a gift is described as a ברכה, a blessing. The reason is that he voluntarily gives away something which G’d had blessed him with. A gift which one tenders to a king, on the other hand, is called מס, “tax.”

You did not need to exert yourself for it, whereas I toiled... I.e., since you did not exert yourself over it like I did, it is fitting that you accept it. “Until it has come into your hand” means: until this time when it has already come into your hand.

וכי יש לי כל, “seeing that I have everything;” he meant that he possessed everything in order to confront Esau if the need would arise to do so. This was because Joseph had already been born, so that he was in possession of fire and flame to burn Esau who has been compared by the prophet to mere straw. (Ovadiah I,18)

אשר הבאת לך THAT IS BROUGHT TO THEE without any exertion on your part. I have myself taken the trouble to bring it all this way until it has reached your hand (Genesis Rabbah 78:12).

אשר הובאת לך, by the servants who have been walking ahead of me behind those herds. Besides, I have all the wealth and honour I could wish for.

ויפצר בו ויקח, “insisted, and Esau accepted.” There is a Midrash which explains why Yaakov made a point of having Esau accept his gift. Formerly, Esau and Yaakov had sort of divided the world into two domains, the here and now, and the hereafter. Yaakov had chosen for himself the hereafter, whereas Esau had chosen the here and now. When Esau now found out that Yaakov had acquired a substantial amount of wealth in the here and now, he was liable to demand in exchange part of the hereafter for himself. Yaakov now offered him everything in order to forestall any such claim by Esau. Esau agreed in principle, but stipulated that in the event that any of his people would want to convert to Judaism that Yaakov would accept such converts. This is the meaning of Esau’s proposal in verse 13 and 15.

חַנַּנִי GOD HATH FAVOURED ME — The first נ has a Dagesh, because it serves the purpose of two נ’s since it should have said חַנְנַנִי as we always find the forms of חנן with two נ’s. The third נ here (Rashi means the third that is pronounced) serves as part of the accusative pronominal suffix (meaning “me”), as (Isaiah 29:16) עשני "He made me”, and as (30:20) זבדני “he endowed me”.

ויפצר בו, he pleaded with him insistently until he agreed to accept it.

יש לי כל I HAVE EVERYTHING — all that will supply my needs. But Esau spoke proudly (v. 8): I have (רב) abundance — far more than my needs.