מדרש אויף בראשית 32:17

“He said: If Esau will come upon the one camp, and smite it, the remaining camp will escape” (Genesis 32:9).
“And Jacob said: the Lord of my father Abraham, and the Lord of my father Isaac, God who told me: Go back to your land and your birthright, and I will benefit you" (Genesis 32:10).
“Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, mother, and children, alike” (Genesis 32:12).
“He said: If Esau will come upon the one camp, and smite it” – at that moment, our patriarch Jacob said before the Holy One blessed be He: ‘Master of the universe, it is written in Your Torah: “A bull or a sheep, it and its offspring you shall not slaughter on one day” (Leviticus 22:28). If this wicked one comes and eradicates my children and their mothers as one, the Torah scroll that You are destined to give on Mount Sinai, who will read it? I implore You, deliver me from his hand, “lest he come and smite me mother and children alike,”’ as it is stated: “Deliver me, please.”
“And Jacob slept there on that night, and he took from what he had as a present for his brother Esau” (Genesis 32:14).
What did he [Jacob] do? He arose and sent him a gift in order to blind his eyes, as it is stated: “As the bribe will blind the eyes of the wise” (Deuteronomy 16:19), and the wise are none other than Edomites, as it is stated: “I will eliminate the wise from Edom and understanding from the mountain of Esau” (Obadiah 1:8).
“Two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams” (Genesis 32:15).
“Nursing camels and their offspring thirty, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys” (Genesis 32:16).
“He placed them in the charge of his servants, each drove by itself; he said to his servants: Go ahead of me, and maintain a distance between one drove and the other drove” (Genesis 32:17).
“He placed them in the charge of his servants, each drove by itself.” What is: “Maintain a distance”? Jacob said before the Holy One blessed be He: ‘Master of the universe, if troubles will befall my descendants, do not bring them one after another, but rather, create distance for them between their troubles.’
At that moment, Jacob lifted his eyes sand saw that Esau was coming from afar, and he directed his eyes heavenward, wept, and requested mercy from before the Holy One blessed be He. He heard his prayer and promised him that he would deliver him²²Him and his descendants. from all his troubles due to Jacob’s merit, as it is stated: “The Lord will answer you at a time of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob will fortify you” (Psalms 20:2).

“And he placed them in the hands of his slaves, each flock separately, and he told them: Go before me, and leave space between the flocks” (Genesis 32:17).
“He commanded the first, saying: When Esau my brother meets you, and asks you, saying: To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and whose are these before you” (Genesis 32:18).
“You shall say: They are from your servant, Jacob; it is a gift sent to my lord, to Esau and, behold, he too, is behind us” (Genesis 32:19).
“He commanded also the second, and also the third, and also all that followed the droves, saying: In this manner shall you speak to Esau, when you find him” (Genesis 32:20).
“He commanded the first, saying: When Esau my brother meets you…You shall say: They are from your servant, Jacob; it is a gift sent to my lord, to Esau” – Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi] and Rabbi Yosei ben Rabbi Yehuda were walking along the way. They saw a gentile coming toward them. They said: ‘He will ask us three things: What are you? What is your trade? Where are you going?’ What are you? Jews. What is your trade? Merchants. Where are you going? To purchase wheat from the storehouses of Yavne. Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi] stood opposite the gentile to see what he would ask, and Rabbi Yosei ben Rabbi Yehuda waited for him. He said: ‘If he says something, I [worry I] will say something else.’²³If the gentile asks Rabbi Yehuda a question and then asks me the same question, if I don’t hear Rabbi Yehuda’s answer and I give a different answer, we may appear suspicious. He said to him: ‘From where do you know this?’ He said to him: ‘From Jacob our patriarch.’²⁴Jacob prepared his messengers for all contingencies. “And, behold, he too, is behind us.” “He commanded the first…also the second” – Rabbi Pinḥas and Rabbi Ḥilkiya in the name of Rabbi Simon: “When you find him” in his greatness.²⁵But if he is no longer in his greatness, approach him differently.
“You shall say: Moreover, here is your servant Jacob, behind us. For he said: I will appease him with the gift that goes before me, and thereafter I will see his face; perhaps he will favor me” (Genesis 32:21).
“You shall say: Moreover, here is your servant Jacob, behind us” – that is what is written: “The earth is given into the hand of the wicked one; he covers the faces of its judges…” (Job 9:24).²⁶This verse is quoted in response to the fact that the righteous Jacob calls himself the slave of the wicked Esau.
“He placed them in the charge of the servants, each drove by itself” – why did he not introduce them intermingled? It was in order to astonish him with his gift.²⁷So he would see the variety and the number of each of the species. Why did he not introduce them all at once? It was in order to satiate the eyes of the wicked one. He came to end it, but he said: ‘Receive’; He came to end it, but he said: ‘Receive.’²⁸Each time Esau thought that the gift was complete, Jacob’s servant would say: There is more for you to receive.
“The gift went before him and he stayed that night in the camp” (Genesis 32:22).
“The gift went before him [al panav]” – he, too, was distressed.²⁹The word panav is found in the context of distress. See I Samuel 1:18.