Genesis 32:19

19 Jacob ordered the second servant, the third servant, and all the other servants to do the same thing. He said, "Say the same thing to Esau when you meet him.

Genesis 32:19 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 32:19

And so commanded he the second and third
Those who had the care of the second and third droves, he ordered them to say the same things, and in the same words as he had the first: and all that followed the droves;
either all that were with the principal driver; that if any of them should happen to be interrogated first, they might know what to answer; or those that followed the other droves, besides the three mentioned, which countenances Aben Ezra's notion of five droves, before observed: saying, on this manner shall you speak to Esau, when you find him;
that is, when they met him and perceived it was he that put questions to them.

Genesis 32:19 In-Context

17 Jacob gave them their orders. To the servant with the first group of animals he said, "My brother Esau will come to you and ask, 'Whose servant are you? Where are you going and whose animals are these?'

18 Then you will answer, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. He sent them as a gift to you, my master Esau, and he also is coming behind us.'"

19 Jacob ordered the second servant, the third servant, and all the other servants to do the same thing. He said, "Say the same thing to Esau when you meet him.

20 Say, 'Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.'" Jacob thought, "If I send these gifts ahead of me, maybe Esau will forgive me. Then when I see him, perhaps he will accept me."

21 So Jacob sent the gifts to Esau, but he himself stayed that night in the camp.