Genesis 32:5

5 I have oxen, and asses, and sheep, and menservants, and womenservants: and now I send a message to my lord, that I may find favour in thy sight.

Genesis 32:5 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 32:5

And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and
womenservants
This he would have said, lest he should think he was come to ask anything of him, and put himself and his family upon him; and lest he should treat him with contempt, as a poor mean beggarly creature, and be ashamed of the relation he stood in to him: and I have sent to tell my lord;
of his coming, and of his state and circumstances: that I may find grace in thy sight;
share in his good will, which was all he wanted, and that friendship, harmony, and brotherly love, might subsist between them, which he was very desirous of.

Genesis 32:5 In-Context

3 And he sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, to the country of Edom:

4 And he commanded them, saying: Thus shall ye speak to my lord Esau: Thus saith thy brother Jacob: I have sojourned with Laban, and have been with him until this day:

5 I have oxen, and asses, and sheep, and menservants, and womenservants: and now I send a message to my lord, that I may find favour in thy sight.

6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: We came to Esau, thy brother, and behold he cometh with speed to meet thee with four hundred men.

7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid; and in his fear divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and the sheep, and the oxen, and the camels, into two companies,