Genesis 32:19

19 And he also instructed the second [servant] and the third, and everyone [else] who [was] behind the herds, saying, "You must speak to Esau according to this word when you find 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 And he instructed the foremost, saying, "When Esau my brother comes upon you and asks you, saying, 'Whose [are] you and where are you going? To whom do these [animals] belong ahead of you?'

18 Then you must say, 'To your servant, to Jacob. It [is] a gift sent to my lord, to Esau. Now behold, he [is] also [coming] after us.'"

19 And he also instructed the second [servant] and the third, and everyone [else] who [was] behind the herds, saying, "You must speak to Esau according to this word when you find him.

20 And moreover, you shall say, 'Look, your servant Jacob [is] behind us.'" For he thought, "{Let me appease him} with the gift going before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will {show me favor}."

21 So the gift passed on before him, but he himself spent that night in the camp.