He heard that you were coming.
And Jacob himself is right behind us...coming to see his brother [Esau] and, 'Please know I have no fear in my heart and I'm not concerned about any anger.'
(1) ויותר יעקב AND JACOB WAS LEFT ALONE — He had forgotten some small jars and he returned for them (Chullin 91a). (2)...Our Rabbis of blessed memory explained that he was Esau’s guardian angel (Genesis Rabbah 77:3).
(1) ויותר יעקב לבדו, he was the last one to leave from the camp as he was busy directing all his family and servants and chattels to cross the fording so that nothing would be left behind. (2)...The blessing given by the angel here to Yaakov at the end of the struggle, at daybreak, symbolises the synopsis of Jewish history.(See vs. 29)
(א) וישא יעקב עיניו עד ויבא יעקב שלם. זכר הכתוב שכאשר זרחה השמש והוא צולע על ירכו מהמראות שראה ומה שנעשה בו מיד סמוך לזה ראה והנה עשו בא ועמו ארבע מאות איש וראה שלקח לו הדרך באופן שבא אצל המחנה אשר שם יעקב מעבר הנהר עם נשיו וילדיו והוא עמהם וכאשר ראה יעקב שאין המלט מלבא לפני עשו בטח ביעודיו הטובים ובטח גם כן במראה אשר ראה שלא יזיקהו עשו ולכן לא התקין עצמו למלחמה כי ידע שלא יכול לו עוד ולא יתנהו השם להרע עמו אבל הכין נשיו וילדיו ללכת להשתחוות לפניו במוסר וסדר נאות והגון. ויחץ את הילדים על לאה ועל רחל ועל שתי השפחות רוצה לומר ששם עם כל אחת את ילדיה כדי שלא ילכו כל הילדים יחד פן ישלוט בהם עין הרע. ושם השפחות עם ילדיהן בתחלה ואת לאה וילדיה אחר כך כי היה אחרון אחרון חביב ולכן היה רחל ויוסף אחרונים. האמנם יעקב עבר לפני כלם כי הוא היה העקר גם כדי שיהי' עמו בהשתחוות נשיו וילדיו ויוכל להגיד לו מי הוא כל אחד מהם. והנה השתחווה יעקב שבע פעמים עד גשתו אליו כעבד לפני אדוניו וכאשר ראה עשו רוב הכנעתו וטוב מוסרו רץ לקראתו ונכמרו רחמיו עליו ויפול על צואריו וישקהו ויבכו כי בהיות יעקב משתחוה לפניו נפל עשו על צוארי יעקב וישקהו ויבכו שניהם מתוך חבה וזכרון אחוותם והשנים שנפרדו שלא ראו איש את אחיו...
The sun is coming up and Jacob is limping on his thigh from what he saw and what happened to him. Immediately afterwards, he looked up and saw Esau coming and 400 men with him, and Jacob noticed Esau took the route by which he would approach the camp where Jacob was on the other side of the river with his wives and children and [now] Jacob is with them. When Jacob saw there was no opportunity to escape confronting Esau, he relied on the good testimony and the vision that showed he would not be injured by Esau. Therefore, he did not prepare himself for war since he knew he could not defeat Esau, and God would not permit Esau to do evil to him, but he [still] prepared his wives and children to go and bow before Esau as a show of good behavior.
He divided [between] the children of Leah and Rachel and the two servants [Bilhah and Zilpah], that is to say, he put the children with each wife so that the children would not go together - so not to invoke the evil eye.(Lest they all be slaughtered?) He placed the servants first with their children, then Leah and her children, and then last-and-best Rachel, Joseph and the others....Jacob went along with the first group...Esau responded with compassion [noticing Jacob's good form, bowing]...
Visotzky, p. 185
"Jacob thinks the worst and acts precipitously to prevent it, whether it's destined to happen or not."
"Just as he had grown up in a family where the parents played favorites, now he does the same to his own children."
(י) אַרְבַּע מִדּוֹת בָּאָדָם. הָאוֹמֵר שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלִּי וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלָּךְ, זוֹ מִדָּה בֵינוֹנִית. וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים, זוֹ מִדַּת סְדוֹם. שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלְּךָ וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלִּי, עַם הָאָרֶץ. שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלְּךָ וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלָּךְ, חָסִיד. שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלִּי וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלִּי, רָשָׁע:
(10) There are four temperaments among men: the one who says "what is mine is mine, and what is yours is yours" -- that's an [average] temperament. And there are some who say that is the temperament of Sodom. [A second type is one who says] "what is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine" -- [that's an] am ha'arets (uneducated person). [A third type is one who says] "what is mine is yours, and what is yours is yours" -- [that's a] pious person. [A final type is one who says] "what is yours is mine, and what is mine is mine" -- [that's a] wicked person.
Burton Visotzky The Genesis of Ethics (Three Rivers Press, NY, 1996):
p. 190, [Esau] has learned to forgive his brother. Although we are not told, one might assume he has also reconciled with his father and returned to bringing him Sunday dinners, as in the good old days. One can see in Esau a man of vision, high moral purpose, and generosity toward his family.
p. 191, [If Esau keeps to the quality of Sodom (Avot 5:10)...he has grown...only in strength and guile. All that does is make him more dangerous than he had been. Jacob is quite right to be wary.
Source quoted in Joseph Telushkin, A Code of Jewish Ethics Vol. 2 (Bell Tower, NY, 2009)
p. 175-176, "Be careful to help in a way that will not offend the recipient. When Rabbi Yannai saw a man give a poor person an unsolicited donation in public (instead of taking him aside and giving it to him in private) he said to him: "Better that you hadn't given at all than that you gave and embarrassed him" (Chagigah 5a). It is difficult enough for a proud person (and many, perhaps most, people are proud) to accept charity, so if we help someone, there is no reason for anyone else to know about it."