Until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, and he forget [that] which thou hast done to him: then I will send, and fetch thee from thence: why should I be deprived also of you both in one day?
Ver. 45. And he forget, &c.] While wrongs are remembered, they are not remitted. He forgives not, that forgets not. When an inconsiderate fellow had stricken Cato in the bath, and afterwards cried him mercy, he replied, I remember not that thou didst strike me. a Our Henry VI is said to have been of that happy memory, that he never forgot anything but injuries. Esau was none such: he was of that sort whom they call πικροχολοι, soon angry, but not soon pleased. His anger was like "coals of juniper," Psa 120:4 which burn extremely, last long (a whole twelve month about, as some write), and though they seem extinct, revive again: -
“ Flamma redardescit, quae modo nullas fuit .” - Ovid.
a Sen., De Ira., lib. i.