Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that [was] with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands;
Ver. 7. Then Jacob was greatly afraid.] This was his weakness, and may be ours in like case, as looking to the present peril, and "forgetting the consolation," as the apostle speaketh, Hebrews 12:5, that he might have drawn from the promise of God, and presence of angels. Faith quelleth and killeth distrustful fears: but Satan, in a distress, hides from us that which should support us, and greatens that that may appal us. But what saith the Spanish proverb? The lion is not so fierce as he is painted; nor danger, usually, so great as it is represented. Some hold that Esau was here wronged, by being presumed an enemy, when he was a friend. Pessimus in dubiis augur Timor.