Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, and instructed them as follows: "Thus shall you say: 'To my lord Esau, thus says your servant Jacob: "I stayed with Laban and remained until now."'" (Gen. 32:4-5)

I would like us to focus on the phrase "I stayed with Laban" (literally, "with Laban have I sojourned"). The Hebrew phrase is'im Lavan garti, but for the moment let us think of that last word untranslated, and consider the phrase as "I had been ager." I wish us to think of the words in this way because that is how Rashi begins his explanation of the passage:

I have sojourned (Heb. garti): I did not become an officer or a dignitary, but a stranger (ger). It is not worthwhile for you to hate me on account of your father's blessing, [with] which he blessed me (Gen. 27:29), "You shall be a master over your brothers," for it was not fulfilled in me.

You see, in this first comment (midrashically derived), Rashi understands the Hebrew verb garti as "I have lived as a sojourner/stranger"-not what the word means according to context, "I stayed / I lived." Note also that Rashi does notapply the Rabbis' typical (aka midrashic) understanding of the biblical Hebrew ger as meaning "convert/proselyte," the meaning of which, of course, cannot apply here.

So, here, Rashi would have us understand the verse as containing Jacob's admission that the material rewards contained in Isaac's blessing-which Jacob had stolen from his brother-did not pan out: Jacob is returning to the Land as he left-a refugee, and one fearful of his brother's (justified) reprisals at that.

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