The Rabbis of the Midrash questioned the wisdom of Jacob's decision to contact Esau in . Nahman ben Samuel compared the decision to waking a robber sleeping on a path to tell him of danger. The Rabbis envisioned that God asked Jacob: "Esau was going his own way, yet you sent to him?"Genesis Rabbah 75:1–3. Land of Israel, 5th century, in, e.g., Midrash Rabbah: Genesis. Translated by Harry Freedman and Maurice Simon, volume 2, pages 689–91. London: Soncino Press, 1939.
