In the portion of Chayei Sarah we briefly discussed the number 400’s significance. In that portion, Abraham symbolically took possession of the Land of Israel – which the Sages declare is 400 parsah by 400 parsah – by buying Sarah’s burial plot and the surrounding land for 400 silver pieces.
The number 400 reappears in Vayishlach in a similar context. Esau came to meet Jacob with 400 men so that he could prevent him from entering the Land of Israel, which measures 400 parsah by 400 parsah. Just as in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction for every action, so too in the realm of the spirit. The laws of physics invariably parallel the spiritual laws of the universe.
After the encounter between Esau and Jacob ends peacefully, the Torah reports that Esau left for Mount Seir. Curiously, the 400 men who came with him go unmentioned. Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh explains that once Jacob prevailed over Esau’s angel and then emerged the next day unscathed from his confrontation with Esau, the spiritual strength of the 400 men was dissipated to the point that they actually disappeared from the scene altogether.
Paralleling the law of conservation of energy, the 400 men and the energy they embody were actually transformed by what transpired. They reappeared at a later time in Jewish history as the 400 men who recognized David’s greatness and joined his ranks before he became king (1 Samuel 22:2). David went on to become king of all of Israel and was more successful than any other figure in Jewish history in establishing a kingdom incorporating nearly the entire 400 parsah by 400 parsah recognized by the Sages. (For a more comprehensive explanation of how all the concepts represented by the number 400 intricately connect, see Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh’s The Hebrew Letters, pp. 324-337.)
