Jacob the Sojourner

Jacob is traveling back to Israel after two decades. He hears that his brother, Eisav, is coming after him with four hundred men. Even after two decades, Eisav is still bitter about the "blessing" given to Jacob from Isaac, when Jacob dressed and acted like Eisav.

Jacob sends a message of appeasement to Eisav, 'I have been a "sojourner" for all these years with my father-in-law.' Our sages understand "sojourner" is 1) a reference to Jacob suggesting that the "blessing" of the "fatness of land and becoming a lord over his brother" has not worked. And, 2) "sojourner" is a reference to Jacob's ability to retain his "moral" convictions throughout the entire time he was living with his less-than-holy father-in-law (see Rashi).

What? Is Jacob, someone deeply connected to Hashem, indeed implying that a "blessing" from Isaac and ultimately G-d is something of falsehood? And, how does his saying that he kept his "moral" convictions help in the appeasement efforts of Eisav (who is known to not care much about moral convictions)?

One idea is that Jacob was expressing to Eisav that the "blessing" he received was indeed conditional. Isaac had invoked the name of "Elokim" (the Name associated with strict justice) with his blessing making it dependent on an incredibly high bar of righteousness. Even Jacob felt he had not yet succeeded in reaching this high standard even after keeping all of Hashem's commandments while living with Lavan. But the "blessing" that had been given to Eisav of 'living by the swords and acquiring land' was not conditional, not dependent on Eisav's level of righteousness, and had indeed been fulfilled through Eisav's conquering of the land of Seir. Therefore Eisav should no longer be angry since he got the "blessing" that was most appropriate and it had indeed been fulfilled.

". . . I have sojourned with Lavan and have lingered until now." Genesis 32:5

* Based on R' Moshe Feinstein from Darush Moshe.