And he said to him, go, I pray thee,.... Or "now" , directly, immediately, which is more agreeable to the authority of a father:see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; it having been many days, and perhaps months, since he had heard anything of them; and the rather Jacob might be under a concern for them, because of the danger they were exposed to from the neighbouring tribes and nations of the Canaanites, on account of their having some time ago destroyed the Shechemites; so the Targum of Jonathan, paraphrasing on the preceding part, makes Jacob to say,"I am afraid, lest the Horites should come and smite them, because of their smiting Hamor and Shechem, and the inhabitants of that city; come, and I will send thee, &c.'
'and bring me word again; of their welfare, and of the state of their flocks:so he sent him out of the vale of Hebron: the same with the plains of Mamre near the city of Hebron, which was built on a hill:and he came to Shechem: after he had travelled sixty miles.