Genesis 32:21

and say, And, behold, thy servant Jakob also cometh after us. For he said, I will make his countenance friendly by the gift which goeth before me, and afterward will see his face: peradventure he may accept me.

‘ACHAPRAH’ (I WILL APPEASE) HIM WITH THE PRESENT. I.e., “I will dissipate his anger.” Similarly: ‘Vechupar’ (and annulled shall be) your covenant with death; Thou shalt not be able ‘kaprah’ (to put it away)., 47:11. I am of the opinion that whenever the word kaparah is used in association with iniquity and sin and in association with the word panim (anger), it always signifies erasing and removing. It is an Aramaic expression occurring frequently in the Talmud: “He wished to wipe his hands on that man.” In Biblical Hebrew, also, the bowls in the Sanctuary are called ‘Kipurei’ of gold because the priest wiped his hand on them, that is, on the rims of the bowl. These are the words of our Rabbi Shlomo [Rashi]. And so also did Onkelos translate: “I will calm his anger.” If so, the explanation of the verse will [not] be that Jacob said these words, but that Jacob thought to himself, “I will appease him.” It is Scripture that tells us this [but it is not part of Jacob’s instructions to his messengers], for it would have been improper for the messengers to do so and thereby remind Esau of his antagonism towards Jacob. And so did Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explain it.
But it does not appear to me to be correct that Scripture should find it necessary to tell us Jacob’s thought at this time when it is a well known matter pertaining to all who send presents. Besides, if it were so, Scripture should have mentioned this originally [in connection with the first drove, in Verse 19] , And, behold, he is also behind us, for he thought, “I will appease him with the present,” for now [when commanding the leaders of the second and third droves] he did not add to that instruction [which he gave the leader of the first drove].
However, the correct interpretation is that now Jacob additionally explained to them that they should say in a respectful manner, Behold, he is also behind us, that is to say, “Behold, your servant Jacob is also behind us, and he has sent us before him in order to give a ransom for his life, using this present as a means of seeing your honor’s face, just as servants present their ransom when they are given permission to see the king’s face. And afterward I will see his face, for perhaps he will accept me and honor me by permitting me to be among those who see the king’s face.” This was a way of expressing Esau’s exalted status and was due to Jacob’s fear of him. The expression achaprah panav is then being used as it is used in the verse, The wrath of a king is as messengers of death; but a wise man ‘yechaprenah,’ meaning he will give ransom to allay the wrath. And the connotation of “wiping away” attached to forgiveness is not valid in the Sacred Language but rather in the Aramaic tongue. Similarly, ‘kipurei’ of gold is the Babylonian name for bowls, for the word kaparah is never used in association with “sin,” meaning “wipe away,” but instead Scripture says: ‘lechapeir’ (to make atonement) for your souls; ‘lechapeir’ (to make atonement) for him, and he shall be forgiven, i.e., for his soul. And Scripture also says: ‘achaprah’ (I shall make atonement) for your sin. All of these are related to the expression, Then shall they give every man ‘kopher’ for his soul, which means a ransom.

כי אמר אכפרה פניו, this is not what Yaakov said but what he thought in his heart. This line does not belong to the instructions he had given to his emisssaries.

וגם הנה הוא אחרינו, actually Yaakov had intended to flee in a different direction during the night if the angel had not delayed him. At the time he issued the instructions to his emissaries this had been intended as a stratagem to make Esau think that he was following on the heels of his gift whereas in fact he was not.

ואמרתם גם הנה עבדך יעקב אחרינו, he told each of them to reply with the same words in addition to the words that each one had been instructed to answer individually. The purpose behind these detailed instructions was to convince Esau that Yaakov was indeed not far behind on his way to Seir the destination of these gifts which he had sent ahead of him.

כי אמר אכפרה פניו במנחה, these were the words he had instructed the shepherds leading the gift to say, in order to soften Esau’s attitude by Yaakov assuming a somewhat servile attitude prior to their coming face to face with one another.

אראה פניו, an expression denoting the “paying of a visit,” as we know from Exodus 34,23 where the Jewish people is instructed to visit the Temple three times annually with the same formula, i.e. יראה כל זכורך...ולא יראו פני ריקם, “every male of you is to visit Me; when they pay this visit they shall not come empty-handed.” Yaakov himself confirmed the meaning of the formula אראה פניך when he said to Esau in 33,10 על כן ראיתי פניך כראות פני אלוקים, “inasmuch as visiting you is akin to visiting the presence of G’d.” It was an accepted custom for a visitor to highly placed persons to arrive bearing gifts.

ואמרתם, even though this instruction had already been given both collectively and individually, he repeated it again until they would remember to add “your servant Yaakov is following behind us.” Esau was to have the impression that Yaakov followed these shepherds, his servants, on his way to Seir in order to present himself to him.

אכפרה פניו, I want to remove his anger. Every time the word כפרה appears it means the removal of something. For instance, in Isaiah 28,18 וכפר בריתכם את מות, “your covenant with death will be removed, cancelled.” The expression כפרת עון means “the removal of sin.” Compare also Isaiah 46,11.

פניו, a reference to anger, seeing that anger is visible in one’s face. The idea of אכפרה פניו is to accomplish that his face no longer reflect his feeling of anger. We find this expression with Chanah, Samuel’s mother, after she had poured out her angry heart to G’d, having been deliberately goaded by Peninah, Elkanah’s other wife. (Samuel I 1,18) We also find this usage in Job 9,26.