Shabbath Shalom

"And he (Esau) said 'Let us travel on and go; I will go before you.' He (Yaakov) answered him: 'My lord knows that the children are weak, and ...the nursing sheep and cattle. If they are driven hard..., all the sheep will die. Please go ahead of me, my lord. I will lead my group slowly, following the pace of my work..., and the pace of the children....' 'Let me put some of my people at your disposal,' said Esau. 'What for?', replied Yaakov. 'Just let me remain on friendly terms with you.'" [33:12-15]
Esau desired to share the future spiritual rewards in store for Yaakov. His proposal was to share olam hazeh, the material world. "If we travel together, we will make progress." Concerning the future, when Esau was supposed to have dominance, Yaakov being in exile, he says "I will walk before you," i.e. all alone; I will claim my rights. Yaakov declined; he preferred to be junior, insignificant, in the early stages of Jewish history, in order not to fall victim to Esau later on. He pointed to the fact that if "the sheep (i.e. Israel) are delicate" now, then at a time of exile, after such a partnership, "the sheep would surely succumb" totally to the harsh conditions when Esau had dominance
source