Ante-Nicene Fathers — Volume I

Ante-Nicene Fathers — Vol. I — Section 190

with white, speckled, and sprinkled with a dun colour. For I have seen what Laban doeth unto thee. I am the God who appeared to thee in Bethel," where thou anointedst a pillar and vowedst a vow unto Me. Now therefore arise, and get thee out of this land, and depart to the land of thy birth, and I shall be with thee.^ And again, in other words, speaking of the same Jacob, it thus says : ' And having risen up that night, he took the two wives, and the t\vo women-servants, and his eleven children, and passed over the ford Jabbok ; and he took them and went over the brook, and sent over all his belongings. But Jacob was left behind alone, and an Angel ^ wrestled with him until morning. And He saw that He is not prevailing against him, and He touched the broad part of his thigh ; and the broad part of Jacob's thigh grew stiff while he wrestled with Him. And He said. Let Me go, for the day breaketh. But he said, I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me. And He said to him. What is thy name ? And he said, Jacob. And He said, Tliy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name ; for thou hast prevailed with God, and with men shalt be powerful. And Jacob asked Him, and said, Tell me Thy name. But he said. Why dost thou ask after My name? And He blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of that place Peniel,-* for I saw God face to face, and my soul rejoiced.' 5 And again, in other terms, referring to the same Jacob, it says the following : ' And Jacob came to Luz, in the land of Canaan, which is Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. And there he built an altar, and called the name of that place Bethel ; for there God appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother Esau. And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and was buried beneath Bethel under an oak : and Jacob called the name of it The Oak of Sorrow. And God appeared again to Jacob in Luz, when he came out from Mesopotamia in Syria, and He blessed him. And God said to him. Thy name shall be no more called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name.' ^ He is called God, and He is and shall be God." And when all had agreed on these grounds, I continued : " Moreover, I con- sider it necessary to repeat to you the words which narrate how He who is both Angel and God and Lord, and who appeared as a man to Abraham, and who wrestled in human form with Jacob, was seen by him when he fled from his brother Esau. They are as follows : ' And Jacob went out from the well of the oath,^ and went toward Charran.^