And I said: I am about to relate passages of Scripture to you, though I am not anxious to present a merely artistic arrangement of arguments. For I have no ability to do this, but this grace alone was given me of God, that I might understand His Scriptures. And of this grace I pray all of you to become partakers, without payment and without stint, lest otherwise I should be found guilty in the judgment, which God the Maker of the universe will bring about, through Jesus Christ my Lord.
Trypho said: This also you do in a manner worthy of true piety. But you seem to me to feign ignorance when you say you possess no skill in the art of discussion.
I answered again: As you think so, so be it; but I feel sure that it is as I said. But now, that I may the better draw out the rest of my proofs, pray give me your attention.
He said: Say on.
I said It is written again, my Brethren, by Moses, that He who appeared to the patriarchs, and is called God, is also called Angel and Lord, in order that by these terms you may recognize Him as serving the Father of the universe, as you have already agreed, and after being assured by more arguments you will remain firm.
The word of God therefore, when narrating by means of Moses the history of Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, says thus: And it came to pass when the flocks conceived and were with young, that I saw them with mine eyes in my sleep. And, behold, the he-goats and the rams which were leaping on the sheep and the she-goats, were piebald and variegated and speckled with dun-coloured spots. And the angel of God said to me in sleep, Jacob, Jacob.
But I said: What is it, Lord? And He said, Look up with thine eyes and see the he-goats and the rams which are leaping upon the sheep and the she-goats, piebald and variegated and speckled with dun-coloured spots. For I have seen all that Laban doeth to thee. I am the God that appeared to thee in the Place of God, where thou didst anoint Me a pillar and didst vow a vow. Now therefore arise and go forth from this land, and go away unto the land of thy birth, and I will be with thee.
And speaking again in other words about him, even Jacob, He says thus: But he rose up that night and took his two wives and his two handmaids and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok, and he took them and crossed the ravine, and sent all that he had across. And Jacob was left alone; and a Man was wrestling with him until early morn. But He saw that He had no power against him, and touched the broad part of his thigh, and the broad part of Jacob’s thigh was numbed in his wrestling with Him. And He said to him: Send me away, for the dawn has risen.
But he said: I will not send Thee away, unless Thou bless me. And He said to him: What is thy name? And he said: Jacob. And He said to him: Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel shall thy name be. Because thou hast prevailed with God, thou shalt be powerful also with men. But Jacob asked and said: Tell me Thy name. And He said: Why dost thou ask this, even My name? And He blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of that place The Vision of God. For I saw God face to face, and my soul rejoiced.
And again when he is narrating about the same Jacob elsewhere he says this: Now Jacob came unto Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, which is Bethel, he and all the people who were with him. And he built there 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. But Deborah, Rebecca’s nurse, died, and was buried below Bethel under the oak, and Jacob called its name the Oak of Mourning. Now God appeared to Jacob yet again in Luz, when he came there out of Mesopotamia of Syria, and He blessed him. And God said to him: Thy name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall thy name be.
God is He called, and God He is and shall be.
And when all nodded their heads in assent I said: I also consider it necessary to tell you those words which report how this Angel and God and Lord was seen of him when he was fleeing from his brother Esau, who also appeared in the form of a man to Abraham, and in human form wrestled with Jacob himself.
Now they are these: And Jacob went forth from the Well of the Oath and journeyed unto Haran. And he happened on a place and slept there, for the sun was set. And he took of the stones of the place, and set them at his head, and he slept in that place, and dreamed. And behold a ladder set up in the earth, whose head was reaching unto the heaven, and the angels of God were going up and were going down upon it, but the Lord was stationed over it.
And He said: I am the Lord, the God of Abraham thy father, and of Isaac; fear not. The land, on which thou sleepest — to thee will I give it and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the sand of the earth, and shall spread abroad unto sea and south and north and east. And all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed in thee and in thy seed. And behold I am with thee, preserving thee in every way thou journeyest, and I will bring thee back into this land, because I will not forsake thee until I have done all things whatsoever I have spoken unto thee.
And Jacob was aroused from his sleep, and said: The Lord is in this place, and I knew not And he was afraid, and said, How awful is this place. This is no other than the House of God, and this the Gate of Heaven. And Jacob rose up in the early morning, and took the stone which he placed there under his head, and set it as a pillar, and poured the oil over the top of it. And Jacob called the name of the place God’s House; and the name of the city was Ulammaus formerly.Genesis 28:10-19