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When he returned from Mesopotamia, first, it being now morning, the angels of God met him, concerning whom he also said, "This is the camp of God"; and it is likely that these were those whom he had previously seen on the ladder. Then also the sun, which had set before, rises for him after the previously mentioned passage, in which he who said to him, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name, because you have prevailed with God and are mighty with men," is seen wrestling with him 20 in his sleep. After the vision, then, the sun rose for him. But when he had now advanced and was perfected, no longer in a sleep, nor in the night, nor through an angel, nor yet through a human form, but in the middle of the day and in light God, speaking an oracle to him, says, "Arise, go up to the place Bethel, and dwell there." And in addition to all these things, then for the first time divine scripture testifies that God appeared to him in Luz, and blessed him, saying the things that are written. We will inquire at leisure how after these things, when he was about to go down into Egypt, God again in a vision and through the night said, "Do not be afraid to go down into Egypt." These things have been necessarily set forth by us; for it shows that divine scripture does not readily, nor in the case of ordinary men, record that God appeared. Therefore, neither in the case of Adam, nor in the case of the translated Enoch, nor yet in the case of Noah, nor in the case of Moses himself, is it preserved that God appeared to any of these, although it is written that he spoke with them many times. But the divine word does not introduce that God appeared to any other at all, except only in the case of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And in the case of Abraham, He did not appear in the first oracle to him, but in the second and in the fifth and sixth. And in the case of Jacob, after all the things that have been written. For to Isaac, the Lord, having spoken an oracle to him only twice, it is written that he appeared to him twice, even if the second time was in 21 the night. But it is very clear from the things we have said before concerning Abraham, that one must not refer the visions to the first cause, but to the divine Logos, whom the blessed and divine men were not yet able to contain in Himself. At least to these very men, to whom it is said He appeared, He was seen after very many preliminary exercises. Who then could be the other one who in the proposed passage wrestles with and struggles alongside and, as it were, fights as an ally with Jacob, if not the sacred Logos of God who spoke to the fathers in many portions and in many ways, who alone after the Father is declared Lord and God, who also blessed Jacob and named him Israel, adding, "because you have prevailed with God"? And thus the divine men saw the Logos of God, as also did the apostles of our Savior who said: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, and we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the word of life." Jacob, having seen this word and life, adds, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and my soul was saved." CHAPTER 8. "Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hands will be on the back of your enemies; the sons of your father will bow down to you. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from a shoot, my son, you have gone up. Having lain down, you slept as a lion, and as a whelp; who will rouse him? A ruler will not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until the things stored up for him come; and he himself is the expectation of the nations," and so forth. As 22 of the Holy Spirit, one must hear the word of Jacob prophesying the things concerning Christ and crying out in person the words from "Judah, your brothers will praise you." For that the patriarch was not making his words to one of his sons is clear to those who have paid attention to the scripture, which states narratively, "And Jacob called his sons, and said, 'Gather together, that I may tell you what will befall you in the last days.'" Therefore, he promises to prophesy to them concerning future things. And it is clear in other ways that the words of the prophecy are not suited to the patriarch Judah; for when did he or even

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ὑποστρέψαντι αὐτῷ ἀπὸ τῆς Μεσοποταμίας πρῶτον μὲν ἤδη πρωΐας οὔσης συνήντησαν οἱ ἄγγελοι τοῦ Θεοῦ, περὶ ὧν καὶ εἶπεν, παρεμβολὴ Θεοῦ αὕτη· καὶ εἰκός γε τούτους ἐκείνους εἶναι, οὓς πρότερον ἐπὶ τῆς κλίμακος ἑωράκει· εἶτα δὲ καὶ ἀνατέλλει αὐτῷ ὁ ἀνωτέρω δύνας ἥλιος μετὰ τὴν προεκτεθεῖσαν περικοπὴν, ἐν ᾗ φαίνεται παλαίων αὐτῷ 20 καθ' ὕπνους ὁ φήσας πρὸς αὐτὸν, οὐκέτι κληθήσεται τὸ ὄνομά σου Ἰακὼβ, ἀλλ' Ἰσραὴλ ἔσται τὸ ὄνομά σου, ὅτι ἐνίσχυσας μετὰ Θεοῦ καὶ μετὰ ἀνθρώπων δυνατός. Μετὰ γοὖν τὴν ὀπτασίαν ἀνέτειλεν αὐτῷ ὁ ἥλιος· ἤδη δὲ προκόψαντι καὶ τελειωθέντι οὐκέτι καθ' ὕπνους, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἐν νυκτὶ, οὐδὲ δι' ἀγγέλου, οὐδὲ μὴν δι' ἀνθρωπίνου εἴδους, ἐν μέσῃ δὲ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ φωτὶ χρηματίζων αὐτῷ ὁ Θεὸς φησὶν, Ἀναστὰς, ἀνάβηθι εἰς τὸν τόπον Βαιθὴλ, καὶ οἴκει ἐκεῖ· καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις πᾶσι τότε πρῶτον ἡ θεία γραφὴ μαρτυρεῖ ὅτι ὤφθη αὐτῷ ὁ Θεὸς ἐν Λουζᾶ, καὶ εὐλόγησεν αὐτὸν λέγων τὰ ἀναγεγραμμένα. Ζητήσομεν δ' ἐπὶ σχολῆς πῶς μετὰ ταῦτα μέλλοντι αὐτῷ κατιέναι εἰς Αἴγυπτον πάλιν ἐν ὁράματι καὶ διὰ νυκτὸς ὁ Θεὸς εἶπεν, Μὴ φοβοῦ καταβῆναι εἰς Αἴγυπτον. Ταῦτα δὲ ἡμῖν ἀναγκαίως παρατέθειται· δείκνυσιν γὰρ ὅτι μὴ εὐχερῶς μὴ δ' ἐπὶ τῶν τυχόντων ἀνδρῶν ἡ θεία γραφὴ τὸν Θεὸν ὦφθαι ἱστορεῖ· οὔτ' οὖν ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ, οὔτ' ἐπὶ τοῦ μετατεθέντος Ἐνὼχ, ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἐπὶ τοῦ Νῶε, οὐδ' ἐπ' αὐτοῦ Μωσέως τετήρηται ὅτι ὤφθη τινὶ τούτων ὁ Θεὸς, καίτοι γε πολλάκις αὐτοῖς διειλέχθαι ἀναγεγραμμένος· ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἐπὶ ἑνός γε ἄλλου ὁ θεῖος λόγος τὸν Θεὸν ὦφθαι εἰσάγει, ἢ ἐπὶ μόνου τοῦ Ἁβραὰμ καὶ τοῦ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ τοῦ Ἰακώβ· καὶ ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ Ἁβραὰμ οὐκατὰ τὸν πρῶτον αὐτῷ χρηματισμὸν ὤφθη, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸν δεύτερον καὶ κατὰ τὸν πέμπτον καὶ ἕκτον· ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ Ἰακὼβ μετὰ τὰ ἀναγεγραμμένα πάντα· τῷ γὰρ Ἰσαὰκ δὶς μόνος χρηματίσας ὁ κύριος τὸ δὶς ὦφθαι αὐτῷ ἀναγέγραπται, εἰ καὶ τὸ δεύτερον ἐν 21 νυκτί. Πρόδηλον δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν κατὰ τὸν Ἁβραὰμ προειρημένων ἡμῖν, ὅτι μὴ ἐπὶ τὸ πρῶτον αἴτιον ἀναφέρειν χρὴ τὰς ὀπτασίας, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὸν θεῖον Λόγον, ὃν οὐδὲ αὐτὸν αὐτοὶ πῶ χωρεῖν οἷοί τε ἦσαν οἱ μακάριοι καὶ θεῖοι ἄνδρες· τούτοις γ' οὖν αὐτοῖς, οἷς καὶ ὦφθαι προείρηται, μετὰ πλείστας προγυμνασίας ἑωρᾶτο. Τίς δὴ ἂν οὖν ἄλλος εἴη καὶ ὁ κατὰ τὴν προκειμένην περικοπὴν συμπαλαίων καὶ συναγωνιζόμενος καὶ ὡσπερεὶ συμμαχῶν τῷ Ἰακὼβ, ἢ ὁ πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως τοῖς πατράσι λαλήσας ὁ ἱερὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, μόνος μετὰ τὸν Πατέρα Κύριος καὶ Θεὸς χρηματίζων, ὃς καὶ εὐλογήσας τὸν Ἰακὼβ Ἰσραὴλ αὐτὸν ὠνόμασεν, ἐπειπὼν, ὅτι ἐνίσχυσας μετὰ Θεοῦ; Οὕτως δὲ ἑώρων οἱ θεῖοι ἄνδρες τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον, ὡς καὶ οἱ φήσαντες τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἀπόστολοι· Ὃ ἦν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, ὃ ἀκηκόαμεν, ὃ ἑωράκαμεν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν, καὶ ἐθεασάμεθα, καὶ αἱ χεῖρες ἡμῶν ἐψηλάφησαν, περὶ τοῦ λόγου τῆς ζωῆς· ὃν λόγον καὶ ζωὴν θεασάμενος ὁ Ἰακὼβ ἐπιφέρει λέγων, εἶδον γὰρ Θεὸν πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον· καὶ ἐσώθη μου ἡ ψυχή. Ηʹ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ. Ἰούδα, σὲ αἰνέσαισαν οἱ ἀδελφοί σου· αἱ χεῖρές σου ἐπὶ νώτου τῶν ἐχθρῶν σου· προσκυνήσουσί σοι οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ πατρός σου. Σκύμνος λέοντος Ἰούδα· ἐκ βλαστοῦ υἱέ μου ἀνέβης· ἀναπεσὼν ἐκοιμήθης ὡς λέων, καὶ ὡς σκύμνος· τίς ἐγερεῖ αὐτόν; Οὐκ ἐκλείψει ἄρχων ἐξ Ἰούδα, οὐδὲ ἡγούμενος ἐκ τῶν μηρῶν αὐτοῦ, ἕως ἂν ἔλθῃ τὰ ἀποκείμενα αὐτῷ· καὶ αὐτὸς προσδοκία ἐθνῶν, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Ὡς 22 Ἁγίου Πνεύματος τὸν λόγον ἀκουστέον τοῦ Ἰακὼβ τὰ περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ προθεσπίζοντος καὶ εἰς πρόσωπον ἀναφωνοῦντος αὐτοῦ τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ, Ἰούδα σὲ αἰνέσεσαν οἱ ἀδελφοί σοι· ὅτι γὰρ οὐ πρὸς τὸν ἕνα τῶν υἱῶν τοὺς λόγους ὁ πατριάρχης ἐποιεῖτο δῆλον τοῖς ἐπιστήσασι τῇ γραφῇ διηγηματικῶς φασκούσῃ, Ἐκάλεσε δὲ Ἰακὼβ τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἶπεν· Συνάχθητε, ἵνα ἀναγγείλω ὑμῖν τί ἀπαντήσεται ὑμῖν ἐπ' ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν. Οὐκοῦν περὶ μελλόντων προφητεύσειν αὐτοῖς ἐπαγγέλλεται. Σαφὲς δὲ καὶ ἄλλως ὅτι μὴ πρὸς τὸν πατριάρχην Ἰούδαν αἱ τῆς προφητείας ἁρμόττουσι φωναί· πότε γὰρ ἐκεῖνον ἢ καὶ