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Lord, confessing another Lord, namely his own father and maker of the universe. But Abraham, as a prophet having an accurate comprehension of the one who was speaking, following the things previously set forth, beseeches, saying: “Do not destroy the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous will be as the wicked. If there are fifty righteous in the city, will you destroy them? Will you not spare the whole place for the sake of the fifty righteous? By no means will you do this thing, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous will be as the wicked; by no means. Shall not the judge of all the earth do justice?” 5.9.6 To say these things to angels, or to one of the ministers of God, I do not think is fitting to be said; for it would not be the task of any ordinary being to judge all the earth. But neither is he who was previously described proclaimed an angel, but someone greater than an angel, “God” and “Lord,” seen in the form of a man by the aforementioned oak with the two angels. 5.9.7 But again, neither must we consider the God over all to be indicated by these things. For to say that the divine is changed and formed into the appearance and shape of a man is not pious. It remains, then, to confess that he is the Word of God who has been described in theology through the preceding things; whence even now among the neighbors, as if the place were divine, it is worshipped in honor of those who appeared there to Abraham, and the terebinth is seen remaining to this day. 5.9.8 For those who were entertained by Abraham are depicted in a painting, two on either side, and in the middle the greater one, excelling in honor. This would be the very Lord revealed to us, our savior, whom even the ignorant worship, believing the divine oracles. This one himself, therefore, from that time casting the seeds of piety into men, having assumed a human appearance and form, revealed who he was to the God-loving forefather Abraham and delivered the mind of his father. 5.10.1 From the same. “And he went to Haran, and came to a place and slept there; for the sun had set. And he took one of the stones and put it at his head, and slept in that place. And he dreamed; and behold, a ladder was fixed on the earth, whose top reached to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord was standing on it and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; do not be afraid. The land on which you are sleeping, to you I will give it and to your seed. 5.10.2 And your seed shall be as the sand of the sea, and shall spread abroad to the west and the east and to the north and the south; and in you all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed, and in your seed. And behold, I am with you, guarding you in all the way you shall go; and I will bring you back to this land, for I will not forsake you, until I have done all that I have spoken to you. 5.10.3 And Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘The Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.’ And he was afraid, and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’ And Jacob rose in the morning, and took the stone which he had placed at his head, and set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on its top. And Jacob called the name of that place, House of God.” 5.10.4 This one who here through so many things reveals himself as Lord, and God, you will find next called an angel of God, in the things which Jacob himself says to his wives: “And the angel of God said to me in a dream, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘What is it?’” And next: “I have seen,” he says, “all that Laban does to you. I am the God who appeared to you in the place where you anointed for me a pillar and vowed a vow to me.” 5.10.5 Was he then who said above, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac,” to whom also the God-loving one sets up a pillar, both God and Lord—for one must believe him as he speaks—yet not the God over all, but the second to him, ministering and announcing the things of the Father to men. 5.10.6 Wherefore Jacob also calls him an angel in the present instance;
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κύριος, ἕτερον κύριον ὁμολογῶν δηλαδὴ τὸν αὐτοῦ πατέρα καὶ ποιητὴν τοῦ παντός. ὅ γε μὴν Ἀβραὰμ οἷα προφήτης κατάληψιν ἔχων ἀκριβῆ τοῦ χρηματίζοντος ἑξῆς τοῖς προεκτεθεῖσιν ποτνιᾶται λέγων· «μὴ συναπολέσῃς δίκαιον μετ' ἀσεβοῦς, καὶ ἔσται ὁ δίκαιος ὡς ὁ ἀσεβής. ἐὰν ὦσιν πεντήκοντα δίκαιοι ἐν τῇ πόλει, ἀπολεῖς αὐτούς; οὐκ ἀνήσεις πάντα τὸν τόπον ἕνεκεν τῶν πεντήκοντα δικαίων; μηδαμῶς σὺ ποιήσεις τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο, τοῦ ἀποκτεῖναι δίκαιον μετὰ ἀσεβοῦς, καὶ ἔσται ὁ δίκαιος ὡς ὁ ἀσεβής· μηδαμῶς. ὁ κρίνων πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν, οὐ ποιήσεις κρίσιν;» 5.9.6 ἀγγέλοις δὴ φάσκειν ταῦτα, ἤ τινι τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ λειτουργῶν, οὐχ ἡγοῦμαι λέγεσθαι ἁρμόζειν· οὐδὲ γὰρ τοῦ τυχόντος ἂν εἴη τὸ κρίνειν πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν. ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἄγγελος ὁ προγραφεὶς ἀνηγόρευται κρείττων δέ τις ἀγγέλου «θεὸς» καὶ «κύριος» πρὸς τῇ ἀναγεγραμμένῃ δρυῒ μετὰ τῶν δυοῖν ἀγγέλων ἐν ἀνθρώπου σχήματι ὁραθείς. 5.9.7 πάλιν γε μὴν οὐδὲ τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸν ἡγητέον διὰ τούτων δηλοῦσθαι. μεταβάλλειν γὰρ φάναι τὸ θεῖον καὶ σχηματίζεσθαι εἰς ἀνδρὸς εἶδος καὶ μορφὴν οὐκ εὐαγές. λείπεται δὴ αὐτὸν εἶναι τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ λόγον τὸν διὰ τῶν πρόσθεν τεθεολογημένον ὁμολογεῖν· ὅθεν εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν παρὰ τοῖς πλησιοχώροις ὡς ἂν θεῖος ὁ τόπος εἰς τιμὴν τῶν αὐτόθι τῷ Ἀβραὰμ ἐπιφανέντων θρησκεύεται, καὶ θεωρεῖταί γε εἰς δεῦρο διαμένουσα ἡ τερέβινθος. 5.9.8 οἱ γὰρ τῷ Ἀβραὰμ ἐπιξενωθέντες ἐπὶ γραφῆς ἀνακείμενοι, δύο μὲν ἑκατέρωθεν, μέσος δὲ ὁ κρείττων ὑπερέχων τῇ τιμῇ. εἴη δ' ἂν ὁ δεδηλωμένος ἡμῖν κύριος αὐτός, ὁ ἡμέτερος σωτήρ, ὃν καὶ οἱ ἀγνῶτες σέβουσιν, τὰ θεῖα λόγια πιστούμενοι. οὗτος δὴ οὖν αὐτὸς ἐξ ἐκείνου τὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας σπέρματα εἰς ἀνθρώπους καταβαλλόμενος, ἀνθρώπειον ὑποδὺς εἶδός τε καὶ σχῆμα, τῷ θεοφιλεῖ προπάτορι Ἀβραὰμ ὅστις εἴη αὐτὸν ἐξέφηνεν καὶ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ παρεδίδου γνώμην. 5.10.1 Τῆς αὐτῆς. «Καὶ ἐπορεύθη εἰς Χαρράν, καὶ ἀπήντησεν τόπῳ καὶ ἐκοιμήθη ἐκεῖ· ἔδυ γὰρ ὁ ἥλιος. καὶ ἔλαβεν ἀπὸ τῶν λίθων καὶ ἔθηκεν πρὸς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐκοιμήθη ἐν τῷ τόπῳ ἐκείνῳ. καὶ ἐνυπνιάσθη· καὶ ἰδοὺ κλῖμαξ ἐστηριγμένη εἰς τὴν γῆν, ἧς ἡ κεφαλὴ ἀφικνεῖτο εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, καὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι τοῦ θεοῦ ἀνέβαινον καὶ κατέβαινον ἐπ' αὐτήν. ὁ δὲ κύριος ἐπεστήρικτο ἐπ' αὐτῆς καὶ εἶπεν, ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ τοῦ πατρός σου καὶ ὁ θεὸς Ἰσαάκ, μὴ φοβοῦ· ἡ γῆ ἐφ' ἣν σὺ καθεύδεις ἐπ' αὐτήν, σοὶ δώσω αὐτὴν καὶ τῷ σπέρματί σου. 5.10.2 καὶ ἔσται τὸ σπέρμα σου ὡς ἡ ἄμμος τῆς θαλάσσης, καὶ πλατυνθήσεται ἐπὶ θάλασσαν καὶ ἀνατολὰς καὶ ἐπὶ βορρᾶν καὶ λίβα· καὶ ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν σοὶ πᾶσαι αἱ φυλαὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ τῷ σπέρματί σου. καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐγώ εἰμι μετὰ σοῦ, διαφυλάσσων σε ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ πάσῃ οὗ ἐὰν πορευθῇς· καὶ ἀποστρέψω σε εἰς τὴν γῆν ταύτην, ὅτι οὐ μή σε ἐγκαταλίπω, ἕως οὗ ποιῆσαί με πάντα ὅσα ἐλάλησά σοι. 5.10.3 καὶ ἐξηγέρθη Ἰακὼβ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕπνου αὐτοῦ καὶ εἶπεν, ὅτι ἐστὶν κύριος ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τούτῳ, ἐγὼ δὲ οὐκ ᾔδειν. καὶ ἐφοβήθη, καὶ εἶπεν, ὡς φοβερὸς ὁ τόπος οὗτος· οὐκ ἔστιν τοῦτο ἀλλ' ἢ οἶκος θεοῦ, καὶ αὕτη ἡ πύλη τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. καὶ ἀνέστη Ἰακὼβ τὸ πρωΐ, καὶ ἔλαβεν τὸν λίθον, ὃν ὑπέθηκεν πρὸς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔστησεν αὐτὸν στήλην, καὶ ἐπέχεεν ἔλαιον ἐπὶ τὸ ἄκρον αὐτῆς καὶ ἐκάλεσεν Ἰακὼβ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ τόπου ἐκείνου οἶκος θεοῦ.» 5.10.4 Τοῦτον τὸν ἐνταῦθα διὰ τοσούτων χρηματίζοντα κύριον· καὶ θεὸν ἄγγελον τοῦ θεοῦ προϊὼν ἑξῆς εὑρήσεις, ἐν οἷς φησι πρὸς τὰς γυναῖκας αὐτὸς Ἰακώβ· «καὶ εἶπέ μοι ὁ ἄγγελος τοῦ θεοῦ καθ' ὕπνον, Ἰακώβ. ἐγὼ δὲ εἶπα, τί ἐστιν»; καὶ ἑξῆς· «ἑώρακα», φησίν, «πάντα ὅσα Λάβαν σοι ποιεῖ. ἐγὼ ὁ θεὸς ὁ ὀφθείς σοι ἐν τόπῳ οὗ ἤλειψάς μοι ἐκεῖ στήλην καὶ ηὔξω μοι εὐχήν.» 5.10.5 ἄρ' οὖν ὁ ἀνωτέρω φήσας «ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ τοῦ πατρός σου καὶ ὁ θεὸς Ἰσαάκ», ᾧ καὶ στήλην ἀνίστησιν ὁ θεοφιλής, θεὸς μὲν ἦν καὶ κύριος αὐτῷ γὰρ λέγοντι πιστευτέον, οὐ μὴν ὁ ἐπὶ πάντων, ἀλλ' ὁ ἐκείνου δεύτερος, τὰ τοῦ πατρὸς εἰς ἀνθρώπους διακονούμενος καὶ διαγγέλλων. 5.10.6 διὸ καὶ ἄγγελον αὐτὸν ὁ Ἰακὼβ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος καλεῖ·