And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
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Ephrem The Syrian
AD 373
After Jacob and Laban had parted from each other, “angels of God met Jacob” to make known to him that if Laban did not obey God, who had appeared to him in the evening, he and those with him would be destroyed at dawn by the hands of those angels who protect Jacob. Just as God had shown Jacob the angels that accompanied him when he went down, he also showed him angels when he was going up to make him know that the word was true which God had spoken to him: “I will go down with you, and I will bring you up from there.” The army of angels that God had shown Jacob was so that he would not fear Esau, for there were many more [angels] with Jacob than were with Esau.
Angels. Guardians of Chanaan and Mesopotamia. (Jar chi.)
The latter escorted him as far as the torrent Jaboc. That angels guard different provinces, is well attested, Daniel xii. 1, and Acts xvi. 9. (Calmet)
Michael protected Chanaan and the people of God. (Diodorus of Tarsus.) (Menochius)
You see, once fear of Laban faded and was no more, then fear of his brother took hold of Jacob; so the loving Lord wanted to give the good man heart and drive out all his apprehension. Thus he caused Jacob to see the angels’ camp. “God’s angels accosted him,” the text says, remember. “Jacob said, ‘This is God’s camp,’ and he called that place Camps,” with the result that from the name there was a constant reminder of the vision that occurred to him there.
