The patriarchs’ troubles and Jacob’s marked flocks
He speaks of “a most absurd and untimely begetting of children”; although he has not named it, he clearly means that of Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 18:11–14; Genesis 21:1–2). And when he tosses in “the plots of brothers,” he means either Cain plotting against Abel (Genesis 4:8) or, besides him, Esau against Jacob as well (Genesis 27:41); and by “a father’s grief” perhaps Isaac’s at Jacob’s going away, and perhaps also Jacob’s over Joseph, who was sold into Egypt (Genesis 37:28; Genesis 37:34–35). And in writing of “the treacheries of mothers,” I think he means Rebekah, who contrived that Isaac’s prayers should reach Jacob first, and not Esau (Genesis 27:5–29).
If we say that God shared most closely in the life of all these, what absurdity do we commit, since we are convinced that he never withdraws his own divinity from those who have devoted themselves to him and live nobly and with vigour?
He has mocked the wealth Jacob gained while with Laban, not understanding what the words refer to: “And the unmarked were Laban’s, and the marked were Jacob’s” (Genesis 30:42). And he says that God “gave his sons little donkeys and little sheep and camels”; and he did not see that “all these things happened to them as figures, and were written for our sake, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). Among us, characters of many colours, made “marked” by the word of God, live as citizens, given as a possession to him who is figuratively called Jacob. For those from the nations who believe in him were signified by what is written about Laban and Jacob.
Greek
Ἀτοπωτάτην δὲ λέγει καὶ ἔξωρον παιδοποιΐαν, εἰ καὶ μὴ ὠνόμασε, δῆλον δ᾿ ὅτι λέγων τὴν τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τῆς Σάῤῥας. ῥίπτων δὲ καὶ τὰς τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἐπιβουλὰς ἤτοι τὸν Κάϊν ἐπιβουλεύσαντα τῷ Ἄβελ λέγει ἢ πρὸς τούτῳ καὶ τὸν Ἠσαῦ τῷ Ἰακώβ· πατρὸς δὲ λύπην, τάχα μὲν καὶ τὴν Ἰσαὰκ ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ Ἰακὼβ ἀποδημίᾳ τάχα δὲ καὶ τὴν τοῦ Ἰακὼβ διὰ τὸν Ἰωσὴφ πραθέντα εἰς Αἴγυπτον. μητέρων δ᾿ οἶμαι ἐνέδρας ἀναγράφοντα αὐτὸν δηλοῦν τὴν Ῥεβέκκαν, οἰκονομήσασαν τὰς τοῦ Ἰσαὰκ εὐχὰς μὴ ἐπὶ τὸν Ἠσαῦ ἀλλ᾿ ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰακὼβ φθάσαι. ἄγχιστα δὲ τούτοις πᾶσι συμπολιτευόμενον εἴ φαμεν τὸν θεὸν, τί ἄτοπον πράσσομεν πειθόμενοι μηδέ ποτε ἀφιστάνειν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ θειότητα τῶν μετὰ τοῦ καλῶς καὶ ἐῤῥωμένως βιοῦν αὐτῷ ἀνακειμένων; ἐχλεύασε δὲ τὴν παρὰ τῷ Λάβαν κτῆσιν τοῦ Ἰακὼβ, μὴ νοήσας, ἐπὶ τί ἀναφέρεται τὸ „καὶ ἦν τὰ ἄσημα τοῦ Λάβαν, τὰ δὲ ἐπίσημα τοῦ Ἰακὼβ.“ καί φησι τὸν θεὸν τοῖς υἱοῖς ὀνάρια καὶ προβάτια καὶ καμήλους δεδωρῆσθαι· καὶ οὐχ ἑώρα ὅτι „ταῦτα πάντα τυπικῶς συνέβαινεν ἐκείνοις, ἐγράφη δὲ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς. εἰς οὓς τὰ τέλη τῶν αἰώνων κατήντησε“· παρ᾿ οἷς τὸ ποικίλα ἤθη „ἐπίσημα“ γινόμενα τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ θεοῦ πολιτεύεται, δοθέντα κτῆσις τῷ τροπικῶς καλουμένῳ Ἰακώβ. ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν ἐθνῶν οἱ εἰς αὐτὸν πιστεύοντες ἐδηλοῦντο διὰ τῶν ἀναγεγραμμένων περὶ Λάβαν καὶ Ἰακώβ.