Against Celsus 4.43

He speaks of “a most absurd and untimely begetting of children,” and though he did not name it, it is clear that he means that of Abraham and Sarah. And throwing in “the plots of brothers,” he means either Cain's plot against Abel or, besides this, Esau's against Jacob; and “a father's grief,” perhaps Isaac's at Jacob's departure, and perhaps also Jacob's because of Joseph's being sold into Egypt. And in recording “the treacheries of mothers” he means, I think, Rebecca, who contrived that Isaac's blessings should come not upon Esau but upon Jacob. If we say that God was very close to all these, living among them, what absurdity do we commit in being persuaded that he never withdraws his divinity from those devoted to him with a good and steadfast life? He mocked Jacob's acquisition of property with Laban, not understanding to what the words refer: “And the unmarked were Laban's, and the marked were Jacob's.” 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 types, and were written for our sake, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” Among us the varied characters, made “marked” by the Word of God, live as citizens, given as a possession to the one figuratively called Jacob. For those from the nations who believe in him were signified by what is recorded about Laban and Jacob.