Ephrem the Syrian : 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. — COMMENTARY ON Genesis 30:1 Jerome : (Chapter XXXII.—Verse 1 and 2.) And the angels of God met him, and when Jacob saw them, he said: These are the camps of God, and he called the name of that place Mahanaim. Where these camps were placed, in Hebrew it means Mahanaim (); so that we may know, if it is ever mentioned in another place without interpretation, what place it signifies. And beautifully, as he goes to meet his enemy brother, he is received by choirs of accompanying angels. — Hebrew Questions on Genesis John Chrysostom : 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. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 58.2