Augustine of Hippo : "Let me go, because it is already morning." "Morning" we understand as the light of truth and wisdom, through whom all things were made. You will enjoy the morning when this night has gone, that is, the iniquity of this world. That's when it will be morning, when the Lord comes, in order to be seen by us as he is already seen by the angels. Because "now we see through a mirror in a riddle, but then it will be face to face." So let us hold fast to this saying, brothers, "Let me go; behold, it is already morning." But what did he say? "I will not let you go, unless you bless me." The Lord, you see, does bless us first through the flesh. The faithful know what they receive, that they are blessed through the flesh. And they know that they would not be blessed unless that flesh had been crucified and given for the life of the world. But how is Jacob blessed? In that he got the upper hand with God, in that he held on bravely and persevered and did not lose from his grasp what Adam lost. So let us, the faithful, hold on to what we receive, in order that we may deserve to be blessed. — SERMON 5.7 Caesarius of Arles : Now as to the fact that Jacob came to the Jordan and after sending over all his possessions remained alone and wrestled with a man until the break of day. In that struggle Jacob prefigured the people of the Jews; the angel with whom he wrestled typified our Lord and Savior. Jacob wrestled with the angel because the Jewish people were to wrestle with Christ even to death. However, not all the Jews were unfaithful to Christ, as we said above, but a considerable number of them are read to have believed in his name, and for this reason the angel touched Jacob's thigh, which began to be lame. That foot with which he limped typified the Jews who did not believe in Christ; the one that remained uninjured signified those who received Christ the Lord. Finally, notice carefully that in the struggle Jacob was victorious and sought a blessing. When the angel had said to him, "Let me go," Jacob replied, "I will not let you go till you bless me." In the fact that he was victorious Jacob signified the Jews who persecuted Christ; inasmuch as he asked a blessing he prefigured the people who were to believe in Christ the Lord. What then did the angel say to him? "You have contended with God and men and have triumphed." This was fulfilled at the time when the Jewish people crucified Christ the Lord. "Let me go," said the angel, "it is dawn." This prefigured the Lord's resurrection, for the Lord, as you know very well, is read to have risen before dawn. — SERMON 88.5 Cyril of Alexandria : You see how he does not continue fighting at daybreak. In fact, there is no fight for those who already live in the light. It is fitting for those who have been brought to such magnificence to say, "God, my God, I watch you from the light." And in addition, "In the morning you shall hear my voice, in the morning I shall wait on you, and you shall see me." When the light of justice, that is, Christ, rises in our mind and introduces his brilliance into our hearts, then we also will be waited on as noble souls and will be made worthy of the divine attention. "The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous." At daybreak the fight ceases. — GLAPHYRA ON GENESIS, 5.3 Augustine of Hippo : JACOB FOUGHT AND BLESSED. — The fact that Jacob desires to receive the blessing of that angel whom he overcame in the struggle contains a great prophecy about Christ. For it indicates to us that there is here a mystical sense, by the very fact that every man wants to be blessed by someone superior to himself. And then, how could Jacob want to be blessed by someone he defeated in the fight? Jacob overcame Christ, or rather seemed to conquer him through those Israelites who crucified Christ. And yet Jacob is blessed in those Israelites who believed in Christ, among whom was the one who said, “For I am also an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin (Rom. 11:1).” So the one and the same Jacob was lame and blessed. Lame in the whole length of his thigh, that is to say, in the multitude of those of his race, of whom it is said, “They have limped away from your paths (Ps. 17:46).” Blessed, in those of whom it is said: "there is a remnant according to the election of grace (Rom. 11:5)." [ — QUESTIONS ON GENESIS, Q. 103 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)