Hippolytus of Rome : What had actually occurred from the action of Jacob was a mystery of the [divine] economy in view of the Christ prefigured [by Jacob], [of the Christ] who, blessed by the Father, has been blessed forever after his [temporal] birth.The words of Scripture, "Besides himself, Isaac was seized with great amazement," have the same meaning as "Isaac was filled with admiration" for what had happened, because he foresaw that the Gentiles, according to the will of God, had to be blessed and take part in the covenant of the promise made to the fathers through the younger son. That is why Jacob, when he was brought forth and emerged the last from his mother's womb, took hold on Esau's heel. This means that by closely following the footsteps of the prophets the last peoples had to take hold of the right of primogeniture, since they are the first ones to be found in the New Testament. — ON THE BLESSINGS OF THE ISAAC AND JACOB 8 Augustine of Hippo : THE ECSTASY OF ISAAC. — Where the Latin codices say: expavit autem Isaac pavore magno valde (but Isaac began to tremble with a great fear), the Greek codices say: ἐξέστη δὲ Ισαακ ἔκστασιν μεγάλην σφόδρα (Isaac was cast into a very great ecstasy). In this text it is understood, therefore, a commotion so great that would produce a kind of mental alienation. This alienation is properly called ecstasy. And since ecstasy usually occurs in the revelations of very important things, we must understand that in this revelation a spiritual admonition was given to confirm the blessing that Isaac had to give to his youngest son, against whom he should rather have been angry, since he deceived him. The same case occurs when, concerning Adam, the great mystery of which the Apostle speaks is prophesied with these words: And the two will be one flesh, a mystery that is realized between Christ and the Church (Eph. 5:31-32.). There it is affirmed that this fact preceded an ecstasy (Cf. Genesis 2:21). [ — QUESTIONS ON GENESIS, Q. 79 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)