The Magic Flock

Rabbi Hunya said: He appeared to him in the form of a shepherd. This one had a flock and that one had a flock; this one had camels and that one had camels. He said to him: Take your flock across first, and afterward I will take mine across. Our father Jacob took his across. He said: Let us go back and see, lest we have forgotten anything. When he went back: "And a man wrestled with him" (Genesis 32:25). And the Rabbis said: He appeared to him as a chief bandit. This one had a flock and that one had a flock; this one had camels and that one had camels. He said to him: Take mine across, and I will take yours across. The angel took our father Jacob's possessions across in the blink of an eye, and our father Jacob would take them across and come back and find them again, take them across and come back and find them again, all night long. Rav Huna said: In the end the angel said, I will let him know with whom he is dealing. What did he do? He put his finger on the ground, and the ground began to seethe with fire. Jacob said to him: With this you frighten me? I am wholly of it. This is what is written: "And the house of Jacob shall be a fire" (Obadiah 1:18).