22:11) from slaying Isaac, there was no apparition, but a voice; which nevertheless was called properly enough a messenger or “angel” of God, because it declared God’s will supernaturally, and saves the labour of supposing any permanent ghosts. The angels which Jacob saw on the ladder of Heaven ( Gen. 28:12) were a vision of his sleep, therefore only fancy and a dream; yet being supernatural, and signs of God’s special presence, those apparitions are not improperly called “angels.” The same is to be understood ( Gen. 31:11) where Jacob saith thus, “The Angel of the Lord appeared to me in my sleep.” For an apparition made to a man in his sleep, is that which all men call a dream, whether such dream be natural or supernatural; and that which there Jacob called an “angel,” was God himself, for the same angel saith (verse 13), “I am the God of Bethel.”