The Rabbis of the Midrash deduced that the "messengers" of were angels. The Rabbis reasoned that if (as Genesis Rabbah 59:10 taught) an angel escorted Eliezer, who was just a servant of the house, how much the more would angels have accompanied Jacob, who was the beloved of the house. Rabbi Hama ben Hanina reasoned that if five angels appeared to Hagar, who was just Sarah's handmaid, how much more would angels appear to Jacob. And Rabbi Jannai reasoned that if three angels met Joseph (counting the three uses of "man" in ), and he was the youngest of the ancestors of the 12 tribes of Israel, how much more would angels meet Jacob, who was the father of all 12.