Noon
`` Nineteen years passed and , on the evening of my birthday , which no one remembered save Milcah , Eleasar 's daughter , the Most High for the first time sent me a messenger . He came in the guise of an angel , and bade me set the house in order ; for a guest , the person dearest to me on earth , was on the way . `` It was early and under this very tree ; but I went home and , with old Rachel 's help , set the house in order , and provided food , wine , and all else we offer to an honored guest . Noon came , the afternoon passed away , evening deepened into night , and morning returned , yet I still waited for the guest . But when the sum of that day was nearing the western horizon , the dogs began to bark loudly , and when I went to the door a powerful man , with tangled grey hair and beard , clad in the tattered white robes of a priest , hurried toward me . The dogs shrank back whining ; but I recognized my brother . `` Our meeting after so long a separation at first brought me more fear than pleasure ; for Moses was flying from the officers of the law because he had slain the overseer .