Jacob’s ladder
Fleeing from his brother Esau, Jacob slept with a stone for his pillow and dreamed of a ladder reaching to heaven, with the angels of God going up and down it. He called the place Bethel, the house of God.
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The whole story
Jacob had taken Esau’s blessing by deceit and fled for his life toward Haran. At sunset he lay down on the open ground. In his dream the LORD stood above the ladder and gave him the promise made to Abraham: the land, a seed like the dust of the earth, and “I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest” (Genesis 28:15).
He woke afraid and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not” (Genesis 28:16). He set up his stone pillow as a pillar, poured oil on it, and vowed that if God brought him home in peace, the LORD would be his God, and he would give him a tenth of all he had. The town had been called Luz; he named it Bethel.
Jesus took up the dream when he told Nathanael he would see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. Bethel later became a royal shrine of the northern kingdom, where Jeroboam set up a golden calf, and where the prophet Amos was told to go away and prophesy no more.
And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
Genesis 28:12, KJV
Where it happened
Bethel, Beitin, north of Jerusalem (site likely).
Most place Bethel at the village of Beitin, ten miles north of Jerusalem.
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More from the fathers
Genesis 12 to 50
Sources and editorial method
Research and editorial references used for this page include:
- The King James Bible, as published by bible-api.com
- The Book of Enoch, translated by R. H. Charles (1917), Project Gutenberg
Every story is told from the King James Bible, and from the Book of Enoch in R. H. Charles’s translation (1917) where a story names it. Every quotation was checked word for word against those texts. Where a place is not known, the page says so. The paintings and the narration were made for the house.
