December 26, 2024 • 13 mins
This is the famous dream: “Jacob’s Ladder.” As he was on the way to his Uncle Laban’s place, he spent the night. He had a dream in which he saw a ladder with divine messengers (i.e. angels) moving up and down the ladder. God then spoke, reiterating the promise of numerous descendants and the gift of the land. Jacob commemorated the occasion by converting a stone which he had used as a pillow into a pillar, upon which he poured oil. He also responded to the dream by acknowledging God’s presence. He called the place “the house of God” (=Bethel). He also made a vow to God. That was the good news. The bad news was that he prefaced the vow with a disturbing “if.”
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
The Bible is full of stories that we all know
and love, but how well do we know? That the
answer might surprise you. The Bible you thought you knew
is going to dive deep into the exquisite details of
the Biblical stories that make them fascinating and transform. This
week's podcast, we are going to discuss an important incident
(00:28):
in Jacob's life. This story is narrated in Genesis chapter
twenty eight. The episode begins at the start of the
chapter when Isaac summons Jacob. Previously, Isaac, by mistake, had
blessed Jacob instead of Esau, his older son. Because Esau
(00:49):
was outraged by this deception, he vowed to kill Jacob
when their father died. Realizing this, Rebecca, isaac wife and
the mother of Esan Jacob, used the pretext of Esau's
foreign wives to prompt Isaac to send Jacob away. She
(01:10):
figured that that was the only way to protect Jacob
from Esau's wrath. Sure Enough, the first thing Isaac says
to Jacob is that he is not to marry a Canaanite,
a generic term indicating any foreigner. Instead, Isaac encourages Jacob
to go and stay in paddan Aram, where his uncle
(01:33):
Laban lives. Laban, of course, is Rebecca's brother. While there,
Isaac points out that Jacob surely would find a wife
from within the extended family. That's in verses one and
two of chapter twenty eight. But Isaac had something else
to say to his younger son. He repeated the promise
(01:56):
that God had initially made to Abraham and Sarah, and
the promise also extended to him and Rebecca. That blessing
involved not only a general blessing, but also the promise
of numerous descendants and the eventual possession of the land
where they were currently living as sojourners. That was the
(02:19):
circumstance whereby Isaac sent Jacob away to the family of
Rebecca's brother. That's in verses three through five Chapter twenty eight.
Jacob immediately left his home, left Beersheba, and went toward Haran.
When it was late in the day, he decided to
(02:41):
spend the night. He used a stone for a pillow
and lay down to sleep. That's in verses ten eleven.
As he slept, he had a dream. In the dream,
there was a ladder extending from the ground and reaching
toward the sky, but the latter was not empty. God's
(03:04):
angels were ascending and descending on this ladder. That's in
verse twelve. The word angel requires some explanation. Given the
nature of Christian art over the centuries, it is almost
impossible to envision angels without wings or halos. In the Bible, however,
(03:25):
angels are not winged creatures, and they don't have halos either.
The Hebrew word is malach, a term that means messenger.
The Greek equivalent is angolos, from which we get our
English word angel as its Hebrew counterpart, and angelos is
(03:47):
also a messenger. Typically, in the Bible, angels are basically
indistinguishable from people. Seraphim or Cherubim are another matter entirely.
These are winged creatures, sometimes sporting six wings. According to
Isaiah's imagination. Take a look at Isaiah chapter six, these
(04:12):
are easily spotted in a crowd. In Jacob's dream, angels
are mentioned, but no further description is provided. They're just
simply divine messengers. Their direction is emphasized, however, they are
going up and down. The latter apparently suggests a path
(04:33):
between the human realm the earth, and God's realm the
skies or the heavens. Somehow, Jacob all of a sudden,
has access to God's realm. Sure enough, right after this
notation about the angels going up and down the ladder,
(04:54):
the Lord makes an appearance. That's in verse thirteen. God
stood above the ladd The deity in this uses the
tetragrammaton the four letter name y hwh said, I am
the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father here either
(05:16):
grandfather or ancestor is meant, and the God of Isaac,
who was Jacob's actual father. That's in verse thirteen. Then
God reiterates the promise of land, made initially to Abraham
and Sarah and subsequently to Isaac and Rebecca. Quote the
land on which you lie I will give to you
(05:39):
and to your descendants. Moreover, these descendants will be more
numerous than the dust of the earth, eventually spreading abroad
to the four cardinal points of the compass. Finally, by
you and your descendants, all the families of the earth
shall be bled. That's in verse fourteen. But God was
(06:04):
not through with this theophonic speech. God went on to
say that quote, I am with you and will keep
you wherever you go, and will bring you back to
this land that's in verse fifteen. Indeed, God promised to
be with Jacob until these promises are completed. This was
(06:27):
some dream. Just then Jacob woke up right away. He
realized the gravity of the dream and declared, by all means,
the Lord is in this place, and I did not
know it. Naturally, Jacob was afraid. He had heard this
(06:48):
promise from his father, but this was the first time
the god who made the promise to his grandparents and
his parents had communicated with him. Jacob real that he
had experienced an extraordinary moment. In response, he blurted out
that quote this is the house of God, not to
(07:10):
mention the gate of Heaven. End of quote that's in
verse seventeen. This momentous occasion induced not only Jacob's fear,
but his awe. The next morning, Jacob took steps to
ritualize what had happened in his dream. He took the
stone that he had used as a pillow and converted
(07:33):
it to a pillar, an object that was often central
to religious observance. Jacob wanted to commemorate this amazing occurrence.
Then he poured oil on the top of the pillar. Again,
these were consummate ritualizing activities. Jacob also supplied liturgical language
(08:00):
by calling the place where this had happened Bethel, which
in Hebrew means the house of God. That was the
origin of this important city's name in Israel's history. But
for Jacob this commemoration was insufficient. He also wanted to
(08:21):
respond to what God had said and promised with a vow.
In his oath. He began, if God will be with
me and will keep me in this way that I go,
and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,
so that I come again to my father's house in peace,
(08:43):
then the Lord again the tetragrammaton shall be my God,
and this stone which I have set up for a pillar,
shall be God's house. And of all that you give me,
I will give the tenth back to you. End of
quote that's in verses twenty to twenty two of chapter
(09:05):
twenty eight. This is a marvelous vow, except for one thing.
It begins with a condition. Jacob said if and then
repeated every item that God had already promised. The promises
were part of Jacob's future, but he apparently wanted to
(09:28):
see whether God would make good on these promises. If
God came through then that God would be his personal
God and could also count on receiving a tithe. It
is difficult to see this any other way than a
failure on Jacob's part. He heard his father repeat the
(09:52):
ancestral blessing and promised. Then he had this incredible dream
in which the deity repeated the same promise. Jacob's efforts
to ritualize the moment were seemingly perfect, but when it
came down to a vow in which Jacob made his
commitment more personal, he hedged his bets. As significant as
(10:16):
this dream was, something more would be needed in the future.
Jacob had experienced a veritable theophony. Dreams were often revelatory
in scripture, and his initial response was praiseworthy, but he
was not quite ready to submit completely. That is why
(10:38):
he began his vow with a pregnant if did he
think God would renege? This was the third generation of
the familiar promise. Why did Jacob even entertain the thought
that God would abandon the family? The dream suggested an
open path between the divine and human world. God's messengers
(11:02):
were ascending and descending the ladder, intimating easy access to
the two realms. Jacob did not have to infer what
this image communicated. God settled the matter by speaking the
message meaning meaning the ladder, or by him meaning Jacob.
(11:31):
In either case, there was no ambiguity in the message. Eventually,
Jacob's commitment would become much stronger, but for now he
expressed at least a little reluctance. We can only infer
the reasons. Was he feeling guilty about the manner in
which he got his brother's birthright and later his blessing.
(11:53):
Was he upset with himself by going along with his
mother's plot. Was there something about his case character that
required God to do more for him? We can only
speculate for now, though there is no getting around that
Jacob's vow began with a disturbing if. Let me encourage
(12:15):
you to go to my website Faspoena dot com. It
has been brought up to date most recently. If you
have a question you'd like me to address in a
Q and A session, email me at f Spina one
zero six at gmail dot com. I want to thank
(12:35):
you so very much for listening to the Bible. You
thought you knew. I have a question for you. Do
you have a question or topic that you'd like me
to cover on the podcasts. If so, all you need
to do is head over to Apple Podcasts and do
two simple things. One, leave a rating and review, telling
(12:56):
me what you think of the podcasts. Two, in that review,
ask anything you want related to the Bible. That's all
you have to do. Then listen in to hear your
question answered on a future episode. Join us next time
on the Bible you thought you knew when we discuss
(13:18):
Jesus' personal Bible. God bless
The Bible is full of stories that we all know
and love, but how well do we know? That the
answer might surprise you. The Bible you thought you knew
is going to dive deep into the exquisite details of
the Biblical stories that make them fascinating and transform. This
week's podcast, we are going to discuss an important incident
(00:28):
in Jacob's life. This story is narrated in Genesis chapter
twenty eight. The episode begins at the start of the
chapter when Isaac summons Jacob. Previously, Isaac, by mistake, had
blessed Jacob instead of Esau, his older son. Because Esau
(00:49):
was outraged by this deception, he vowed to kill Jacob
when their father died. Realizing this, Rebecca, isaac wife and
the mother of Esan Jacob, used the pretext of Esau's
foreign wives to prompt Isaac to send Jacob away. She
(01:10):
figured that that was the only way to protect Jacob
from Esau's wrath. Sure Enough, the first thing Isaac says
to Jacob is that he is not to marry a Canaanite,
a generic term indicating any foreigner. Instead, Isaac encourages Jacob
to go and stay in paddan Aram, where his uncle
(01:33):
Laban lives. Laban, of course, is Rebecca's brother. While there,
Isaac points out that Jacob surely would find a wife
from within the extended family. That's in verses one and
two of chapter twenty eight. But Isaac had something else
to say to his younger son. He repeated the promise
(01:56):
that God had initially made to Abraham and Sarah, and
the promise also extended to him and Rebecca. That blessing
involved not only a general blessing, but also the promise
of numerous descendants and the eventual possession of the land
where they were currently living as sojourners. That was the
(02:19):
circumstance whereby Isaac sent Jacob away to the family of
Rebecca's brother. That's in verses three through five Chapter twenty eight.
Jacob immediately left his home, left Beersheba, and went toward Haran.
When it was late in the day, he decided to
(02:41):
spend the night. He used a stone for a pillow
and lay down to sleep. That's in verses ten eleven.
As he slept, he had a dream. In the dream,
there was a ladder extending from the ground and reaching
toward the sky, but the latter was not empty. God's
(03:04):
angels were ascending and descending on this ladder. That's in
verse twelve. The word angel requires some explanation. Given the
nature of Christian art over the centuries, it is almost
impossible to envision angels without wings or halos. In the Bible, however,
(03:25):
angels are not winged creatures, and they don't have halos either.
The Hebrew word is malach, a term that means messenger.
The Greek equivalent is angolos, from which we get our
English word angel as its Hebrew counterpart, and angelos is
(03:47):
also a messenger. Typically, in the Bible, angels are basically
indistinguishable from people. Seraphim or Cherubim are another matter entirely.
These are winged creatures, sometimes sporting six wings. According to
Isaiah's imagination. Take a look at Isaiah chapter six, these
(04:12):
are easily spotted in a crowd. In Jacob's dream, angels
are mentioned, but no further description is provided. They're just
simply divine messengers. Their direction is emphasized, however, they are
going up and down. The latter apparently suggests a path
(04:33):
between the human realm the earth, and God's realm the
skies or the heavens. Somehow, Jacob all of a sudden,
has access to God's realm. Sure enough, right after this
notation about the angels going up and down the ladder,
(04:54):
the Lord makes an appearance. That's in verse thirteen. God
stood above the ladd The deity in this uses the
tetragrammaton the four letter name y hwh said, I am
the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father here either
(05:16):
grandfather or ancestor is meant, and the God of Isaac,
who was Jacob's actual father. That's in verse thirteen. Then
God reiterates the promise of land, made initially to Abraham
and Sarah and subsequently to Isaac and Rebecca. Quote the
land on which you lie I will give to you
(05:39):
and to your descendants. Moreover, these descendants will be more
numerous than the dust of the earth, eventually spreading abroad
to the four cardinal points of the compass. Finally, by
you and your descendants, all the families of the earth
shall be bled. That's in verse fourteen. But God was
(06:04):
not through with this theophonic speech. God went on to
say that quote, I am with you and will keep
you wherever you go, and will bring you back to
this land that's in verse fifteen. Indeed, God promised to
be with Jacob until these promises are completed. This was
(06:27):
some dream. Just then Jacob woke up right away. He
realized the gravity of the dream and declared, by all means,
the Lord is in this place, and I did not
know it. Naturally, Jacob was afraid. He had heard this
(06:48):
promise from his father, but this was the first time
the god who made the promise to his grandparents and
his parents had communicated with him. Jacob real that he
had experienced an extraordinary moment. In response, he blurted out
that quote this is the house of God, not to
(07:10):
mention the gate of Heaven. End of quote that's in
verse seventeen. This momentous occasion induced not only Jacob's fear,
but his awe. The next morning, Jacob took steps to
ritualize what had happened in his dream. He took the
stone that he had used as a pillow and converted
(07:33):
it to a pillar, an object that was often central
to religious observance. Jacob wanted to commemorate this amazing occurrence.
Then he poured oil on the top of the pillar. Again,
these were consummate ritualizing activities. Jacob also supplied liturgical language
(08:00):
by calling the place where this had happened Bethel, which
in Hebrew means the house of God. That was the
origin of this important city's name in Israel's history. But
for Jacob this commemoration was insufficient. He also wanted to
(08:21):
respond to what God had said and promised with a vow.
In his oath. He began, if God will be with
me and will keep me in this way that I go,
and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,
so that I come again to my father's house in peace,
(08:43):
then the Lord again the tetragrammaton shall be my God,
and this stone which I have set up for a pillar,
shall be God's house. And of all that you give me,
I will give the tenth back to you. End of
quote that's in verses twenty to twenty two of chapter
(09:05):
twenty eight. This is a marvelous vow, except for one thing.
It begins with a condition. Jacob said if and then
repeated every item that God had already promised. The promises
were part of Jacob's future, but he apparently wanted to
(09:28):
see whether God would make good on these promises. If
God came through then that God would be his personal
God and could also count on receiving a tithe. It
is difficult to see this any other way than a
failure on Jacob's part. He heard his father repeat the
(09:52):
ancestral blessing and promised. Then he had this incredible dream
in which the deity repeated the same promise. Jacob's efforts
to ritualize the moment were seemingly perfect, but when it
came down to a vow in which Jacob made his
commitment more personal, he hedged his bets. As significant as
(10:16):
this dream was, something more would be needed in the future.
Jacob had experienced a veritable theophony. Dreams were often revelatory
in scripture, and his initial response was praiseworthy, but he
was not quite ready to submit completely. That is why
(10:38):
he began his vow with a pregnant if did he
think God would renege? This was the third generation of
the familiar promise. Why did Jacob even entertain the thought
that God would abandon the family? The dream suggested an
open path between the divine and human world. God's messengers
(11:02):
were ascending and descending the ladder, intimating easy access to
the two realms. Jacob did not have to infer what
this image communicated. God settled the matter by speaking the
message meaning meaning the ladder, or by him meaning Jacob.
(11:31):
In either case, there was no ambiguity in the message. Eventually,
Jacob's commitment would become much stronger, but for now he
expressed at least a little reluctance. We can only infer
the reasons. Was he feeling guilty about the manner in
which he got his brother's birthright and later his blessing.
(11:53):
Was he upset with himself by going along with his
mother's plot. Was there something about his case character that
required God to do more for him? We can only
speculate for now, though there is no getting around that
Jacob's vow began with a disturbing if. Let me encourage
(12:15):
you to go to my website Faspoena dot com. It
has been brought up to date most recently. If you
have a question you'd like me to address in a
Q and A session, email me at f Spina one
zero six at gmail dot com. I want to thank
(12:35):
you so very much for listening to the Bible. You
thought you knew. I have a question for you. Do
you have a question or topic that you'd like me
to cover on the podcasts. If so, all you need
to do is head over to Apple Podcasts and do
two simple things. One, leave a rating and review, telling
(12:56):
me what you think of the podcasts. Two, in that review,
ask anything you want related to the Bible. That's all
you have to do. Then listen in to hear your
question answered on a future episode. Join us next time
on the Bible you thought you knew when we discuss
(13:18):
Jesus' personal Bible. God bless
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