GOD Appears To Jacob At Bethel – Jacob’s Ladder

   February 10, 2020
GOD APPEARS TO JACOB AT BETHEL

At Bethel, Jacob had a wonderful dream in which he saw a ladder or staircase extending from earth to heaven.

This suggested “the fact of a real, uninterrupted, and close communion between heaven and earth, and in particular between God in His glory and man in his solitude.”

In His encounter with Nathanael, the Lord Jesus made an apparent reference to this incident and connected it with His Second Advent and millennial glory (John 1:51).

But believers even now can enjoy moment-by-moment fellowship with the Lord.

At this time when Jacob’s heart was probably filled with regret for the past, loneliness in the present, and uncertainty about the future, God graciously made a covenant with him as He had with Abraham and Isaac.

Notice the promise of:

  • companionship: “I am with you”;
  • safety: “I will keep you wherever you go”;
  • guidance: “and will bring you back to this land”;
  • and personal guarantee: “I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”

Conscious that he had met God there, Jacob changed the name of the place from Luz (separation) to Bethel (house of God).

Genesis 28:10-17 KJV

[10] And Jacob went out from Beer–sheba, and went toward Haran.

[11] And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.

[12] 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.

[13] And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

[14] And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

[15] And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

[16] And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.

[17] And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

Genesis 28:10 KJV

And Jacob went out from Beer–sheba, and went toward Haran.

  • His departure from his father‘s house was an ignominious flight; and for fear of being pursued or waylaid by his vindictive brother, he did not take the common road, but went by lonely and unfrequented paths, which increased the length and dangers of the journey.

Genesis 28:11 KJV

And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.

  • By a forced march he had reached Beth-el, about forty-eight miles from Beer-sheba, and had to spend the night in the open field.
  • The nature of the soil is an existing comment on the record of the stony territory where Jacob lay.

Genesis 28:12 KJV

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.

  • and behold a ladder — Some writers are of opinion that it was not a literal ladder that is meant, as it is impossible to conceive any imagery stranger and more unnatural than that of a ladder, whose base was on earth, while its top reached heaven, without having any thing on which to rest its upper extremity.
  • They suppose that the little heap of stones, on which his head reclined for a pillow, being the miniature model of the object that appeared to his imagination, the latter was a gigantic mountain pile, whose sides, indented in the rock, gave it the appearance of a scaling ladder.
  • There can be no doubt that this use of the original term was common among the early Hebrews; as Josephus, describing the town of Ptolemais (Acre), says it was bounded by a mountain, which, from its projecting sides, was called “the ladder,” and the stairs that led down to the city are, in the original, termed a ladder (Nehemiah 3:15) though they were only a flight of steps cut in the side of the rock.
  • But whether the image presented to the mental eye of Jacob were a common ladder, or such a mountain pile as has been described, the design of this vision was to afford comfort, encouragement, and confidence to the lonely fugitive, both in his present circumstances and as to his future prospects.
  • His thoughts during the day must have been painful – he would be his own self-accuser that he had brought exile and privation upon himself – and above all, that though he had obtained the forgiveness of his father, he had much reason to fear lest God might have forsaken him.
  • Solitude affords time for reflection; and it was now that God began to bring Jacob under a course of religious instruction and training.
  • To dispel his fears and allay the inward tumult of his mind, nothing was better fitted than the vision of the gigantic ladder, which reached from himself to heaven, and on which the angels were continually ascending and descending from God Himself on their benevolent errands (John 1:51).

Genesis 28:13 KJV

And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

  • That Jacob might be at no loss to know the purport of the vision, he heard the divine voice; and the announcement of His name, together with a renewal of the covenant, and an assurance of personal protection, produced at once the most solemnizing and inspiriting effect on his mind.

Genesis 28:14 KJV

And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

  • Now God is giving to Jacob exactly what He had given first to Abraham; He had repeated it to Isaac, and now He confirms it, and He reaffirms to Jacob that He will do this.

Genesis 28:15 KJV

And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

  • You can see that this would be comforting and helpful to a lonesome, homesick boy who really had to leave home in a hurry.
  • He is on his way to a far country, and this first night God says to him, “I’m going to be with you, Jacob, and I’m going to bring you back to this land.”

The vision that God gave to him in the dream was of a ladder that reached up to heaven. What does that ladder mean? Well, the Lord Jesus interpreted it when He called Nathanael, as recorded in John.

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man” (John 1:50–51).

Genesis 28:16 KJV

And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.

  • His language and his conduct were alike that of a man whose mind was pervaded by sentiments of solemn awe, of fervent piety, and lively gratitude (Jeremiah 31:36).
  • When Jacob ran away from home, he had a limited view of God.
  • He thought that when he ran away from home, he was running away from God, also.
  • But he found that he had not left God back home. He exclaimed, “Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not!”

Genesis 28:17 KJV

And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

  • The place is dreadful only for a fellow like Jacob, a sinner, trying to run away from God.
  • Every house of God, every church, ought to be a dreadful place to any sinner running away from God.
  • It is the place where the sinner ought to be able to meet God, come face to face with God, through the Ladder who has been sent down from heaven, even Christ.

I hope that you have really enjoyed this post,

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