Jacob’s Ladder And The Son Of Man: Or, Grace Unsought, And Unforgettable

By S. Lewis Johnson, Jr.

Lewis Johnson served as a teaching elder and regularly ministered the Word at Believers Chapel in Dallas, Texas for more than thirty years. During his academic career he held professorships in New Testament and Systematic Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. At the time of his death in 2004 he was Professor Emeritus of New Testament Literature and Exegesis at Dallas Seminary. Both MP3 files and printed notes of Dr. Johnson’s sermons and theological lectures may be downloaded from the web site of the SLJ Institute «www.sljinstitute.net».

An Exposition Of Genesis 28:1-22 [1]

Introduction

Jacob’s vision of the ladder is a stunning display of divine grace, and it provoked in the patriarch a telling response of thanksgiving. The grace was unsought, for God took the initiative and met Jacob in his loneliness at Bethel. It was unstinted, [2] for there was no reproach given Jacob for past sin, but on the contrary only a stream of divine assurances, beginning with the central declaration, “I am the Lord” (Gen. 28:13). The divine words to him reminded him of past faithfulness to his fathers (13a) and gave him assurance of the fulfillment of the promises of the land in the distant future (13b). In fact, he was told that his windfall blessings would stretch from the very spot upon which he was then lying (13b) to the four corners of the earth and on to the universal blessing of mankind in his seed (14).

The words of the Divine Companion were remarkably relevant to the condition of Jacob, for the promise of the divine presence was just what this solitary, lonely, and now homeless sojourner to a strange land needed. And the assurance of a high place within the divine covenant was calculated to sustain him in a special way. The promise of a land as an inheritance, and the promise of an omnipotent power keeping him wherever he went, and the assurance that his God was one who could not be frustrated in his purposes were encouragements that must have strengthened him immensely. We do know from Jacob’s response to the theophany [3] that the display of grace was unforgettable, for he erected a permanent reminder of the occasion at Bethel.

Jacob’s vow at the conclusion of the experience has sometimes been called mere bargaining. [4] He does vow that, if God will be with him and bless him, then the Lord will be his God. On the other hand, his response to the experience of the vision argues otherwise. [5] He was filled with awe, which Von Rad calls “a feeling of pious shuddering.” [6] His occupation was not so much with the things promised as with God’s presence, and the result was worship and the covenantal pledge. Actually, it seems better to see the patriarch as taking the promise of verse 15 and applying it to his particular situation. [7] In addition, he correctly saw his tithe (cf. v. 22b) not as a gift to God, but as a giving back of what belonged to him. It’s important to remember that Jacob was not yet a mature saint.

The real story of God’s special dealings with Jacob begins here. Up till now he has not appeared in a very favorable light, and his relationship to God has not been spelled out in any detail. But in chapters 28 through 36 the growth of the man may be traced in a series of incidents, and in them there is a fluctuation between growing spirituality and indifference to what is right. “We see Jacob on one hand as a man of faith and prayer,” Davis writes, “and on the other as a man of slick maneuvers and cunning ways. He was by nature strong-willed, ambitious, self-reliant, shrewd, and at times unethical. While Jacob was a man of domestic capability and fidelity, Esau was a brave, generous, heroic, and rugged hunter who broke away from the quiet pastoral life of his father to enjoy a reckless, self-indulgent career of pleasure. The most important way in which Jacob differed from Esau, however, was that Jacob was heir to God’s promise and a man of faith, although his faith was at times rather weak and imperfect.” [8]

Jacob’s sanctification now begins in earnest, and in him one will find an excellent illustration of the statement of the Puritan writer, George Swinnock, “A sanctified person [is] like a silver bell, the harder he is smitten, the better he soundeth.” [9] The road of Jacob from Supplanter to Prince of God is hard, difficult, and rocky, but the one who is set on the road by God is certain to reach its glorious destination.

Jacob’s Departure To Paddan-Aram [10]

The Charge To Jacob, Verses 1-4

So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, and said to him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. And may God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you; that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.”

Isaac may have delayed finding a proper wife for Jacob, but now, since the matter of the blessing has finally been settled once for all (cf. Gen. 27:33-40), there is no further need for delay. Jacob was God’s choice to perpetuate the line of the promised Seed. Further, there was some danger that Esau might attempt to slay Jacob (cf. 27:41-42) and, finally, Rebekah personally desired to see Jacob marry a young lady from among her own people. The Hittite wives, evidently a source of constant friction in the home, had brought her to the end of her patience (cf. 27:46). So, everything seemed to point to the immediate need of sending Jacob off, both to escape Esau and to find a wife.

Isaac’s charge to Jacob reflects Abraham’s charge to his servant (cf. 24:3). The fact that Jacob was urged to find a wife among his cousins raises problems with moderns, but the genetic problems were outweighed by the requirements of a spiritual nature. Faith in Yahweh was a prime consideration, and that could not be found in most other families of the time. And, in fact, since the race was still relatively young, the mutational defects in the race were probably minimal at that time. So, off to the relatives in Mesopotamia Jacob goes. The patriarch is sent off with a blessing from “God Almighty” (אֵל שֱׁדֱּי [ʾel šadday, v. 3]), reminding Jacob of the covenantal promises given to Abraham (cf. 17:1), particularly those relating to the land.

The Journey, Verse 5

Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Jacob’s stay in Mesopotamia stretched out to twenty years, and why this lengthy time was necessary has puzzled readers to some extent. Jacob, however, was a home boy, dominated to a great degree, it would seem, by his mother. Perhaps this sojourn away from home was necessary for the maturing and strengthening of his character. The long period would make it necessary for him to learn to wait upon and depend upon God. And the times spent in the pastures afforded him valuable time for meditating upon divine things. It was, then, a form of discipline that the patriarch needed. As Stephen Charnock has said, “We often learn more of God under the rod that strikes us, than under the staff that comforts us.” [11]

The order of the words in the expression, “Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau,” may not be a slip of the pen. It is more likely an explicit affirmation of the fact that it is now Jacob who is the prominent twin. He is the inheritor of the promises.

The Marriage Of Esau

The Occasion Of It, Verses 6-8

Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram, to take to himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he charged him, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram. So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac.

“Hardly with a touch of irony and yet as an indication of Esau’s obtuseness in the more spiritual issues, the author now reports how Esau felt impelled to take a non-Canaanite wife.” [12] Was it only now that Esau came to the realization that the heathen wives were displeasing to his father? If so, he was, indeed, dull of hearing spiritually. It is becoming very clear why Esau could never be the man to inherit the birthright and the blessing. As Morris says, “In a belated attempt to partially correct this situation, Esau went to the home of his Uncle Ishmael (Ishmael himself was already dead at this time) and secured one of his daughters, Mahalath (probably the same as Bashemath in Genesis 36:3), as another wife. This was a rather pathetic attempt, a closing of the barn door after the horse was gone…. But even in this attempt, he still was wrong, because Ishmael and his descendants had already been cast out by God, so far as the national promises were concerned.” [13]

The Accomplishment Of It, Verse 9

And Esau went to Ishmael, and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.

It should be noted that there is no indication that Esau put away his heathen wives. The problem in his family still existed.

Jacob’s Dream At Bethel

The Occasion Of The Vision, Verses 10-11

Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place.

In the preceding context Rebekah, disturbed by Esau’s threats against Jacob and by Esau’s Hittite wives, had sent Jacob on the way to Uncle Laban in Paddan-aram in Upper Mesopotamia. All the trouble would have been averted if Isaac had believed the promises and called Jacob first for his blessing (cf. 25:23; 27:1)!

Sent off with a blessing from “God Almighty” (28:3), and a reminder of the covenantal promises to Abraham, especially those of the land (28:3-4), Jacob was to discover that the journey would lengthen to twenty years. The things he learned, however, made up for it all. His character matured, and he learned to wait on God, something that this “home boy,” who waited on “Mom” (in this respect he would have been a good NFL player!), needed.

The distance to Haran was over four hundred miles. It was, therefore, a lonely, trying trip for someone who was a homebody. One afternoon he arrived at a place named Luz. The KJV text has “he lighted upon a certain place,” but this was no chance lodging. He may have had no particular purpose in stopping here, but God did. Speiser sees it and writes, “But in the history of the patriarchs…the individual is a free agent only on the surface. Fundamentally, he is part of a larger pattern over which he has no control, and in which he functions as the unwitting toll of destiny. At this stage, Jacob’s security and future are important because both bear on the continuity of the biblical process.

The time has now come for the fugitive to be given a glimpse of the deeper truth” [14] (cf. Jer. 10:23).

The Contents Of The Vision, Verses 12-13

The Ladder, Verse 12

And he had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

The occasion is memorable as being the first of seven theophanies given Jacob. [15] It is probably significant that it occurred while Jacob was alone. The common experience of the saints has been generally that we must be withdrawn from the rush of the crowd if we are to hear his voice most clearly.

The ladder, or stairway, or “stair like pavement,” [16] as modern scholars picture it, is the notable feature of the vision. Perhaps it resembled one of the Mesopotamian ziggurats, [17] which had flights of stairs leading up to the summit. That would also account for Jacob’s description of it as “the gate of heaven” (cf. v. 17). It was evidently high and broad, for angels were ascending and descending upon it.

The whole situation was shocking to Jacob, as the threefold “behold” (cf. vv. 12-13) shows. And the scene is obviously a symbolic one. What, then, is the meaning of the ladder? The angels? The Lord beside it? Perhaps Leupold is right in saying that the vision was intended to convey to Jacob a visible (to him) sign of what the words of Yahweh signify when he speaks. [18] He comments, “The ladder symbolizes the uninterrupted communion between heaven and earth, mediated through God’s holy angels and instituted for the care and needs of God’s children on earth. The angels bear man’s needs before God and God’s help to man. For this reason Jesus could, alluding specifically to this passage (John 1:51), claim that the truth involved was most significantly displayed in His own life, for in Him the divine and human met in perfect union.” [19]

The Son Of Man And The Ladder

When one turns to the New Testament passage in John 1:45-51, the use of the figure by the Lord Jesus becomes most enlightening. In fact, the figure of the ladder is, in the opinion of some, extremely important for the Fourth Gospel. R. H. Strachan even claimed, “We have in John 1:51 a key to the whole portrait of Jesus in the Gospel.” [20]

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him, of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” And Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 

Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said to him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” Nathanael said to Him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I say you.” Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see great things than these. And He said to him. “Truly, truly, I say to you, you shall see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

Nathanael had been brought by Philip to Jesus. Philip believed that the best way to propagate Christianity was to proclaim it (cf. John 1:45) and that the simplest and profoundest apologetics is, “Come and see” (John 1:46).

Nathanael had evidently been meditating on this chapter in Genesis, that is chapter 28, containing the story of Jacob’s vision, while he was under a fig tree (rabbinical sources refer to the place under the fig tree as suitable for meditation). The subject of the meditation was Jacob’s dream of the ladder.

When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, probably in the company of Philip, he said, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” (John 1:47). Since Jacob’s name was “Supplanter,” and since he had been characterized to this point in his life as something of a deceiver, especially in his contacts with Esau, our Lord’s words may be broadly paraphrased as suggesting, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no Jacob!”

Nathanael, when he heard the Lord mention the lack of deceit, may have been convinced at this moment of the Lord’s insight into the unclothing of his soul to God (cf. John 1:48). Jesus knew of his lack of deceit before God. That is, he was guileless, not sinless. But, if not, then certainly when the Lord mentioned the exact place of his meditation, Nathanael became a captured soul. The Israelite acknowledged his King of Israel! His faith will never possess more than it possessed at that moment, although it may possess him better later.

When Philip told Nathanael that they had found the Messiah and that he was from Nazareth, Nathanael retorted, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). But now, with his great confession, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel” (John 1:49), the future apostle guilelessly declares that after all from Nazareth comes the supreme good.

A promise was then given to Nathanael; the previous display of clairvoyance on the part of our Lord was only trivial. Nathanael shall see greater things. He shall see “the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (John 1:51)

What Nathanael understood concerning our Lord’s words is not explicitly stated, but from our vantage point we know a great deal of the significance of what our Lord meant, if we pay attention to one part of his words. The important thing to note is the remarkable substitution the Lord makes. For the ladder of Jacob’s vision he has substituted “the Son of Man.” Thus, as he understood and interpreted Jacob’s vision, the Son of Man, our Lord, is the ladder! And the opened heaven points to the now available access into heaven through him who is the Way and Door to heaven according to his own preaching (cf. John 14:6; 10:9).

Just after his dream and vision Jacob said, “How awesome [KJV, ‘dreadful’] is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Gen. 28:17). Leupold, then, is not far from the meaning of the passage. The ladder is the Son of Man, and the angels ascending and descending upon him point to the establishment of an enduring communion between heaven and earth through the mediation of the Son of Man. [21] Kidner, too, is near the point, for he writes, “Jesus took this figure of a means between heaven and earth, as a vivid foretaste of Himself as the Way (Jn. 1:51).” [22] Cf. 1 Tim. 2:5.

The Lord, Verse 13A

And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.”

In the thirteenth verse Moses turns to the Lord writing, “And behold, the Lord stood above it” (the NASB margin is better, having “beside him” (i.e., “beside Jacob”), [23] for otherwise how could he say what is said in verse sixteen?”) [24] This was no minor occasion, for God and all heaven are involved in what is going on with Jacob.

The Promises, Verses 13B–15

The land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. Your descendants shall also be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And behold, I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.

The promises are outlined in verses 13 through 15. The first of them pertains to the land (cf. v. 13), the very land upon which Jacob was then standing, which is important for aspects of the premillennial-amillennial controversy.

In the fourteenth verse the Lord reminded Jacob that a universal seed will be his, spreading out to the four points of the compass.

And then in the fifteenth verse is the final, great climactic promise, “And behold, I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” The promise of his presence with Jacob was remarkably relevant to the patriarch’s present experiences. Meyer has put it well, “God answered his thoughts. He felt lonesome; but God said, ‘I will be with you.’ He feared Esau; but God said, ‘I will keep you.’ He knew not what hardships he might meet with; and God promised to bring him safely back again. He seemed forsaken of friends but God gave him the assurance, ‘I will not leave you.’ Appearances seemed to contradict the Diving promise; but God said, ‘I will do that which I have spoken to you of.’” And then Meyer adds these very important limiting words, “These are precious words; but they only belong to those who lie at the foot of that wondrous Cross which unites earth with heaven. If your place is there, you may freely claim all the comfort that they contain.” [25]

The great promise, “I am with you,” would have had a special meaning to Jacob beyond that suggested just above. The people among whom Jacob lived had the notion that their gods possessed only a kind of local authority. For example, the god of Ashkelon was not the god of Beersheba. But Yahweh is different, and the promise distinguishes him from the heathen deities. When Jacob left his father’s house for Paddan-aram, he did not leave Yahweh. He is the God of Ashkelon, Beersheba, Bethel, and all the other places upon the face of the earth. This promise is the Old Testament foreshadowing of that great one given by our Lord to the disciples, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (cf. Matt. 28:20). And it means several important things to us also. First, it guarantees an infinite love for us, for he does not dwell with those he hates. And second, it means a very practical help is available to us at all times. Whatever we undertake to do, he is there to undertake it with us. We do not have to shout and cry aloud to attract his attention like the priests of Baal must do to attract him (cf. 1 Kings 18:26-29). He hears even our sighs, for he is with us. This promise is too magnificent for any expositor to fully explain it.

We cannot leave the fifteenth verse without a comment on the final words of that great text, “For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” That promise, belonging, I reiterate, to those whose only hope is in the cross, is the Old Testament equivalent of Paul’s great word to the Philippians, “For I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (1:6). He is the great unfrustratable God who performs all his purposes. What confidence we have when resting in him!

The Response Of Jacob, Verses 16-22

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” So Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on its top. And he called the name of that place Bethel; however, previously the name of the city had been Luz. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, I will return to my father’s house to safety, then the Lord will be my God. And this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house; and of all that You do give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

The immediate response of Jacob to the startling experience is the striking comment, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” It is important to note that he used the word Lord or Yahweh. He did not say, “God is in this place, and I did not know it.” Yahweh, the God of his fathers, is at Luz, too; he is no local deity like those of the pagans! Jacob’s comfort quotient is rising by, of all things (so shallow evangelicalism would blurt out), systematic theology!

The thought of the nearness of God induced fear and he said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (v. 17). He has met God in this place and, therefore, the place has become the gate of heaven, that is, both a way to heaven through the Lord and a way from heaven, when it pleases Yahweh to open it up by his divine revelation. [26]

The next morning Jacob arose and took the stone used for his head place and set up a memorial pillar in remembrance of the great event. He was not, as some have contended, setting up a fetish stone, nor was the anointing identified with the so-called Baetylian stone worship. It was a reminder of a great spiritual experience with Yahweh. The anointing of the stone with oil may have contained the idea of sacrifice (cf. 35:14)

The chapter concludes with Jacob’s quite appropriate vow, an entering into the glorious promises made to him.

Conclusion

Bethel was a high point in Jacob’s education. The “Ladder Chapter” taught him some valuable things, among which were the following. [27]

First, the vision of the ladder, which reached from heaven to earth with the angels of God ascending and descending upon it, taught him that earth and heaven were linked together everywhere, even in the deserted place in which the patriarch found himself at that time. It was of great consolation for fallible and erring Jacob. He was a fugitive, a fugitive from the justice of God, it might have appeared, for he had been guilty of deception in the matter of the blessing, recorded in Genesis 27. He was running away from home, and Esau had vowed to have his life. Rebekah had hurried him away, because she feared for his life. And Isaac, at the instigation of Rebekah, had told him to obtain a wife from among the members of the family in Haran. He had said to Jacob, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother” (Gen. 28:1-2). Thus, Jacob was trying to make the distance between Esau and himself as great as possible and also to take the necessary steps toward the obtaining of a bride.

He might well have wondered whether the Lord was able to be in such a place as he found himself, especially in the light of the fact that so many of the Eastern deities were of a local character, having authority over a limited locale. In the vision the patriarch learned that there was no place too man-deserted for the Lord, the God of Abraham and Isaac. It was an important lesson for him to learn.

Second, Jacob learned that awe was the proper human attitude in the presence of the Lord. He had flippantly used the name of Isaac’s God, when asked by his father how he was able to provide savory food for him so quickly. Jacob had replied, “Because the Lord your God caused it to happen to me” (Gen. 27:20). Now, however, his attitude was changed. The vision of the ladder and the presence of the Lord, with the magnificent catalog of the covenantal promises, provoked a profound respect for the greatness of this God. He awakened from his sleep, saying, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (28:17). Moses says that in fear Jacob said that (cf. 28:17). Thus, the patriarch has now a new conception of the majesty of Yahweh, and awe is his response.

Third, he learned that the God of Bethel is a God of pursuing grace, one who takes the initiative in our salvation, one of whom it is written that he answers even before we call. He came to Jacob that night before Jacob came to him, and he has been doing that down through the centuries for his own. That was the experience of Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees, of Moses at the burning bush, of Isaiah in the temple, and of Jeremiah, to whom he said, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jer. 1:5).

It was a magnificent, dazzling display of the grace of God to a man whose past life stands in stark contrast to it. And yet the entire account is so characteristic of our great God of mercy and grace, Yahweh, the God of Abraham and the patriarchs and the church. “Behold, I am with you” (v. 15) reverberates through the centuries in the experiences of the saints of God, blessing them and magnifying himself. Jacob understood it all when he later blessed Joseph, saying, “Behold, I am about to die: but God will be with you” (Gen. 48:21). Immanuel is there always.

God’s ladder to heaven is Christ, the divine Mediator, and it is high enough to reach heaven. Harold Barker has told the story of a church officer who dreamed he saw a ladder and began to ascend its steps, which were composed of all the good works he had done. Thinking of them, he ascended the ladder rapidly on the strength of monies contributed and other favors. He felt he was getting near heaven until he noticed the ladder was swaying a bit. He climbed on, however, thinking of his good, moral life and gifts to the poor and needy. The ladder swayed even more and seemed top-heavy. By and by, as he continued to climb, the ladder toppled over and fell with a thunderous crash to the ground, and the dreamer awoke with a cry on his lips, “My God! It was not hooked on at the top!”

So all find who seek to come to God, as the Lord Jesus warned, “some other way.” His word for them is that they are “thieves and robbers” (cf. John 10:1-3). He, whom Jacob saw as the Ladder and Gate of Heaven, denied any other way in notes of utter finality when he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, except through Me” (John 14:6).

Notes

1. This is article three in a twelve-part series, “Anticipations of the Messiah in the Old Testament.”
2. Derek Kidner, Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary, TOTC (Downers Grove: Inter Varsity Press, 1967), 158. Editor’s note: The term unstinted is perhaps more common in Britain than in America. It means “ungrudging” or “lavish.”
3. The word “theophany” (θεοφάνια) is a compound of the Greek words θεός (theos, God) and φαίνω (phainō, to appear). It “is essentially a theological term, and is used of any temporary, normally visible, manifestation of God. It is to be distinguished from that permanent manifestation of God in Jesus Christ, called the Incarnation…. In the Bible no stress is laid on the manner of the theophany; what is important is what God does and says” (H. L. Ellison, “Theophany,” in ZPEB, 5:719-20). Examples of theophanies include the burning bush (Ex. 3:2-6), the physical manifestations at the time of the giving of the Law (Ex. 19:18-19), Moses’ vision of God’s “back” (Ex. 33:23; 34:6-7), and the angel of the Lord (Ex. 23:20-23; 32:34; 33:14-15; Isa. 63:9). See Ellison, pp. 719-21.
4. Martin Luther, Lectures on Genesis, Chapters 26-30, in Luther’s Works, vol. 5, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan (St. Louis: Concordia, 1968), 253; Walter Russell Bowie, “The Book of Genesis: Exposition,” in The Interpreter’s Bible, ed. George Arthur Buttrick (New York: Abingdon, 1952), 1:694; Donald Grey Barnhouse, Genesis: A Devotional Exposition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1971), 2:90-91; James Montgomery Boice, Genesis: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1985), 2:295-297.
5. John Calvin, Commentaries on the First Book of Moses Called Genesis, trans, John King (Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1847; reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Baker, 1989), 2:120-121; Robert S. Candlish, The Book of Genesis Expounded in a Series of Discourses, rev. ed. (Edinburgh: A. and C. Black, 1868; reprint ed., entitled Studies in Genesis, Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1979), 481-86; H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis (1942; reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Baker, 1967), 2:780.
6. Gerhard Von Rad, Genesis: A Commentary, OTL, rev. ed., trans. John H. Marks (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1972), 285.
7. Kidner, Genesis, 158.
8. John J. Davis, Paradise to Prison: Studies in Genesis (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1975), 241.
9. George Swinnock, “The Epistle Dedicatory,” to the treatise The Fading of the Flesh in The Works of George Swinnock (Edinburgh: James Nichol; 1868; reprint ed., London: Banner of Truth, 1992), 3:404.
10. Editor’s note: Dr. Johnson’s exposition of verses 1-9 is taken from S. Lewis Johnson, Jr., “Jacob’s Ladder,—Grace Unsought, Unstinted, and Unforgettable,” Believers Bible Bulletin (Nov. 4, 1979): 2-3.
11. Stephen Charnock, “A Discourse of the Knowledge of God,” in The Complete Works of Stephen Charnock (Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1865; reprint ed., Lafayette, IN: Sovereign Grace, 2001), 4:81.
12. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis, 2:768.
13. Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1976), 444.
14. E. A. Speiser, Genesis, AncB (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964), 219.
15. Leupold lists the following theophanies relating to Jacob: (1) the dream of the ladder or stairway, 28:10-17; (2) the command of the voice of the Lord to return to the land of his fathers; 31:3, (3) the encounter with the angels of God at Mahanaim, 32:1-2; (4) the angel of the Lord with whom he wrestled, 32:24-30; (5) God’s command that he go to Bethel, 36:1; (6) the appearance of God when he affirmed his new name “Israel” and confirmed the Abrahamic covenant, 35:9-13; (7) the visions in which God commanded him to go to Egypt, 46:1-4. Cf. H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis (1942; reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Baker, 1967), 2:772.
16. Von Rad (Genesis, 284) and Speiser (Genesis, 218), pointing to the etymology of the Hebrew word סֻלָּם [sullām], namely, סָלֱל[sālal], meaning “to heap up, raise,” suggest the translation “a ramp or a solid stairway.” Cf. BDB, s.v. “סֻלָּם,” 699-700.
17. Ziggurats were staged or stepped temple towers developed in the third millennium bc in Babylon. Access to each level was by a ramp or stairway. On the top of this “artificial mountain” was a shrine where the god of the city was believed to descend to have intercourse with man in special rites. Several ziggurats have been excavated, those at Ur, Ashur, and Choga Zambil being the best known. The temple of Marduk in Babylon was probably a ziggurat, and the “tower of Babel” may have been one as well. The fact that “its top reached to heaven” (28:12) and Jacob calls the site “the gateway to heaven” (28:17) is “reminiscent of the stereotyped phraseology used in connection with the Babylonian temple-towers” (cf. Gen. 11:4). Jacob’s vision differs from the pagan towers, however, in that he does not ascend the stairway, and God did not descend by it. In fact, the stairway is for the angels alone. See: D. J. Wiseman, “Ziggurat,” in ZPEB, 5:1059-60; Nahum M. Sarna, Understanding Genesis (New York: Schocken, 1966), 193. Sarna notes other distinctions between Jacob’s experience and that of the pagan Babylonians. “It was customary throughout the ancient world, both Near Eastern and classical, for a devotee to sleep in the sacred precincts of a temple in order to induce the deity to reveal its will. However, the present narrative emphatically dissociates Jacob’s experience from this pagan practice by stressing the wholly unplanned nature of his stopover, the complete anonymity of “the place,” and the total unexpectedness of the theophany. Here it is God who freely takes the initiative in revealing himself to an amazed Jacob. See Nahum M. Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 198.
18. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis, 772-73.
19. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis, 773.
20. R. H. Strachan, The Fourth Gospel: Its Significance and Environment, 3d ed. (London: SCM, 1941), 11.
21. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis, 781. For a devotional treatment of the John passage, cf. Candlish, Studies in Genesis, 473-79.
22. Kidner, Genesis, 159.
23. Speiser, Genesis, 218.
24. Some scholars prefer the rendering, “beside it,” i.e., beside the ladder.
25. F. B. Meyer, Israel: A Prince with God (New York: Revell, n.d.), 52.
26. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis, 776. Kidner (Genesis, 159) comments, “The gate of heaven invites fruitful comparison with the story of Babel, especially in view of the latter’s name.” His point is that Babel (בָּבֶל) also means “gate of God.” By a play on words in Genesis 11:9 Scripture superimposes the truer label בָּלֱל [bālal], i.e., “he confused” (Kidner, 110). Cf. BDB, s.v. “בָּבֶל,” and “בָּלֱל,” 93, 117.
27. Editor’s note: These concluding remarks are taken from S. Lewis Johnson, Jr., “The Deceiver Deceived!, or, Jacob Learning the Justice of God,” Believers Bible Bulletin (Dec. 9, 1979), 1-2.