At age 77 Jacob leaves home to travel to the family of his mother Rebekah. His journey has two purposes. He is fleeing Esau's anger and seeking a wife from his own clan.
When he settles down for the night at a location near the border of the Promised Land, Jacob has a special dream: "And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!" (Gen 28:12)
There are a number of Jewish traditions about the significance of the ascending and descending angels. One is that the angels were "changing shifts." A group of angels had accompanied Jacob to the border of the Promised Land. That group ascended the ladder, while another group that would guide Jacob to Haran now descended the ladder. People of my generation are reminded of the sheepdogs and wolves changing shifts in an old Warner Bros cartoon.
A second tradition says that the angels were ascending and descending the ladder because they wanted to see Jacob. In this tradition there was a picture of Jacob on the divine throne, and the angels were comparing that image with the real thing that was sleeping at Luz.
A third tradition says that the angels were acting out a prophecy about future enemies of Jacob's descendants. An angel representing Babylon goes up seventy steps (standing for the 70 years of the Babylonian captivity), then goes back down. An angel representing Greece goes up 180 steps, representing 180 years of future Greek domination, and then goes back down. An angel representing Rome goes up and up and up and up. Jacob asks God if this angel will go up indefinitely, and God assures Jacob that no, the angel will eventually come back down.
These traditions are fanciful, but they all back up the point of the dream. God is control, and he is going to be with Jacob throughout his journey (Gen 28:12-15), consistent with his promise to Abraham. In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on Sept 26, 2020, David Waddle emphasized these points.
Jesus later compared himself to the ladder in Jacob's dream (John 1:43-51). Through him the divine realm would be opened to his disciples.
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