Genesis 28 · The Lantern

Jacob’s Departure

And Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and commanded him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.

Rise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take yourself a wife from there, from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.

And may God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply you, and may you become an assembly of peoples.

And may he give you the blessing of Abraham — to you, and to your seed with you — that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.”

And Isaac sent Jacob off, and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Esau Marries Mahalath

And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he had commanded him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,”

and that Jacob had listened to his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram.

And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the eyes of Isaac his father.

And Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath — the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth — in addition to his wives, as his wife.

Jacob’s Ladder

And Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran.

And he came upon the place and spent the night there, for the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of the place and set it at his head, and lay down in that place.

When the sun was setting, the text tells us, he slept where the night came upon him: "He took a stone and put it under his head." See the young fellow's hardy spirit: He used the stone as a pillow and slept on the ground. Consequently, since he was imbued with common sense and a hardy attitude and was free of all human pretence, he was found worthy of that remarkable vision.

When Jacob was in flight from his brother, in Mesopotamia he came to Luza, and there to rest, Scripture says, he placed a stone under his head. The stone under his head was Christ. Never before had he put a stone under his head; only at the time when he was escaping from his persecutor.

We do not read of blessed Jacob that he departed with horses or asses or camels, but we read only that he carried a staff in his hand. Thus, indeed, when entreating the Lord he said, "Lord, I am not worthy of all your kindnesses.

And he dreamed — and look, a stairway set up on the earth, with its top reaching to the heavens; and look, angels of God going up and coming down on it.

Our father Jacob too prayed at Bethel and saw the gate of heaven opened, with a ladder going up on high. This is a symbol of our Savior that Jacob saw; the gate of heaven is Christ, in accordance with what he said, "I am the gate of life; every one who enters by me shall live for ever." David too said, "This is the gate of the Lord, by which the righteous enter." Again, the lad…

This is, I believe, the stairway, the running to and fro of the holy spirits, who "are sent forth to minister for those who shall be the heirs of salvation." Christ is firmly placed on top of the stairway for those holy spirits who can reach him, who have him as their overseer, not as someone who exists among them but as God and Lord.

The hierarchical levels are disposed in the soul in a threefold manner: in relation to ascent, to descent, and to the return to God. Then the soul sees "angels of God ascending and descending" upon it; as Jacob saw in his mind.

And look, the LORD standing over him. And he said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you are lying — to you I will give it, and to your seed.

And your seed shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall break out westward and eastward and northward and southward; and in you all the families of the ground shall be blessed — and in your seed.

And look, I am with you, and I will keep you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this ground. For I will not abandon you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”

And Jacob woke 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 fearsome is this place! This is nothing other than the house of God — and this is the gate of the heavens.”

The Stone of Bethel

And Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone he had set at his head, and set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on its top.

Now Jacob called that place Bethel; and Jacob raised up there a pillar of stone as a testimony, and he poured oil over it.

In a dream Jacob saw a ladder, and on this ladder he saw angels ascending and descending; and he anointed the stone that he had placed at his head. You have heard that the Messiah is the Christ; you have heard that the Christ is the Anointed.

The stone under Jacob's head is the Lord, upon whom we ought to support ourselves with all our concentration, the more so insofar as it is surely clear to us that without him we can do nothing.Jacob anointed the stone and set it up as a mark, because a true Israelite understands that our Redeemer was anointed by the Father with the oil of gladness above his fellows.

And he called the name of that place Bethel — though Luz was the name of the city at first.

And Jacob vowed a vow: “If God will be with me and keep me on this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,

and I return in peace to my father’s house — then the LORD shall be my God,