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Jacob's Ladder vision and his relationships with Racheal and Leah

A sceptical reading of the Bible – Genesis. Chapters 28 To 29

Chapter 28

Jacob flees to escape Esau’s wrath. As he leaves he receives some advice from the dying Isaac. He should look up Rebecca’s brother, Laban, in Haran, and seek permission to marry one of his daughter’s in effect; he is advised to marry his own cousin. One thing Isaac begs is that Jacob should not marry any woman from Canaan, which Jacob agrees not to do.

Esau, embittered as he is, immediately adds a Canaanite wife to the wives he already has.

On his journey to Haran, while resting in the wilderness, Jacob has a vision, known as the dream of Jacob’s Ladder. It is just that, a ladder running between Earth and Heaven, with angels on its steps. (Some commentators see the ladder as a ziggurat stairway. There is no reference here to angels having wings, and therefore having little need for a long ladder climb. Nor are any human souls seen climbing or descending the stairs.

Either at the dream’s conclusion or right after it, God comes to Jacob to assure him that his descendants will multiply into a great nation. Jacob builds a temple to God on the site where he had his dream and moves on towards Haran once more.

Chapter 29

Jacob gets to Haran, and quickly meets Rachael, a shepherd girl, with who he quickly falls in love. She turns out fortuitously, to be Laban’s daughter, one of the very girls recommended to Jacob by Isaac. Jacob tells her his story and helps her tend her flock (being of a similar profession himself0. It looks initially as if this is going to be a love story match made in Heaven as with Isaac’s early years with Rebecca. In fact, it turns out very differently. Here’s Biblical soap opera at its best. There is no doubt that what follows is terrific story telling.

When Jacob introduces himself to Rachel’s father, Laban, and tells her of his desire to marry her, Laban proves to be extremely mercenary. He insists that Jacob works for him in order to gain the right to his daughter’s hand in marriage. Jacob offers rashly to work for Laban for 7 years without a wage, in order to gain marriage bonds with Rachael.

Jacob works hard through his seven years, which pass quickly, but on the wedding night, he finds himself bedded by Leah, Rachael’s older sister.

Realizing too late that he has been duped, Jacob protests to Laban, who points out to him that in his lands the first-born daughter must always be wed before the second daughter takes a husband. Jacob is then duped into working a further seven-year period before Rachael finally becomes his second wife.

Though he wants a son to be born to Rachael, Jacob ends up siring seven children to Leah. God seems to have cursed Rachel with barren-ness, as he had done with Sarah, and Rebecca too. This may finally be God’s roundabout way of taking revenge on Jacob for the injustices he inflicted on Esau in previous chapters.

All text quotations from http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=DIV1&byte=1801

Arthur Chappell

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