Jacob's ladder

Jacob's dream of a ladder between earth and heaven.

In Genesis 28 Jacob is fleeing from his brother Esau. On the way he goes to sleep in the open air, with a stone as a pillow. He dreams of a ladder, or stairway, set on the earth and reaching to heaven, with angels ascending and descending on it. Above the ladder stands God, who promises him: I am with you and will keep you wherever you go.

When Jacob wakes up, he says: surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it. He names the place Bethel, house of God, and sets the stone upright as a memorial. It is one of the best-known dream stories in the Bible, and in the Christian tradition it is often cited as an example of a dream in which God speaks.

Striking is when the dream comes: not at a moment of success, but at a moment of flight, loneliness and guilt. Jacob has deceived his brother and misled his father. Yet God meets him precisely there. For many believers that is the comfort of the story: God does not only come once you have everything in order.

In the New Testament Jesus refers to it when he tells Nathanael that he will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Christians read in that that Christ himself is the connection between heaven and earth.

Ladders, stairs and climbing are common in dreams. In the light of Jacob's ladder they are often interpreted in Christian readings as connection, growth or a way to God, and a dream in a difficult place as a possible moment of encounter.