Jacob's Vision at Bethel - His Arrival at the House of Laban - Jacob's double Marriage and Servitude - His

Flight from Haran - Pursuit of Laban, and Reconciliation with Jacob

(GENESIS 28:10-31:55)

IT had been a long and weary journey that first day when Jacob left his home at Beersheba.41 More than

forty miles had he traveled over the mountains which afterwards were those of Judah, and through what was

to become the land of Benjamin. The sun had set, and its last glow faded out from the gray hills of Ephraim,

when he reached "an uneven valley, covered, as with gravestones, by large sheets of bare rock, - some few

here and there standing up like the cromlechs of Druidical monuments."  42 Here, close by a wild ridge, the

broad summit of which was covered by an olive grove, was the place where Abraham had first rested for

some time on entering the land, and whence he and Lot had, before their separation, taken a survey of the

country. There, just before him, lay the Canaanitish Luz; and beyond it, many days' journey, stretched his

weary course to Haran. 43 It was a lonely, weird place, this valley of stones, in which to make his first night's

quarters. But perhaps it agreed all the better with Jacob's mood, which had made him go on and on, from

early morning, forgetful of time and way, till he could no longer pursue his journey. Yet, accidental as it

seemed - for we read that "he lighted upon a certain place," - the selection of the spot was assuredly

designed of God.

Presently Jacob prepared for rest. Piling some of the stones, with which the valley was strewed, he made

them a pillow, and laid him down to sleep. Then it was, in his dream, that it seemed as if these stones of the

valley were being builded together by an unseen hand, step upon step, "a ladder" - or, probably more

correctly, "a stair." Now, as he watched it, it rose and rose, till it reached the deep blue star-spangled sky,

which seemed to cleave for its reception. All along that wondrous track moved angel-forms, "ascending and

descending upon it;" and angel-light was shed upon its course, till quite up on the top stood the glorious

Jehovah Himself, Who spake to the lonely sleeper below: "I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father,

and the God of Isaac." Silent in their ministry, the angels still passed up and down the heaven-built stairs,

from where Jacob lay to where Jehovah spake. The vision and the words which the Lord spoke explain each

other, the one being the symbol of the other. On that first night, when an outcast from his home, and a

fugitive, heavy thoughts, doubts, and fears would crowd around Jacob; when, in every sense, his head was

pillowed on stones in the rocky valley of Luz, Jehovah expressly renewed to him, in the fullest manner, the

promise and the blessing first given to Abraham, and added to it this comfort, whatever might be before him:

"I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land;

for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." And what Jacob heard, that

he also saw in symbolic vision. The promise was the real God-built stair, which reached from the lonely place

on which the poor wanderer lay quite up to heaven, right into the very presence of Jehovah; and on which,

all silent and unknown by the world, lay the shining track o f angel-ministry. And so still to each one who is

truly of Israel is the promise of that mysterious "ladder" which connects earth with heaven. Below lies poor,

helpless, forsaken man; above, stands Jehovah Himself, and upon the ladder of promise which joins earth to

heaven, the angels of God, in their silent, never-ceasing ministry, descend, bringing help, and ascend, as to

fetch new deliverance. Nay, this "ladder" is Christ,44 for by this "ladder" God Himself has come down to us

in the Person of His dear So n, Who is, so to speak, the Promise become Reality, as it is written:

"And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely Jehovah is in this place, and I knew it not." Quite

another fear now came upon him from that of loneliness or of doubt. It was awe at the conscious presence of

the ever-watchful, ever-mindful covenant-God which made him feel, as many a wanderer since at such

discovery: "How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of