Jacob's Ladder
Genesis 28:10-15:
(Jacob’s Dream at Bethel)
10Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. 12And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; 14and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. 15Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
(Meeks 45)
Do you believe the hand of God is involved in your life? Or do you suppose God set the world in motion and then took a step back? Deism is essentially the view that God exists, but that he is not directly involved in the world. A deist pictures God as the great “clockmaker” who created the clock, wound it up, and let it go. They believe that God exists and created the world, but does not interfere with his creation. It is a given that the Bible is in direct opposition to Deism beliefs, additionally, one of the most significant events exemplifying this occurs in Genesis 28:10, Jacob’s Dream at Bethel; this is the earliest and most clearly portrayed connection between Heaven and earth, God and Jacob.
For the first time in the Jacob saga, the attention moves away from the human interaction and conflicts of Jacob’s family, and is placed on the direct encounter between him and God. Jacob has just acquired his brother Esau’s blessing through the deception of his...
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