Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He 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. And 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.1 And the LORD2 stood beside him and said, "I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac;3 the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and 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.4 Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go,5 and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
Then 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 awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.6 He called that place Bethel; but the name of the city was Luz at the first. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If7 God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father's house in peace,8 then the LORD shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house; and of all that you give me I will surely give one tenth to you.9"
[1] How does this part of the vision relate to everything else? Is the physical place important as a connection between heaven and earth? I wouldn't have picked it up myself, but my study Bible points out that a major theme of the passage is setting up the sacredness of the temple that now existed at Bethel when this was written. In fact, the "ladder" (also means stairway in Hebrew) may be a direct reference to the stairway up to the Bethel temple.
[2] My study Bible points out that God appears to Jacob when he enters the promised land and when he leaves it, symbolically demonstrating that he is with him in his journey there.
[3] As God personalized himself to his father Isaac and grandfather Abraham, he meets Jacob in person as well.
[4] The promises of land, fertility, and blessedness to the nations are repeated.
[5] Such a personal promise.
[6] As his father and his grandfather before him, he builds and alter and worships upon encountering God.
[7] Adds an "if" condition on his commitment to God. At first this bothered me, and it still might. However, God had already said that he would be with him and keep him on this journey, so perhaps the "if" is only his language for referring to what God has already promised to do.
[8] Such simple things - God with him, God keeping him safe and in peace on his journey, God providing food and clothing.
[9] His response to God's presence and provision is to claim God as his God, claim this place as God's house, and promise to tithe to him.
Take-home: Jacob is given his personal encounter with God, where God repeats the family promises to him and Jacob makes promises in return. I'm struck by the clear indication that even though the connection to God is a family connection, each patriarch has a personal relationship with God and chooses to own that membership in God's family.
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