Jacob's Ladder

[grace86]

I had a dream awhile back that I was climbing this ladder. Only about a month later did I figure out it was called a Jacob's Ladder. Can anyone lead me to where it is located in the Bible? It would help a lot. If you also have anything interesting to add about it, that would help to - kind of analyzing my dreams here.

Thanks a bunch
Grace

[ShoutGrace]

I had a dream awhile back that I was climbing this ladder. Only about a month later did I figure out it was called a Jacob's Ladder. Can anyone lead me to where it is located in the Bible? It would help a lot. If you also have anything interesting to add about it, that would help to - kind of analyzing my dreams here.

Thanks a bunch
Grace

I suppose this question is a lot more complicated than I first thought; the verses describing Jacob's 'Ladder' are not self explanatory.

"Jacob's Ladder refers to a ladder to heaven described in the Book of Genesis (28:11-19) which the biblical patriarch Jacob envisioned during his flight from his brother Esau."

"In a verse composed by the Elohist (E), when an exhausted Jacob stops to rest on the first night of his journey, he dozes off on a stone pillow and begins dreaming. In a vision, he beholds angels of God mounting and descending a stairway or ramp, in Hebrew sullam and improbably translated as "ladder" in the King James Version. The angels, imagined to be roughly the size and shape of human beings, would have had a hard time climbing up and down a ladder all at once, as they are described doing. More likely, sullam refers to a stone-cut stairway (a common sight in the ancient Near East), or perhaps even to the graduated face of a ziggurat."

Here are the three sites that I looked at :

Firstly (http://www.synodresourcecenter.org/edu/congregation/small_groups/0001/jacobs_ladder_BS.html)

Secondly (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob's_Ladder_(Bible))

Thirdly (http://www.gracecathedral.org/enrichment/brush_excerpts/brush_20031022.shtml)



The only thing that I would add would be Jesus' words in John 1:51 :

"Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Let me know if you want to talk about it. ;)

[grace86]

Thankyou so much. I have not the time to look completely over the sites (at work) but thankyou for doing the research for me.

In my dream, I had been baptized outside and then tried to climb the ladder as the last one in front of a line of people who couldn't figure out how.

When I found out it was a Jacob's ladder, there were a lot of implications about my dreams and my religious walk - since the people and myself could not get up the ladder to...heaven I guess. Reminds me of the story The Bell sort of, all of us started out up this stair/ladder, but unlike the poor boy and the rich boy, I did not make it.

But I seemed to HELP the people down off the ladder....so that is open to interpretation as well.

Thanks again
Grace

[ShoutGrace]

I guess my first question is how you came to decide (or discover) that the ladder in your dream was a 'Jacob's Ladder'. It could be any kind of ladder, couldn't it? How do you know?


Only about a month later did I figure out it was called a Jacob's Ladder.

Or are you guessing?

[grace86]

Well, it was through a secular song actually. The song had the lyrics "Climbing Jacob's Ladder," so I questioned what it was...went to google and had it defined. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I guess there is really no way to be sure. But the dream had that anticipation and anxiety in it that only got stronger after "the people" and I were baptized and trying to climb this white stair/ladder thing.

[mtpspur]

Always thought of the ladder and the angels as God giving Jacob assurance that he (Jacob) was being watched over and the angels are constantly busy in their work for the Lord and though the time seem bleak now it's all under control.

A concordance will help with finding passages in the Bible--I recommend Strongs. I also know from observation of these forums that smebody usually knows where a passage is located.