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Genesis 28:10-17 describes a vision which Jacob had in a dream at the place that became known as Bethel (v. 19).\u00a0 Throughout the patriarchal narratives in Genesis 12-50, altars are set up by the patriarchs at various places, not coincidentally at 12 sites within the later territory of the 12 tribes of Israel.\u00a0 These narratives regarding the patriarchs represent the collected traditions of the 12 tribes regarding their forefathers.\u00a0 Bethel would be a cultic site for centuries, notably one of the two sites of Jeroboam\u2019s apostate religion in the Northern Kingdom.\u00a0 The legacy of Jacob\u2019s dream, however, in Second Temple Judaism and Christianity was untethered from the place where it occurred, and refocused upon the symbolism of the vision itself.\u00a0 Much of the discussion of this vision has centered around Jacob\u2019s \u201cladder,\u201d though its translation as \u201cladder\u201d has somewhat obscured the original reference of Jacob\u2019s dream.<\/p>\n
In Jacob\u2019s dream he sees what is called in Hebrew a \u201csullam\u201d whose base is upon the earth and which reaches to the heavens.\u00a0 Angelic beings are ascending and descending upon the \u201csullam.\u201d\u00a0 He looks to its peak and sees Yahweh standing atop it, who reiterates to Jacob the promises made to his grandfather Abraham.\u00a0 Due to the dream, Jacob concludes that the place in which he had been resting is \u201cthe house of God\u201d and \u201cthe gate of heaven.\u201d\u00a0 The anointing of sacred stones, as performed by Jacob in v. 18 was a common West Semitic religious ritual and dedicatory rite.\u00a0 Jacob not only makes this a sacred ritual site, but he changes the name of the place from Luz to Bethel (v. 19).<\/p>\n
The question then turns to what precisely a \u201csullam\u201d is.\u00a0 This is complicated by the fact that this word is used only here in the entirety of the Hebrew scriptures.\u00a0 A word which occurs only once in the scriptures is referred to as a\u00a0hapax legomena<\/em>.\u00a0 There are many such words in both the Old and New Testaments.\u00a0 In the New Testament, such Greek words often have ample use in extra-Biblical Greek literature to determine the word\u2019s general usage and meaning.\u00a0 In the Old Testament, there is in most cases little or not literature to compare.\u00a0 Information then has to come from other related Hebrew words, related words in other Semitic languages of the period, and words used in ancient translations.\u00a0 \u201cSullam\u201d is a noun derived from the verb \u201csalal\u201d which means \u201cto pile up\u201d or, when referring to a road, \u201cto pave.\u201d\u00a0 Another noun derived from this verb, \u201cmesilla\u201d is used repeatedly in the Old Testament to refer to a paved road.\u00a0 The plural of this noun is used in 2 Chronicles 9:11 to refer to a wooden element of the temple\u2019s construction.\u00a0 Though its exact referent is unclear, both the Greek and Latin translations of the plural here identify it as a staircase.\u00a0 Another related noun \u201csolala\u201d is used to refer to a siege ramp of the kind constructed alongside a city wall.\u00a0 Interestingly, the Akkadian word \u201csimmiltu\u201d refers to a connection between the heavens and the netherworld through which messages can be sent.\u00a0 Ugaritic texts use related words to describe places and beings associated with a gateway or other connection between these places.\u00a0 In the Greek Old Testament tradition, \u201csullam\u201d is translated by \u201cclimax,\u201d a word which we have become used, in English, to translating as \u201cladder.\u201d\u00a0 In Greek, however, this word can refer to either a ladder or a staircase.\u00a0 Other uses of \u201cclimax\u201d in the Greek Old Testament tradition tend strongly toward its interpretation as a stairway.\u00a0 In 1 Maccabees 5:30, \u201cclimax\u201d unambiguously refers to a ladder.\u00a0 However, in every other usage, it very clearly refers to a staircase (Neh 3:15; 12:37; 1 Macc 11:59).<\/p>\n The imagery of a connection between earth and heaven as well as that of a staircase is united in the context of a ziggurat.\u00a0 The image that accompanies this post is a photo of the remains of the great ziggurat of Ur, the original home of Jacob\u2019s grandfather Abram.\u00a0 These temple complexes in Mesopotamia were man-made recreations of the mountain of God which would allow kings in particular to ascend to the dwelling of the gods in order to interact with his fellows.\u00a0 The ziggurat imagery is also the subject of the story of the tower of Babel earlier in Genesis.\u00a0 It is also in keeping with Jacob\u2019s identification of the place as not only the gate of heaven, but also the \u201chouse\u201d of God.\u00a0 The Hebrew word \u201cbayith,\u201d transliterated in English as \u201cbeth,\u201d when used in reference to a deity, means \u201ctemple.\u201d\u00a0 Jacob\u2019s vision, then, is of Yahweh standing atop his temple mountain, with his angelic servants ascending and descending a staircase or ramp leading from his dwelling place to the earth and back.<\/p>\n While Jacob\u2019s vision is not directly referenced in the Old Testament, it fits within a prominent motif within the Hebrew scriptures of the ascent of the mountain of God.\u00a0 Possibly the most prominent example of this motif is Moses\u2019 ascent of Mt. Sinai to the dwelling place of Yahweh in his divine council.\u00a0 This ascent to the vision of God is applied to the spiritual life famously by St. Gregory of Nyssa in his\u00a0Life of Moses<\/em>.\u00a0 Another example from the Hebrew scriptures would be the Song of Ascent, comprised of Psalms 119-133, typically sung during pilgrimage to the temple atop Mt. Zion.\u00a0 Other Psalms, such as 15 and 24 likewise describe the life of the faithful as ascending the mountain of God.\u00a0 These latter two Psalms, however, phrase the issue as a question, \u201cWho can ascend the mountain of God?\u201d\u00a0 Moses made his ascent of Sinai while the rest of the people were prohibited from even so much as touching its base.\u00a0 What ultimately enables human ascent to God\u2019s presence is the descent of Yahweh from the heights of Paradise.<\/p>\n In John 3:13, Christ states that no one has ever gone into heaven but the one who came from heaven, the Son of Man.\u00a0 This imagery is allied with that of John 1:51, in which Christ says to Nathanael, \u201cTruly, truly I say to you:\u00a0 After this, you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.\u201d\u00a0 Here, Christ himself is the \u201csullam\u201d of Jacob\u2019s vision, not a ladder, but a temple.\u00a0 Christ is himself the dwelling place of God with man.\u00a0 He is himself the means by which humanity comes to know the Father.\u00a0 Earth and heaven are connected and brought together in his flesh.\u00a0 The language of Jacob\u2019s dream is also frequently applied in the hymns and prayers of the Orthodox Church to Christ\u2019s mother, the Theotokos.\u00a0 This is primarily with reference to Jacob\u2019s identification of the place in which he slept upon awaking.\u00a0 The womb of the Theotokos is both the place in which God dwelt after her virginal conception and the gate through which Christ passed on his way from heaven to earth.\u00a0 Jacob\u2019s dream vision can therefore ultimately be seen to be a vision of the incarnation.<\/p>\n The imagery of Jacob\u2019s vision, however, is perhaps most prominent in the text of St. John Climacus\u2019\u00a0Ladder of Divine Ascent<\/em>.\u00a0 This text and the accompanying iconography clearly understand the means of ascent as a ladder.\u00a0 Christ\u2019s descent and his status as the temple staircase allow for, and are the means of, humanity\u2019s ascent to God.\u00a0 The depiction of a ladder is not incorrect or unhelpful\u00a0per se<\/em>, as long as it does not serve to separate this imagery from the larger motifs and themes of the mountain of God and its ascent.\u00a0 St. John of the Ladder is also St. John of Sinai.\u00a0 Meditation upon Jacob\u2019s vision serves as a reminder of the goal and purpose of human life.\u00a0 It also speaks to us of the incarnation of Christ, which makes true human life possible.\u00a0 The moment of God\u2019s revelation of himself to Jacob leads us, as it does in John 3:13-15, to the full revelation of God to us, in the cross of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n