Editing Jacob's Ladder

{{Short description|Ladder in Genesis joining Earth to heaven}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Redirect|Ladder to Heaven|the Hong Kong television drama|The Last Steep Ascent{{!}}''The Last Steep Ascent''|the ''South Park'' episode|A Ladder to Heaven}}
{{original research|date= February 2020}}
[[File:LZB in Flensburg - Niederdeutsche Lutherbibel von 1574-1580, Bild 11B.JPG|thumb|Picture of the Jacob's Ladder in the original [[Luther Bible]]s (of 1534 and also 1545)]]

'''Jacob's Ladder''' ({{langx|hbo|{{Script/Hebrew|סֻלָּם יַעֲקֹב}}|Sūllām Yaʿăqōḇ}}) is a ladder or staircase leading to [[Heaven]] that was featured in a dream the [[Patriarchs (Bible)|Biblical Patriarch]] [[Jacob]] had during his flight from his brother [[Esau]] in the [[Book of Genesis]] (chapter 28).

The significance of the dream has been debated, but most interpretations agree that it identified Jacob with the obligations and inheritance of the people chosen by [[God in Abrahamic religions|God]], as understood in [[Abrahamic religions]].

[[File:Monheim_Town_Hall_3.jpg|thumb|Jacob's Ladder as depicted in [[Monheim Town Hall]]. The gilded Hebrew text reads "And, behold, the {{LORD}} stood beside him, and said: 'And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest{{'"}}]]

==Biblical narrative==
The description of Jacob's Ladder appears in Genesis 28:10–19:

{{Quote|And Jacob went out from [[Beer-sheba]], and went toward [[Harran|Haran]]. And he lighted upon the place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the {{LORD}} stood beside him, and said: 'I am the {{LORD}}, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. And in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee back into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.' And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said: 'Surely the {{LORD}} is in this place; and I knew it not.' And he was afraid, and said: 'How full of awe is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.' And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place [[Beth-el]], but the name of the city was [[Luz (biblical place)#Mentioned in Genesis|Luz]] at the first.|Genesis 28:10–19<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|28:10–19|HE}}</ref>}}

==Judaism==
{{Location map many | Mediterranean east
|float      = right
| width    = 300px
| caption  =  Sites associated with Jacob's Ladder
| lat1_deg = 36.8775 
| lon1_deg = 39.033889
| label1   = [[Haran (biblical place)|Haran]]
| lat2_deg = 31.942
| lon2_deg = 35.222
| label2   = [[Bethel]]
| lat3_deg = 31.258889
| lon3_deg = 34.799722
| label3   = [[Beersheba]]
|position1 = top
|position3 = left}}
[[File:El sueño de Jacob, por José de Ribera.jpg|right|thumb|''[[Jacob's Dream]]'' (1639) by [[José de Ribera]], at the [[Museo del Prado]], [[Madrid]]]]

The classic [[Torah]] commentaries offer several interpretations of Jacob's Ladder. In ''[[Pirkei De-Rabbi Eliezer]]'' 35:6-10, the ladder signified the four exiles the [[Jews|Jewish people]] would suffer before the coming of the [[Messiah in Judaism|messiah]]. First, the angel representing the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] climbed "up" 70 rungs and then fell "down": a reference to the 70-year [[Babylonian exile]]. Then, the angel representing the exile of the [[Achaemenid Empire]] went up several steps and fell, as did the angel representing the exile of Greece (the [[Hellenistic period]], [[Ptolemaic Kingdom]], and the [[Seleucid Empire]]). Only the fourth angel, who represented the final exile of the [[Roman Empire]], called "[[Edom]]" (whose guardian angel was [[Esau]] himself), kept climbing higher and higher into the clouds. Jacob feared that his children would never be free of Esau's domination, but God assured him that at the [[Jewish eschatology|End of Days]], Edom too would fall.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 35:6-10 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_DeRabbi_Eliezer.35.6-10 |website=www.sefaria.org|quote=}}</ref>

Another interpretation{{cn|date=December 2024}} of the ladder keys into the fact that the angels first "ascended" and then "descended". The [[Midrash]] explains that Jacob, as a [[tsaddik|holy man]], was always accompanied by angels. When he reached the border of the land of [[Canaan]] (the future [[Land of Israel]]), the angels who were assigned to the [[Holy Land]] returned to [[Heaven in Judaism|Heaven]] and the angels assigned to other lands came down to meet Jacob. When Jacob returned to [[Canaan]], he was greeted by the angels who were assigned to the Holy Land.

Yet another interpretation{{cn|date=December 2024}} is that the place at which Jacob stopped for the night was, in reality, [[Moriah]], the future home of the [[Temple in Jerusalem]], which was considered to be the "bridge" between Heaven and Earth.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Temple of Jerusalem {{!}} Judaism|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Temple-of-Jerusalem|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2020-05-26}}</ref> The ladder therefore signifies the "bridge" between Heaven and Earth. Moreover, the ladder alludes to the giving of the Torah as another connection between Heaven and Earth. In this interpretation, it is also significant that the word for ''ladder'' ({{Langx|he|סלם|sullām}}) and the name for the mountain on which the Torah was given, {{Transliteration|he|[[Mount Sinai|Sinai]]}} ({{Lang|he|סיני}}) have the same [[Gematria]].

The [[Hellenistic Judaism|Hellenistic Jewish]] philosopher [[Philo]], born in [[Alexandria]], ({{abbr|d.|died}} {{Circa|50 CE}}) presents his allegorical interpretation of the ladder in the first book of his {{lang|la|De somniis}}. There, he gives four interpretations, which are not mutually exclusive:<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/shofar/v024/24.1verman.html |title=''Reincarnation in Jewish Mysticism and Gnosticism'' (review) |last1=Verman |first1=Mark |date=Fall 2005 |journal=[[Shofar (journal)|Shofar]] |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=173–175 |doi=10.1353/sho.2005.0206 |s2cid=170745364 |access-date=14 June 2010|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

* The angels represent [[Soul#Judaism|souls]] descending to and ascending from bodies (some consider this to be Philo's most explicit reference to the doctrine of [[reincarnation]]).
* In the second interpretation, the ladder is the human soul, and the angels are God's ''logoi'', pulling the soul up in distress and descending in compassion.
* In the third view, the dream depicts the ups and downs of the life of the "practiser" (of virtue vs. [[Jewish views on sin|sin]]).
* Finally, the angels represent the continually changing affairs of humankind.

The narrative of Jacob's Ladder was used, shortly after the destruction of the [[Second Temple]] in the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)]], as the basis for the [[pseudepigrapha|pseudepigraphic]] ''[[Ladder of Jacob]]''. This writing, preserved only in [[Old Church Slavonic]], interprets the experience of [[Patriarchs (Bible)|Patriarchs]] in the context of [[Merkabah mysticism]].

A hilltop overlooking the Israeli settlement of [[Beit El]] north of Jerusalem, believed by some to be the site of Jacob's dream, is a tourist destination during the holiday of [[Sukkot]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Bresky|first=Ben|title=Sukkot Music Events Abound in Israel|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/160400 |access-date=6 October 2012|newspaper=[[Arutz Sheva]]|date=30 September 2012| via= israelnationalnews.com}}</ref>

==Christianity==
[[File:Blake jacobsladder.jpg|thumb|upright|''Jacob's Dream'' by [[William Blake]] ({{Circa|1805}}, [[British Museum]], London)<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/object.xq?objectid=but438.1.wc.01&vg=biblicalwc&vcontext=biblicalwc&landing=object&titles=short&java=no&mode=vcopy| title =Jacob's Dream, object 1 (Butlin 438) "Jacob's Dream"| editor-first1= Morris | editor-last1= Eaves| editor-first2=  Robert N. | editor-last2= Essick| editor-first3= Joseph | editor-last3= Viscomi| access-date = September 25, 2013|publisher = [[William Blake Archive]]}}</ref>]]
[[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus]] said in [[John 1:51]], "And he saith unto him, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see [[Heaven in Christianity|Heaven]] open, and the [[Christian angelology|angels]] of [[God in Christianity|God]] ascending and descending upon the [[Son of man (Christianity)|Son of man]].'" This statement has been interpreted as associating Jesus with the ladder in that Jesus bridges the gap between Heaven and Earth. Jesus presents himself as the direction to which the ladder points. As Jacob saw the reunion of Heaven and Earth in a dream, Jesus brought this reunion—metaphorically the ladder—into reality. [[Adam Clarke]], an early 19th-century [[Methodism|Methodist]] theologian and Bible scholar, elaborates:

{{Quote|That by the angels of God ascending and descending, is to be understood, that a perpetual intercourse should now be opened between heaven and earth, through the medium of Christ, who was God manifested in the flesh. Our blessed Lord is represented in his mediatorial capacity as the ambassador of God to men; and the angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man, is a metaphor taken from the custom of dispatching couriers or messengers from the prince to his ambassador in a foreign court, and from the ambassador back to the prince.<ref>{{cite book|last=Clarke|first=Adam|title=The holy Bible, from the authorized tr., with a comm. and critical notes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I6kGAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PT494| year=1817}}</ref>}}

The theme of a ladder to Heaven is often used by the [[Church Fathers]]. [[Irenaeus]], in the second century, describes the [[Christian Church]] as the "ladder of ascent to God".<ref>Irenaeus, ''[[On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis|Adversus haereses]]'', III,24,1</ref>

In the third century, [[Origen]]<ref>Origen, ''Homily n. 27 on Numbers'', about Numbers 33:1–2</ref> explains that there are two ladders in the life of a [[Christians|Christian]]: the [[Asceticism|ascetic]] ladder that the [[Soul#Christianity|soul]] climbs on Earth, by way of—and resulting in—an increase in virtue, and the soul's travel after death, climbing up the heavens toward the light of God.

In the fourth century, [[Gregory of Nazianzus]]<ref>Gregory of Nazianzus, ''Homily n. 43 (Funeral Oration on the Great S. Basil)'', 71</ref> wrote of ascending Jacob's ladder by successive steps toward excellence, interpreting the ladder as an ascetic path. At the same time, [[Gregory of Nyssa]] narrated<ref>Gregory of Nyssa, ''Life of Moses'', pp. 224–227</ref> that [[Moses]] climbed l Jacob's ladder to reach the heavens, where he entered a remade [[tabernacle]]; thus giving the ladder an apparent [[Mysticism|mystical]] meaning. The ascetic interpretation is found also in [[John Chrysostom]], who wrote:

{{Quote|And so mounting as it were by steps, let us get to heaven by a Jacob's ladder. For the ladder seems to me to signify in a riddle by that vision the gradual ascent by means of virtue, by which it is possible for us to ascend from earth to heaven, not using material steps, but improvement and correction of manners.<ref>{{cite book| first= John |last= Chrysostom| title= The Homilies on the Gospel of St. John| chapter= n. 83,5| url= http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.lxxxv.html| via= CCEL.org}}</ref>}}

[[File:Himnastigi.jpg|thumb|upright=0.20|The angels climb Jacob's Ladder on the west front of [[Bath Abbey]].]]
Jacob's ladder as an [[analogy]] for a spiritually ascetic life enjoyed wide influence thanks to the classical work ''[[The Ladder of Divine Ascent]]'' by [[John Climacus]]. As such, the [[Carthusians|Carthusian]] monk [[Guigo II]] used it as inspiration for his description of the steps of the ''[[Lectio Divina]]'', and the contemporary philosopher [[Peter Kreeft]] used it in his [[Christian apologetics|apologetics]].<ref name="Higgins">{{cite book |last1=Higgins |first1=Gregory C. |title=A Revitalization of Images: Theology and Human Creativity |date=5 March 2019 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-4982-2450-5 |pages=58–77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=guaPDwAAQBAJ |access-date=7 March 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

Jacob's ladder is depicted on the facade of [[Bath Abbey]] in England, with angels climbing up and down ladders on either side of the main window on the west front.

<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:JacobsLaddertoHeaven.jpg|Jacob's Ladder, {{Circa|1925}}, illustration in an American book of Bible stories for children
File:ACU Jacobs Dream artwork.JPG|''Jacob's Dream'' artwork on the campus of [[Abilene Christian University]]
</gallery>

== Islam ==
[[Jacob in Islam|In Islam]], Jacob ({{langx|ar|يَعْقُوب|Yaʿqūb}}) is revered as a [[Prophets and messengers in Islam|prophet]] and [[patriarch]]. Muslim scholars drew a parallel between Jacob's vision of the ladder<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sunnahonline.com/library/stories-of-the-prophets/296-story-of-prophet-yaqub|title=Story of Ya'qub (Jacob)| website= SunnahOnline.com |last= Kathir |first= Ibn |language= en-gb|access-date=2017-09-07}}</ref> and [[Muhammad]]'s event of the [[Isra' and Mi'raj|Miʿrāj]].<ref>{{cite book| first1= Sachiko| last1= Murata | first2= William C.| last2= Chittick |year= 1994| url= http://traditionalhikma.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Vision-of-Islam-by-Sachiko-Murata-and-William-C.-Chittick.pdf |title= The Vision of Islam| page= 85}}</ref> The ladder of Jacob was interpreted to be one of the many symbols of [[God in Islam|God]], and many see Jacob's Ladder as representing in its form the essence of Islam, which emphasizes following the "straight path". The twentieth-century scholar [[Martin Lings]] described the significance of the ladder in the Islamic mystic perspective:
{{quote|The ladder of the created Universe is the ladder which appeared in a dream to Jacob, who saw it stretching from Heaven to earth, with Angels going up and down upon it; and it is also the "straight path", for indeed the way of religion is none other than the way of creation itself retraced from its end back to its Beginning.|source=Lings, Martin. The Book of Certainty. p. 51.}}

==See also==
* [[As-Sirāt]]
* [[Crepuscular rays]]
* "[[Jack and the Beanstalk]]"
* ''[[Die Jakobsleiter]]'', unfinished [[oratorio]] by [[Arnold Schoenberg]]
* {{lang|la|[[Locus iste (Bruckner)|Locus iste]]}}, [[motet]] by [[Anton Bruckner]]
* "[[Nearer, My God, to Thee]]", hymn lyrics (written 1841) by [[Sarah Flower Adams|Sarah Fuller Flower Adams]]
* ''[[The Dream of Jacob]]'', orchestral piece by [[Krzysztof Penderecki]]
* [[Space elevator]]
* [[Stairway to Heaven (disambiguation)]]
* ''[[The Ladder of Divine Ascent]]''
* {{Transliteration|sa|iast|[[Trāyastriṃśa]]}}
* [[Bifröst]], another example of connection with realm of gods in mythology
* ''[[Dante's Equation]]''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Jacob's ladder}}
* [http://www.chabad.org/k2439 Jacob's Ladder from a Jewish perspective] at [[Chabad.org]]

{{Book of Genesis}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Angelic apparitions in the Bible]]
[[Category:Biblical dreams and visions]]
[[Category:Hebrew Bible objects]]
[[Category:Jacob]]
[[Category:Ladders]]
[[Category:Theophanies in the Hebrew Bible]]
[[Category:Harran]]