A stone for a pillow: Jacob’s ladder at Bethel

He was running away. Jacob had deceived his father and stolen his brother’s blessing, and Esau wanted to kill him. On the road north, Jacob stopped for the night in the open, took a stone for a pillow and lay down to sleep. That night, in the middle of his guilt and fear, God met him.

The dream

Genesis 28 describes Jacob’s dream: a stairway, often called a ladder, resting on the earth with its top reaching heaven, and the angels of God going up and down on it. Above it stood the Lord. God spoke to Jacob and repeated the promises given to Abraham and Isaac: the land would be given to his descendants, they would be as numerous as the dust of the earth, and all peoples would be blessed through them. Then God added a personal promise: “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you.”

Grace

Jacob had done nothing to deserve this. He was a deceiver on the run. The promise came anyway. The story shows God’s grace reaching a man before he had changed.

Jacob woke and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” He named the place Bethel, meaning “house of God”.

The stone pillar

Jacob took the stone he had slept on, set it up as a pillar and poured oil on it. He made a vow that if God kept him safe, the Lord would be his God, and he would give a tenth of all he received. In John 1:51, Jesus tells Nathanael, “You will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Jesus presents himself as the true ladder, the connection between heaven and earth.

For today

Many people feel furthest from God when they have failed or are running from problems. Jacob’s story suggests that God can be present in exactly those places, even when we are not aware of it. Where in your life might you say, like Jacob, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it”? Take time to look for God’s presence in the hard places of this week.