Texts in Conversation
In the Ladder of Jacob, the angels on Jacob's ladder descend and ascend as a sign that a man from God will come to connect heaven and earth. In John, Jesus uses similar angelic language to describe the Son of Man as a connection between heaven and earth.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Ladder of Jacob 7:1
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
1 But since you saw angels descending and ascending upon the ladder, in the last times there will be a man from the Most High, and he shall desire to join the upper with the lower. 2 Before his coming your sons and your daughters shall prophesy about him, and your young men shall see visions of him. 3 For there shall be such signs as these at the time of his coming: a tree felled by the axe shall drop blood; boys three months old shall speak rationally; a child in its mother's womb shall proclaim his way; a young man shall be like an old man. 4 And then comes the expected one, whose path will be perceived by no one.
John 1:51
New Testament
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and exclaimed, “Look, a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?” Jesus replied, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel!” 50 Jesus said to him, “Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 He continued, “I tell all of you the solemn truth—you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
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Notes and References
“... a. Ch. 7, which comprises about one third of LadJac, was compiled by a Slav as part of the anti-Jewish commentary of the Palaia; apparently his principal source was the Slavonic version of the Tale of Aphroditianus. Presently it is not clear whether ch. 7 was intended as an addition to LadJac or was written originally as a separate polemical exercise. Syntactically this vs. is not properly connected with either the preceding or the following. Cf. 5:11. In A the text is embedded in commentary, but in B it is separate and then repeated in the commentary. Note that, unlike Gen 28:12, descending comes first. This surely symbolizes Christ's descent to earth, introducing the idea of incarnation, which clearly is the theme of the ch. ...”
Lunt, H. G.
"Ladder of Jacob: A New Translation and Introduction" in Charlesworth, James H. (ed.) The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Volume 2: Expansions of the “Old Testament” and Legends, Wisdom and Philosophical Literature, Prayers, Psalms, and Odes, Fragments of Lost Judeo-Hellenistic Works
(p. 410) Doubleday, 1985
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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