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Ladder of Jacob

About this book
Chapter 1

1 Now Jacob went to his uncle Laban, and he found a place and fell asleep there, laying his head on a stone, for the sun had set, and there he saw a vision. 2 And there, a ladder was set up on the earth, whose top reached to heaven. 3 And the top of the ladder was a face like a man's, hewn out of fire.⁠ 4 Now it had twelve steps up to the top of the ladder, and upon each step up to the top were two human faces on the right and on the left — twenty-four faces seen down to their chests, on the ladder. 5 But the middle face was higher than them all, which I saw made of fire, to the shoulder and the arm, very terrifying, more than the twenty-four faces. 6 And as I looked, there were the angels of God ascending and descending on it; but the Lord was set above it, and he called me, saying, Jacob, Jacob. 7 And I said, Here I am, Lord. 8 And he said to me, The land where you sleep I will give to you and to your seed after you, and I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand of the sea; through your seed all the earth shall be blessed, and those who live there, to the last times, the years of the end.⁠ 9 My blessing, with which I have blessed you, shall pour out from you to the last generation. 10 All in the east and the west shall be full of your seed.

Texts in conversation

Compare 2 Enoch 22:1 and Ladder of Jacob 1:3

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

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Summary

In 2 Enoch, Enoch sees God's face glowing like hot iron and finds it terrifying. In the Ladder of Jacob, a similarly fiery and terrifying human face represents the God who speaks to Jacob from above the ladder.

Passages

2 Enoch 22:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Secrets of Enoch
1 On the tenth Heaven, Aravoth, I saw the appearance of the Lord's face, like iron made to glow in fire, and brought out, emitting sparks, and it burns. Thus I saw the Lord's face, but the Lord's face is beyond description, marvelous and deeply awe-inspiring, and very, very terrifying. 2 And who am I to tell of the Lord's being, which is beyond words, and of his very wonderful face? and I cannot tell the quantity of his many instructions, and various voices, the Lord's throne very great and not made with hands, nor the quantity of those standing around him, troops of cherubim and seraphim, 3 nor their incessant singing, nor his unchanging beauty, and who will tell of the indescribable greatness of his glory? 4 And I fell face down and bowed down to the Lord,
1–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Enoch

Ladder of Jacob 1:3

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
3 And the top of the ladder was a face like a man's, hewn out of fire. 4 Now it had twelve steps up to the top of the ladder, and upon each step up to the top were two human faces on the right and on the left — twenty-four faces seen down to their chests, on the ladder. 5 But the middle face was higher than them all, which I saw made of fire, to the shoulder and the arm, very terrifying, more than the twenty-four faces. 6 And as I looked, there were the angels of God ascending and descending on it; but the Lord was set above it, and he called me, saying, Jacob, Jacob.
1–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Ladder of Jacob

References

“... The depiction leaves the impression that God’s voice is hidden behind this fiery terrifying “face” as a distinct divine manifestation, behind which God conveys to Jacob his audible revelation about the Promised Land and the blessings upon Jacob’s descendants. This description of the celestial “Face” as the fiery anthropomorphic extent, which serves as the embodiment of the deity leads us to another Slavonic text in which the theme of the fiery Face looms large. This text is 2 (Slavonic) Enoch, a Jewish apocalypse, the hypothetical date of which (c. first century CE) is in close proximity to the date of Ladder. 2 Enoch 22 contains a theophanic depiction of the Face of the Lord, which emits light and fire. The important detail that connects this passage with Ladder is that the Face in 2 Enoch is similarly defined as “fiery” and “terrifying.” Another parallel is that in both 2 Enoch and Ladder the Face is understood as the luminous representation of the deity, behind which He can convey His audible revelation to visionaries. ...”
Andrei A. Orlov, From Apocalypticism to Merkabah Mysticism: Studies in the Slavonic Pseudepigrapha, JSJSup 114 (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 402–403.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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2 Enoch 22:1 and Ladder of Jacob 1:3

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