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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 Ezekiel 1:27 and Ladder of Jacob 1:3

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

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Summary

In Ezekiel, God's glory appears as a human form that glows like fire. In the Ladder of Jacob, the fiery human face at the top of the ladder is described in similar language, which may mean it represents God's glory.

Passages

Ezekiel 1:27

Hebrew Bible
25 Then there was a voice from above the platform over their heads when they stood still. 26 Above the platform over their heads was something like a sapphire shaped like a throne. High above on the throne was a form that appeared to be a man. 27 I saw an amber glow like a fire enclosed all around from his waist up. From his waist down I saw something that looked like fire. There was a brilliant light around it, 28 like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds after the rain. This was the appearance of the surrounding brilliant light; it looked like the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I threw myself face down, and I heard a voice speaking.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

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

“... It has been previously noted that this fiery extent, labeled in some biblical and intertestamental texts as the “Face,” is related to the glorious celestial entity known in theophanic traditions as God’s Kavod. In these traditions, the Face often serves to designate the radiant façade of the divine Kavod. [...] It is noteworthy, that already in the classic Ezekilean description of God’s Glory in Ezek. 1:27, Kavod is described similarly to the description of the Face in Ladder, namely, as the fiery bust: “I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as it full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him.” ...”
Andrei A. Orlov, From Apocalypticism to Merkabah Mysticism: Studies in the Slavonic Pseudepigrapha, JSJSup 114 (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 403–404.

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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Ezekiel 1:27 and Ladder of Jacob 1:3

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