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Ladder of Jacob

About this book
Chapter 2

1 And when I heard it from above, fear and trembling fell upon me, and I rose up from my dream. 2 And while the voice of God was still in my ears, I said, How dreadful is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. 3 And I set up the stone that was under my head for a pillar, and poured oil on the top of it, and I called that place the house of God. 4 And I prayed to God and said: Lord God of Adam, of your [creature?], and Lord God of Abraham and Isaac my father, and of all whose ways are right before you, you who sit mighty upon the Cherubim and upon the throne of the majesty, of fire and full of eyes, as I saw in my dream;⁠ who holds the Cherubim with four faces, who bears the Seraphim full of eyes,⁠ who bears the whole world under his arm, and is borne by none. 5 You have established the heaven for the glory of your name. 6 You have spread out upon the clouds of the heaven the heaven that flies under you, so that under it you may move the sun and hide it in the night so that it is not taken for God; you have ordained the way for the moon and the stars, and you make her wax and wane, but for the stars, you have commanded them to pass over, so that these too should not be thought gods. 7 Before the face of your majesty the six-winged Seraphim fear, and hide their feet and their face with their wings, and with the others they fly, and sing: […] Highest, with twelve faces, many-named, fiery, lightning-formed, holy one! 8 Holy, Holy, Holy,⁠ Jao Jaova, Jaoel, Sabakdos, Chabod, Sabaoth, Omlelech, Elaber, S'me Barech, eternal king, strong, mighty, very great, patient. 9 Blessed One, who fill heaven and earth and the sea and the abyss and all aeons with your glory. 10 Hear my song, with which I have praised you, and grant me my petition for which I pray to you, and show me the interpretation of my dream. 11 For you are strong and mighty and glorious, a holy God, my Lord and the Lord of my fathers.

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Compare 1 Enoch 14:18 and Ladder of Jacob 2:4

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

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Summary

In 1 Enoch, Enoch sees God on a throne surrounded by fire and cherubim. The Ladder of Jacob uses similar throne imagery in Jacob's prayer, interpreting his dream of the ladder as a vision of God enthroned in heaven.

Passages

1 Enoch 14:18

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
18 I looked and saw a lofty throne inside it. Its appearance was like crystal, and its wheels were like the shining sun, and there was the vision of cherubim. 19 From underneath the throne came streams of flaming fire, so that I could not look at it. 20 The Great Glory sat on it, and His garment shone more brightly than the sun and was whiter than any snow. 21 None of the angels could enter and look on His face because of its magnificence and glory, and no mortal could look on Him. 22 A flaming fire was all around Him, and a great fire stood before Him; no one near Him could come close. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him, yet He needed no counselor. 23 The most holy ones who were near Him did not leave by night nor depart from Him.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Ladder of Jacob 2:4

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
3 And I set up the stone that was under my head for a pillar, and poured oil on the top of it, and I called that place the house of God. 4 And I prayed to God and said: Lord God of Adam, of your [creature?], and Lord God of Abraham and Isaac my father, and of all whose ways are right before you, you who sit mighty upon the Cherubim and upon the throne of the majesty, of fire and full of eyes, as I saw in my dream; who holds the Cherubim with four faces, who bears the Seraphim full of eyes, who bears the whole world under his arm, and is borne by none. 5 You have established the heaven for the glory of your name.
1–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Ladder of Jacob

References

“... Noteworthy in this passage is the reference to a glorious, brilliant chariot-throne that is seen by virtuous worshipers in a visionary context, as well as the depiction of the cherubim which both draws on and slightly alters the imagery of Ezekiel’s vision. In a similar manner, an early Enochic tradition depicted in the Book of the Watchers ascribes a typical vision of the chariot-throne to Enoch, the legendary seventh antediluvian patriarch. Characterized as an exalted scribe and priest, “the righteous man whose eyes were opened by God,” Enoch’s first-person testament reads: “and I saw in my vision … and I was looking, And I saw a lofty throne; Its appearance was like crystal and its wheels like the shining sun, and its [guardians] were cherubim” (14:14, 14:18-20). Literature from the Common Era likewise contains characteristic accounts about visions of God’s luminous chariot-throne, which Enoch and other righteous patriarchs and esteemed seers beheld. For instance, descriptions in the Similitudes of Enoch present Enoch’s vision of God’s chariot-throne guarded by seraphim, cherubim, and ophannim (e. g., 39:12, 40:2-10, 71:5-7). In 2 Enoch 22, Enoch’s vision of a “supremely great and not made by hands” chariot-throne is recounted, surrounded by the armies of the angelic hosts, cherubim, and seraphim (22:2). Similarly, the Ladder of Jacob ascribes to the pious patriarch Jacob a vision of the chariot-throne, the four-faced cherubim that carry it, and the six-winged seraphim who sing hymns and utter the trisagion (2:7-15). ...”
Daphna V. Arbel, “‘A Chariot of Light Borne by Four Bright Eagles’: Eve’s Vision of the Chariot in the Greek Life of Adam and Eve,” in With Letters of Light: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Early Jewish Apocalypticism, Magic, and Mysticism in Honor of Rachel Elior, ed. Daphna V. Arbel and Andrei A. Orlov, Ekstasis: Religious Experience from Antiquity to the Middle Ages 2 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2011), 274.

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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1 Enoch 14:18 and Ladder of Jacob 2:4

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