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Ladder of Jacob

About this book
Chapter 4

1 But he said this to me: The ladder which you saw, which had twelve steps having two human faces which changed their appearance — now this ladder is this age, and the twelve steps are the times of this age, and the twenty-four faces are the kings of the lawless Gentiles of this age.⁠ 2 Under these kings [your children's children and the line] of your sons will be tested: they will rise up against the lawlessness of your descendants, and will lay this place waste through four descents of the sins of your descendants. 3 And from the wealth of the ancestors this palace will be built in the temple of the name of your God and your fathers; but through the anger of your descendants it will be desolate until the fourth descent of this age; for you saw four visions.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Ladder of Jacob 4:1 and Apocalypse of Abraham 29:2

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In the Ladder of Jacob, the twelve steps of Jacob’s ladder represent periods ruled by hostile kings. In the Apocalypse of Abraham, God divides the time before the end of the age into the same twelve periods of foreign rule over Abraham’s descendants.

Passages

Ladder of Jacob 4:1

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
1 But he said this to me: The ladder which you saw, which had twelve steps having two human faces which changed their appearance — now this ladder is this age, and the twelve steps are the times of this age, and the twenty-four faces are the kings of the lawless Gentiles of this age. 2 Under these kings [your children's children and the line] of your sons will be tested: they will rise up against the lawlessness of your descendants, and will lay this place waste through four descents of the sins of your descendants. 3 And from the wealth of the ancestors this palace will be built in the temple of the name of your God and your fathers; but through the anger of your descendants it will be desolate until the fourth descent of this age; for you saw four visions.
1–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Ladder of Jacob

Apocalypse of Abraham 29:2

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
2 And He said: "I have assigned twelve periods of this godless Age to rule among the pagans and your descendants; and until the end of the times it will be as you saw. 3 And calculate it and understand and look into the picture." 4 And I [looked and] saw a man going out from the left side of the pagans; and men and women and children went out from the side of the pagans in great crowds and worshiped him. 5 And while I was still looking, [many] came out from the right side, and some insulted that man, while some struck him; others, however, worshiped him. 6 [And] I saw how these worshiped him, and Azazel ran and worshiped him, and after kissing his face, he turned and stood behind him.
70–150 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Apocalypse of Abraham

References

“... The lad- der in Jacob’s vision has twelve steps, on each of which sit two busts (Lad. Jac. 1.5). The ladder with its twelve steps represents this age with its twelve divisions; the twenty-four busts represent the kings of the ungodly nations of this age (Lad. Jac. 5.1–4). ...”
Kenneth R. Jones, Jewish Reactions to the Destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70: Apocalypses and Related Pseudepigrapha, JSJSup 151 (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 254.

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Ladder of Jacob 4:1 and Apocalypse of Abraham 29:2

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