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Ladder of Jacob

About this book
Chapter 7

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. 5 Then will the earth rejoice, because it has received the glory of heaven; that which was above shall be below. 6 And of your seed shall grow up a royal root, and it shall increase and destroy the power of the Evil one, but he himself shall be a saviour of the Gentiles, and rest for those who are weary, and a cloud which shades the whole world from the heat. 7 For otherwise that which is disordered could not be put in order, if he had not come; otherwise that which is below could not be joined to that which is above.

Texts in conversation

Compare Ladder of Jacob 7:1 and John 1:51

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions · New Testament

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Summary

In the Ladder of Jacob, the angels on Jacob's ladder descend and ascend as a sign that a man from God will connect heaven and earth. In John, Jesus uses similar angelic language to describe the Son of Man as a connection between heaven and earth.

Passages

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.
1–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Ladder of Jacob

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.”
90–110 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in John

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. ...”
H. G. Lunt, “Ladder of Jacob: A New Translation and Introduction,” in 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, ed. James H. Charlesworth (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1985), 410.
“... Angels, of course, play a prominent role in the Ladder. They ascend and descend, which is a characteristic of traditions related to Jacob (cf. Gen 28:12b; Jn 1:51); elsewhere the emphasis is upon angels descending and then ascending. The archangel Sariel, who is also mentioned in the Qumran Scrolls, Aramaic Enoch, and the Neofiti Targum, is said to be the one who is in charge of dreams (3:2); hence, he is the one who is dispatched to Jacob in order to explain to him the meaning of his dream. ...”
H. G. Lunt, “Ladder of Jacob: A New Translation and Introduction,” in 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, ed. James H. Charlesworth (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1985), 405.

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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Ladder of Jacob 7:1 and John 1:51

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