Genesis 28, Stairway to Heaven

Jacob has been sent away by Rebekah, so that he might find a wife.

Genesis 28:1-5, Jacob leaves Isaac
So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him and commanded him: "Do not marry a Canaanite woman. Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother's father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

"May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham."

Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Despite Isaac's anger at Jacob's deceit, he follows up the (stolen) blessing with instructions and blessings for Jacob. And sends him to Laban, where he, Isaac himself, found a beautiful woman. Maybe Jacob will have the same success? The trip to Paddam Aram is probbly over 500, miles, quite a journey. A map and summary is here.

"God Almighty" is a translation of the Hebrew name, "El-Shaddai". The blessing Isaac gives Jacob is so natural to that culture: "May El-Shaddai ... increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples." And this blessing does indeed come true!

Genesis 28:6-9, Esau's response

Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, "Do not marry a Canaanite woman," and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan Aram.

Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac; so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.

Esau picks up a wife who is not Canaanite. He marries a cousin, Mahalath. Does he hope to regain his father's blessing? Although the cultural setting is strange to us, the desire of a son to please his father (or mother) is very modern. 

Genesis 28:10-15, Stairway to heaven

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

There above it stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

This trip, which includes fleeing from his brother, is surely stressful for Jacob. As he flees, YHWH meets Jacob and renews the promise made previously to his grandfather and father. For Jacob, the covenant promise occurs in a dream.

Robert Alter, in his commentaries on the Torah, suggests that the stone was not a pillow -- that would be uncomfortable! -- but was a protective barrier that Jacob would have pressed up against. (I envision Jacob lying on his side, with his head and back against this large rock.)

Alter also argues that the word translated "stairway" is most likely a ramp leading up to an altar, as was common in ziggurats.  (See the image here.) In this case YHWH Himself stands at the top of the ramp.

Genesis 28:16-22, Jacob at Bethel

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it." He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."

Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth."

The Hebrew word bayith (בּיִת) means "house" and when El ("god") is added to it, becomes (in verse 19) Beth-el, "house of God". The author believes his (original) readers we may have heard of Luz, but that location, which will appear throughout the Old Testament, will hereafter be called Bethel.

Jacob appears to still have a somewhat conditional relationship with YHWH. "If God is with him... then He will be Jacob's God...." Several decades later, with two wives (one pregnant), two concubines, eleven sons, at least one daughter, and a large flock of animals, a much more mature Jacob returns to Bethel in Genesis 35:1-15 and renews his vows and the covenant.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is Shadday, or Shaddai, 

שַׁדַּי

meaning The Almighty. It appears only 48 times in the Old Testament, often inked with El  (אֵל), a generic name for God, as in verse 3 above. The rarity of the use of the name El-Shaddai, (God Almighty), raises interesting questions and Hebrew scholars attempt to understand its rare occurrence. (Contrast the rarity of El-Shaddai with the appearance the name YHWH, which shows up over 6000 times!)

Some Random Thoughts

In college I met a beautiful woman through a particular campus ministry. And I married her. Later, when my eldest son headed off to college, I told him my story and said, "There are some cute girls in Crusade!" And I was right! He too found the love of his life through the same ministry! (Like his father, Jacob also will find love at Laban's home.)

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First published Feb 2, 2023; updated Feb 2, 2026