Anybody knows a good catholic commentary on Genesis (english, german, spanish, portuguese) compared to Word Biblical Commentary 1-15 or Westermann's Genesis 1-11?
Thanks (didn't find a verbum or catholic products page in the forum)
28:2 Arise, go to Paddan-aram
Isaac sends Jacob where Abraham would not send him. Abraham sensed Isaac’s spiritual passivity—he would go and perhaps never return. Jacob, however, is like Rebekah. In spite of trials and difficulties that threaten to prevent his return, Jacob comes back. He can live in an enforced exile—and still remain faithful to his inheritance. He has Abraham’s personality to match Abraham’s vocation.
28:12 He dreamed that there was a ladder
In recent decades, theologians have criticized the otherworldliness of traditional Christian piety. Moral theologians have recovered a more positive assessment of bodily life, especially in the area of human sexuality. Liberation theologians have emphasized the worldly reality of God’s promises. Freedom and flourishing are not purely spiritual. They have a concrete, political dimension as well. The promises of God fulfilled in Christ make a difference in the world.Without a doubt the stories of the patriarchs support a recovery of human embodiment and history as the site of divine transformation. The covenant with Abraham initiates the divine invasion of space and time (→17:11a). The divine project is to redeem and transform the fallen world rather than facilitate our escape by way of mystical transports (→24:2). The covenant moves forward in time (Abraham’s descendents will be blessed) and outward to the far reaches of the earth (by Abraham all the nations will be blessed). This horizontal movement may be punctuated by divine visitations and the upward look of worship, but in the main the adventures of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are inner-worldly. The very mundane reality of fallible human actors, the realistic drama of generational succession, and the promise of the land emphasize the tangible reality of fellowship with God. Faith is not a pie-in-the-sky hope for a disembodied rest in a far away heavenly realm.Yet, it is as false to limit faith to this life as it is to think of it as entirely otherworldly. Both errors stem from a false separation of the immanent and transcendent, the temporal and eternal, the carnal and spiritual. The journey to God is woven together with the journey into the future of the blessing promised to Abraham. Faith reaches upward even as it reaches forward and outward. This is dramatized in Jacob’s own journey from his father’s house. On his way to find a wife and take his role in producing children that will ensure a future for the covenant, Jacob dreams of a ladder to heaven. In the history of theology, Jacob’s ladder has served as an image of the movement of the human spirit upward to God. The traditional reading is fitting, and it does not pull us away from the forward, this-worldly thrust of the narrative. The two movements—forward toward a wife and upward toward God who transcends space and time—operate together in the life of Jacob. After all, although the ladder reaches upward, he is not called to ascend the ladder in order to leave his worldly life behind. He does not stop and remain in his place of vision. He offers worship, makes a vow, and then continues on his way.Because the bodily, historical dimension of the covenant cannot be separated from the transcendent and spiritual aspect, we need to avoid separating the realities of life from a love of God. Jacob’s desires are distorted by sin, but the basic direction of his worldly aspirations is essentially compatible with his divine inheritance. Jacob is not called up and out of life. Grace perfects rather than destroys nature. Moreover, it is telling that the angels first ascend and then descend the ladder. They take Jacob’s vision upward into a vertical economy of divine transcendence, only to return his vision to the horizontal economy of this world. And after the vision, Jacob enacts the movement of the angels. He offers the upward movement of worship: “Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone which he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on top of it” (28:18). Then he makes a vow and dedicates the place as the future site of God’s house (28:20–22). He does not linger, but instead resumes his forward journey (29:1).Of course, it is very tempting to fix all attention on the upward-reaching ladder and in this way to treat Jacob’s dreamlike vision as the moment of transcendence that completes and fulfills God’s promise of rest. We can plainly see that the lives of finite, embodied creatures are characterized by suffering and death, and so we think of deliverance in metaphysical terms. Lasting happiness comes from release from finitude and embodiment and deliverance into a realm of limitless, spiritual existence. Thus the normal dichotomies of ancient gnosticism arise: finite versus infinite, time versus eternity, and body versus spirit.These days we do not so much regret our embodiment as despair over our historical and cultural particularity. We can see that there is a deep contingency to our religious faith. We could have been born in India as Hindus or in China as Confucians. This contingency seems a threat to the universal, eternal truth of Christ, and so we begin to separate the historical teachings of Christianity from its purportedly timeless core. Or we read the latest book on postcolonial interpretation of scripture, and it fills us with dread. The particularity of tradition seems a pointed, aggressive weapon for cultural imperialism. With these thoughts in mind, we wish to soften and weaken the concrete and highly focused invasion of God’s purpose into the world. Instead of moving forward with Jacob into the history of the covenant, we turn Christianity into a symbolic medium for our everlasting, upward movement to the God who is above all cultural and historical distinctions.The effect is similar to ancient gnosticism. In order to overcome the finite constraints of historical teachings, we do our best to deracinate the gospel. Schleiermacher and Hegel disagreed intensely, because they offered two very different paths toward a dehistoricized account of the truth of Christ. Schleiermacher interpreted the historical forms of Christian teaching as expressions of an inner religious feeling of absolute dependence. In contrast, Hegel saw Christianity as a system of teaching and practice that brought Western culture to a point of transparent self-understanding. In spite of this difference, they both thought that Christianity was the most perfect instance of or vehicle for religious truth. Like the covenant of circumcision and any other particular element of salvation history, Christ crucified and risen represents, mediates, or instantiates some deeper, more universal religious truth that remains at a distance from history, untainted by time, unsullied by embodiment.The witness of scripture consistently speaks against this impulse to turn the particularity of salvation history into the medium for or symbol of a transhistorical, supratemporal truth that transcends time and place. Jacob’s vision of the ladder clearly underlies John 1:51. Philip brings Nathaniel to Jesus, who already knows him. Nathaniel marvels that Jesus is a seer. Nathaniel’s religious imagination is natural. He sees Jesus as a man infused with remarkable powers from above, someone who transcends the limitations of ordinary human sight and perception. Jesus appears to agree, simply upping the ante and magnifying his sublime status: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” Yet what seems to be an appeal beyond space and time unfolds in John’s Gospel (and the Synoptic Gospels) in an unexpectedly inner-worldly fashion. Christ’s crucifixion and bodily resurrection turn out to be infinitely greater and more sublime than any revelation of Jesus’s ability to transcend the limitations of space and time. This commitment to particularity is reinforced by John 1:51. Christ is the very ladder upon which the angels ascend and descend. He is not a window onto a greater reality; he is the living medium of commerce between heaven and earth.The Scholastic tradition has a convenient distinction that helps us distinguish between the occasional irruptions of the vertical dimension into ordinary affairs and the saving presence of God that brings us into the lasting fellowship of his Sabbath rest. The power of a seer to transcend space and see at a distance is preternatural, something outside or beyond the normal or natural. In contrast, our saving participation in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ is supernatural, a fulfillment and transformation of our created human nature. The preternatural is discontinuous with the ongoing flow of history. In contrast, the supernatural transforms history. When we participate in the liturgies of Good Friday and Easter Sunday, we place ourselves within Jesus’s passion, death, and resurrection. The events may be freighted with universal significance, but they are very this-worldly: sweaty, bloody, and very much a local event. The experience may include intense emotional moments, visions, and revelations of God, but none are otherworldly in a preternatural sense. On the contrary, the liturgical recapitulation of Jesus’s passion, death, and resurrection plunges us into the history of the supernatural, which is nothing more or less than the sequence of events that God undertakes to fulfill his promise to Abraham. The central saving mystery of Christian faith does not rise up and out of space and time, but rather both ascends and descends upon the crucified body of Christ. The particularity of human life is not transcended. In worship and prayer, our lives are saturated with the fulfillment of God’s promises.
R. R. Reno, Genesis (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible; Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2010), 232–235.
Cheap and simple but likely too brief would be…. Here is a sample...
28:1 Canaanite women: Recalls how Abraham forbade Isaac to intermarry with the foreign peoples of Canaan (24:3). Jacob, like Isaac, is to seek a wife among his Semitic kinsfolk (see 24:4, 10).28:2 Paddan-aram: Upper Mesopotamia, the homeland of Jacob’s mother, Rebekah (25:20).
Esau Marries Ishmael’s Daughter 28:12 ladder: The Hebrew envisions, not a ladder with rungs, but an ascending stairway. It is used by a host of angels, walking up and down, ministering to the will of Yahweh. The dream convinces Jacob that he is lying near the “gate” where heaven touches down to earth (28:17). • Jacob’s ladder is a prophetic image of Christ, who bridges heaven and earth by the union of his divine and human natures (Jn 1:51). This makes him the one, perfect mediator between God and man (1 Tim 2:5). reached to heaven: Recalls the plans for the Tower of Babel in 11:4.
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel28:13–14 Reiterates the promises made to Abraham by divine oath. The gifts of the covenant include land (15:18), multiple descendants (22:17), and blessings for all the families of the world (22:18). Jacob is thus confirmed as the heir of the covenant promises, just as Isaac was in 26:3–5.28:14 your descendants: The tribal family of Israel (Ex 1:1–7).28:15 I am with you: The Lord promises to stay with Jacob on his travels and to prosper his way wherever he goes.28:18 pillar: Jacob anoints the stone headrest and props it up as a landmark and memorial of Yahweh’s presence in the land. The practice of erecting such religious monuments was well known in pre-Israelite Canaan. Moses later instructed Israel to demolish every pillar dedicated to a Canaanite god (Ex 23:24; Deut 12:1–3).28:19 Bethel: Means “house of God”, alluding to Jacob’s description in 28:17. Bethel has been a sacred site since the time of Abraham, who built an altar nearby (12:8).28:21 If: Jacob’s vow is conditional, suggesting he is mildly skeptical of the extraordinary blessings promised to him in the dream (28:13–14). He thus makes a deal with the Lord to test his faithfulness.28:22 I will give the tenth: A vow to give 10 percent of his earnings to the Lord (14:20). Tithing was later mandated for Israel in the Torah (Num 18:21–24).
Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch, Genesis: With Introduction, Commentary, and Notes (ed. Revised Standard Version and Second Catholic Edition; The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible; San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010), 53–54.
Or may the one volume… Here is a sample...
§ 154a 41–28:5 Jacob’s Escape to Mesopotamia—Esau having been twice ‘overreached’ by Jacob determined to kill him. Whereupon Rebecca counselled him to take refuge with her brother Laban in Mesopotamia. This reason she hid from Isaac and persuaded the old man to let him go to obtain a wife of their own kindred. § b 45. She would lose both her sons, Jacob by death, and Esau because he would be obliged to fly after the murder. 46. Cf. 26:34 f. 28:1. Isaac’s speedy forgiveness of Jacob’s misconduct will have been influenced by his recognition of the overruling providence of God. 2. ‘Mesopotamia of Syria’—so Vg and LXX for MT Paddan Aram, in which region lay Harran. Aramaeans dwelt not only in Syria but also E. of the Euphrates. 3. ‘God almighty’ = sEl Shaddai; cf. 17:1.
§ c 6–9 Esau marries the Daughter of Ishmael—6. See on 2. 7. ‘to Paddan Aram’. 9. Nabajoth; cf. 25:13. Maheleth: only here; see on 36:1–8.
§ d 10–22 Jacob’s Journey: the Promises renewed—12. The vision of Angels, God’s messengers as denoted by their name both in Heb. and Gk, is a reminder of God’s constant care for his creatures. The Angels descend to earth bringing God’s counsel and help; they ascend to heaven carrying man’s aspirations and prayers to the throne of God. The vision thus assured Jacob of divine help. The text is alluded to in Jn 1:51. 13. See 12:7. The promise made to Abraham and confirmed to Jacob sets the divine seal on the blessing he had received from Isaac. 14. See on 12:3. 16. He knew that God had brought Abraham out of Mesopotamia and that his presence is not narrowly circumscribed. This was a specially holy place where God manifested his presence. 18. ‘title’: a standing-stone, often trans. ‘pillar’, but no English word exactly corresponds. Such sacred stones were prominent in Semitic cult. The Israelites were ordered to destroy those of the Canaanites, Ex 23:24. The unction was a form of consecration, used e.g. in the institution of kings, 1 Kg 10:1. 19. Bethel=‘House of God’. 20. ‘and shall protect me on this journey’. 21–22. Passages like ‘I the Lord will be their God’, Ez 34:24, meaning ‘will take them under my special divine protection’ show the meaning here. The apodosis begins with 22: ‘and Yahweh will have been my God, then …’ If Yahweh brings Jacob back safely, he will have proved himself to be his protector and Jacob will make the place a shrine and pay tithes there; see § 105d–e. Omit ‘called’. For the fulfilment of the vow see 35:6 f. The ark was at Bethel (today Beitin) for a time; see on Jg 20:18.
E. F. Sutcliffe, “Genesis,” ed. Bernard Orchard and Edmund F. Sutcliffe, A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (Toronto;New York;Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson, 1953), 197–198.
I think the closest might be New Intepreter's Bible but it is ecumenical, not catholic proper even though it has many catholic contributors and covers the complete catholic canon… It too is not yet released but it is being worked on I am told. Here is a sample...
New Interpreter's Bible (12 vols.)
GENESIS 28:10–22, JACOB’S DREAM AT BETHEL
Link to: NRSV - NIV
COMMENTARY
This text stands as one of the pillars of the Jacob story. God transmits to him the ancestral promises, fulfilling the expressed wish of his father (28:3-4). This is the first time Jacob appears by <Page 540 Ends><Page 541 Begins> himself; hence it represents a new beginning for the larger story. Jacob flees from the hatred and threats of his brother, seeming to reap the consequences of his own duplicity, and the future does not seem bright. At precisely this deeply vulnerable moment in his life, God appears, not in judgment, but to confirm him as the one chosen to carry on the promise. Some readers think this story has its roots in a concern to ground the later Bethel sanctuary and worship life in the ancestral period (see 1 Kgs 12:26-33). Although possible, the episode has now been drawn into the larger orbit of stories about Jacob (often assigned to JE) and serves a more comprehensive purpose. It shares a basic structure with the fragment in 32:1-2 (cf. 32:22-33), an encounter with angels on his way back home. Together with another appearance of God to Jacob at Bethel on his return journey (35:1-15), this episode brackets the narrative. A note about setting (vv. 10-11) is followed by the dream (vv. 12-15) and Joseph’s response to it (vv. 16-22). The author introduces Jacob en route. He is traveling from Beersheba to Haran, from which the Abrahamic family migrated and where he will find a temporary home and two wives. While still within Canaan, he spends the night out in the open, using an ordinary, if large, stone to support and protect his head. The text does not depict it as a holy site, but “place” anticipates vv. 11, 16, 17, and 19 and “stone” anticipates vv. 18 and 22; God transforms an ordinary stone and an ordinary place. It probably was a religious center for people in earlier times (cf. the name change in v. 19), but the text stakes a claim for Bethel’s religious importance on the basis of this event (and perhaps Abraham’s visit in 12:8; 13:3-4). A remarkable dream fills Jacob’s night. He dreams that a ladder (better, a stairway or ramp) extends from earth to heaven. We may compare this stairway to those attached to temple towers (ziggurats) elsewhere in the ancient Near East; these were microcosms of the world, with the top of the tower representing heaven, the dwelling place of the gods. Such structures provided an avenue of approach from the human sphere to the divine realm. Priests or divine beings traversed up and down the stairway, providing communication between the two realms. This text polemicizes such an understanding. Ascending and descending divine beings are a part of Jacob’s dream, but they have no specific function. In fact, their presence makes a negative point. While such beings may serve as messengers, here they do not serve as intermediaries for divine revelation. Rather, Yahweh stands beside Jacob and speaks directly to him (so NRSV; the NIV’s “above it” is possible but unlikely in view of the immediacy in the deity’s communication to Jacob). The angels do not speak; God does. Jacob hears the divine promises directly from God, who in turn promises God’s very own presence rather than that of a surrogate. “Earth is not left to its own resources and heaven is not a remote self-contained realm for the gods. Heaven has to do with earth. And earth finally may count on the resources of heaven.”178 God is identified in terms of Jacob’s family, referring to Abraham as father rather than Isaac. Jacob thus has the same relationship to Abraham and Abraham’s God as his father, Isaac, has had (see 26:3-4, 24). The use of the name Yahweh provides clearer continuity with Abraham (cf. 15:7) than the generic word for God. God’s word to Jacob moves directly from self-identification to promise, which fulfills Isaac’s benedictory wish of 28:3-4 and constitutes God’s confirmation of Jacob’s gaining of birthright and blessing. God’s promises are unusually extensive (eight different elements), to which Jacob adds another (v. 20, food and clothing). The promises are: land; many descendants; dispersion of posterity throughout the land (not the world, cf. 13:14-17); the extension of blessing to others through him; presence; keeping; homecoming, and not leaving. All the promises spoken in the narrative to this point are gathered up and focused on Jacob. The last four (v. 15) relate directly to Jacob’s status as a traveler, extending the promise given to his father in comparable circumstances (26:3, 24). Upon awakening, Jacob realizes the import of his dream, and he proceeds to interpret its significance. He recognizes that he has some new knowledge; he has moved from not knowing to knowing that God has been present with him. (Except for the ruse in 27:20, this is the first time he mentions God.) He also expresses awe that in <Page 541 Ends><Page 542 Begins> this ordinary place he has been confronted by the God of whom his father spoke (28:3-4), indeed granted direct access to God’s promise-speaking (see Reflections). His “naming” of the place occurs in two stages. The first (v. 17) attests to his encounter with the divine presence: the “house of God” (i.e., Beth-el) and the “gate of heaven.” These building metaphors represent concretely his experience of direct divine access. The stairway and the angels have been reduced to props, metaphors now inadequate for depicting the dynamics of immediate divine-human communication. The second (v. 19), more formal, naming emphasizes the continuity between the immediate experience and the ongoing significance of this particular place. Jacob’s response the next day takes more concrete forms. He sets up as a pillar the stone that had supported him as a “pillow.” What was quite ordinary now becomes a sacred symbol for his experience. (Such standing stones are often set up at Israelite sanctuaries and at other places of historical import; cf. 35:14, 20.) The stone has now become recognizable for use by others who may pass by this way. The anointing with oil consecrates or sets the stone apart from others (cf. 31:13; Exod 40:9-11). The oil also stains the stone so that it can be properly identified by those who follow. Although not itself a sanctuary, the stone can become an integral part of a worship center; Jacob vows he will establish such a site (v. 22; Exodus 35:1-15). At the same time, the stone becomes a public witness to his own experience (on stones as witness, see Josh 24:27). Finally, Jacob makes a vow (recalled by God in 31:13). Although vows are common in the OT (cf. Num 21:2; Judg 11:30-31; 1 Sam 1:11; 2 Sam 15:8, all spoken at sanctuaries), this vow seems unique since God has already unconditionally promised what Jacob states as a condition. By repeating God’s promises in the vow, Jacob claims them as his own. Hence, to see this as bargain language does not do justice to the vow; rather, Jacob wants to hold God to his promises (those associated with his journey, v. 15). If God does not do these things, of course, then God will not have been faithful, and Jacob’s relationship to such a God would be problematic, to say the least. If God keeps the promises, then Jacob will do certain things: Yahweh will be his God (namely, Jacob will remain loyal); he will construct a sanctuary (fulfilled in 35:7, 14-15) and offer a tithe (see 14:20; Deut 26:12-15), apparently a one-time gift, perhaps for the care of the sanctuary. In essence, if God acts faithfully, Jacob will be faithful. From this point on, Jacob’s journeys are filled with a new sense of vocation, for he now bears the promise. At the same time, he remains Jacob and does not know immediately what this experience entails for his life.
REFLECTIONS
1. God’s relation to Jacob, through both his father and his grandfather, stresses not only a familial link, but divine continuity across the generations as well. The story involves God as well as Jacob’s ancestors. God’s own self is identified in the context of a divine journey, which God now promises to continue with Jacob. And this journey exists outside of the land of promise, “wherever you go” (see Josh 1:9; Psalm 23; Isa 43:1-2; Isa 46:3-4).
2. The dream (see 31:11-3; chaps. 37; 40–41). Dreams do not witness to the dreamer’s psychological state, working out stress or anxiety or subconscious fears; they are external forms of divine communication, in which actual encounters with God take place. They are one means by which God’s own self is revealed. When Jacob refers to this event, he speaks of divine appearance but never of dream (35:1-9; 48:3; cf. also 1 Kgs 11:9), apparently understanding God’s appearance in the dream to be comparable to other such appearances (cf. 35:9). When Jacob awakens, he does not speak of God’s presence in his dream; he speaks of God’s presence in this place! The dream reflects not simply a mental world, but an actual world that can be slept on, touched, and built on. Jacob’s dream contains both symbolism and divine verbal communication. Jacob interprets <Page 542 Ends><Page 543 Begins> the significance of both dimensions in his response in vv. 16-22. In turn, he mirrors the dream in responding both verbally and in more concrete terms. The visual and auditory aspects of the dream belong together, not least because human beings are not simply minds or “big ears,” and God chooses to address the whole person (e.g. Incarnation; sacraments). The visual “speaks” in its own way, and the word gives “concreteness” to the visual. The dream comes entirely at the divine initiative; Jacob was asleep, not in control of what happened within him (in contrast to the nocturnal wrestling of chap. 32). At the same time, Jacob’s responses to God’s word of promise shape the future. It may be tempting to explain away such dream experiences, though dreams are much less difficult for the modern consciousness to accept than are direct divine appearances. The text helps us to recognize that “the world is a place of such meetings,” and God can use such moments as a vehicle for getting through to us, even today.179
3. The word of promise involves more than simply a word about a communal future; God also particularizes the promise for Jacob as an individual, for the specific situation in which he finds himself. God’s promises of being with and keeping/protecting Jacob (v. 15) are distinct, for God can also be present to judge, which Jacob may have expected. Yet they are not separate, for God’s presence never means passivity. God’s “not leaving” gathers up the three previous promises to Jacob, yet it constitutes a further promise centering on the temporal unbrokenness of the divine presence.
4. In Jacob’s response to the dream, awesomeness and the themes of presence and access come together. The transcendence of God is not compromised by closeness to humans. The awe that Jacob expresses depends on the fact that God has come near. The confession of God as transcendent and awesome correlates this text to God’s coming to be present rather than God’s remaining afar off. Far from being a place forbidden to human beings, this site becomes a place where humans can be assured of the divine presence.
5. The importance of places of worship. Setting aside a place for a sanctuary does not stand at odds with the God who is with Jacob wherever he goes. Both are significant dimensions of God’s being present in the world. Specific places for worship are needed because human beings are shaped by place as well as time. A sanctuary provides (a) order, discipline, and focus to the worship of God; (b) a tangible aspect to worship; (c) assurance that God is indeed present in this place because God has so promised. At the same time, such understandings must guard against a “house of God” syndrome, as if the divine presence could be fixed or localized, as if this were the only place where God could be found. God’s being present at the sanctuary is not coextensive with God’s presence in the world. Jacob can count on God’s being present at this place (hence he returns in 35:1-15) and with him during his journey. The rhythms of the ancestors include the rhythm of journeying and worship; their journeys are punctuated by moments of worship at specific places. Yet the place never becomes a final objective, where one settles in; it provides sustenance for the ongoing journey.
6. This text also says something about God. God can bind God’s own self with unconditional promises to tricksters and deceivers. Although Jacob leaves this moment with divine promises ringing in his ears, God leaves this moment with the divine options for the future more limited than before, because God will be faithful to these promises Jacob has just spoken. God’s promises may have come to Jacob as a surprise, but Jacob will not know them again as such. God can be counted on to be faithful. Jacob need no longer wonder about God; God is a promise-keeper, as Jacob must be also. There is a “must” for God in this text, and a “must” for Jacob as well. <Page 543 Ends><Page 544 Begins>
7. To understand this vow, we would remember it as a word spoken by a person in dire straits, concerned about his safety and his future. Such vows are common in the lament psalms (e.g., 7:17; 13:6) and have been used by people in distress in every age!). Because of the context in which they are uttered, we should not press them for theological niceties. But we, as Jacob, should expect God to keep the promises unconditionally.
LASTLY is Anchor, although again ecumenical rather than strictly Catholic. Here is a sample...
37. JACOB’S DREAM AT BETHEL(28:10–22: J,/E/)
28 10 Jacob left Beer-sheba and set out for Haran. 11 He came upon a certain place and stopped there for the night, since the sun had set. /Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head and lay down on that spot. 12 He had a dream: a stairway was set on the ground, with its top reaching to the sky; and angels of God were going up and down on it./ 13 And there was Yahweh standing beside him and saying, “I Yahweh am the God of your forefather Abraham and the God of Isaac; the ground on which you are resting I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be (as plentiful) as the dust on the ground, and you shall spread out west and east, north and south; and all the communities of the earth shall bless themselves by you and your offspring. 15 Remember, I am with you; I will protect you wherever you go, and bring you back to this land; nor will I leave you until I have done what I promised you.”16 Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Truly, Yahweh abides in this site, but I was not aware! /17 Shaken, he exclaimed, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven!” 18 Early next morning, Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on its top./ 19 He named that site Bethel, whereas the former name of that town had been Luz./20 Jacob then made a vow, saying, “If God remains with me, protecting me on this journey that I am taking, and giving me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21 and I come back safe to my father’s house—/Yahweh shall be my God. /22 This stone that I have set up as a pillar shall be God’s abode; and of all that you may grant me, I will always set aside a tenth for you.”/
NOTES
28:11. a certain place. The attribute is implicit in the definite article of Heb. The noun, Heb. māqōm, has several connotations, including “spot” (here in vs. 11) and “(religious) site” (in vss. 16, 19).stopped … for the night. Not “spent the night,” since his sleep was to be interrupted. The imperfect of Heb. often has an inchoative connotation.12. a stairway. The traditional “ladder” is such an old favorite that it is a pity to have to dislodge it. Yet it goes without saying that a picture of angels going up and down in a steady stream is hard to reconcile with an ordinary ladder. Etymologically, the term (stem sll “to heap up, raise”) suggests a ramp or a solid stairway. And archaeologically, the Mesopotamian ziggurats were equipped with flights of stairs leading up to the summit; a good illustration is the excavated ziggurat of Ur (Third Dynasty). Only such stairway can account for Jacob’s later description of it as a “gateway to heaven” (17).set. Literally “was stationed, planted.”13. standing beside him. This is the established meaning of the Heb. phrase, cf. 18:2. The preposition, literally “upon,” is a matter of idiomatic usage (cf. especially 29:2), and should not be strained unduly.I Yahweh am the God.… Not “I am Yahweh, the God.…” The description applies not to the name but to the deeds; cf. especially the introduction to the Decalogue, Exod 20:2, Deut 5:6.17. Shaken. Literally “terrified.”this … that. Heb. uses the same demonstrative pronoun both times, but the repetition makes it distributive.20. bread … clothing. These two items were regularly issued to slaves, servants, and seasonal workers, and are often listed together in business documents. The sense here is equivalent to “just enough to subsist on.”21b. A manifest insert from J. E’s version read “If … house—(22) [then] this stone.…”
COMMENT
The narrative connects directly with 27:45. In compliance with his mother’s request, Jacob lost no time in starting out on his journey. Normally, the narrator does not linger over a trip, no matter how long and strenuous (cf. 24:10). This time, however, an exception is made. The reason is soon apparent.To the individuals concerned, Jacob’s abrupt departure was a matter of personal safety (27:41 ff.). But in the history of the patriarchs, especially as seen by J, the individual is a free agent only on the surface. Fundamentally, he is part of a larger pattern over which he has no control, and in which he functions as the unwitting tool of destiny. At this stage, Jacob’s security and future are important because both bear on the continuity of the biblical process. The time has now come for the fugitive to be given a glimpse of the deeper truth.That this broader meaning of the Bethel episode was sensed very early is evident from the fact that both narrative sources already have this tradition. They differ mostly as to detail, possibly also as regards the exact chronology (cf. Sec. 46); but Bethel stands out either way as a spiritual milestone. The upshot is that instead of parallel accounts separately presented, as is usually the case, we have this time a composite version intricately blended. Yet the fusion is unmistakable as soon as one pauses for a second look. Elohim and Yahweh alternate in consecutive verses (12:13; 16:17). God communicates with Jacob in a dream (12), as is customary in E (cf. 20:3, 31:10); whereas J speaks of Yahweh as standing beside Jacob and addressing him directly (13). The successive exclamations in vss. 16 and 17 would be redundant in an account by the same writer, but are natural enough when traced back to separate sources.One particular detail of the narrative merits special attention. In his dream Jacob sees a stairway (not “ladder,” cf. NOTE on vs. 12) whose base is on the ground but whose top reaches to the sky. The description evokes inevitably both the image and the concept of the Mesopotamian temple tower or ziggurat, especially when read in conjunction with vs. 17 (which immediately followed vs. 12 in the E version): “This is none other than the abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven!” For a ziggurat rose hard by the main temple on the ground (the so-called Tieftempel), to provide on its summit a place for the deity to visit (Hochtempel) and communicate there with mortals: a spiritual symbol, in short, of man’s efforts to reach out to heaven. The phraseology is much too typical of the temple tower to be merely coincidental, and the underlying imagery cannot be mistaken; the allusion is all the more suggestive when viewed in connection with Jacob’s journey to Mesopotamia. The tradition that E reflects at this point is thus authentic in more ways than one.The link with Bethel carries its own symbolism as well. The theophany made Jacob realize that this was an abode of the Deity, hence the new name replaced the older Luz, as this aetiology sees it. Actually, Bethel was an old center (cf. 12:8, 13:3 f.), which managed to retain its religious influence until late in the seventh century, when the holy place was destroyed by Josiah (2 Kings 23:15). The etymology seeks to fix the locale of Jacob’s spiritual experience, but does not otherwise circumscribe its significance.
E. A. Speiser, Genesis: Introduction, Translation, and Notes (vol. 1; Anchor Yale Bible; New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008), 217–220.
Hope this was slightly helpful...
-Dan
Anyone doing serious work in Genesis would bypass denominational lines. Cassuto is a great Jewish commentator and you can get him now in Logos.
Agreed.
https://www.logos.com/product/3850/genesis-collection
Hi Dan, thank you veeery much! Really helpful!
Interdenominational Lutheran greetings ;-))
TERENCE E. FRETHEIM Professor of Old Testament Luther Seminary Saint Paul, Minnesota (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) Genesis {New Interpreter's Bible}
Raised lutheran here now Anglican.
