OT § 28

We do not read of blessed Jacob that he departed with horses or asses or camels, but we read only that he carried a staff in his hand. Thus, indeed, when entreating the Lord he said, "Lord, I am not worthy of all your kindnesses. With only my staff I crossed this Jordan; behold, now I have grown into two camps." Jacob displayed his staff to take a wife, but Christ bore the wood of the cross to redeem the church. In his sleep Jacob put a stone under his head and saw a ladder extending to heaven, while the Lord leaned upon the ladder. Consider, brothers, how many mysteries there are in this place. Jacob represented a type of the Lord our Savior; the stone that he put under his head no less prefigured Christ the Lord. Listen to the apostle telling why the stone at the head signifies Christ: "The head of man is Christ." Finally, notice that blessed Jacob anointed the stone. Pay attention to the anointing, and you will recognize Christ: Christ is explained from an anointing, that is, from the grace of anointing.

Consider our ascetic [Jacob]: he was running away from a very cruel man; he was fleeing his brother, and he found help in stone. That stone is Christ. That stone is the support of all those who suffer persecution, but to the unbelieving Jew, it is "a stone of stumbling, and a rock of scandal." "Jacob saw there a ladder set up on the ground with its top reaching to heaven, and in heaven the Lord leaning upon it. And he saw angels ascending and descending." Note: he saw angels ascending; he saw Paul ascending; he saw angels descending; Judas, the betrayer, was falling headlong. He saw angels ascending—holy men going from earth to heaven; he saw angels descending—the devil and his whole army cast down from heaven. It is very difficult indeed to ascend from earth into heaven. We fall more easily than we rise. We fall easily; it requires great labor, a great deal of sweat to climb upwards. If I am on the lowest step, how many more are there before I reach heaven? If I am on the second, the third, the fourth, the tenth, what benefit to me unless I reach the top? Grant with me that this ladder has fifteen rungs. I climb as high as the fourteenth, but unless I reach and hold the fifteenth, what profit to me to have mounted the fourteenth? If I should arrive at the fifteenth and then fall, the higher my ascent, the greater my fall.

When Jacob was in flight from his brother, in Mesopotamia he came to Luza, and there to rest, Scripture says, he placed a stone under his head. The stone under his head was Christ. Never before had he put a stone under his head; only at the time when he was escaping from his persecutor. When he was in his father's house, and as long as he was in his father's house and enjoyed the comforts of the flesh, he had no stone at his head. He departed from his home, poor and alone; he left with only a staff, and immediately that very night he found a stone and placed it at his head. Because he had a pillow of that kind upon which to rest his head, think of the vision he saw. "He dreamed that a ladder was set up on the ground with its top reaching to heaven; angels were ascending and descending on it." He saw angels descend from heaven to earth and others ascend from earth to heaven. Would you know that the stone at Jacob's head was Christ, the cornerstone? "The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." That is the stone that is called Ebenezer in the Book of Samuel. That stone is Christ. The name Ebenezer, moreover, means "the Stone of Help." "Jacob woke from his sleep," Scripture says, and what did he say? "This is the house of God." What did he do? "He poured oil over the stone." Unless we penetrate the spiritual mystery of holy Scripture, what reason is there that he should anoint the stone?

When the sun was setting, the text tells us, he slept where the night came upon him: "He took a stone and put it under his head." See the young fellow's hardy spirit: He used the stone as a pillow and slept on the ground. Consequently, since he was imbued with common sense and a hardy attitude and was free of all human pretence, he was found worthy of that remarkable vision. Our Lord is like that, you see: When he sees a dutiful soul that makes no account of present realities, he demonstrates his own great care for him.

Jacob set out and slept—evidence of tranquility of spirit—and saw angels of God ascending and descending. This means he foresaw Christ on earth; the band of angels was descending to Christ and ascending to him, so as to render service to their rightful master in loving servitude.

Our father Jacob too prayed at Bethel and saw the gate of heaven opened, with a ladder going up on high. This is a symbol of our Savior that Jacob saw; the gate of heaven is Christ, in accordance with what he said, "I am the gate of life; every one who enters by me shall live for ever." David too said, "This is the gate of the Lord, by which the righteous enter." Again, the ladder that Jacob saw is a symbol of our Savior, in that by means of him the just ascend from the lower to the upper realm. The ladder is also a symbol of our Savior's cross, which was raised up like a ladder, with the Lord standing above it.

But what did he see that time on the ladder? Angels ascending and descending. So also is the church, brothers; the angels of God, good preachers, preaching Christ; that is, they ascend and descend upon the Son of man. How do they ascend, and how do they descend? From one we have an example. Hear the apostle Paul; what we find in him, let us believe also about the rest of the preachers of truth. See Paul ascending: "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows) was caught up to the third heaven, and heard unutterable words which it is not granted to man to speak." You heard him ascending; hear him descending: "I could not speak to you as spiritual men but only as carnal, as to little ones in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food." Look, he who had ascended descended. Seek where he had ascended: "Up to the third heaven." Seek where he had descended: "I became a little one," he says, "in your midst, as if a nurse were fondling her own children."

Now when Jacob, wishing to rest in a certain place, put a stone under his head, he saw in his sleep a ladder standing upon the earth with its top touching heaven. [He saw] also angels of God ascending and descending on it and the Lord resting on the ladder saying to him, "I am the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac." And rising in the morning and rendering praise to the Lord with due trepidation, he took the stone and set it up as a mark, pouring oil on it.The Lord made mention of this place and most clearly bore witness in a figurative way concerning himself and his faithful ones. The ladder which he saw is the church, which has its birth from the earth but its "way of life in heaven," And by it angels ascend and descend, when evangelists announce at one time to perfect hearers the preeminent hidden mysteries of [Christ's] divinity and at another time announce to those still untaught the weaknesses of his humanity. Or they ascend when [in their teaching] they pass to heavenly things to be contemplated by the mind, and they descend when they educate their listeners as to how they ought to live on earth.

The spiritual senses denote mental perceptions concerning the truth to be contemplated. This contemplation indeed was in the Prophets through revelation with respect to the threefold vision, namely corporeal, imaginative, and intellectual; in other just persons, however, it is found through speculation, which begins from sense and arrives at imagination, and from imagination to reason, from reason to understanding, from understanding to intelligence; from intelligence, however, to wisdom or ecstatic knowledge, which begins here on the way but is consummated in everlasting glory.

And in these degrees consists the ladder of Jacob, whose summit reaches heaven: and the throne of Solomon, upon which sits the most wise King, truly peaceful and loving as the most beautiful bridegroom and wholly desirable: upon whom the Angels desire to gaze, and toward whom the desire of holy souls sighs, as the hart longs for the fountains of waters.

The hierarchical levels are disposed in the soul in a threefold manner: in relation to ascent, to descent, and to the return to God. Then the soul sees "angels of God ascending and descending" upon it; as Jacob saw in his mind.

Since therefore one must first ascend before descending on the ladder of Jacob, let us place the first step of ascent at the bottom, setting this entire sensible world before us as a mirror, through which we may pass over to God, the supreme Artificer, so that we may be true Hebrews passing over from Egypt to the land promised to the Fathers, and also Christians passing over with Christ from this world to the Father, and also lovers of wisdom, who calls and says: Pass over to me, all you who desire me, and be filled from my generations. For from the greatness of the beauty and of the creature, the Creator of these things can be knowably seen.

These six considerations having therefore been traversed, as if they were the six steps of the throne of the true Solomon, by which one arrives at peace, where the true peaceful one rests in a peaceful mind as in an interior Jerusalem; and as if also the six wings of the Cherub, by which the mind of the true contemplative, filled with the illumination of supernal wisdom, may be borne upward; and as if also the first six days, in which the mind must be exercised, so that it may at last arrive at the sabbath of rest; after our mind has contemplated God outside itself through vestiges and in the vestiges, within itself through the image and in the image, above itself through the similitude of the divine light shining upon us and in that light itself, insofar as is possible according to the state of wayfaring and the exercise of our mind; when at last in the sixth step it has arrived at this point, that it contemplates in the first and highest principle and the mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ, those things whose likenesses can in no way be found in creatures, and which exceed all keenness of the human intellect: it remains that, in contemplating these things, it should transcend and pass beyond not only this sensible world, but also itself; in which passing over, Christ is the way and the door, Christ is the ladder and the vehicle, as it were the mercy seat placed upon the ark of God and the mystery hidden from the ages.

Now if Jacob sleeping on the ground prefigured the Lord, why is it that the Lord in heaven rested and leaned upon the ladder? How was Christ the Lord seen on top of the ladder in heaven and in blessed Jacob on the ground? Listen to Christ himself say that he is in heaven and on earth: "No one has ascended into heaven except him who has descended from heaven: the Son of Man who is in heaven." Notice that the Lord himself said he is both in heaven and on earth. We confess, dearly beloved, that Christ the Lord is head of the church; if this is true, he is in heaven with regard to the head but on earth as far as the body is concerned. Moreover, when the blessed apostle Paul was persecuting the church, Christ exclaimed from heaven: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" He did not say, "Why do you persecute my servants?" Nor did he say, "Why do you persecute my members?" But he said, "Why do you persecute me?" Now the tongue cries out if the foot is stepped on, You stepped on me, even though the tongue cannot be stepped on at all; through the harmony of charity the head cries out for all the members. Therefore Jacob was sleeping and saw the Lord leaning on the top of the ladder. What does it mean to lean on the ladder, except to hang on the cross? Consider, brothers, that while hanging upon the wood of the cross he prayed for the Jews, and you will realize who shouted from heaven while leaning on the ladder of Jacob. But why did this happen on the road, before Jacob obtained a wife? Because our Lord, the true Jacob, first leaned on the ladder, that is, the cross, and afterward formed a church for himself. At the time he gave it the wages of his blood, intending to give it later the dowry of his kingdom.

Listen and see the sublimity of the fact that Jacob asleep and the Lord leaning on the ladder prefigured Christ. Indeed, when our Savior in speaking of Nathanael had named blessed Jacob, he said, "Behold, an Israelite in whom there is no guile." Continuing, he said, "Presently you shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." In the Gospels our Lord preached concerning himself what Jacob had seen prefigured in his sleep: "You shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." If the angels of God were descending to the Son because he was on earth, how is it that those same angels were ascending to the Son of man except because he is in heaven? Therefore he himself was sleeping in Jacob, and from heaven he likewise called to Jacob.

"All these things," as the apostle proclaims, brothers, "happened to them as a type, and they were written for us upon whom the final age of the world has come." Carefully notice, brothers, how the angels of God ascend to the Son of man in heaven and descend to the same Son on earth. When God's preachers announce deep and profound truths from sacred Scripture, which are understood only by devout men, they ascend to the Son of man; when they preach matters pertaining to the correction of morals, which all the people can understand, they descend to the son of man. Thus the apostle says, "Wisdom we speak among those who are mature, yet not a wisdom of this world nor of the rulers of this world, but a secret, hidden wisdom which God foreordained before the world to our glory." When the apostle said these words doubtless he was ascending to the Son of man. However, when he said, "Flee immorality"; when he said, "do not be drunk with wine, for in that is debauchery";38 when he declared, "covetousness is the root of all evils," in these words he descended like the angel of God to the Son of man. When he further said, "Mind the things that are above, not the things that are on earth," he was ascending. However, when he taught, "Be sober, and do not sin," and preached the other truths that pertain to the correction of morals, he was descending; ministering the milk of doctrine like a nurse to children, he spoke words that even the ignorant could grasp. In this manner, then, there is ascending and descending to the Son of man, since solid food is offered to the perfect while the milk of doctrine is not denied even to the young. Blessed John also was ascending when he said, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God;" by these words he ascended on high sufficiently. However, since God's angels not only ascend but also descend, bending down he says to the little ones, "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."

Through the resurrection of Christ the way was opened. Therefore with good reason the patriarch Jacob relates that he had seen in that place a ladder whose end reached heaven and that the Lord leaned on it. The ladder fixed to the ground and reaching heaven is the cross of Christ, through which the access to heaven is granted to us, because it actually leads us to heaven. On this ladder different steps of virtue are set, through which we rise toward heaven: faith, justice, chastity, holiness, patience, piety and all the other virtues are the steps of this ladder. If we faithfully climb them, we will undoubtedly reach heaven. And therefore we know well that the ladder is the symbol of the cross of Christ. As, in fact, the steps are set between two uprights, so the cross of Christ is placed between the two Testaments and keeps in itself the steps of the heavenly precepts, through which we climb to heaven.

This is, I believe, the stairway, the running to and fro of the holy spirits, who "are sent forth to minister for those who shall be the heirs of salvation." Christ is firmly placed on top of the stairway for those holy spirits who can reach him, who have him as their overseer, not as someone who exists among them but as God and Lord. In another passage David says to all people who want to live in the protection of the Most High: "He shall give his angels charge concerning you to keep you in all your ways. They shall bear you up on their hands, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread on the asp and the basilisk, and shall trample on the lion and the dragon." We trod on serpents and scorpions and on every power of the enemy, thanks to the power given to us by Christ. Those who are in Christ are also worthy of the divine look, so that he may promise them that he will be by them and help them, and will save them everywhere and will declare them fruitful. "I am with you always, even to the end of the world." The fact that the blessed disciples were enriched and made the fathers of innumerable nations by their faith in Christ, and as by a spiritual generation, is manifest to everybody. Paul himself said clearly to those who believed through him: "Though you have one thousand teachers in Christ, yet you have not many fathers: For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel." Therefore their seed was made as numerous as the grains of sand and was spread to the east and the west, to the left and the right, to the south and the north.

Now the Dweller in heaven shewed this ladder aforetime, as in a mystery, to the elect of the Fathers, the blessed Jacob; and also that those who went up and those who came down upon it were angels. And that that ladder belongeth not to heavenly angels alone, the word of the Book indicateth to us, because the angels of God were going up and coming down thereupon; for every man who draweth nigh to enquire thereat, and who beginneth to mount it, laboureth after the order of angels, and is numbered among the elect of spiritual beings, and he hath inscribed his name as a heavenly soldier. And as the children of men who receive human positions, and who labour in some one of the grades of the world, change the name of "rustics", by which they were formerly called, to "servants" (or soldiers), so also the man who of his own freewill enrolleth himself in the company which Christ hath formed, and who serveth in the army of spiritual beings, the word of the Book nameth him "angel", and not "man", and rightly so, because he hath begun the service of angels, and he is bound to receive their name. And he is called "angel" instead of "man" because of his service and manner of life, and not because of his nature. And moreover upon the ladder, Jacob the upright saw angels ascending and descending; those who were ascending were men, because it belongeth unto men to ascend from earth to heaven, and those who were descending were angels, because their country is heaven, and they descend from their country, the heights above, to the earth. Now therefore angels and the children of men were mingled upon that ladder that the Holy Book might teach us that a fair life is common both to spiritual and corporeal beings, and that the keeping of the commandments is obligatory to both of them. And the children of men keep the commandments when they are exalted from the depth to the height by the steps of the commandments, and the angels minister unto the wishes of [the Divine] Majesty when they are sent below from above. For those who are to inherit life, that is to say, those who are of the body in their nature and are inferior beings, the service of the commandments maketh celestial and spiritual beings; and the command of the Creator urgeth those who are celestial and spiritual by creation to go down to the country of terrestrial beings, and to abide continually with corporeal beings, so that from races which are different from each other, one Church may be gathered together in the bond of love, which will sing the services of God's will, and which will be wholly and entirely moved by one living and spiritual motion, even as the natural body is moved entirely by the life of the soul.

Notice here, I ask you, the extraordinary care of the loving God. When he saw [Jacob] consenting to the journey in accordance with his mother's advice, which came out of fear of his brother, and taking to the road like some athlete, with no support from any source, leaving everything instead to help from on high, Christ wanted at the very beginning of the journey to strengthen Jacob's resolve. And so he appeared to him with the words "I am the God of Abraham and the God of your father Isaac." I have caused the patriarch and your father to experience a great increase in prosperity; so, far from being afraid, believe that I am he who fulfilled my promises and will shower on you my care.

And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. [Genesis 28:14] Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. [Genesis 28:14] So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Let us listen also unto the words which Jacob spake in that country in which God was revealed unto him, for from them we may especially see his simplicity: "Verily there is the Lord in this place, and I knew it not." Didst thou think, O simple Jacob, that God was limited only to the country in which thy parents lived, and that He did not reveal Himself or make Himself manifest in every place to those who are worthy of His revelation?

Jacob, rising from sleep, says 'How dreadful is this place!' ... Now this awe is not the result of an inference from the visible universe. There is no possibility of arguing from mere danger to the uncanny, still less to the fully Numinous. ... When man passes from physical fear to dread and awe, he makes a sheer jump, and apprehends something which could never be given, as danger is, by the physical facts and logical deductions from them. ... There seem, in fact, to be only two views we can hold about awe. Either it is a mere twist in the human mind, corresponding to nothing objective and serving no biological function, yet showing no tendency to disappear from that mind at its fullest development in poet, philosopher, or saint: or else it is a direct experience of the really supernatural, to which the name Revelation might properly be given.