Jacobs Dream
Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing which his father had given him.
And Esau said to himself, "My father will soon die; then I will kill
Jacob, my brother."
When the words of her older son Esau were told to Rebekah, she sent for
her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Your brother, Esau, is going to
kill you. Now therefore, my son, listen to me: run away to my brother
Laban at Haran and stay with him
for a time until your brother is no
longer angry and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send
and bring you back. Why should I lose both of you in one day?"
Then Jacob set out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. And when he
arrived at a certain place, he passed the night there, because the sun
had set. And he took one of the stones from its place and put it under
his head and lay down to sleep. Then he dreamed and saw a ladder set up
on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and the angels of God were
going up and down on it.
Jehovah also stood beside him and said, "I am Jehovah, the God of
Abraham and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to
you and to your children. See, I am with you, and will keep you wherever
you go and will bring you again to this land; for I will not leave you
until I have done what I have promised you."
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, "Surely Jehovah is in this
place, and I did not know it." And he was filled with awe and said,
"This place is the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
So Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put
under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil upon the top of
it. And he named that place Bethel, which means House of God. Jacob also
made this promise, "If God will be with me and protect me on this
journey which I am making and give me bread to eat and clothing to put
on, and if I return safe and sound to my father's house, then Jehovah
shall be my God, and this stone which I have set up as a pillar shall be
a house of God. And of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give a
tenth to thee."