ABSTRACT
Jacob bought his brother’s birthright for food, and with his mother’s help secured Isaac’s blessing, thereby incurring Esau’s wrath. Fleeing from his brother, Jacob travelled northwards towards Harran; en route he had a vision of a ladder rising to heaven and heard God speak to him promising that his offspring would inherit the land and fill the earth:
And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants; and your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth.’
