Genesis 28:11
And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.
Fleeing from home toward Haran on the second day of his journey, Jacob halted at sunset in an open place on a hillside and lay down on the ground with stones for his pillows and only the sky above him. He lay there as a lonely, guilty and despairing fugitive, feeling forsaken by God because of his own wrong course in taking the blessing. In sleep God met him in a night vision of a shining ladder set firmly on the earth and reaching to heaven, with angels ascending and descending upon it and the Lord above it communing with him. The ladder is Christ, the only bridge between heaven and earth by whom blessings come and by whom humanity ascends step by step toward heaven, and there God renewed to Jacob the covenant made with Abraham and Isaac, with assurance that He would be with him, keep him, and bring him back. Pitied in his desolate condition, Jacob was made a child of God that night, finding his hard pillow most precious and going forward with praise, with the presence of God and angels as his companions.
Jacob's Night of Exile
Jacob had left his father's tent at Beersheba for Haran, fleeing for his life after wrongfully obtaining the blessing and birthright. On the second day of that flight he stopped at sunset, weary and hungry, at an open place on a hillside later called Bethel. There he lay down on the ground for the night with earth for a bed, stones of that place gathered for pillows, and only the canopy of heaven for covering.
He lay down as a lonely, discouraged, distressed exile and fugitive, homeless and outcast, weary in a dreary wilderness though he had been the petted son of his mother. His fears and troubles arose from his sins, and by his own wrong course he felt forsaken of God. Terror, remorse, dark despair and loss of confidence filled his heart, and he feared the God of his fathers had cast him off.
Though repentant, he was still uneasy and afraid of what lay ahead, hoping through suffering to regain God's favor. He hardly dared to pray, yet he felt his need of divine protection as never before. He wept and confessed his sin and pleaded for evidence that he was not utterly forsaken, but found no relief.
What God Revealed There
The spot where he lay down to sleep became the setting for a revelation of a divine presence he had not known was there, which he called the house of God and the gate of heaven. That humble resting-place was consecrated by a manifestation of divine glory and became a sacred tabernacle where God met and blessed His servant. There in night vision the Lord appeared to him, he saw the angels, and he received promises of mercy.
His sleep opened to a dream of a ladder of shining brightness with its base resting firmly on the earth and its top reaching to heaven. Angels were ascending and descending upon it, with the Lord above it, God standing at the top and His glory streaming from heaven to earth. There Christ met and communed with him.
There God renewed to him personally the covenant and promise given to Abraham and Isaac. The very ground where he lay was given to him and his posterity, with the promise that in him and in his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed. With it came personal comfort and mercy that God was with him and would keep him wherever he went and bring him back and would not leave him. Those personal promises given in the night vision at Bethel, joined to the covenant made with his fathers, later became ground for prevailing prayer.
The ladder he saw portrays heaven's gift to humanity and reveals the plan of salvation. It shows that humanity is not cut off from God and that heaven's light reaches the inhabitants of earth. Christ is the ladder, the only connection by which people can come to heaven and through whom all blessings come. Joined to His divinity, people are drawn toward heaven step by step by God's love, as all who love God ascend round after round heavenward.
God did this in mercy because He knew the evil influences and perils that would surround Jacob alone among idolaters and scheming men. It was to open the future before him and show him the divine purpose reaching accomplishment through him. It was to keep the high standard ever before him, to prompt him to faithfulness, and to prepare him to resist temptation. God watched over him in his need and gave him instruction, confidence, comfort and protection through angels in the vision that followed.
Comfort and Ongoing Call
That night became the turning of his life, for in his lonely discouragement in the dreary wilderness he experienced the new birth and became a child of God. The light that reached him then was most precious to him, so that the hard stone beneath his head became the most desirable pillow on which it had ever rested. Even with only a stone for rest and grief in his heart, his sleep brought him nearer to God, and on waking his thoughts were bright with praise. Out of his stony griefs he raised a Bethel, so that his woes and even a cross became what lifted him nearer to God, and nearness to God remained his whole song.
The merciful God pitied him in his sorrow-stricken, desolate condition and visited him there. God's presence is not confined to a splendid edifice, for He makes sacred the hillside, caves, forest, humble barn and tent to meet and bless those humbly seeking truth, peace and righteousness. Even the grandest cathedral enclosing pride, dead forms and hollow hypocrisy is repulsive to Him who seeks worship in spirit and in truth. The home where Christ is brought into daily life through loving ministry can likewise be a Bethel.
After that night he went forward with a heart overflowing with love to God, feeling the presence of the Unseen with him and angels as his companions. He honored even the stone that had served as his pillow. The special tokens of divine favor given there demand a corresponding return, not indifference or thankless hearts, but tangible devotion of time, talents and property pledged to the Lord.
There he made the vow that the Lord should be his God, the God of that place who answered him in the day of his distress and was with him in the way he went. The personal promises given to him in the night vision at Bethel later sustained him in crisis and became ground for prevailing prayer. Alone in darkness and solitude he pleaded them with confession of sin, grateful acknowledgment of mercy and deep humiliation, together with the covenant made with his fathers, as a trembling grasp upon the word of a covenant-keeping God that Infinite Love could not turn away.