The Only True Ladder (Genesis 27-30)

A Few Thoughts to Consider

It’s important to remember that, as with other Biblical characters, there are two stories at play in the life of Jacob. One is personal, and the other ties into what God has been doing throughout human history.

Several years ago, I wrote a book titled Walking With A Limp, where I walked readers through the story of Jacob and the personal dynamics of his encounters with God. In short, from birth, Jacob was a “heel grabber” and someone who was by nature conniving and manipulative. He deceived his brother twice and stole his birthright and blessing in the process. He then continued this same conniving behavior with his Uncle Laban, who turned out to be every bit as manipulative and deceitful as Jacob. Only through a dramatic sequence of events does Jacob change.

The personal side of Jacob’s story is that it forces us to confront some of the darker areas of our lives. It reveals that, like Jacob, we are born natural manipulators. And only by God’s grace will we ever change. We resonate with the words of Elie Wiesel in Dawn, “Something told me that at the end of the road we were to travel together I should find another man, very much like myself, whom I should hate.”[1]

That’s the personal side of Jacob’s story. But when we look at Jacob’s life through the grand metanarrative of Scripture, we see something else at work. In Genesis 28, Jacob runs for his life to his Uncle Laban’s in Haran. En route, he has an encounter with God.

¹⁰ Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. ¹¹ He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place. ¹² And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching the sky, and God’s angels were going up and down on it. ¹³ The Lord was standing there beside him, saying, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land on which you are lying. ¹⁴ Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. ¹⁵ Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Not only is this Jacob’s first personal encounter with God, but it’s the first time God’s promise to Abraham is extended to him. And this account tells us something powerful about how God works. Like Jacob, within every person, there are two stories at play. One that confronts our character and decision to choose or reject God and a second that is far beyond our control.