Content
The Ladder of Jacob is based on the Biblical dream of Jacob in (Genesis 28:11-19).
- Chapter 1 is an expansion of the narrative of Genesis. Jacob falls asleep and sees a ladder set up on the earth; the top of it reaches to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it. Many details are added to the Genesis' narrative: the ladder is made of twelve steps, and on each step there are two human forms, one on each side of the step, visible as far as their breasts. On the top of the ladder there was a face, as of a man, carved in the fire and much more terrifying than the twenty-four other busts. The Lord is over this central face.
- Chapter 2 includes a prayer by Jacob, surely abbreviated by the Slavonic copyist, asking the Lord the meaning of the vision. The prayer describes God sitting on a fire throne, surrounded by Cherubim and Seraphim, a vision that is a classic example of Merkabah.
- In chapter 3 the angel Sariel is sent by the Lord to Jacob to explain the vision, and the text says Jacob was not terrified by the vision of the angel.
- In chapter 4 Sariel changes the name of Jacob into Israel in order to have it to be similar to his own name; in Hebrew, there would be one letter's difference between Israel and Sariel
- Chapter 5 includes the explanation of the ladder given by Sariel: the ladder is the Age, the twelve steps are the periods in which the Age is divided (the same division we find in 2 Baruch). The twenty-four human busts are the kings of the world who oppose Israel, some more, some less. The fourth step may be the author's picture of his own time; in the last times the Lord will raise a descendant of Esau (probably the Roman Empire) who initially will protect Israel, and later will serve the idols and use violence. The people of Jacob will be exiled, made slave and wounded.
- Chapter 6 is about the coming of the Messiah, described as a king who fights and wins against the enemies of Israel; the enemies then repent and the Lord accepts their plea. In the following events the Lord acts directly: there will be earthquakes and destructions followed by the final victory against the Leviathan and the Falkon. The sons of Jacobs will walk in the Lord's justice, and the kingdoms of Edom and Moab will be destroyed.
- Chapter 7 is surely a Christian addition, that predicts the Incarnation of the Savior.
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