12. And he saw in a dream: behold, a ladder stands on the ground, and the top of it touches the sky; and behold, the angels of God ascend and descend on it.

13. And behold, the Lord stands on it and says, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac; (do not be afraid). The land on which you lie I will give you and your descendants;

14. And your descendants will be like the sand of the earth; and you will spread to the sea, and to the east, and to the north, and to the noonday; and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed;

15. and behold, I am with you, and I will keep you wherever you go; and I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have told you.

Jacob's distress and anxiety is a favorable condition for him to receive his first revelation (in a dream). This revelation directly responded to the urgent needs of James:

1) to be confirmed in faith in the divine promises to Abraham and Isaac, and

2) to receive assurance of personal safety from Esau and other possible disasters.

Both are given to James in the words of the Lord vv. 13-14, and here is given the supreme promise of blessing in the descendants of God's chosen patriarchs; however, "Jacob does not reveal the whole future of the people of Israel, as Abraham (15:13[844]), a man of strong spirit..." (G. K. Vlastov, Sacred Chronicle, St. Petersburg, 1878, 1, 253).

The character of the whole vision of Jacob corresponds to the circle of views in which the future patriarch of the people of God lived and moved. In the whole picture of the vision there are 3 elements (externally distinguished through the threefold "behold," Hebrew hinneh).

1) The ladder from earth to heaven as an expression of the close connection between earth and heaven: it is a comforting truth for man that he is not left on earth to the world powers alone, but has access to heaven and help from there!

It is plausible that Gunkel (p. 289) reported that the idea of a celestial ladder was widespread in the ancient East, especially in Egypt (Gator's ladder, by which the souls of the dead ascend to heaven); but the assertion of the said scholar that the vision of the ladder has no connection with the rest of the story of Jacob is false. The connection, on the contrary, is very close.

2) Angels ascend and descend the ladder, i.e. offer supplications, thoughts, cares, etc. man to God, on the other hand, they bring down upon man various kinds of God's mercy.

The Talmud and the Midrash (Beresch. 333) understand "ascent" and "descent" in the sense that the angels who accompanied Jacob during his journey through Canaan ascended to heaven, and the other angels who had accompanied Jacob to Chaldea descended from heaven to earth; some support for this interpretation is what is mentioned in Gen. 32:1-2[845] a reinforced militia ("mahanaim") of angels. Art. 12 is recognized as a classic testimony of the Old Testament faith in the existence and activity of angels as intermediaries between God and people (cf. John 1:51).

(3) But this intermediary of angels does not exclude God's direct action on His elect: Jehovah as the God of the covenant or the Angel of Jehovah.