VaYetze, And He Went Out
B’reshiyt (Genesis) 28:10 – 32:3;
Hoshea (Hosea) 12:13 – 14:9
Matthew 3:13 – 4:11; 10:6; 15:24; 19:28; Luke 22:30; John 1:41-51; Ya’aqov (Jacob, James) 1:1; Ivriym (Hebrews) 8:6-8; 2 Corinthians 4:1-6; Ephesians 4:7-24; Revelation 21:12
Why would anyone want to rest their head on a rock? You’d have to be a tough, rugged individual to be able to sleep with your head on a stone. Back when memory foam pillows first came out, I couldn’t sleep on what I thought was a hard pillow. Most of us spend about a third of our lives in bed and need to sleep on something comfy. It’s no wonder the My Pillow Guy has been so successful!
If I didn’t have Yeshua to rest my thoughts on, my state of mind would be in chaos. My Messiah gives me the peace that surpasses all understanding when my life doesn’t make any sense to my natural mind. Most of my family members can’t figure me out. But trusting in Him as a child trusts his father, I can sleep well at night.
Jacob’s Headrests, Plural, at The Place
To understand why Jacob laid his head on a stone for a pillow, let’s start with how he prepared for sleeping on the mount that evening –
He took one of the stones and placed it near his head. Gen 28:11 NET (New English Translation)
The word ‘one’ in ‘one of the stones’ does not exist in Hebrew. This is an example of why I am learning how to read biblical Hebrew. Compare this translation with the LITV, the Literal Translation Version of the Bible:
And he took stones of the place and placed them at his head, and he lay down in that place.
That’s the literal translation of ‘me’avnay ha’maqom’ – ‘stones of the place’.
Why did Jacob take more than one stone to lay down on? It sounds very uncomfortable! Why did he take stones ‘of the place,’ and not ‘placed it’ as some translations say?
Context and common threads help clear up what appears to make no sense on the surface. What was troubling Jacob’s mind when he came to ‘the place’?
Esau was on the move with his 400-man army wanting to kill his brother. His father Isaac had sent Jacob to Haran because of the threat on his life, and to find a wife. Jacob knew that if he could, Esau would finish the job he started with coming out of the womb – to kick his brother’s head in and kill him. So what purpose did the stones serve at Jacob’s head? The stones were to protect his head from his hateful brother!
Jacob was at ‘the place’ to intercede for himself and his family before his Elohim. He took stones to set there for a wall of defense for him and for all twelve of his sons.
In the Bible, other references to multiple stones and their common thread purposes are:
- the twelve stones on the breastplate of the high priest, representing the twelve tribes of Israel (Exodus 39:14) for intercession.
- the twelve stones that Joshua commanded to be taken out of the middle of the Jordan River, taken according to the tribes of the sons of Israel to be placed at their lodging place that night as a memorial forever. (Joshua 4:3-9)
- the twelve stones that Elijah took according to the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to build an altar for YHWH to show by fire that He is the God of Israel (1 Kings 18:31). Altars were built as the place to turn to YHWH in repentance.
For you and I all who are in the family of the house of Israel, our forefather had us in mind at ‘the place’ where he laid his head to rest among the stones.
‘The place,’ ha’maqom, that Jacob had come to was the same place that his grandfather Abraham had seen from afar:
And on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place (ha’maqom) from a distance. Genesis 22:4
This was ‘the place’ that Isaac would be offered upon an altar. This is ‘the place’ that Abraham would see afar off in time unto the day of the Messiah that Yeshua said,
“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” John 8:56
This is ‘the place’ where Yeshua would be crucified, dead, buried, and risen again on the third day. This is ‘the place’ where Yeshua revealed Himself to be the Rock of our Salvation. There His work on the cross and His resurrection secured salvation for our souls and defense from our adversary. Salvation was secured at the very same place that Jacob had a dream of the ladder in a portal reaching from Heaven to Earth.
‘The Place’ on Mount Moriah, being the place to encounter YHWH through Yeshua, is connected to Mount Sinai, where Moses encountered YHWH ‘face to face.’ ‘The Place’ was connected to Heaven through ‘sullam’ translated as ‘ladder’ or ‘stairway.’ Sullam has the same numerical value of 130 as ‘Sinai’. Both mounts served as ‘the place’ of a portal to the Heavens, where YHWH made a covenant with His people through Yeshua.
Jacob's Ladder, Top and Bottom
Yeshua, the Son of Man, revealed to His disciples that He is Jacob’s ladder.
And He said, “Amen! Amen, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God going up and coming down on the Son of Man!” John 1:51
He is the One upon Whom the angels ascend and descend from Heaven to earth. Upon Him, we can freely climb the ladder to the Throne of Grace, to commune with Him by the Spirit. Yeshua is our Intercessor, our Go-between with our Heavenly Father.
Our Messiah is also the Rock, the Chief Cornerstone, upon which the ladder stands.
And Jacob started up early in the morning and took the stone which he had placed at his head, and he placed it as a pillar. Gen 28:18
Notice that now the Hebrew states a singular stone, not plural, not just any stone, but ‘the Stone,’ ‘ha’Aben.’ Not translated into English is the ‘Alef Tav’ beforehand, a clear reference to the Messiah. He declared Himself to be the Alef and the Tav three times in the Book of Revelations. Yeshua is the Alef Tav-ha’Aben, the Alef Tav Stone.
The Hebrew word for ‘stone’ is ‘aben,’ spelled ‘alef, bet, nun’. ‘Aben’ is a compound word comprised of the letters for ‘Abba’, spelled ‘Alef bet’ (Father), and for ‘Ben’, spelled ‘Bet nun’ (Son). ‘Alef bet’ united with ‘Bet nun’ together in one Word make ‘Aben’ – Father-Son. The Father and the Son are as united, integrated, and inseparable as the minerals of a solid rock. Ben, the Son, builds His house with aben, stone. Yeshua confirmed the reality of the Oneness by proclaiming,
“I and Father are One.” John 10:30
When asked who Peter said that He is, the Messiah commended Peter for declaring:
“You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God” Yeshua replied,
“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this Rock, I will build My assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against her.”
Matthew 16:16-18
Why can the gates of Hell not prevail against the Rock revelation? Because where Yeshua is proclaimed by faith, He shows up with angels ascending and descending upon Him! The malakim, the angels, are mighty warriors who are 100% loyal and obedient to the beck and call of their Melek, King Yeshua. Showing how closely related they are, the Hebrew words ‘Malak’ and ‘Melek,’ angel and king, are spelled with the same three letters (mem, lamed, kaf). Who can withstand Yeshua and His mighty angels?
Yeshua is Jacob’s Ladder in the House of God built on the Rock, the Cornerstone. The gates of Hell cannot prevail against the portal of Heaven, where Yeshua is the Ladder to the throne of the Almighty God!
It’s just another reason why the Temple Mount is the most hotly contested piece of real estate on planet Earth. I wonder if the stone, ha’aben, that Jacob set up for a memorial pillar is still lying there somewhere on the mount at – ‘the Place’.
The Messiah is the Chief Cornerstone upon which the House of Ya’aqov (Jacob) rests securely and forever. In quiet trust and safety, we rest our heads upon Him like Jacob did laying his head on the stone pillow. Descendants of Jacob can be like the disciple who laid his head on our loving Messiah’s bosom:
But there was one of His disciples reclining on the bosom of Yeshua, whom Yeshua loved. John 13:23
Like many who try to imagine the Father and the Son in their minds’ eyes, Yeshua’s disciple Philip wanted to see the Father more than anything, and so we make the same request:
Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
Yeshua said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” John 14:8-9
How can anyone explain that statement away? How can anyone say Yeshua is not divine? Our Messiah is the Way to covenant relationship with the Father. He is our access to the Kingdom of Heaven. Upon Him, we can freely climb like a child up on a ladder to the Creator at the Throne of Grace and experience life from our Father’s perspective.
Poured Oil on the Stone
And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. Genesis 28:18
Jacob poured oil upon the stone (Genesis 28:16), symbolizing the Chief Cornerstone, the Messiah, the Anointed One. Yeshua was anointed to be our High Priest, our Mediator between the believer here on earth and the Father Who is in Heaven. When we lavish the Head of the congregation with praises and honor, when we worship our Elohim, we are in a sense anointing the Head to be our King and our High Priest.
That’s what the prophets did when they inaugurated Yah’s chosen to become the king of Israel. Moses was commanded to anoint Aaron and his sons to ordain and consecrate them to serve YHWH as priests (Exo 28:41). The Holy Spirit has anointed Yeshua to be our King and High Priest. The two lameds in ‘HalleluYah!’ testify to the Anointed One.
In ‘poured oil’, the Hebrew word for ‘pour’, tsaq,’ literally means to ‘pour into a mold.’ Did ‘the stone,’ ‘ha’aben’ have a hole or cavity in it that held the oil? Some Torah students believe so. Are not ‘vessels of honor’ (2 Tim 2:20-21) in the House of God to be filled and refilled by the anointing of the Holy Spirit every Shabbat whenever we assemble?
Then when the Head is anointed with the oil of the Spirit, the oil pours down on His body. We who are united there beneath the Ladder in Bethel, the House of God, receive His anointing:
It is like the precious oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard – Aaron’s beard – coming down on the collar of his robes. Psalm 133:2
Hine ma tov!
Come to ‘The Place’ that YHWH has led you to call ‘Bethel’ – ‘the house of God.’ Come to Zion, where burdens are removed and the anointing destroys the yoke (Isa 10:27)!
Yeshua, the Divine Messiah at Jacob's Ladder
Yeshua is ‘the Place’, ‘ha’Maqom’. For wherever He is, inside every born-again soul, is ‘the Place’ where the believer can encounter our Father in Heaven.
Yeshua is ‘the Stone’, ‘ha’Aben’, that the builders rejected, which has become the Chief Cornerstone upon which the whole House of God, upon which Bethel is built.
Yeshua is the Ladder, the stairway to Heaven. He is the Way, the only Way to the Father. In Him, we have the genetic code of Salvation, the DNA helix of Yah saving His people.
Yeshua is the Master of angel armies. Upon Him, the angels ascend and descend. He is the place where angel hosts attend to whoever has ‘the Ladder’ in their hearts.
Yeshua is the Seed of Abraham, the Seed of Messiah (Galatians 3:16) promised to Jacob and His descendants. His Seed is multiplying and spreading to the four corners of the earth.
Yeshua is the Builder and the Head of the House of God, of Bethel. He is the Son Who fits us together as He wills (Ephesians 2:21), building up His House of lively stones (1 Pet 2:5).
Yeshua is our Defense in Bethel. He is the Good Shepherd, Who gathers, guards, and protects His sheep. Our Messiah will lead the exiles of Israel back to the Promised Land.
Yeshua is the Promise Keeper. He is the Faithful and True (Rev 19:11). Yeshua will return from Heaven to ‘the place’ with armies of saints and angels. He’ll descend to go to war to deliver His people from those who want to kill and defile us. All the powers of darkness and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against us. He will rule and reign from the place called ‘Yerushalayim – Jerusalem’, ‘the place’ He has chosen to set His Name.
Yeshua is the great I Am, the Divine Messiah. He is Emmanuel, God with us, YHWH Who promised “I Am with you!” (Gen 28:15) Our God will never leave us, nor forsake us.
The First Vow is Our Vow
The first occurrence of a vow in the Scriptures should be the vow of every born-again believer. What was that first vow? To return to the house of God every Sabbath, every holy convocation, every set-apart gathering that YHWH appoints for His people.
Jacob vowed to return to ‘the Place’ he called ‘Bethel.’ He vowed:
‘and the stone (ha’aben, father-son) which I have placed as a pillar shall become the house of Elohim (God).’ Genesis 28:20-22
Sounds like what Yeshua said to Peter about his Rock declaration of the Father-Son Oneness, upon which He would build His assembly.
What vow resonates in the hearts of the children of Israel throughout the corridors of time? That we will return to the House of God and build the assembly up on the revelation of Who Yeshua truly is. That’s the vow I try to keep every time I go to ‘Bethel,’ the house of worship.
Have you personally made a vow to not forsake the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is (Hebrews 10:25)? I have vowed to come to Bethel, the House of God, whenever I can. For what purpose? To worship and to participate in building up His house of lively stones upon the Rock revelation of the Messiah Yeshua.
How does the revelation of the divine Messiah build up the House of God?
Think about what happened in Jacob’s encounter at ‘the Place’. What are the lessons for His people when we come together in the house of God to worship Him? Selah.
As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house – a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Messiah Yeshua. 1 Peter 2:4-5
Come to the House of God, come to Bethel. Let’s build each other up in the most holy faith. Come to Bethel with many thanks to our God for His goodness and His grace.
Therefore, just as you have accepted Messiah Yeshua our Adonai (Master), so you must be led by Him, being rooted and being built up in Him, and being confirmed in faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Colossians 2:6-7
May the abundant blessings of the household of our forefather Jacob be added unto you with many thanks!
Have a happy Thanksgiving!
BaShem Yeshua HaMashiyach,
David Klug