In today’s post, I’d like to take a closer look at another biblical figure who experienced a strange revelation that was interpreted by biblical scholars as a dream.
Jacob (Hebrew: יַעֲקֹב, Jaʿăqōḇ, Jaʿaqov, Arabic: يعقوب, Jaʿqūb, from aqeb – “heel”) was the son of Isaac and Rebekah, the twin brother of Esau; Rebekah was the granddaughter of Nachor, Abraham’s brother who was Isaac’s father. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel.
Jacob was sent by his father Isaac to Paddan-Aram, to the family of Betuel, the father of Jacob’s mother, to take a wife from one of the daughters of Laban, Jacob’s uncle.
Genesis 28: 1-2
1 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, saying: Take not a wife of the stock of Chanaan:
2 But go, and take a journey to Mesopotamia of Syria, to the house of Bathuel, thy mother’s father, and take thee a wife thence of the daughters of Laban, thy uncle.
While traveling, Jacob experienced a strange dream vision or apparition in which he saw something he did not understand.
Genesis 28: 10-13, 16-17
10 But Jacob being departed from Bersabee, went on to Haran.
11 And when he was come to a certain place, and would rest in it after sunset, he took of the stones that lay there, ad putting under his head, slept in the same place.
12 And he saw in his sleep a ladder standing upon the earth, and the top thereof touching heaven: the angels also of God asending and descending by it.13 And the Lord leaning upon the ladder saying to him: I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: The land, wherein thou sleepest, I will give to thee and to thy seed.
…
16 And when Jacob awaked out of sleep, he said: Indeed the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.
17 And trembling, he said: How terrible is this place? this is no other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven.
Given the low level of technical awareness of people at the time, the allegorical interpretation of the author(s), the low understanding of technical messages by translators of older versions of the text, and the censorship of religious authorities, several hypothetical explanations can be assumed:
– Jacob had a real dream, the content of which he did not understand
– Jacob, in the night, after waking up, saw a technical phenomenon that was incomprehensible to him, involving a flying vehicle
So the big question for today is: in his “dream” did Jacob see a gate to heaven, angels on a ladder and God, or perhaps an unidentified flying vehicle hovering above the earth, a platform from a vehicle on which individuals of another, more advanced civilization were moving, and their commander, misinterpreted by Jacob as God?
As usual, I leave the answer to this question to each individual.
Related posts:
Is the Old Man the Israelites’ manna machine?
Was the biblical Elijah taken alive from the earth by representatives of an extraterrestrial civilization?
Is the story of Cain and Abel an interpretation of much older Sumerian accounts, providing evidence of extraterrestrial interference in the development of Homo sapiens?
Was Lot saved from Sodom by extraterrestrials before a nuclear explosion?