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 Volume 76 › Table of Contents › Article Abstract
A close study of Jacob's dream (Genesis 28: 10-22) enables, from a literary perspective,
two simultaneous readings and therefore two interpretations. Reading A: Jacob's
dream is a "dream theophany." The story describes and means to explain how Beth-
El became a sacred place; a story whose core is the maqom (place). Reading B :
Jacob's dream is a "symbolic dream." The story tells about Jacob leaving Canaan (his
homeland) in order to return in the future, a story whose core is the derek (way).
The description of the sullam, and especially that of the movement of the angels, is not embellishment, supplementation or scenic background, of God's message, but "the vision" symbolizes the way, the path, taken by the patriarchs to and from the Promised Land. That is to say, the sullam symbolizes "the way" to and from the Promised Land, and the symbolic message of the "Angels of God" in the dream is reflected in their actual movements. The vision in the dream (vv. 12-13a) functions as a mise en abyme. In a compact and symbolic manner, the vision in the dream reflects the attitude towards the patriarch's entering and leaving the promised land in the framework of the wider narrative. |
