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John Wesley, Notes On the New Testament (1755):
Behold a ladder set upon the earth,
and the top of it reached heaven, the angels ascending and descending on
it, and the Lord stood above it-This might represent 1. The providence
of God, by which there is a constant correspondence kept up between
heaven and earth. The counsels of heaven are executed on earth, and the
affairs of this earth are all known in heaven. Providence doth his work
gradually and by steps; angels are employed as ministering spirits to
serve all the designs of providence, and the wisdom of God is at the
upper end of the ladder, directing all the motions of second causes to
his glory. The angels are active spirits, continually ascending and
descending; they rest not day nor night. They ascend to give account of
what they have done, and to receive orders; and desend to execute the
orders they have received. This vision gave seasonable comfort to Jacob,
letting him know that he had both a good guide and good guard; that
though he was to wander from his father's house, yet he was the care of
Providence, and the charge of the holy angels. 2. The mediation of
Christ. He is this ladder: the foot on earth in his human nature, the
top in heaven in his divine nature; or the former is his humiliation,
the latter is his exaltation. All the intercourse between heaven and
earth since the fall is by this ladder. Christ is the way: all God's
favours come to us, and all our services come to him, by Christ. If God
dwell with us, and we with him, it is by Christ: we have no way of
getting to heaven but by this ladder; for the kind offices the angels do
us, are all owing to Christ, who hath reconciled things on earth and
things in heaven, Col 1:20.
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The Fourfold Gospel:
No comment on this verse.
- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge:
* he dreamed. Ge 15:1; 20:3,6; 37:5-11; 40:1-41:57; Nu 12:6; Job 4:12-21
Job 33:15,16; Da 2:1-49; 4:1-37; 7:1; Mt 1:20; 2:12,13,19; Heb 1:1
* ladder. Ge 32:1,2; 2Ch 16:9; Isa 41:10; Joh 1:51; 2Ti 4:16,17; Heb
1:14
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Robertson's Word Pictures:
No comment on this verse.
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William Burkitt's Notes:
No comment on this verse.
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Family Bible Notes:
No comment on this verse.
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1599 Geneva Bible Notes:
Christ is the ladder by which God and man
are joined together, and by whom the angels minister to us: all graces
are given to us by him, and we ascend to heaven by him.
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People's New Testament Commentary:
No comment on this verse.
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Albert Barnes' Commentary:
No comment on this verse.
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Jamieson-Faussett Brown:
he dreamed ... and
behold a ladder--Some writers are of opinion that it was not a literal
ladder that is meant, as it is impossible to conceive any imagery
stranger and more unnatural than that of a ladder, whose base was on
earth, while its top reached heaven, without having any thing on which
to rest its upper extremity. They suppose that the little heap of
stones, on which his head reclined for a pillow, being the miniature
model of the object that appeared to his imagination, the latter was a
gigantic mountain pile, whose sides, indented in the rock, gave it the
appearance of a scaling ladder. There can be no doubt that this use of
the original term was common among the early Hebrews; as JOSEPHUS,
describing the town of Ptolemais (Acre), says it was bounded by a
mountain, which, from its projecting sides, was called "the ladder," and
the stairs that led down to the city are, in the original, termed a
ladder (Ne 3:15) though they were only a flight of steps cut in the side
of the rock. But whether the image presented to the mental eye of Jacob
were a common ladder, or such a mountain pile as has been described, the
design of this vision was to afford comfort, encouragement, and
confidence to the lonely fugitive, both in his present circumstances and
as to his future prospects. His thoughts during the day must have been
painful--he would be his own self-accuser that he had brought exile and
privation upon himself--and above all, that though he had obtained the
forgiveness of his father, he had much reason to fear lest God might
have forsaken him. Solitude affords time for reflection; and it was now
that God began to bring Jacob under a course of religious instruction
and training. To dispel his fears and allay the inward tumult of his
mind, nothing was better fitted than the vision of the gigantic ladder,
which reached from himself to heaven, and on which the angels were
continually ascending and descending from God Himself on their
benevolent errands (Joh 1:51).
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Spurgeon Devotional
Commentary:
Note the many "beholds" in the
passage. They call for our special attention. The patriarch dreamed of
Jesus--sweetest of all dreams. He saw how heaven and earth are joined by
the Messiah, and how free is the communion between God and man by the
way of the Mediator.
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Adam Clarke's Commentary:
He dreamed, and
behold a ladder] A multitude of fanciful things have been spoken of
Jacob's vision of the ladder, and its signification. It might have
several designs, as God chooses to accomplish the greatest number of
ends by the fewest and simplest means possible. 1. It is very likely
that its primary design was to point out the providence of God, by which
he watches over and regulates all terrestrial things; for nothing is
left to merely natural causes; a heavenly agency pervades, actuates, and
directs all. In his present circumstances it was highly necessary that
Jacob should have a clear and distinct view of this subject, that he
might be the better prepared to meet all occurrences with the conviction
that all was working together for his good. 2. It might be intended also
to point out the intercourse between heaven and earth, and the
connection of both worlds by the means of angelic ministry. That this is
fact we learn from many histories in the Old Testament; and it is a
doctrine that is unequivocally taught in the New: Are they not all
ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs
of salvation? 3. It was probably a type of CHRIST, in whom both worlds
meet, and in whom the Divine and human nature are conjoined. The LADDER
was set up on the EARTH, and the TOP of it reached to HEAVEN; for GOD
was manifested in the FLESH, and in him dwelt all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily. Nothing could be a more expressive emblem of the
incarnation and its effects; Jesus Christ is the grand connecting medium
between heaven and earth, and between God and man. By him God comes down
to man; through him man ascends to God. It appears that our Lord applies
the vision in this way himself, 1st, In that remarkable speech to
Nathanael, Hereafter ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of
God ascending and descending on the Son of man, Joh 1:51. 2dly, in his
speech to Thomas, Joh 14:6: I am the WAY, and the truth, and the life;
no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
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Matthew Henry Concise Commentary:
No comment on this verse.
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