Jacob encounters God at Bethel

The Jacob Cycle - Part 5

Essentially exiled, traveling from Beersheba toward Padam-aram (Haran,) Jacob stops for the night and receives a dream-vision and message of assurance from God. This scene is parallel to God’s covenant with Abram in Genesis 15, where Abram, too, received a vision and assurance from God.

Structure

The episode is structured through chiasm through keywords and phrases.¹

Chiastic structure

A. “place” - Genesis 28:11

B. “stones,” “headrest” - Genesis 28:11

C. “heaven,” - Genesis 28:12

D. “God” (Elohim) - Genesis 28:12

E. “The LORD” (Yahweh) - Genesis 28:13

F. Yahweh’s promises to Jacob - Genesis 28:13-15

E’. “The LORD” (Yahweh) - Genesis 28:16

D’. “God”: (Elohim) - Genesis 28:17

C’. “heaven” - Genesis 28:17

B’. “stone,” “headrest” - Genesis 28:18

A’. “place” - Genesis 28:19

Also through key words and phrases, Jacob’s response to his dream is parallel to the dream, itself.²

Parallel structure

Dream	Jacob’s response
“place” - Genesis 28:11	“place” - Genesis 28:16-17
“stones,” “headrest” - Genesis 28:11	“stone,” “headrest” - Genesis 28:18
“I am with you” - Genesis 28:15	“If God will be with me” - Genesis 28:20
“guard you wherever you go” - Genesis 28:15	“guard me in this way that I go” - Genesis 28:20
“bring you back to this land” - Genesis 28:15	“return to my father’s house” - Genesis 28:21
“I will not leave you” - Genesis 28:16	“Yahweh shall be my god” - Genesis 28:21

Reversal of Babel

Jacob’s dream can be seen as a reversal of the Babel story in Genesis 11:1-9. There, humans tried to bridge the gap between heaven and earth by building a tower in Babylon (babel is the Hebrew word for Babylon, and is translated as such everywhere in the Bible except for Genesis 11, apparently to maintain the Hebrew wordplay between babel and balal, which means “confuse,” even though it can’t be seen in English translations.) God’s desire was for humans to “fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28,) so he frustrated their plans to gather and reach for heaven by confusing their language and scattering them.

Babel is derived from the Akkadian Bab-ili, which mean “Gate of god” (or Bab-ilani, “Gate of the gods.) There’s scholarly consensus that the tower referred to in the Biblical story is the ziggurat E-temen-an-ki, which means “House of the foundation of heaven and earth,” part of the temple complex dedicated to Marduk, the supreme god of the Babylonian pantheon. (A ziggurat is a multi-terraced pyramidal structure with a god’s house on top, with each level connected by a stairway or ramp.)³

Remarkably, as with Jacob’s dream, the Babel story is structured both chiastically and in parallel panels.⁴

Chiastic structure

A. “the whole earth had one language” - Genesis 11:1

B. “there” - Genesis 11:2

C. “one another” - Genesis 11:3

D. “come let us make bricks” - Genesis 11:3

E. “let us build ourselves” - Genesis 11:4

F. “a city and a tower” - Genesis 11:4

G. “The LORD (Yahweh) came down” - Genesis 11:5

F’. “the city and the tower” - 11:5

E’. “which the children of man had built” - Genesis 11:5

D’. “come, let us…confuse” - Genesis 11:7

C’. “one another’s” - Genesis 11:7

B’. “there” - Genesis 11:9

A’. “the language of all the earth” - Genesis 11:9

Parallel structure

Human actions	God’s response
“one language” - Genesis 11:1	“one language” - Genesis 11:6
“there” - Genesis 11:2	“there” - Genesis 11:7
“one another” - Genesis 11:3	“one another’s - Genesis 11:8
“build…a city” - Genesis 11:4	“building the city” - Genesis 11:8
“name” - Genesis 11:4	“its name” - Genesis 11:9
“lest we be dispersed” - Genesis 11:4	“dispersed them” - Genesis 11:9
“over the face of the whole earth - Genesis 11:4	“over the face of all the earth” - Genesis 11:9

Both Babel and Jacob’s dream have a chiastic, tower-like structure with Yahweh at the top. Human actions are paralleled by God’s response at Babel and the dream God gives Jacob is paralleled by Jacob’s response. Babel is therefore inverted and reversed at Bethel.

Babel	Human action > divine response
Bethel	Divine action > human response

Parallels with the Abraham Cycle

There are many links to Abraham’s vision in Genesis 15.

Abram’s vision	Jacob’s dream
“Fear not, Abram” - Genesis 15:1	“And [Jacob] was afraid” - Genesis 28:17
“What will you give me?” - Genesis 15:2	“Of all that you give me” - Genesis 28:22
“The heir of my house is Eliezer” - Genesis 15:2	“This stone… shall be God’s house “ - Genesis 28:22
“Look toward heaven” - Genesis 15:5	“The top of it reached heaven” - Genesis 28:12
“So shall your offspring be [like the stars]” - Genesis 15:5	“Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth” - Genesis 28:14
“As the sun was going down” - Genesis 15:12	“The sun had set” - Genesis 28:11
“You shall go to your fathers in peace” - Genesis 15:15	“So that I come to my father’s house in peace” - Genesis 28:21
“They shall come back here” - Genesis 15:16	“I will bring you back to this land” - Genesis 28:10
“To your offspring I will give this land” - Genesis 15:18	“The land on which you lie I will give to you and your offspring” - Genesis 28:13

Each scene has verbal and visual components demarcated by the phrase “and behold” (wa hinneh.)⁵ While Abram’s vision begins with the verbal elements, Jacob’s dream ends with them.

Verbal and visual elements in Abram’s vision
A. “And behold, a member of my household will ber my heir” - Genesis 15:3
A’. “And behold… ‘This man shall not be your heir’” - Genesis 15:4
B. “And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him” - Genesis 15:12
B’. “And behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between the pieces” - Genesis 15:17

Verbal and visual elements in Jacob’s dream
B. “And behold, there was a sullam” - Genesis 28:12a
B’. “And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it” - Genesis 28:12b
A. “And behold… ‘The land on which you lie I will give’” - Genesis 28:13
A’. “‘And behold… will bring you back to this land’” - Genesis 28:15

Comparing these show the primary concerns of the patriarchs. Abram’s concern is for offspring, while Jacob’s is the land, specifically returning to it. While God promises offspring and land to both Abram and Jacob, his words to them speak to their specific situations.

Jacob arrives at a “place”

¹⁰ Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. ¹¹ And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.

–Genesis 28:10-11 (ESV)

Jacob is on his way to Haran to both flee from Esau and find a wife from Laban’s house. His place of departure and his destination highlight the element of exile. Beersheba is an echo of the garden of Eden. There, Abraham planted a flowering tree (tamarisk) and both he and Isaac found wells, so it’s well watered. They both made covenants with the Philistines at the site, establishing peace with the nations. Conversely, Haran was where Abram left to enter Canaan and in the region where the northern kingdom of Israel would be exiled. However, “Haran” is where Abraham was called by God and received the first promises.⁶ So, even though Jacob is being exiled from the land, there is hope that wherever he goes, God can bring him back.

The word “place” (maqom) is emphasized by being repeated three times. At the end of the episode the unnamed “place” will undergo a transformation because of what happens there and be given a name.⁷ A theme of people and places being shrouded in darkness and revealed by light is prevalent in the Jacob Cycle. Isaac was unable to see Rebekah and Jacob’s deception because of his dim eyes. Jacob is deceived by Leah and Laban in the evening, and he doesn’t see who he wrestles with at night on his way back to the land. It’s often in the light of morning that the true nature of things or their transformations are seen.

Literally, Jacob “takes from the stones/one of the stones” to “arrange” a “headrest.” The Hebrew is ambiguous whether Jacob takes a single stone or multiple stones. If he took multiple, some could have been placed around his head as a protective barrier. We know that at least one was used as a kind of pillow because of what comes later; the stone, too, will undergo a transformation/re-creation.⁸

Jacob’s dream: visual aspects

As mentioned in Parallels with the Abraham Cycle the phrase “and behold” delineates one of the four parts of Jacob’s dream. The first part introduces a stairway. The second part, angels/messengers ascending and descending on it. Both aspects can take on two meanings: a vertical axis connecting heaven and earth and a horizontal axis leading to and from the promised land and exile.⁹ Yahweh standing above the stairway, while serving as an introduction to Yahweh speaking, is another visual aspect to consider.

The sullam

¹² He had a dream[, and behold,] he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven…

–Genesis 28:12a (NIV)

The word translated “stairway” is sullam. Along the vertical axis, the sullam bridges heaven and earth. With this meaning, it can refer to the stairway or ramp linking each level of a ziggurat.¹⁰ As discussed in Reversal of Babel, this episode is, in part, a reversal of the Babel story which subjects the building of Babylon and Marduk’s ziggarat to Yahweh’s will and the story of the Bible. The phrase “with its top reaching to heaven” creates a strong link to the tower in Babel whose builders wanted to build it with “its top in the heavens” (Genesis 11:4,) these being the only two places in the Bible where such a phrase is found. The parallelism communicates that it’s God alone who can bring heaven and earth together and that he’s able to do so here, in an unexpected, unnamed “place.”

sullam could also be connected to the word m^esillah, “highway,” which is often used to describe a way back to the promised land from exile. One notable example is Jeremiah 31:21 because it shares several keywords with the story of Jacob’s dream.¹¹

²⁸ “Set up road markers for yourself;
make yourself guideposts;
consider well the highway [m^esillah],
the road by which you went.
Return, O virgin Israel,
return to these your cities.”

–Jeremiah 31:21 (ESV)

This creates another layer of meaning along the horizontal axis: a path or way back to the land.

The sullam, then, can be seen as both a bridge between heaven and earth and a highway from exile to the promised land.

Angels ascending and descending

¹² And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!

–Genesis 28:12b (ESV)

Jacob sees “angels” (malake, literally “messengers”) ascending and the sullam. Strangely, they don’t give a message to Jacob. This suggests, perhaps, that the “message” they carry is their movement up and down the sullam.¹²

Along the vertical axis, they represent God’s knowledge of and control over everything that occurs in the physical realm.¹³ God sends his agents to effect his plan to rescue humanity, Jacob included. God knows everything that Jacob has done and been through and knows what is coming. The rest of the Jacob story will show that there’s no trouble that God doesn’t see and there’s obstacle that he can’t overcome.

Along the horizontal axis, the angels could represent God’s people entering and leaving the land.¹⁴ Before this point, the words “ascending” (‘olim, root ‘lh) and descending (yor^edim, root yrd) have been used to describe the movement of Abraham and Isaac to and from the land.

¹⁰ Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down [yered, root yrd] to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.

–Genesis 12:10 (ESV)

¹ So Abram went up [ya‘al, root ‘lh] from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb.

–Genesis 13:1 (ESV)

²³ From [the Valley of Gerar, Isaac] went up (ya‘al, root ‘lh) to Beersheba.

–Genesis 26:23 (ESV)

At the end of his exile in Haran, God will command Jacob to go “up” to Bethel.

¹ God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up (‘^aleh, root ‘lh) to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”

–Genesis 35:1 (ESV)

The angels ascending and descending, therefore, represent both God’s divine council executing his will¹⁵, demonstrating his control over the cosmos, and God’s chosen people, entering and leaving the land.

Yahweh standing above the sullam

¹³ And behold, the LORD stood above it…

Genesis 28:13a (ESV)

Yahweh is standing above the sullam. He is the one who receives the messengers ascending and sends out those who are descending. Yawheh’s position in the heavens further develops this episode as a reversal of Babel. In the Babel story, Yahweh had to “come down” (yared, root yrd) to see what humans were doing. They weren’t able to reach the heavens, themselves.

Summary

The two axes of the sullam and the angels ascending and descending on it link God’s people arriving or returning to the land with heaven and earth coming together. In the cosmic geography of Jacob’s time, Canaan was Yahweh’s territory. He was forming a particular people in a particular place to bring forth a descendant that would “possess the gate of his enemies” (Genesis 22:17,) sin and death (see Promise of blessing.)

Jacob’s dream: verbal aspects

God gives Jacob two promises. The first is a reaffirmation of the promises given to Abraham and Isaac, broad and cosmic in scope. The second is a personal promise to Jacob which must be fulfilled so that the first promise can be realized.

Reaffirmation

¹³ And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. ¹⁴ Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

–Genesis 28:13-14 (ESV)

God announces himself as Yahweh, the god of Abraham, Jacob’s “father,” and of Isaac. This establishes the continuity through the chosen seed of the woman. God called Abraham and established his plan to rescue humanity through him. Those promises were inherited by Isaac, and they’ll now pass to Jacob.

As with Genesis 26:5 (“Because Abraham obeyed my voice…”) Abraham being stated as Jacob’s father rather than Isaac adds a messianic and gracious character to God’s promise to Jacob. In the parallel chapter in the Abraham Cycle, Genesis 15, God establishes a covenant with Abram through the practice of splitting animals and walking between the pieces (Genesis 15:9-17.) The meaning of this is “May God make me like this animal, if I do not fulfill the demands of the covenant.”¹⁶ However, God, in the form of a smoking pot or oven, passes once between the pieces for himself, and again, taking Abram’s place, thereby assuming the responsibility for Abram and his descendants failing to maintain believing loyalty in Yahweh. This was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. As a human, he lived as a perfect Israelite, living up to the requirements of the covenant with God. However, he paid the price of humanity’s failure and gave humans the gift only he deserved, eternal life. As Paul wrote to the Romans:

¹⁸ Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. ¹⁹ For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. ²⁰ Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, ²¹ so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

–Romans 5:18-21 (ESV)

The promises given to Jacob closely echo those given to Abram after he generously allowed Lot to choose what appeared to be the best land for himself in Genesis 13:14-16.¹⁷ Interestingly, Abram was between Bethel and Ai when he was given these promises, where he had established a site of worship by building an altar. For Jacob, the place where he sleeps has no significance, but he’s unknowingly near where Abram was given the same promises after demonstrating generosity. Perhaps, the biblical story is suggesting that if humans desire a path to heaven, the appropriate response is to trust that God will provide a way.

Personal promise

¹⁵ “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

–Genesis 28:15 (ESV)

Narrowing into Jacob’s personal situation, God promises to be with Jacob. This is a thematic promise in the Jacob cycle. God promised to be with Isaac (Genesis 26:3) and Abimelek recognized the fulfillment of that promise (Genesis 26:28.) In Genesis 26, Abimelek witnessed Isaac become rich and powerful, so perhaps that is the connotation of the promise here.

The promise to “keep/guard” is unique here in Genesis.¹⁸ It could be reminiscent of God telling Abram that he would be his “shield” after a successful operation to bring back the possessions and people (including Lot) of Sodom and Gomorrah back from Elam (Genesis 15:1.) Indeed, Jacob will need God’s protection to prevent the nations from pursuing him in Genesis 35:5.

The meanings of “go” and “bring back” are deepened by “descending” and “ascending”, respectively, in verse 12.¹⁹ As God’s messengers depart and return to his divine court and Abraham and Isaac returned to the land, so will Jacob return to it. And, through his return, the plan to reunite heaven and earth will continue. This further reversed Babel, where “the LORD dispersed [the people] over the face of all the earth” (Genesis 11:9.)

At this stage in the biblical story, it’s perhaps strange that Yahweh would say that he would be with Jacob outside the land. In the Ancient Near East, it was believed that each nation had its own god or gods (Deuteronomy 32:8.) When David was being chased by Saul, he accused Saul’s allies of telling him to serve other gods because he was outside Israel (1 Samuel 26:19.) Naaman, commander of the Syrian army, asked for loads of earth to take back with him after he was healed from leprosy because he believed that he needed part of Yahweh’s land to legitimately worship him (2 Kings 5:17.)

It also might have been contrary to the beliefs in the cultural context that God could descend to the earth himself (although he did manifest himself to Abraham.) In the Ancient Near East myth Nergal and Ereshkigal, the gods of the heavens and the underworld are not allowed to leave their realms; they must communicate through messengers.²⁰

“We (the gods of Heaven) are forbidden to descend to you (to Sheol) and you (Ereshkigal, queen of Sheol) are forbidden to ascend to us.”

Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld, sends her messenger, Nemtar, up the sullam to the heavens to receive her portion of the feast of the gods. Later, Nergal, a god of heaven, rebelliously descends the sullam to marry Ereshkigal.²¹

Nemtar ascended the long sullam of the heavens Nergal descended the long sullam from the heavens.

Regardless of whether the biblical authors had this myth in mind, Yahweh has demonstrated and will further demonstrate that he is unrestricted by boundaries between heaven and earth and the nations, and that the gods of the nations are no threat to him.

Jacob’s response

Jacob’s response is twofold. He initially reacts to the revelation of God appearing at the unnamed place and then makes a vow.

Revelation

¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” ¹⁷ And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” ¹⁸ So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. ¹⁹ He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

–Genesis 28:16-19 (ESV)

Jacob awakes, marking the end of the dream.²² In the light of morning, Jacob sees clearly that he was in the presence of God and is afraid. The “place” is awesome because is the house of God and the gate of heaven, not Babel/Babylon, “The Gate of God/The Gods,” and it’s only by God’s action that the transformation has taken place.²³ The “stone” also is transformed, from a headrest to a pillar used in a religious ritual, consecrated by Jacob anointing it with oil.²⁴ The pillar is also a commemoration. The Hebrew word translated “pillar” (matsevah, root ntsb), has the same root as the words used to describe the sullam “resting” (mutzav, root ntsb) on the earth and Yahweh “standing” (nitsav, root ntsb) over it. Jacob will later say that the pillar will be God’s house. As temples served as places where heaven and earth overlapped, a matsevah recalling the sullam would serve as an appropriate foundation.

That a stone is used as this foundation also serves as a Babel reversal.²⁵ The builders of the tower in Babel “had brick for stone” (Genesis 11:3.) With human initiative, man-made “stone” failed to connect heaven and earth. With God’s initiative, Jacob used natural stone to mark the place where God had connected heaven and earth.

Jacob names the place Beth-el, which means “house of God,” and the Bible tells us that the name of the (perhaps nearby) city was first named Luz, which means almond tree, solidifying the place as Eden-space (God’s presence along with a fruit tree.)

Vow

²⁰ Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, ²¹ so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

–Genesis 28:20-22

The episode ends with Jacob making a vow. On the surface, the conditional nature of the vow serves as an indication that Jacob’s fledgling faith is quite weak.²⁶ This is accented by Abram’s response in the parallel Genesis 15. At the end of Genesis 14, Melchizidek blessed Abram.

¹⁹ And he blessed him and said,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
²⁰ and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”

–Genesis 14:19-20a (ESV)

Recognizing God Most High as the possessor/creator of all things, Abram responded by giving Melchizidek, priest of God Most High, a tenth of all he had and generously allowed the king of Sodom to have his share of possessions retrieved from the king of Elam. He was able to do this because he recognized the true source of blessing, and he did it before the covenant in Genesis 15.

In contrast, Jacob essentially states that he will wait and see if God will follow through with his promises before he gives his allegiance to him and gives him a tenth of all he has. After God’s promises to Abram in Genesis 15:4-5, Abram “believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6.) The lack of such a belief attributed to Jacob here is conspicuous.

While Jacob probably has a legitimate concern for food and clothing given that he slept on a stone, his conditional loyalty based on provision seems counter to Jesus’s advice about it in Matthew 6.

³¹ “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

–Matthew 6:31-33 (ESV)

Nevertheless, though Jacob has a weak faith at best, as the story continues, it will be shown that God can and will work through imperfect people and difficult situations to continue his plan to rescue humanity. Simultaneously, God will be working on Jacob to form him into the kind of human he wants him to be.

Jesus as sullam

In the book of John, Jesus recalls Jacob’s dream.

⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” ⁴⁸ Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” ⁴⁹ Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” ⁵⁰ Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” ⁵¹ And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

John 1:47-51 (ESV)

In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the word “deceit”, dolos, is the same word used to describe Isaac telling Esau that Jacob came in “deceit” to steal the blessing. Nathaniel is a new Jacob who will see the angels of God ascending and descending on Jesus, the new sullam, bridge between heaven and earth. Through Jesus, the point of contact between heaven and earth is no longer a place, whether it be Bethel, the tabernacle, or the temple; it’s a person, the son of God.²⁷ Jesus is the path back from exile. No longer is only one person or people allowed into sacred space. Instead, all of humanity is invited into the church, Christ’s bride, and into the heavenly banquet (Isaiah 25:6-8.)

Bibliography

Cassuto, Umberto. A Commentary on the Book of Genesis: From Adam to Noah. Translated by Israel Abrams. E-book ed. Varda Books, 2005.

Fokkelman, J.P. Narrative Art in Genesis. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2004.

Heiser, Michael. The Unseen Realm. E-book ed. Lexham Press, 2015.

Peleg, Yitzhak. Going Up and Going Down: A Key to Interpreting Jacob’s Dream (Gen 28.10-22). Translated by Betty Rozen. New York, New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015.

Peterson, David. Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship, Downers Grove, Illinois: 1992.

Sarna, Nahum M. Genesis. The JPS Torah Commentary. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1989.

Shinan, Avigdor and Zakovitch, Yair. From Gods to God: How the Bible Debunked, Suppressed, or Changed Ancient Myths & Legends. Translated by Valerie Zakovith. E-book ed. University of Nebraska Press as a Jewish Publication Society book, 2012.

Walton, John H. Genesis. The NIV Application Commentary. E-book ed. Zondervan, 2014.

Wenham, Gordon John. Genesis 1-15, Volume 1. World Biblical Commentary. E-book ed. Zondervan Academic, 2017.

Wenham, Gordon John. Genesis 16-50, Volume 2. World Biblical Commentary. E-book ed. Zondervan Academic, 2017.

Wenham, Genesis 16-50, 218. ↩
Ibid. ↩
Cassuto, Genesis: From Noah to Abraham, see 227-228 for the meaning of E-temen-an-ki and 229 for a note on the excavation of that ziggurat and the meaning of bab-ili and bab-ilani. ↩
Wenham, Genesis 1-15, 234 ↩
Peleg, Jacob’s Dream, 62, 67. ↩
Wenham, Genesis 16-50, 220. ↩
Ibid. ↩
Peleg, Jacob’s Dream, 57. ↩
Ibid, 100. ↩
Sarna, Genesis, 198. ↩
Peleg, Jacob’s Dream, 95. ↩
Ibid, 102. ↩
Ibid. ↩
Ibid, 107. ↩
Heiser, Unseen Realm, 136. ↩
Wenham, Genesis 1-15, 331. ↩
Wenham, Genesis 16-50, 222. ↩
Ibid, 223. ↩
Peleg, Jacob’s Dream, 66. ↩
Ibid, 103. ↩
Ibid. ↩
Ibid, 103. ↩
Fokkelman, Genesis, 65. ↩
Peleg, Jacob’s Dream, 57. ↩
Shinan & Zokovitch, From God to Gods, Chapter 6, paragraph 11. ↩
Walton, Genesis, 573. ↩
Peterson, Engaging with God, 95. ↩