Jacob’s Dream at Bethel (Gen 28)
10 And Jacob left Beersheba and he went [to go] to Harran.
Rashi’s Commentary
And Jacob left—It need have written simply “And Jacob went to Haran.” Why then does it mention his departure from Beersheba? But it intends to tell us that the departure of a righteous person from his city makes an impression. As long as a righteous man is in his city he is its glory and splendour and beauty; when he leaves it, there depart also its glory, its splendour and its beauty. This, too, is the meaning of (Rth 1:7) “And she left the place,” stated in reference to Naomi and Ruth (Genesis Rabbah 68:6).
And Jacob left—Owing to the fact that it was because the Canaanite women were evil in the eyes of Isaac, his father, that Esau went to Ishmael, Scripture broke off the narrative contained, in the section dealing with Jacob, and wrote (above verse 6), “Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob, etc.” and when it finished this (the account of Esau’s further marriage) it resumes the previous subject.
And he went to Harran means he went out to go to Harran.
Act 7:2
And he replied: “Brothers and fathers, hear me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran.
11 And he came to a certain place [Mount Moriah] and he spent the night there because the sun had set [of a sudden, God causing it to set so that he should sleep there]. And he took of the stones of the place and put them under his head [to guard against animals], and lay down in that place.
Rashi’s Commentary
And he came—Similar are (Jos 16:7) “and it touched (וּפָגַע) Jericho,” and (Jos 19:11) “it then touched (וּפָגַע) Dabbesheth.” Our Rabbis explained it in the sense of “praying,” just as (Jer 7:16) “and do not plead (תִּפְגַּע) with me.” Thus we may learn that Jacob originated the custom of the evening prayer. Scripture purposely changed the usual word for “praying,” not writing וַיִתְפַּלֵּל, (which would have been the more appropriate word), to teach you that the ground shrunk before him (the journey was miraculously shortened) as it is explained in the chapter entitled גִיד הַנָּשֶׁה (Chullin 91b).
And he came to a certain place—Scripture does not mention which place, but it refers to the place mentioned already in another passage, viz., Mount Moriah of which it is stated (Gen 22:4) “and he saw the place from the distance.”
Because the sun had set—Heb. כִּי בָא הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ Scripture should have written in reverse order: “And the sun set (וַיָּבֹא), and he stayed there overnight.” The expression כִּי בָא הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ implies that the sun set suddenly for him, not at its usual time, so that he would have to stay there overnight. From Gen. Rabbah 68:10, Chullin 91b
And put them under his head—He arranged them in the form of a drainpipe around his head because he feared the wild beasts. They the stones started quarreling with one another. One said, “Let the righteous man lay his head on me,” and another one said, “Let him lay his head on me.” Immediately, the Holy One, blessed be he, made them into one stone. This is why it is stated (verse 18): “Jacob took the stone in the singular that he had placed under his head.” From Chullin 91b
And lay down in that place—The word הַהוּא is a restrictive expression, meaning that only in that place did he lie down, but during the fourteen years that he served in the house of Eber, he did not lie down at night, because he was engaged in Torah study. From Gen. Rabbah 68:11
Mat 8:20
Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests , but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
12 He had a dream, and, behold, a stairway was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven, and, behold, the angels of God were ascending [to heaven] and [others] descending [from heaven to earth] on it.
Rashi’s Commentary
Ascending and descending—Ascending first and afterwards descending. The angels who escorted him in the holy land do not go outside the land, and they ascended to heaven, and the angels of outside the holy land descended to escort him. From Gen. Rabbah 68:12
Joh 1:51
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.”
Heb 1:14
Are they not all ministering angels sent out to serve for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?
13 And, behold, the Lord was standing over him [to guard him], and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. The land on which you are lying, I will give it to you and to your descendants.
Rashi’s Commentary
And, behold, the Lord was standing over him—To guard him.
And the God of Isaac—Although we do not find in Scripture that the Holy One, blessed be he, associates his name with that of the righteous during their lifetimes by writing “the God of so-and-so,” for it is said (Job 15:15): “Lo! God places no trust in his holy ones,” i.e., God does not consider even his holy ones as righteous until after their deaths, when they are no longer subject to the evil inclination, nevertheless, here he associated his name with Isaac because his eyes had become dim, and he was confined in the house, and he was like a dead person, the evil inclination having ceased from him (Tanchuma Toledoth 7).
On which you are lying—(Chullin ad loc.) The Holy One, blessed be he, folded the entire land of Israel under him. He hinted to him that it would be as easily conquered by his children (as four cubits, which represent the area a person takes up when lying down). From Chullin 91b
Mat 22:32
“I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?” He is not the God of the dead but of the living.
Act 7:5
But he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, even when he had no child, he promised that he would give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him.
Heb 11:16
But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and through you and your offspring will all the peoples of the earth be blessed.
Mat 8:11
I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
Act 3:25
You are the heirs of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, “And in your offspring all the peoples of the earth will be blessed.”
Gal 3:8, 16
The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, announced the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying: “All the nations will be blessed in you.”
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say “and to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “and to your seed,” who is Christ.
Eph 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ.
Rev 7:4, 9
And I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands.
15 And, behold, I am with you [and you need not fear Esau and Laban] and will keep you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken [to Abraham] concerning you.”
Rashi’s Commentary
And, behold, I am with you—God promised him this because he was in terror of Esau and Laban.
Until I have done—The word אִם is here used in the sense of כִּי (cf. Gittin 90a).
Mat 28:20
teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
Joh 10:28-29
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
Rom 8:31-32
What, then, shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Heb 13:5-6
Let your conduct be without covetousness; and be content with what you have; for he himself has said,
“I will never leave you,
nor will I ever forsake you.”
So that we confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?”
16 And Jacob awoke from his sleep, and he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it” [had I known it, I would not have slept here].
Rashi’s Commentary
And I did not know it—For had I known it I would not have slept in such a holy place as this.
17 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” [a place of prayer where their prayers would ascend to heaven].
18 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.
Scripture Index
Gen 22:4
On the third day [Abraham not being shown the place immediately so that it not be said that he was “stunned” into the sacrifice and that if he had had time to deliberate he would not have undertaken it], Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from the distance [a cloud hovering over the mountain].
Gen 28:6
Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, “You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women,”
Jos 16:7
Then it went down from Janoah to Ataroth and to Naarah, and touched Jericho and came out at the Jordan.
Jos 19:11
And their border went up to the west and to Maralah, it then touched Dabbesheth, and extended to the ravine that is before Jokneam.
Rth 1:7
Accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, she left the place where she had been living [the leaving of the righteous one, Naomi, from “the place” makes its splendor turn away]; and they set out on the road back to the land of Judah.
Job 15:15
Lo! God places no trust in his holy ones,
and the heavens are not pure in his eyes,
Jer 7:16
As for you, do not pray for this people, neither lift up cry or petition for them, and do not plead with me, for I will not hear you.
This work, "Jacob’s Dream at Bethel," is a derivative of "The Rashi Chumash" and "The Rashi Ketuvim" by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein used under CC BY 3.0