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Genesis 28

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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.

3 And God almighty bless thee, and make thee to increase, and multiply thee: that thou mayst be a multitude of people.

4 And give the blessings of Abrabam to thee, and to thy seed after thee: that thou mayst possess the land of thy sojournment, which he promised to thy grandfather.

5 And when Isaac had sent him away, he took his journey and went to Mesopotamia of Syria to Laban the son of Bathuel the Syrian, brother to Rebecca his mother.

6 And Esau seeing that his father had blessed Jacob, and had sent him into Mesopotamia of Syria, to marry a wife thence; and that after the blessing he had charged him, saying: Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Chanaan:

7 And that Jacob obeying his parents was gone into Syria:

8 Experiencing also that his father was not well pleased with the daughters of Chanaan:

9 He went to Ismael, and took to wife, besides them he had before, Maheleth the daughter of Ismael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nabajoth.

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, and 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 ascending 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.

14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth: thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and IN THEE and thy seed all the tribes of the earth SHALL BE BLESSED.

15 And I will be thy keeper whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee back into this land: neither will I leave thee, till I shall have accomplished all that I have said.

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.

18 And Jacob, arising in the morning, took the stone, which he had laid under his head, and set it up for a title, pouring oil upon the top of it.

19 And he called the name of the city Bethel, which before was called Luza.

20 And he made a vow, saying: If God shall be with me, and shall keep me in the way by which I walk, and shall give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,

21 And I shall return prosperously to my father's house: the Lord shall be my God:

22 And this stone, which I have set up for a title, shall called the house of God: and of all things that thou shalt give to me, I will offer tithes to thee.

   

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Bethel

  
Fresco depicting Jacob's Dream in Palazzo Farnese, Caprarola

When Jacob had his famous dream, of a staircase leading to heaven, he named the place "Bethel," which is Hebrew for "the house of God."

That literal meaning is reflected in the spiritual meaning: The Writings tell us that "Bethel" represents the knowledge and understanding we can have about the Lord's divine love, the perfect love which He has for all of us, the perfect love which is His essence. When we know about the Lord's love and have some understanding of it, that gives it a "house" inside us, a way for it to grow inside us and affect our own loves.

In Genesis 28:17, Bethel signifies the Lord's kingdom in the lowermost order. (Arcana Coelestia 3720)

In Amos 3:14, Bethel signifies the divine good. (Arcana Coelestia 2832[10])

"Bethel" has the opposite sense later in the Old Testament, after Jeroboam set up golden calves there and made it a center of idol-worship. Then it represented worship springing from evil loves.

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Arcana Coelestia # 3718

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3718. 'And he was afraid' means a holy change. This is clear from the meaning of 'fear' as a holy change, as is evident from what follows directly after this. For Jacob's words, 'How awesome is this place! This is nothing other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven', clearly imply a holy change that took place. For what is meant in the internal sense by 'fear', see 2826. In general there are two kinds of fear - fear that is not inspired by holiness, and fear that is inspired by it. Fear that is not inspired by holiness fills those who are evil, whereas fear that is inspired by it fills those who are good. The latter kind of fear - that which fills the good - is called holy fear and is that which accompanies reverential awe of the Divine and also love. Love devoid of holy fear is like something insipid, or like food that has no salt in it and so no flavour, whereas love accompanied by fear is like food which is salted but does not taste of salt. The fear that goes with love is a fear lest harm is done to the Lord in any way, or to the neighbour in any way, and so to good and truth in any way. Consequently it is a fear lest harm is done to the holiness present in love and faith, and so in worship. But such fear can vary; it is not the same with one person as it is with another. In general the more love anyone has for what is good and true, the more fear he has lest what is good and true will suffer harm, though the less that fear manifests itself as fear. But the less love anyone has for what is good and true, the less fear he has for their safety and the more this manifests itself not as love but as fear. And with the latter kind of person the fear of hell is present. But with one who has no love at all of what is good and true, no holy fear at all is present, only the fear of losing honour, gain, and reputation on account of these; also the fear of punishments and execution. This kind of fear is external, affecting principally the body and the natural man, and his thinking there. But the other kind of fear - holy fear - affects principally the spirit or internal man, and his conscience there.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.