The word that is usually translated "ladder" in Gen 28.12 is סלם (sullam). It's a hapax legomenon, that is, it only appears this once in the Bible. I checked HALOT just for the fun of it (Koehler & Baumgartner's The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament), and they gloss the word, "stepped ramp, flight of steps."
I checked similar words and sure enough, the word סללה, (solelah) is the word for an assault ramp, like the one at Masada, and is attested to almost a dozen times in 7 different biblical books. It certainly looks like the same root as the unique סלם word, so ramp or something ramp-like would be a good translation.
Come to think of it... that makes the Simpsons' escalator to heaven a fair image!
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| From the always entertaining Simpsonswiki |
Anyway. After his dream, Jacob decides that the LORD might just be the God for him. Maybe. He has a few conditions:
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, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God (Gen 28.20b-21)
I can relate. We'd all like to make sure God's the real deal before we hook up. Of course God might feel the same way about us ...
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