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  • From: "Gary Hedrick" <garyh AT cjfm.org>
  • To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Where Was Jacob's Ladder?
  • Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2007 10:32:07 -0600

This topic should be taken to a biblical geography list. The
connection with biblical Hebrew is tenuous at best.

Gary Hedrick
San Antonio, Texas

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of JimStinehart AT aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2007 9:29 AM
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [b-hebrew] Where Was Jacob's Ladder?


Where Was Jacob's Ladder?
The geographical locale of Jacob's Ladder is a surprisingly important key to
understanding the Patriarchal narratives.
In this post, we will see that the traditional view of the geographical
locale of Jacob's Ladder cannot be right. In a later post we can figure
out
where Jacob's Ladder was actually located.
I. First Visit to Bethel/Luz
The Jacob's Ladder experience takes place at Bethel/Luz. Here are the key
initial lines of text:
"And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted
upon the place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set…. And
he called the name of that place Beth-el, but the name of the city was Luz
at
the first.” Genesis 28: 10-11, 19
As I read Genesis 28: 10-11, Jacob got to Bethel/Luz one day after leaving
Beersheba. Thus Bethel/Luz must be one day's travel time from Beersheba, no
more, no less.
Moreover, it does not appear that Jacob left early in the morning. At
Genesis 28: 1-5, Isaac gives his son Jacob a long blessing, and then it
appears
that Jacob packs a few modest belongings, and then departs from Beersheba.
It
seems likely that Jacob left Beersheba mid-morning, not earlier.
Finally, there is no reason for Jacob to be traveling at an abnormally high
rate of speed. Although there may be some threat that his older twin
brother
Esau might kill Jacob when their father dies, Isaac is in good health now,
so Jacob is not desperately fleeing his brother at top speed. On the
contrary, everything suggests that Jacob got a fairly late start on his
trip, and
then proceeded at a normal pace. True, Jacob is not encumbered with
anything,
so Jacob can move fairly quickly. But we should assume normal travel times
here.
In the ancient world, we might expect Jacob to travel about 25 miles on the
first day of his trip, under the foregoing circumstances, or perhaps a
slightly less distance.
If the Beersheba from which Jacob leaves is in the northern Negev Desert,
and if the Bethel/Luz to which Jacob goes is Bethel/Ai north of Jerusalem,
then
the distance from that Beersheba to that Bethel is 58 miles. That is over
twice as far as Jacob could be expected to travel in one day.
Moreover, the first half of the journey would be through the Negev Desert.
Hebron is 28 miles north of Beersheba. A traveler would have to get up at
dawn and travel north through the Negev Desert before the heat of the
mid-day
sun became too oppressive.
There is simply no way that Jacob could travel from Beersheba in the
northern Negev Desert to Bethel/Ai north of Jerusalem, a distance of 58
miles, in
one day, under the normal circumstances that apply here. That is completely

unrealistic.
And why wouldn't there be some mention of Hebron? Jacob's famous
grandfather Abraham had lived at Hebron for many years. One would expect
some passing
mention, at least, of Hebron if Jacob was proceeding from Beersheba in the
northern Negev Desert to Hebron, and then on to Bethel/Ai north of
Jerusalem.
II. Second Visit to Bethel/Luz
Note also the description of Bethel/Luz the second time Jacob visits that
locale, after the bloody incident in Shechem:
“So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan--the same is
Beth-el--he and all the people that were with him.” Genesis 35: 6
If Bethel/Luz were Bethel/Ai, just north of Jerusalem, it would make no
sense for the narrator to say: "Luz, which is in the land of Canaan".
Shechem
itself is in Canaan. Bethel/Ai is further southwest into Canaan, in the
very
heart of Canaan, not close at all to any border of Canaan. Saying that a
place "is in the land of Canaan" only makes sense for a border city, which is

just inside the border of Canaan. That simply does not fit Bethel/Ai north
of
Jerusalem in the very center of Canaan.
III. Conclusion
The conclusion must be that the geographical locale of Jacob's Ladder could
not have been at Bethel/Ai, north of Jerusalem. Jacob could not possibly
get that far in one day, a distance of 58 long miles, if Jacob left from
Beersheba in the northern Negev Desert. And with Bethel/Ai being located in
the
very heart of central Canaan, nowhere near any border of Canaan, it would
not
make sense for the narrator to tell us that Bethel/Ai "is in the land of
Canaan".
The traditional geographical interpretation of the locale of Bethel/Luz is
clearly erroneous. We cannot understand the Patriarchal narratives unless
we
understand that both the "Beersheba" from which Jacob left, and the
Bethel/Luz where Jacob had the Jacob's Ladder experience, are located in
northernmost
Canaan, namely in southern Lebanon. The Beersheba from which Jacob leaves in

chapter 28 of Genesis is not located in the northern Negev Desert. And the
Bethel/Luz to which Jacob travels in a single day from Beersheba is not
Bethel/Ai north of Jerusalem. Rather, the author of the Patriarchal
narratives is
portraying all these movements of Jacob as taking place in southern Lebanon.
The received text is perfect, as is. The problem is the longstanding
misinterpretation of this text. The text is telling us a very credible
story here,
if only we can understand the actual geographical locales involved.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois



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