The Perfect Jacob
Parashat Vayetse, Genesis 28:10 – 32:3
Rabbi Isaac Roussel, Congregation Zera Avraham, Ann Arbor, MI
We often speak of Yeshua as the “Perfect Isaac,” the one to whom Isaac and his sacrifice point forward. We also speak of Yeshua as the prophet greater than Moshe, as the Living Torah, and as the Perfect Passover Lamb. But I propose that we can also think of Yeshua as the Perfect Jacob.
We have in our parashah this week Jacob’s enigmatic dream about a ladder reaching into the heavens. Many questions arise from this text. There is a wealth of rabbinic and midrashic texts that attempt to unpack the meaning of this dream. Rashi focuses on the description of the angels’ movement. Scripture says that they were ascending and descending upon it. Rashi asks “Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Shouldn’t they be descending from heaven and then ascending back up?” There are some texts that provide possible answers to this question.
Targums are Aramaic translations and expansions upon Scripture. They are akin to the Amplified Bible, published some decades ago, that provides additional wording in an attempt to more fully provide the original meaning of the Hebrew and Greek texts. Targum Neofiti provides us the following:
And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was fixed on the earth and its head reached to the height of the heavens; and behold, the angels that had accompanied him from the house of his father ascended to bear good tidings to the angels on high, saying: “Come and see the pious man whose image is engraved in the Throne of Glory, whom you desired to see.” And behold, the angels from before the Lord ascended and descended and observed him.
Here it explains that the angels were traveling with Jacob to provide him protection. So they have to ascend the ladder to heaven to talk with other angels and invite them to come see Jacob’s face, which is the face on God’s throne. So this explains the issue of first having to go up the ladder, but what is this about Jacob’s face on the Throne of Glory?
This is in reference to Ezekiel’s vision of the Merkavah, the Heavenly Chariot of God. The Merkavah is propelled by four “living creatures,” each of which has four faces; human, lion, ox, and eagle. There are texts that assert that the human face is specifically Jacob’s face. Apparently Jacob is so pious that his face is engraved on God’s throne. Jacob has a heavenly image that matches his earthly image. His guardian angels are inviting the angels in heaven to come see the earthly image of the one that matches the heavenly image. Why is it Jacob’s face? Most likely the association is with his piety, held in high regard by the early mystics, and also the fact that he is worthy to see God’s face. In Genesis 32 he wrestles with an angel all night long and names the place Peniel (Face of God) because “I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
Lamentations Rabbah, a 4th century midrashic text, not only refers to Jacob’s face on God’s throne, but also describes it as having some priestly and protective function. In Chapter 2, verse 2 it states:
Similarly spake the Holy One, blessed be He, to Israel: Do you not provoke Me because you take advantage of the likeness of Jacob which is engraved upon My throne? Here, have it, it is thrown in your face! Hence, He hath cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel.
This text is akin to Yochanan the Immerser’s declaration that Israel cannot rely on the fact that they are descended from Avraham. God can raise up a people from the very stones! (Luke 3:8). Likewise, here, God warns Israel that they cannot rely on Jacob’s piety and casts his image from his throne down to earth as he sends Israel into exile.
Note here that the midrash refers to “the beauty of Israel.” Later texts describe the face on God’s throne as not only Jacob’s but the face of all the Children of Israel, as Jacob’s name was changed to Israel. And this is where we get to the crux of the matter. Medieval Jewish mystics expand the human face on God’s throne to all of us. We all have a heavenly visage. When we are born, God creates our image based on what he would like for us to be and do in this life.
This is expressed in the Zohar:
When the Holy One, blessed be He, draws forth a soul to send it down to earth, He impresses upon it many warnings and threats to keep His commandments, and He also takes it through a thousand and-eight worlds to see the glory of those who have devoted themselves to the Torah, and who now stand before the King in a robe of splendor in the form which they possessed in this world, beholding the glory of the King and crowned with many diadems. . . . Before it enters into the body of a man, the holy King crowns it with seven crowns. If it sins in this world and walks in darkness, the Torah is grieved for it and says, All this honor and all this perfection has the holy King delivered to the soul, and she has sinned before Him!
Like Jacob then, we have a heavenly face and an earthly one. The question is how well our earthly face matches the heavenly one. Are we living up to the ideal that Hashem set for our lives? If so, then our earthly face matches our heavenly one, as Jacob’s did. If not, then we have work to do. This matches my long-standing belief that there is a True Self, created in God’s image, at the core of our being that is often occluded by our egos and sinfulness. Many people fear what God may call them to, but the reality is that he only calls us to be true to who he made us to be.
We each have our own unique talents and mission in this world. Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5 states that human kings stamp their image on coins and they all look the same. But the King of Kings stamps his image on each person and yet they all look different. Making our earthly image match our heavenly image brings us true shalom, for we are not truly whole until we become who we were meant to be.
Returning to Yeshua as the Perfect Jacob, Genesis Rabbah 68:12 asserts that the angels were ascending and descending not on a ladder but on Jacob himself! This is exactly what Yeshua declares in Yochanan 1:51. He is the Perfect Jacob, the ladder that connects heaven and earth. In fact, the Hebrew word for ladder used in describing Jacob’s dream is sulam. This is the only place in the Torah where it is used. In like manner, Yeshua is the only ladder that takes us to the Father. He not only ushers us into Hashem’s presence to obtain forgiveness as our High Priest, he also takes us into the heavens to see our ideal face carved on God’s throne so that we can understand more fully God’s design for our lives.
Yeshua indeed is the Perfect Jacob. His heavenly face indeed matches his earthly face, perfectly fulfilling his Father’s mission for him. He is the ladder upon which angels ascend and descend. He brings us into God’s throne room through the power of his sacrificial blood as our Kohen Gadol. He also shows us, through the power of the Ruach Ha-Kodesh, our heavenly face, urging us on to our own individual destinies.
May we each discover our True Face; what God has destined us to become in this world.
May we grasp our Heavenly Ladder, Yeshua Ha-Mashiach, with both hands, and find support in him for our feet.
May we each work to make our earthly face match our image carved on Hashem’s Throne of Glory.
Then we will merit many crowns and robes of righteousness as we spend eternity with the Perfect Jacob!