Where did Jacob dream of the ladder?

Question

Accepted Answer

Near the town of Luz, which Jacob renamed Bethel, “house of God”: most scholars place it at Beitin, north of Ramallah, about 16 km north of Jerusalem in a straight line, and the map point stands there. Jacob had set out from Beersheba for Haran; Bethel lies about 84 km north of Beersheba, some three or four days on foot, on the road along the ridge of the hills. Beitin is the usual identification but not a proven one: D. P. Livingston, for one, argued for el-Bireh, a few kilometres to the south-west. The town itself has its own page; this one is about the place of the dream. Genesis does not say that Jacob slept in the town. “He lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set”, took one of its stones for a pillow, and dreamed: “behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.” Waking, he said, “this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven”, set the stone up as a pillar and poured oil on it. “And he called the name of that place Beth-el: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.” Jesus takes up the image: “ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” In the fourth century Eusebius placed Bethel twelve Roman miles from Jerusalem on the road to Neapolis, and Jerome added that a church had been built there where Jacob slept. Jewish tradition read the story another way: the rabbis, and Rashi after them, held that “the place” was Mount Moriah, the site of the Temple, and that the ladder stood between Beersheba and Bethel with Jerusalem at its middle. The Temple Mount lies about 16 km south of Beitin.