And he dreamed, and 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.
All Commentaries on Genesis 28:12 Go To Genesis 28
Caesarius of Arles
AD 542
Now if Jacob sleeping on the ground prefigured the Lord, why is it that the Lord in heaven rested and leaned upon the ladder? How was Christ the Lord seen on top of the ladder in heaven and in blessed Jacob on the ground? Listen to Christ himself say that he is in heaven and on earth: “No one has ascended into heaven except him who has descended from heaven: the Son of Man who is in heaven.” Notice that the Lord himself said he is both in heaven and on earth. We confess, dearly beloved, that Christ the Lord is head of the church; if this is true, he is in heaven with regard to the head but on earth as far as the body is concerned. Moreover, when the blessed apostle Paul was persecuting the church, Christ exclaimed from heaven: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He did not say, “Why do you persecute my servants?” Nor did he say, “Why do you persecute my members?” But he said, “Why do you persecute me?” Now the tongue cries out if the foot is stepped on, You stepped on me, even though the tongue cannot be stepped on at all; through the harmony of charity the head cries out for all the members. Therefore Jacob was sleeping and saw the Lord leaning on the top of the ladder. What does it mean to lean on the ladder, except to hang on the cross? Consider, brothers, that while hanging upon the wood of the cross he prayed for the Jews, and you will realize who shouted from heaven while leaning on the ladder of Jacob. But why did this happen on the road, before Jacob obtained a wife? Because our Lord, the true Jacob, first leaned on the ladder, that is, the cross, and afterward formed a church for himself. At the time he gave it the wages of his blood, intending to give it later the dowry of his kingdom.
