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
“All these things,” as the apostle proclaims, brothers, “happened to them as a type, and they were written for us upon whom the final age of the world has come.” Carefully notice, brothers, how the angels of God ascend to the Son of man in heaven and descend to the same Son on earth. When God’s preachers announce deep and profound truths from sacred Scripture, which are understood only by devout men, they ascend to the Son of man; when they preach matters pertaining to the correction of morals, which all the people can understand, they descend to the son of man. Thus the apostle says, “Wisdom we speak among those who are mature, yet not a wisdom of this world nor of the rulers of this world, but a secret, hidden wisdom which God foreordained before the world to our glory.” When the apostle said these words doubtless he was ascending to the Son of man. However, when he said, “Flee immorality”; when he said, “do not be drunk with wine, for in that is debauchery”; when he declared, “covetousness is the root of all evils,” in these words he descended like the angel of God to the Son of man. When he further said, “Mind the things that are above, not the things that are on earth,” he was ascending. However, when he taught, “Be sober, and do not sin,” and preached the other truths that pertain to the correction of morals, he was descending; ministering the milk of doctrine like a nurse to children, he spoke words that even the ignorant could grasp. In this manner, then, there is ascending and descending to the Son of man, since solid food is offered to the perfect while the milk of doctrine is not denied even to the young. Blessed John also was ascending when he said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God;” by these words he ascended on high sufficiently. However, since God’s angels not only ascend but also descend, bending down he says to the little ones, “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.”
