PORTALS AND contact with the spirit realm are at the heart of this week’s Bible study.
First, we discuss Jacob’s dream during his journey from the Negev to Haran in northern Mesopotamia. We’ve heard the term “Jacob’s ladder,” but the underlying Hebrew word reveals that what he saw was more likely a ziggurat—the ancient Mesopotamian pyramid that represented a stairway to heaven.
We explain the connection between Bethel, “House (or Temple) of God,” and the stone idols later worshiped all over the Near East called baetylia by the Greeks and betyls by modern archaeologists. (Join us at Petra next spring and we’ll show you a few hundred of them!)
Then we discuss the tricking of the trickster, as Jacob’s uncle Laban deceives him into taking his eldest daughter, Leah, as his wife in exchange for seven years of labor. To marry his younger daughter Rachel, Laban demands another seven years’ work—and then tries to keep Jacob even longer because he realizes (through divination, a forbidden practice) that he’s being blessed by God through Jacob.
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Click here for the complete archive of our New Testament Bible studies to date, click here for the Old Testament studies to date, and click here for our studies of the Book of 1 Enoch to date. Or go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship for all of the audio.
Derek, I watched your presentation at Gen 6 on Friday. . . twice. Your portion was played again at the end of the day. It was fascinating. Thank you for these Bible Studies too, Derek & Sharon. I so appreciate them !
Thank you!
Pastor Gilbert i truly enjoyed your Bible study. I first heard about you n Sharon on the Jim Bakker show.
Thank you!
Looking foreword to seeing what you’ve got!
Derek,
I have been listening to you on 5 in 10 for a very long time. I appreciate you, Sharon and Tom Horn so very much! Thank you all, so much for all you do. You are in my prayers!
PS. You reference the green of Scotland in this episode, Ireland is as well! Beautiful!
There were 5 stones that David took with him to kill Goliath and 5 stones taken from 5 mountains and taken to Mecca. Any connection?
Aren’t believers called living stones in the New Testament. Any connection?
In reference to the Ziggurat, or Mesopotamian Pyramid, that you reference as Jacob’s Ladder that represented a stairway into heaven, I would like to explain unto you what a ladder from heaven to earth would be like in the realm of the spirit. Back in the early 1980’s, I spent hours upon hours a day in fervent prayer. Among the many times of which I lay slain in the spirit, upon an area that lay waste, because the land had been stripped for coal, through, and in the spirit, I visualized a ladder that was descended from heaven, to the earth. The ladder’s bottom didn’t rest upon the earth, but was a couple of feet from it. Angels, upon angels descended, and after receiving my prayers, one at a time, they would ascend the ladder that lead to the very feet, as well as the Throne of God. Yes! I have also stood before God as He sat upon His Throne. Around 12 times my soul exited my natural body, and let me be clear, the soul exits the body first, and then the inner man arises, and the soul unites with the spirit body, and then it becomes presentable unto God.