Session 4

Dreaming (Genesis 28:10-12)

details regarding Jacob’s stop for the night.

10 Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran.
11 He reached a certain place and spent the night there
because the sun had set.
He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place.

12 And he dreamed:
A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching the sky,
and God’s angels were going up and down on it.

Application Point:

Believers can see God working in the ordinary.

Direct attention to Pack Item 1 (Map: The Travels of Jacob)
to highlight Beer-sheba, where Jacob’s journey began.
Show adults where Luz/Bethel was located and
share that this is the “certain place” where Jacob spent the night.

Explain:

in Genesis 11 the people built the tower of Babel to reach heaven.
In Genesis 28:12, we see God sitting on a staircase that stretches down to earth.

Point out that God initiated this interaction with Jacob and moved to continue the relationship He began with Abraham and Isaac.

Draw:

Write the word Dreaming

Ask:

• What significance should we place on dreams?
• What are some ways that God speaks to His people today? (PSG, p. 40)

Key Word

Stairway

The Hebrew word translated stairway, appearing only here in the Old Testament,
derives from a verb meaning “to lift up.”
Other translations render the term as “ladder” (KJV; ESV).
However, some Bible scholars compare the structure to a ziggurat,
a stepped platform raised from the ground to the sky.
If so, the structure in Jacob’s dream may have looked similar to the Tower of Babel.

However, the purpose of this stairway stood in stark contrast to the tower.
False human ambition motivated the builders of Babel,
whereas the stairway in Jacob’s vision served as the means of God’s gracious revelation of Himself.

Transition:

Jacob’s dream wasn’t just a vision.
It also included a message from the Lord.