Gilbert House Fellowship #265: Genesis 28-30

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.————Our latest book Veneration is now available for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader! Click here and find out why readers rate Veneration 4.7 out of 5, described as “a must read” that “opens up...the Bible’s hidden mysteries.” (https://amzn.to/3bobuY6)————Check the website for links to some of our favorite Bible study tools! And please, take advantage of our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.————'Realms of the Dead,’ the sixth in Sharon's series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, is available now at Amazon! See www.TheRedwingSaga.com for more information.For the complete Gilbert House Fellowship archive, go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship.