Esau was full of anger and despair. He cried, "Jacob made me sell him my birthright for a mess of pottage. And now he has taken away my blessing!" Esau was so angry that he swore vengeance against Jacob.Esau was full of anger and despair. He cried, "Jacob made me sell him my birthright for a mess of pottage. And now he has taken away my blessing!" Esau was so angry that he swore vengeance against Jacob.
Rebecca saw the anger of Esau, and feared for Jacob. She said, "Jacob, my son, your brother Esau is furious that you have taken away his blessing. I am afraid that he will want to kill you. Go to my brother Laban in Haran, and stay there until Esau's anger has passed. When that time comes, I will send for you, so that you may return."
Isaac, learning of Jacob's plan to go to Haran, called him and blessed him. He told him to find a bride among Laban's daughters.
Jacob set out on his journey towards Haran. One night he stopped to rest in an open field. He took a stone and placed it under his head for a pillow.
As Jacob slept he had a strange dream. He thought he saw a tall ladder reaching from earth to heaven. Up and down the ladder many angels went. At the top God stood. He said to Jacob, "I am the Lord God of Abraham and Isaac. I will give to you and to your children the land where you are now lying. Your children shall be as numberless as the dust of the earth. Through you all the people on earth shall be blessed. I shall be with you wherever you go, to guide you, and to watch over" you. I shall bring you back to this land. I will never leave you until all that I have told you is done."
Jacob, upon awakening, said to himself, "Surely God was here, and I did not know it. This is the House of God and the gate of Heaven." And he called that place Bethel, which means House of God. Then he took the stone that he had used for a pillow, poured oil on it. and set it up as a sign.
This stone is a figure of our altars. They are consecrated With holy oil, and on them Christ Himself dwells, acting as intercessor between heaven and earth.
- from My Bible History in Pictures, by Bishop Louis LaRavoire Morrow, D.D., 1934; it has the Imprimatur of Archbishop Michael J O'Doherty of Manila, Philippines