The story of Jacob's Ladder is probably one of the most fascinating stories in the Bible and the jewel in the crown in terms of gematrical analysis. It is about the stone representing the family as the foundation of the advancement of human civilization.
Let us analyze the story carefully: Jacob reaches a place and puts stones from that place under his head as a pillow and falls asleep:
And he dreams that a ladder is set up on the earth and the top of it reaches to heaven and angels of God are ascending and descending upon it (Gen. 28:12). Then he hears the voice of God that tells him: that the land whereupon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as dust of the earth and thou shalt spread abroad to the west and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed (Gen. 28:13-14).
Upon awaking and remembering his dream: And Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put for his pillow and set it up as a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place ‘Beth-El’ (the house of God): but the name of the city was called ‘Luz’ at first (Gen. 28:18-19).
Then shall this stone, which I have set for a pillar, be God's house: and of that thou shalt give me I will surely give one tenth unto thee. (Gen. 28:22)
Jacob's dream concerns the bond between Heaven and Earth – God and Man – and foretells Jacob's role in the future of the Hebrew race in the generations to come and in fact in the whole of humanity.
The Ladder
The ladder stretching between heaven and earth is the same form as the letter aleph, א, comprising two yods יי linked by a vav ו, whereby the two yods represent God in Heaven above and the God on Earth below, and the vav, which symbolizes a 'hook' in Hebrew, is the ladder in Jacob's dream linking Heaven and Earth ( see Chapter 1). The ladder or hook binds Heaven and Earth and the angels going up and down the ladder represent the flow of energy between Heaven and Earth and where Heaven comes down to Earth and Earth goes upwards towards Heaven. It is vital to note that this is a two-way flow of energy and not only in one direction, from Heaven to Earth: the flow of energy in the other direction is what we call prayer.
This is further expressed in the gematria for ladder which is sulam, סלם in Hebrew, spelled samech-lamed-mem = 60+30+40 = 130. One hundred and thirty is a decane higher than the number 13 which is one half of 26, the unspoken name of God YHVH and linked to the thirteen attributes of God. Furthermore, 130 is also the gematrical value for Sinai, סיני, spelled samech-yod-nun-yod = 60+10+50+10 =130. Mount Sinai was the second occasion in which Heaven meets Earth and God meets humankind when He sets the foundation stone for the evolution of Heaven to Earth as The Law for all time.
The Altar, Beth El and Luz
When Jacob awakens from his dream, he takes the stone upon which he had slept and uses it to set up a pillar and pours oil on it. Stone ‘even’ אבן has a gematrical value of 53. Oil, shemen שמן in Hebrew, is spelled shin-mem-nun with a gematrical value of 300+40+50=390. It is the same gematrical value as Heaven, Shemayim שמים in Hebrew, spelled shin-mem-yod-mem = 300+40+10+40=390. Moreover, the word oil, shemen, is related to the number '8', shemoneh, שמונה in Hebrew, having the same root letters shin-mem-nun שמן. The act of pouring oil onto the stone is the act of bringing Heaven and Earth, God and Man, together. So, the ritual that took place in setting the altar at Beth El echoes the dream that Jacob had of the ladder linking Heaven and Earth.
If we add the gematrical values of oil and stone - shemen + even, we get 390+53=443. This is the same gematrical value as the name Beth El, בית אל spelled beth-yod-taf-aleph-lamed = 210-+400+1+30=443 which was the name given by Jacob to the place where he erected the altar. Beth El means House of God and is mentioned throughout the Bible as a central point in Israel's history. If this were not enough, we note in Genesis 28:19 that the former name of the place was Luz, לוז, spelled lamed-vav-zayin, which has a gematrical value of 30+6+7=43. If we subtract the gematrical value of Beth El from that of Luz, we get 443-43=400. As discussed previously, 400 is the highest spiritual level attainable by man on this earthly plane, implying that Jacob has attained this level. We see this further in the encounter between Jacob and Esau (https://thealeph.info/uncategorized/parasha-vayishlach-the-re-encounter-of-jacob-and-esau/); it is the reason why Esau prepares 400 men to attack Jacob and his family (the entire generation of the Hebrew race):
The Stone
It is noted that in God's blessing to Jacob in his dream He states and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed (Gen. 28:13-14). It does not say 'Shall all the people of the earth be blessed, nor 'Shall of the nations of the earth be blessed'. This is the fundament of the repeated mentioning of the word stone in the text. The word for stone in Hebrew is even אבן, spelled aleph-beth-nun, a composite of two words Av ,אב (aleph-beth) meaning father, and Ben בן (beth-nun) meaning son. It embodies the process of transmission of knowledge from father to son (mother to daughter) one generation to the next which fosters the advancement of the human race and social evolution based upon the family unit and not only upon the individual him/herself. Hence the 'stones of that place' which Jacob takes as a pillow represent the foundation stones upon which not only the tribes of Jacob will be built, but the entire future generations of Jacob (the Children of Israel), learning His ways and the word of God. So, we as human beings have evolved from cave men of he stone age to what we are now: As each generation evolves, so does society. In recognition of this fact, it is customary for Jews to place small stones on the graves of the deceased to acknowledge the generations built from his/her seed. Moreover, the fourth sentence of the Shema, the daily declaration of faith said out loud each day in prayers, emphasizes:
And you shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up (Deut. 6:7).
Similarly, the gematrical structure of the word even, אבן, is 1-2-50, indicating that from the 'one', which is God, Creator of the universe, emanates the 'two', which is the male and the female, the duality of the universe at the time of creation, which leads to the '50', meaning return, rebirth and completion of a cycle and progress to the next world (See Counting of the Omer and Shavuoth. Hence the 'stone(s)' which Jacob uses a pillow and for the altar that he sets up, is the foundation stone from which the dynasty of Jacob and the twelve tribes proceeds.
The importance of the 'stone' repeats itself in a strange incident in the next chapter, following on from the story of Jacob's Ladder, where a stone covering a well prevents the flocks from getting water.
And he looked, and saw a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for from that well they watered the flocks; and a great stone was upon the well's mouth (Gen. 29:2).
When Rachel arrives, Jacob removes the stone and greets Rachel with a kiss. This simple kiss is the seed from which the marriage of Jacob to Rachel and to her sister Leah germinates, leading to the birth of twelve sons, constituting the twelve tribes of Israel. The removal of the stone from the mouth of the well upon meeting Rachel and the subsequent watering of the flock symbolizes fertility and serves as a metaphor for the flocks of the nation of Israel that will issue from Rachel and her sister Leah's womb and the loins of Jacob.
To conclude, the gematrical story of Jacob's Ladder emphasizes the covenant between Heaven and Earth; between God and Jacob; the importance of the Land of Canaan centered at Beth El and the multiplication of the generations of Jacob. By following God's word and by passing that knowledge down from father to son, Jacob and his seed will reach the highest spiritual echelon attainable by man. It is stressed that in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed (Gen. 28:14). The word of God will be extended not only to Jacob and the twelve tribes of Israel, but to all the families of the earth. This is what today is known as the Bible. Again, emphasis is placed on the family unit. It does not say that all mankind will be blessed, but that all families will be blessed. The significance of the family unit as the basic foundation for understanding God's will stands in sharp contrast to the celibacy advocated by other religions