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Jacob the “home boy” is now without a home and is starting on a five-hundred-mile trek to Haran. He was fleeing from an angry brother and facing an unknown future, and all he had to depend on was his father’s blessing. From now on, the home boy would have to become a pilgrim and walk by faith. It was a three-day journey to Bethel, and those first three days of his adventure must have been very difficult. Would Esau follow him and try to kill him? Would he have enough food to keep him going (32:10)? When he decided to spend the night at Bethel, he had no idea that God would meet him there; and from that night on, Bethel was a very special place to Jacob (35:1ff.).
A significant dream (vv. 11-12). Jacob slept on the earth with a stone for his “head piece” (vv. 11, 18), a common practice in the Near East. The stone was probably more a protection than a pillow. As he slept, he had a dream in which he saw a ladder or stairway with angels going up and down between heaven and earth. Jacob discovered that he wasn’t alone but that God was with him! The God of Abraham and Isaac was watching over him, and His angels were there to guard and serve him.