Religion has always come with a vertical worldview. Mortals on earth, gods in the heavens, and the dead under the ground.
Up and down.
Above and below.
In the ancient world, people built massive ziggurats next to temples. The only purpose of a ziggurat was to provide a staircase for the gods to walk down, enabling them to travel from their realm to ours.
At the bottom of the stairway sat the god’s temple. This was where the god lived whenever they descended to earth. Ancient people believed a temple was a microcosm of heaven on earth made to look like the god’s heavenly home.
Rituals and sacrifices performed at a temple sought to maintain the smooth running of the cosmos by feeding the god (because it takes a lot of energy to run the cosmos), appeasing them (because humans often anger the divine), or offering them gifts (because it’s good to say thanks for all their hard work).
So, later in Genesis, when Jacob dreams of "a stairway securely fixed on the earth and reaching into heaven," (Gen. 28:12 TPT) he’s almost certainly seeing a ziggurat.
The new within the familiar
God presents Jacob with a vision of vertical theology in action—something he’s familiar with—before presenting him with something new. Just notice Jacob’s surprise when he wakes. “YAHWEH is here! He is in this place and I didn’t realize it!” (Gen. 28:16 TPT)
Why was he surprised?
Because there’s no temple where he was sleeping.
