Led Zeppelin Dreams

Genesis 28:10-22

So Jacob hits the road for Laban's place and when he stops for the night he dreams of a stairway to heaven. Angels walk up and down with God at the top. God identifies himself and promises Jacob what he promised Abraham. Jacob wakes up and declares the land he is on the gate of heaven. He yanks out some oil and pours it on the rock he used as a pillow and calls the place "Bethel" or "house of God."

It's amazing to me that Jacob doesn't have any problem excepting that his dream is a vision and not the result of fatigue, stress about his death threats or the result of one too many pieces of pepperoni pizza the night before. He never suggests an earthly explanation for the dream, simply- God is here.

Does God still use our dreams this way? Dreams seem to tell us that we're worried or stressed or dealing with neuroses, but does God use them to work in our lives still? It seems significant that God identifies himself. Contemporary claims of God speaking often seem to be much more vague messages interpreted by the dreamer. Here God spells out his identity.

In the end of the chapter, Jacob strikes a bargain with God and says if God will watch over me on this journey and feed me and clothe me so that I can get back home safely, then He'll be my God, and I'll give him ten percent of all that He gives me.

This bargaining with God seems a little manipulative- like mother, like son perhaps. Burt Reynolds does the same thing in "The End" for comic effect- but here Jacob's not joking. It seems odd that this testing of God is treated so ordinarily. Moses isn't making obvious commentary on the need to trust God- Jacob tests God and no one seems to mind.

Coda: This also seems to be the first reference to tithing. Where does this percentage come from? What makes Jacob think- a tenth will be fair? Why not 5%? Why not 50%? And does this seemingly arbitrary (at this point) number mean anything for us today?