ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Monite Fepueli 13, 2023 

The Lord at the Ladder's Bottom סלם

KO E ‘OTUA ‘O E TU’UNGA ‘OKU NE ‘I HO TAFA‘AKI

GENESIS 28:12-13A

[JACOB] HAD A DREAM; A STAIRWAY WAS SET ON THE GROUND AND ITS TOP REACHED TO THE SKY, AND ANGELS OF GOD WERE GOING UP AND DOWN IT. AND THE LORD WAS STANDING BESIDE HIM.

SENESI 28:12-13A 

Pea ne misi, pea tā ko ha tu‘unga kuo tu‘u ‘i he kelekele, ‘o tau hake hono ‘ulu ki he langi; pea ko e kau ‘Āngelo ‘ena ‘a e ‘Otua ‘oku ‘alu hake mo ‘alu hifo ‘i ai. 13 Pea tā ko Sihova ‘oku tu‘u mei ‘olunga, ‘o ne folofola mai, Ko au ko Sihova ko e ‘Otua ‘o ‘Epalahame ko ho‘o ‘eiki, pea ko e ‘Otua ‘o ‘Aisake; ko e kelekele ‘oku ke tokoto ai, te u ‘atu ia mo‘ou mo ho hako;

The flight of steps joining earth to sky was a sullam ("ladder" or "stairway"). On it God's messengers moved in both directions, but the Lord moved only down. He descended to Jacob; Jacob did not mount the ladder to climb to him. Although many translations render the prepositional phase alavas "above it" or "at the top" (God in heaven above Jacob), the Hebrew could be translated "beside him" (God on earth with Jacob). The Lord descends to us, comes and speaks with us. He is a boots-on-the-ground kind of Lord, especially when, like Jacob, we are on the run, in the dark, in need of consolation.

The same God who stood beside Jacob stood on the earth as a man in Jesus. He is our Emmanuel-God with us and beside us. He even identified himself with Jacob's sullam: "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man" (John 1:51). Our "sullam to heaven" is our Savior, who comes down to us to bring us all the blessings of his Father.

O come to us, Emmanuel, to be our help, our consolation, at the bottom of life's ladder.