Pensamento Judaico sobre Jó 1:8

For the level of prophecy attainable by a human being is either that of a dream or that of a vision, as it is written (Numbers 12:6): "I make Myself known to him in a vision; in a dream I speak to him." In both of these, the prophecy is imaged in parables and riddles, as in Yaakov's case, where it is written (Genesis 28:12): "And he dreamed, and, behold, a ladder set upon the earth and its top reaching to heaven, and, behold, angels of G-d ascending and descending on it." The purpose of this parable was to show him the superiority of the land of Israel to other lands, it being the ladder upon which the righteous, who are referred to as "angels of G-d," ascend to heaven. For if the intent were to teach him that everything was done in this land through the agency of angels, the parable consisting in the angels walking through the land and bringing word back to the L-rd, saying, "We have walked through the land," as in the case of the Satan (Job 1:8), it should have been written "angels of G-d descending and ascending on it," the first act preceding the second. "Angels of G-d" in this instance, then, allude to the righteous, who scale the ascents in the land of Israel. And for this reason it is written "ascending and descending on it," for it is impossible that the ascent of the righteous be an unbroken one, a man, as we have indicated, having two orientations, one upwards, the other, downwards. And it is impossible, so long as he has a body that he be exclusively upwards-oriented, but he must also be downwards-oriented towards the management of his body. This is what is alluded to in the parable of "angels of G-d ascending and descending on it." And the Blessed One revealed this to Jacob so that the land of Israel be precious in his eyes and so that he make it his destination after his marriage.