The description of Jacob's ladder appears in the Book of Genesis:
There are various interpretations of this story in various religions.Jacob left Beersheba, and went toward Haran. He came to the place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it [or "beside him"] and said, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Issac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants; and your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and by you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth bless themselves. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you." Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it." And he was afraid, and said, "This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
Jewish commentaries offer several interpretations of Jacob's ladder. Some scholars believe the ladder signified the exiles which the Jewish people would suffer before the coming of the Messiah. First the angel representing the 70-year exile of Babylonia climbed "up" 70 rungs, and then fell "down." Then the angel representing the exile of Persia went up a number of steps, and fell, as did the angel representing the exile of Greece. Only the fourth angel, which represented the final exile of Rome by the guardian angel (Esau), kept climbing higher and higher into the clouds. Jacob feared that his children would never be free of Esau's domination, but God assured him that at the End of Days, Edom too would come falling down.
Another interpretation of the ladder keys into the fact that the angels first "ascended" and then "descended." This explains that Jacob, as a holy man, was always accompanied by angels. When he reached the border of the future land of Israel, the angels who were assigned to the Holy Land went back up to Heaven and the angels assigned to other lands came down to meet Jacob. When Jacob returned to Canaan he was greeted by the angels who were assigned to the Holy Land.
Another view is that the place at which Jacob stopped for the night was in reality the future home of the Temple in Jerusalem. The ladder therefore signifies the "bridge" between Heaven and earth, as prayers and sacrifices offered in the Holy Temple soldered a connection between God and the Jewish people.
The philosopher Philo Judaeus had an allegorical interpretation of the ladder. He gave four interpretations, which are not mutually exclusive:
- The angels represent souls descending to and ascending from bodies (some consider this to be Philo's clearest reference to the doctrine of reincarnation).
- In the second interpretation the ladder is the human soul and the angels are God's logoi, pulling the soul up in distress and descending in compassion.
- In the third view the dream depicts the ups and downs of the life of the "practiser" (of virtue vs. sin).
- Finally the angels represent the continually changing affairs of men.
In Islam, Jacob is revered as a father figure and a prophet. Muslim scholars drew a parallel with Jacob's vision of the ladder and Muhammad's event of the Mi'raj. The ladder of Jacob was interpreted by Muslims to be one of the many symbols of God, and many saw Jacob's ladder as representing in its form the essence of Islam, which emphasizes following the "straight path." The significance of the ladder in the Islamic mystic perspective that the ladder is the created Universe. Jacob dreamed and saw the ladder stretching from Heaven to earth, with Angels going up and down upon it; and it is also the "straight path", for indeed the way of religion is none other than the way of creation itself retraced from its end back to its Beginning.
Angels have been best described as messengers to human beings. There were numerous messengers in the series counseling, mentoring and helping the main characters get back to or survive the island. People like Naomi, Abbadon, and Eloise intervened in the characters lives and gave them information to help or direct them back to the island. Some turned into messengers of Jacob as a result of their stay on the island (Alpert and Dogen). One theory is that Jacob was the guardian angel for his "candidates."
The Island as a nexus point between realms is consistent with the symbolism of Jacob's ladder. The idea that the ladder represents both the beginning and end, with angels going back and forth through time to guide souls up the steps, is consistent with the time skips of the Island. At times, a person needs to take two steps back (learn something) in order to move one step forward (toward redemption or knowledge or peace).
The Island could also be a representation of a temple, where lost souls are sorting out by the angels, who give each person opportunities to move up the ladder toward heaven. Some, like Michael, miss their opportunity when he kills Libby and Ana Lucia to cover up his betrayal. Others, like Jack, have to juggle at times the competing interests of his fellow castaways like Solomon.
It is clear that the Island was some kind of "bridge" that allowed the main characters to forge a sideways world finish line to their ascent into the after life. But there is no consistency from a moral perspective of who was allowed the grace of God to arrive at the sideways church to "move on." Most of the people in the church had ethical and moral faults that were never forgiven. The writers large white wash of the past comes from a narcissistic perspective: once a person acknowledged his or her own death in the sideways world, their sins were magically erased so they could finish the climb to heaven. Or, as a few have mentioned, that the sideways purgatory was just that; the white light may not have been salvation but the doorway to punishment for their unforgiven sins.
In order to get to paradise, a soul must retrace its path from the end back to the beginning. This concept is similar to the ancient Egyptian beliefs that upon death, the soul divides and takes many dangerous journeys in order to be reincarnated in the after life. On the Island, the main characters did retrace their lives (some events or decisions mirrored past events). People did have second or third chances to change their lives. Some took advantage of that opportunity; some failed to revert to their dark pasts. The retracing of the characters lives through the island trials (steps of the ladder) could be the hidden mystery of the series. Jacob's role was not one of the devil or judge, but as a spotter on the ladder each candidate sought to climb.
