Bar shows how Jacob's dream at Bethel serves to explain the sanctity of the place and detach it from its Canaanite context, how the dreams in the Joseph cycle show the hand of divine providence in the descent to Egypt followed by the ascent ...
The Jacob story invites the reader into tensions between settling and wandering, hope and despair, trickery and fidelity, faith and doubt. These stories reflect Jacob's life and his struggles with people and God.