The ladder is a sign of the Passion especially of the Deposition, Descent, or removal of Christ from the Cross (Mt 27:57-61; Mk 15:42-47; Lk 23:50-56; John 19:38-42). Depictions of this scene generally show a few men on ladders taking Christ's body from the Cross and giving it to His mother. The people gathered may include Joseph of Arimathea who was a secret follower of Christ and asked Pilate for permission to bury Jesus in his own tomb; Nicodemus, who was also a secret follower of our Lord; Mary, the mother of Jesus; Mary Magdalene; another Mary; and a group of women who had followed Jesus to Jerusalem from Galilee.
Jacob's ladder is probably the most famous ladder in symbolism. Its story is found in the Old Testament (Gen 28:10-17). Jacob, fleeing from the wrath of his brother, lay down to sleep with a stone for a pillow. During the night he dreamed that he saw a ladder or stairway reaching up into the heavens upon which were angels ascending and descending. At the head of the ladder was God the Father confirming the Patriachal blessing upon him and promising to protect him on his journey. Jacob called the place Bethel (house of God). Since many people have surmised that angels travel this ladder daily as they go about the Lord's business, it has become a symbol of the comings and goings between heaven and earth of people, angels, and messages or prayers (The Letters of St. Jerome, Letter 22).
Ladders are symbols in many cultures of travel between spheres or planes of existence especially ascents into heaven thereby fulfilling the role of the axis mundi or world axis relating the ladder to such symbols as the pillar and the cosmic tree. Sometimes an artist will portray Christ, Elijah, or the saints ascending into heaven with the assistance of a ladder even though this is not scripturally accurate. Cicero portrayed life as a journey to heaven upon a ladder hindered by the four impediments: Disease, Lust, Poverty, and Early Death (Cicero, Duty, 1531). We may imagine that the righteous climb the ladder to heaven by means of virtue, martyrdom, and death.
Ladders are considered places where heaven and earth or humans and gods can meet. Some legends relate that such a ladder existed in the Garden of Eden which God descended daily in order to walk with Adam and Eve. Its removal at the Fall represents the loss of easy communication between Adam and his God. Christ and the Cross are our ladders. Through these we regain access to our God and our heavenly home. In Christ heaven and earth meet. He is "the way, the truth, and the life." There is no way to approach the Father except through Jesus Christ (John 14:6). Jesus used the symbolism of Jacob's ladder to describe His intercessory role to Nathanael when He said, "hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man" (John 1:51 NKJV). The monastery, and the Church are considered ladders as they assist people in the attainment of heaven. Sometimes Cisterian and Carthusian religious houses called themselves "Scala Dei" or "Ladder of God." In the Byzantium Church, the Virgin Mary is considered a ladder since through her God descended to become a Man and through her intercession He grants sinners the graces necessary to reach heaven. St. John Chrysostom taught that the Mosaic Law was like a ladder which allowed God's people to ascend to the position of spiritual adoption and freedom they currently enjoyed in Christ. Having reached the top of the ladder, the climber no longer required it to attain his goals (The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians, Philippians, Homily 11 - Philippians 3:7-10).
St. Augustine wrote that Jacob's ladder represented the Church and the angels the patriarch saw ascending and descending upon it represented the evangelists or preachers of the Gospel - those who ascended into the heavens, beauty, and knowlege of Christ and then descended again to give spiritual milk to the babes of Christ (Lectures or Tractates on St. John, Tractate 7, John 1:34-51; see also 2 Cor. 12:2). According to Augustine, teachers of the Word also ascend and descend upon Christ when they preach ascendingly of Christ's majesty or divine nature and then descend to relate to their audiences that our Lord came to earth and became a man. He says, "Christ is the ladder reaching from earth to heaven, or from the carnal to the spiritual: for by His assistance the carnal ascend to spirituality; and the spiritual may be said to descend to nourish the carnal with milk when they cannot speak to them as to spiritual, but as to carnal. There is thus both an ascent and a descent upon the Son of man." He adds that "We ascend to Him to see Him in heavenly places; we descend to Him for the nourishment of His weak members. And the ascent and descent are by Him as well as to Him. Following His example, those who preach Him not only rise to behold Him exalted, but let themselves down to give a plain announcement of the truth" (St. Augustine On the Morals of the Catholic Church, Reply to Faustus the Manichaean, Book 12).
The rungs of a ladder may represent the various stages the
initiate or pilgrim must pass through to attain his goal, perfection,
or heavenly home. Each philosopher, theologion, teacher, or tradition
has its own ideas as to how many rungs their ladder to perfection
should contain but twelve, seven, or ten runged ladders are the
most common. One may be thought to ascend a ladder by attaining
wisdom and descend that same ladder to demonstrate or scatter
the fruits of that wisdom in the exercise of various virtues or
the doing of good works. Hannah Whithall Smith wrote that the
little sacrifices we constantly make in our daily lives are "actual
rounds in the ladder by which we are mounting to our thrones"
(The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life, Chapt. 19, p.
154). Edward Bounds said, "Asking, seeking, knocking, are
ascending rounds in the ladder of successful prayer" (The
Necessity of Prayer). St. John Chrysostom urged his congregation
to climb a Jacob's ladder of virtue to heaven, correcting one
fault a month as if it were a step in a spiritual ladder (The
Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of John, Homily
83, John 18:1). St. Jerome taught that "the Christian life
is the true Jacob's ladder" and admonished his listeners
to give all they had to the poor so that they might climb Jacob's
ladder unhindered by material possessions. At the head of this
ladder he envisioned the Lord "holding out His hand to those
who slip and sustaining by the vision of Himself the weary steps
of those who ascend" (The Letters of St. Jerome, Letter
54 & 58). The sides of a ladder may be used to symbolize the
pillars of Solomon's Temple known as Boaz and Jachin or the two
special trees of the Garden of Eden.
Several saints have ladders as one of their attributes because
of their visions or teachings. These include St. John Cassian,
St. Andrew, St. Romuald, St. Benedict, St. Perpetua, and St. John
Climacus. St. Benedict's ladder represents his vision of the members
of his order climbing to heaven on the twelve runged ladder promoted
in chapter seven of his Rule. St. Romuald, the founder of the
Order of Camaldoli, decreed that its members be dressed in white
because he had dreamed of white-robed men ascending and descending
upon heaven's ladder while he was looking for a place to build
his monastery. In The Ladder of Paradise (The Ladder
of Divine Ascent, Scala Paradisi), St. Climacus describes
thirty rungs (symbolising the thirty years of Jesus' hidden life)
or qualities desirable for holiness and the attainment of Paradise.
This work was illustrated with a picture of monks falling or being
assaulted by demons while ascending a ladder to heaven. Climacus
may be portrayed writing his book as a vision of this ladder floats
near him.
Encouraged by her brother, St. Perpetua asked the Lord for a vision to let her know if her imprisonment would end in martyrdom. Then she dreamed of a "golden ladder of marvelous height, reaching up even to heaven, and very narrow, so that persons could only ascend it one by one; and on the sides of the ladder was fixed every kind of iron weapon. There were there swords, lances, hooks, daggers; so that if any one went up carelessly, or not looking upwards, he would be torn to pieces and his flesh would cleave to the iron weapons. And under the ladder itself was crouching a dragon of wonderful size, who lay in wait for those who ascended, and frightened them from the ascent. And Saturus went up first, who had subsequently delivered himself up freely on our account, not having been present at the time that we were taken prisoners. And he attained the top of the ladder, and turned towards me, and said to me, 'Perpetua, I am waiting for you; but be careful that the dragon do not bite you.' And I said, 'In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, he shall not hurt me.' And from under the ladder itself, as if in fear of me, he slowly lifted up his head; and as I trod upon the first step, I trod upon his head. And I went up, and I saw an immense extent of garden, and in the midst of the garden a white-haired man sitting in the dress of a shepherd, of a large stature, milking sheep; and standing around were many thousand white-robed ones. And he raised his head, and looked upon me, and said to me, 'Thou are welcome, daughter.' 'And he called me, and from the cheese as he was milking he gave me as it were a little cake, and I received it with folded hands; and I ate it, and all who stood around said Amen. And at the sound of their voices I was awakened, still tasting a sweetness which I cannot describe. And I immediately related this to my brother, and we understood that it was to be a passion, and we ceased henceforth to have any hope in this world" (Tertullian, 5. Appendix, Chapt. 1).
Islamic tradition teaches that Mohammed saw a ladder leading the faithful to God. Around the world shamans may climb ladders to visit with the spirit world. In Ancient Japan ladders represented the god of thunder and movement between heaven and earth. The initiate in the Mithraic Mysteries ascended a seven-runged ladder which was made of seven different metals and symbolized ascension through the seven heavens. The Chaldaeans represented justice with a double ladder often drawn inside a crowned circle or a star. Since the length of the ascent and the length of the descent of this ladder were equal they represented the idea that any punishment should fit the crime.
The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead reports that Horus put up a ladder to heaven so that humans might ascend to the gods. Ra also had a ladder leading to heaven. With the assistance of Horus he set it up in royal tombs for the use of deceased pharaohs. Another Egyptian god, Hathor, was ever ready to hold a ladder while the righteous dead climbed to the gods. Not surprisingly many ladder and stairway amulets have been found in Egypt's tombs.
Ladders are often used as bridges in symbolism and folklore. Being hung over deep gorges, they may represent the treacherous or narrow way and rites of passage. In these stories they often have sharp swords for rungs. Heavenly or Otherworldly ladders may be replaced by rainbows or made from them. Some Amerindian tribes believed that the spirits of the dead traveled the rainbow or rainbow ladder to the afterlife. Spirits or gods might also travel the rainbow to visit the earth.
As one of the liberal arts, philosophy may be portrayed with a ladder on its breast. In many areas, it is considered bad luck to walk under a ladder. Some Christians rationalize this superstition by claiming that walking under a ladder dishonors the Holy Trinity which is represented by the triangle formed from the ladder, the ground it sets on, and the wall it leans against. To dream of descending a ladder is considered a bad omen while dreams of ascending ladders is a good omen. Perhaps this is because everyone wants to climb the social ladder.
Aside from Jacob's Ladder, the only other ladders mentioned in the Bible are considered weapons of war borne by soldiers to climb the walls of their enemies (1 Maccabees 5:30).
Except where otherwise indicated all scripture quotes are from the NKJV.
More information about ladders is available at:
© 1997 by Suzetta Tucker
To cite this page:
Tucker, Suzetta. "ChristStory Arma Christi - Ladder."
ChristStory Christian Bestiary. 1997. http://ww2.netnitco.net/users/legend01/ladder.htm
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