Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions Being...

In the 28th chapter of Genesis, we are told that Isaac, after blessing his son Jacob, sent him to Padan-aram, to take a daughter of Laban's (his mother's brother) to wife. Jacob, obeying his father, "went out from Beer-sheba (where he dwelt), and went towards Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set. And he took of the stones of the place, and put them for his pillow, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And he beheld the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said: 'I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.' . . . And Jacob awoke out of his sleep, and he said: 'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I know it not.' And he was afraid, and said: 'How dreadful is this place, this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven.' And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Beth-el."

The doctrine of Metempsychosis has evidently something to do with this legend. It means, in the theological acceptation of the term, the supposed transition of the soul after death, into another substance or body than that which it occupied before. The belief in such a transition was common to the most civilized, and the most uncivilized, nations of the earth.[42:1]

It was believed in, and taught by, the Brahminical Hindoos,[42:2] the Buddhists,[42:3] the natives of Egypt,[42:4] several philosophers of ancient Greece,[43:1] the ancient Druids,[43:2] the natives of Madagascar,[43:3] several tribes of Africa,[43:4] and North America,[43:5] the ancient Mexicans,[43:4] and by some Jewish and Christian sects.[43:5]