Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina began: “Iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17) – Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina said: [Just as] a knife is sharpened only on the side of its counterpart, so, a Torah scholar is sharpened only by his counterpart. “Iron sharpens iron, and a man in the presence of another” (Proverbs 27:17). “A man” – this is Jacob. When our patriarch Jacob stood, ”a man in the presence of another” – as the Divine Presence was associated with him; “and, behold, the Lord was standing over him.”
Rabbi Abahu said: This is analogous to the son of kings, who would sleep in his cradle and flies would alight on him. When his nursemaid came, she bent over him and suckled him and they flew away from upon him. So, initially, “behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it” (Genesis 28:12). When the Holy One blessed be He revealed Himself they fled from on it. Rabbi Ḥiyya Rabba and Rabbi Yanai, one said: “On it” – on the ladder; and one said: “On it” – on Jacob. The one who said: “On it,” on the ladder, it works out well. However, according to the one who said: “On it,” regarding Jacob, does He stand over him? Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The wicked stand over their gods – “Pharaoh was dreaming, and behold, he stood over the Nile” (Genesis 41:1).2The Egyptians worshipped the Nile. But the righteous, their God stands over them, as it is stated: “Behold, the Lord was standing over him, and said: I am the Lord, God of Abraham.”