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Genesis 35

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Jacob Returns to Bethel and Purifies His Household 1–8

1
And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. ​
2
Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: ​
3
And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.
4
And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. ​
5
And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. ​
6
So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him.
7
And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother. ​
8
But Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allonbachuth. ​

God Renews the Covenant and Renames Israel 9–15

9
And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him. ​
10
And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.
11
And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; ​
12
And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.
13
And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.
14
And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon.
15
And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.

The Death of Rachel 16–20

16
And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour.
17
And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also.
18
And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin. ​
19
And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. ​
20
And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.

Reuben's Sin and the Twelve Sons of Jacob 21–26

21
And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar.
22
And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve: ​
23
The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun:
24
The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin:
25
And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali:
26
And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padanaram.

The Death and Burial of Isaac 27–29

27
And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. ​
28
And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.
29
And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Genesis 35

Verse 1

Arise, go up to Bethel — Bethel, 'house of God', is where Jacob vowed 'If God will be with me… then shall the LORD be my God' (Gen 28:20–21). God names himself 'the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow' (Gen 31:13), and now sends Jacob back to build an altar there.

Verse 2

the strange gods — 'Strange' is nekar, foreign. Joshua later gives Israel the same call at Shechem: 'put away… the strange gods which are among you' (Josh 24:23). Being clean and changing garments come before drawing near to God, as when the people were to 'wash their clothes' before Sinai (Ex 19:10).

Verse 4

all their earrings — The household hands over its foreign gods and its earrings, and Jacob hides them under the oak by Shechem, the place where Abram first built an altar in Canaan (Gen 12:6–7). Gold earrings were also what Israel later broke off and brought to Aaron for the calf (Ex 32:2–3).

Verse 5

the terror of God — Chittah, fear or dread, found only here in the Old Testament. It fell on the cities after Shechem (ch. 34) so that none pursued, and keeps the promise made at Bethel: 'I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest' (Gen 28:15).

Verse 7

Elbethel — 'The God of the house of God.' Jacob names the place for the God who appeared there, though he had already called it Bethel (Gen 28:19). The name returns the words of Gen 31:13, 'I am the God of Bethel', to the spot where he first heard them.

Verse 8

Allonbachuth — Allon-bakuth, 'oak of weeping', a name given only here. Rebekah's nurse went with her from her family (Gen 24:59), and Deborah is named only at her burial, beneath Bethel.

Verse 9

God appeared unto Jacob again — The first appearance at Bethel was the ladder dream (Gen 28:12–15). Now, home from Padanaram, he is blessed again, and vv.10–12 give three things: the name Israel, given at the Jabbok (Gen 32:28), is confirmed; God names himself; and the land is promised.

Verse 11

I am God Almighty — El Shaddai, the name by which God 'appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob' (Ex 6:3). It accompanies the promise of fruitfulness to Abraham, 'kings shall come out of thee' (Gen 17:1, 6). Jacob recalls this scene to Joseph: 'God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz' (Gen 48:3).

Verse 18

Benoni… Benjamin — Ben-oni, 'son of my sorrow', is the name Rachel gives 'as her soul was in departing'. Jacob changes it to Binyamin, 'son of the right hand', the place of honour. Benoni appears only here; the tribe bears the second name.

Verse 19

Ephrath, which is Bethlehem — Rachel is buried by the road, as Jacob later recalls (Gen 48:7); her sepulchre stood 'in the border of Benjamin' (1 Sam 10:2). 'Rahel weeping for her children' (Jer 31:15) is quoted by Matthew of Bethlehem's children (Matt 2:17–18), and Bethlehem Ephratah gives the ruler of Mic 5:2.

Verse 22

Reuben went and lay with Bilhah — Bilhah was Rachel's maid (Gen 29:29), and Jacob 'heard it'. At his death he says of Reuben, 'thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it' (Gen 49:4), and the birthright passed to Joseph's sons (1 Chr 5:1). The twelve sons are then listed.

Verse 27

Mamre… which is Hebron — The place where Abraham 'buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron' (Gen 23:19). The cave there became the family tomb, where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah were buried (Gen 49:31).

Verse 29

gave up the ghost — Gava, to expire, the verb used of Abraham (Gen 25:8) and Jacob (Gen 49:33) with the same 'gathered unto his people'. Isaac was 180 years old (v.28). As Isaac and Ishmael had buried Abraham (Gen 25:9), now 'his sons Esau and Jacob buried him'.