Genesis 35

 

The Return to Bethel

1Then God said to Jacob, “Go up at once to Bethel and live there. Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 

 

This was the fourth direct revelation to Jacob. God gave Jacob two commands. First, Jacob was to return to Bethel, because it was to be his new home. Second, Jacob was to make an altar to God at Bethel, because this is where God confirmed the Abrahamic Covenant with Abraham.

 

2So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes. 

 

After Dinah was raped, Simeon and Levi killed all of the male citizens of Shechem. They then plundered the city. Part of this plunder included the women and children of Shechem.  These women and children of Shechem had become slaves in the household of Jacob. They were all idol-worshipers. They were to get rid of their idols. They were to purify themselves by ritual immersion. They were to change their clothes, which was part of the purification process. 

 

Although the sin of Simeon and Levi had killed all of the males of Shechem, the women and children were being indoctrinated into the truths of the one true God. Often, secular historians will ridicule and look down upon this method and use it as an attack on God’s character. Many of the slave owners used this verse as an excuse for slavery. This is all human viewpoint which comes from the satanic world system. 

 

The divine viewpoint is that man is so totally depraved and evil that he will often use his free will to enslave other human beings in the name of God. However, God will use these evil inclinations of man and bring the persecuted slaves to salvation. God made men. Men made slaves. God makes one a child of God, even if it takes the institution of slavery to do so.

 

3Let us go up at once to Bethel. Then I will make an altar there to God, who responded to me in my time of distress and has been with me wherever I went.”

 

Jacob was under distress because of his dealings with Esau and Laban. God answered his prayer and blessed him. Prosperity teachers will use this verse to convince Biblically ignorant Christians that they must give more money to the preachers so that they can receive more blessings. Believers cannot make doctrine out of Old Testament history. The doctrine for New Testament believers is found in Paul’s epistles.

 

4So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem

 

Some preachers will use this verse to teach women not to wear earrings. Again, this is a recording of history and not a Bible doctrine. The doctrine of the modern church is found in Paul’s letters. If Paul did not condemn wearing earrings, then the believer has Christian freedom to wear or not wear them.

 

In the Mosaic Law, bond slaves chose as an act of love to wear earrings to demonstrate to the community their special love and eternal obedience to their masters. Paul was a bond slave who willingly became a slave to the Lord Jesus Christ because of his agape love for Him. The Canaanite earrings were used in the same way. These women and children of Shechem had made themselves slaves to the Canaanite gods. The Canaanites believed that the earrings gave them supernatural powers. The earrings were a part of the occultic practices of the Canaanites. For this reason, they were to be buried.

 

5and they started on their journey. The surrounding cities were afraid of God, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

 

God was protecting Israel by the supernatural stipulations of the Abrahamic Covenant. The surrounding Canaanites wanted to revenge the slaughter of the innocents at Shechem, but they were afraid of the Hebrew God. God placed this fear in them to protect Israel from the multitudes of Canaanites who surrounded them. The Canaanites wanted to perform genocide on Jacob's family, but they were afraid of Jehovah. The Canaanites saw Jehovah not as the one true God, but as a powerful god among many gods. From the human side, two Hebrew men killed an entire city of Canaanites, so this would cause fear. Therefore, Jacob and his family were able to travel safely in a land that feared them and hated them.

 

Believers armed with the Word of God are feared and hated throughout the world. Man is so totally depraved and evil that he would wipe out every believer if he was able to do so. However, each believer has a mission given to him by God. This mission was designed and implemented before the foundations of the world were even created. Therefore, the believer walks in a very dangerous satanic world system. However, the believer is immortal until he accomplishes the task which God has assigned him to do; God will provide the timing, the gifts, and the resources. If a child of God is rebellious to this plan, then God may bring him home early and give his task to another faithful believer.

 

6Jacob and all those who were with him arrived at Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 

 

Luz was the name of Bethel before it was renamed by Jacob himself. Bethel means house of God.

 

7He built an altar there and named the place El Bethel because there God had revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother. 

 

The Hebrew for “El Bethel” is אֵ֖ל בֵּֽית־אֵ֑ל (el-beth-el), which is three Hebrew words meaning God-house-God. El is the singular name of God which emphasizes His unity. Therefore, His altar could be called “the One God the house of the One God.” 

 

Notice that the English version of the NET (and most other versions) states, “God had revealed.” The Hebrew word for “God” is הָֽאֱלֹהִ֔ים with a Hebrew article, meaning “the Plural Gods.” The Hebrew word for “revealed” is נִגְל֤וּ (negalu), a niphal perfect third person plural verb, meaning “they revealed.” Therefore, the literal translation is “The Plural Gods they revealed himself to him.” Notice that the “himself” is singular. Since every single word of the Bible is inspired, then this is Hebrew grammar evidence of the trinity.

 

It is interesting to note that the rabbi attempt to get around the grammar of this verse by claiming that the elohim were angels. Rabbi Rashi spiritualizes this passage, claiming that the plural form of elohim may be used “for lordship.” This is biased interpretation, because the rabbi are ignoring the grammar of the text and spiritualizing the passage so that they can make the verse fit their own human theology. Many liberals today are guilty of this same type of faulty and deceptive exegesis.

 

8(Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel; thus it was named Oak of Weeping.)

 

Rebekah’s nurse was formally under the house of Isaac. Since Rebekah had died, the nurse was now under the house of Jacob. Deborah was 180 years old when she died.

 

Rebekah died while Jacob was in Haran. She deceived her husband Isaac, which was a violation of the Abrahamic Covenant. She never saw her son again. She did not lose her salvation, but she suffered the sin unto death and lost her life.

 

9God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan Aram and blessed him. 

 

This was the fifth appearance of God to Jacob. God blessed Jacob, just as He had promised to do through the Abrahamic Covenant.

 

10God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but your name will no longer be called Jacob; Israel will be your name.” So God named him Israel. 

 

The Hebrew for Israel is יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ (israel), meaning that he will rule as God, or he will strive (wrestle) with God. Both names (Jacob and Israel) will be used interchangeably throughout the Scriptures. When the chosen nation is rebellious, often the name "Jacob" is used. When the chosen nation is obedient or when God reminds the nation of His promises, then often the name "Israel" is used. In the Millennial Kingdom, Israel will become a prince of God. They will rule over all of the nations. 

 

11Then God said to him, “I am the sovereign God. Be fruitful and multiply! A nation – even a company of nations – will descend from you; kings will be among your descendants! 

 

The Hebrew word for God is Elohim, meaning the Triune Creator God. 

 

The Hebrew word for “I am the sovereign God” is אֲנִ֨י אֵ֤ל שַׁדַּי֙ (ani el shaddai), meaning I am the one single God, the almighty One. This is very similar to the “ego eimi” in the Greek New Testament, where Jesus confirmed His deity with His "I am" statements. The name of El Shaddai is the same name that God gave to Abraham. The name has to do with the character and attributes of the person. 

 

Jacob already had two sons. He was to have two more sons. The “fruitful and multiply” command descended directly to his sons, who were commanded to multiply and bring more sons into the world. The twelve tribes of Israel will come from these twelve sons of Israel. 

 

The Hebrew for “nation” and “nations” is גּ֛וֹי (goy) and גּוֹיִ֖ם (goyim), which can be translated as Gentiles, nations, and tribes. It is usually used of Gentile nations and tribes. 

 

The one nation which would come out of Jacob would be Israel. The multiple tribes would be the twelve tribes of Israel. The multiple nations would be Judah and Israel. All of the kings of Judah and Israel would come from these twelve tribes. Even the Messiah, the King of the Universe, would come from one of these tribes. The particular tribe of the Messiah would be revealed to Jacob at a later date.

 

12The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you. To your descendants I will also give this land.” 

 

If taken literally, then this land was promised personally to Jacob, but also to his descendants. Since Jacob and many of his descendants died before possessing all of this land, God must raise them from the dead and place them in the land in order to fulfill this promise.

 

Amillennialists and postmillennialists spiritualize this passage and give these promises to the church. This is man-made biased interpretation. The first rule of hermeneutics is that if the plain sense of Scripture makes perfect sense, then seek no other sense. Man does not have the authority to spiritualize the text to make it fit his own personal interpretation. 

 

13Then God went up from the place where He spoke with him. 

 

God returns and speaks to Jacob at the same exact place of their first meeting.

 

14So Jacob set up a sacred stone pillar in the place where God spoke with him. He poured out a drink offering on it, and then he poured oil on it. 

 

This was an act of worship. The drink offering was a new offering.

 

15Jacob named the place where God spoke with him Bethel.

 

Bethel means “house of God.” Jacob reconfirmed the name that he had given this place at his first meeting with God. 

 

16They traveled on from Bethel, and when Ephrath was still some distance away, Rachel went into labor – and her labor was hard. 

 

Rachel went into hard labor on a major road outside the city of Bethlehem. 

 

17When her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you are having another son.” 

 

Of the 12 sons of Israel, this was the only son born in the Promised Land. All of the other sons were born in Haran, outside of the land.

 

18With her dying breath, she named him Ben-Oni. But his father called him Benjamin instead. 

 

Before Rachel died, she named him Ben-oni, meaning “the son of my sorrow.” Jacob renamed him Benjamin, meaning “son of my right hand.” Rachel earlier stated that she would die if she did not have a son. Now, she died by having a son. 

 

19So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). 

 

Notice that Rachel was not buried in Bethlehem, but on the road to Ephrath. The road to Ephrath was the Bethlehem Road which is north of Bethlehem in the region of Ramah. The modern location used by Israel tourist guides is wrong, because it has her tomb south of Jerusalem. Ramah is an important location, because Micah 5:2 will predict the birth of the Messiah and the slaughter of the newborns in this region. There were two Jewish cities named Bethlehem in the days of Jesus. Micah 5:2 stated that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem Ephrath, which was in the region of Ramah.

 

20Jacob set up a marker over her grave; it is the Marker of Rachel’s Grave to this day.

 

This pillar was still standing when Moses wrote Genesis. It was also still standing in Samuel’s day near his home in Ramah.  It was also standing in Jeremiah’s day, when the Jews were taken into the Babylonian Captivity (Jeremiah 31:15). It is no longer visible today, but Israeli and Arab tour guides make a lot of money by leading Biblically ignorant Christians to a false site that cannot be her tomb.

 

21Then Israel traveled on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. 

 

The author used the name of Israel rather than Jacob. The two names will be used interchangeably. Migdal Eder was a city on the outskirts of Bethlehem. Jacob made this journey after Rachel died. This means that she could not have been buried inside of Bethlehem.

 

22While Israel was living in that land, Reuben had sexual relations with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:

 

Reuben, as the first born, was usurping his father’s position as head of the tribe. Jacob heard about it, but did nothing at this time. Reuben’s behavior would cost him the birthright. The twelve sons of Jacob would become the twelve tribes of Israel.

 

23The sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, as well as Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

 

Leah gave birth to six sons, which was half of the tribes on Israel.

 

24The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

 

Rachel gave birth to two sons.

 

25The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, were Dan and Naphtali.

 

Rachel’s servant gave birth to two sons.

 

26The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant, were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan Aram.

 

Leah’s servant gave birth to two sons. All twelve sons, except for Benjamin, were born in Haran.

 

27So Jacob came back to his father Isaac in Mamre, to Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. 

 

This appears to be the first contact that Jacob had with his father Isaac after Jacob’s return to Canaan. Isaac never had the opportunity to meet Rachel.

 

28Isaac lived to be 180 years old. 

 

Jacob was 108 years old when he returned to Canaan. Therefore, he was able to live with his father Isaac for the last twelve years of his life.

 

29Then Isaac breathed his last and joined his ancestors. He died an old man who had lived a full life. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

 

Isaac died when Jacob was 120 years old. Isaac joined his ancestors in Sheol. Since Isaac was a believer, he would live in a part of Sheol called Paradise until Christ returned to take all Old Testament believers up into heaven with Him. Esau and Jacob joined together and buried their father. This could have been their first meeting since Jacob’s initial re-entrance back into the land. 

 

+++

In conclusion, the human viewpoint of the satanic world system teaches that God is finished with Israel and all of the promises given to them have now been transferred to the church.

 

The divine viewpoint of the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God teaches God will personally raise Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all of their believing descendants from the dead and He will literally give them the land that was promised through the Abrahamic Covenant.