Or, Jacob’s Return to the God of Bethel
Scripture: Genesis 35:1-29
Date: December 18, 2016
Speaker: Sean Higgins
Genesis 35 is the end of the longest sub-book in Genesis. We’ve been reading Book 8, “the toledot of Isaac” according to Moses’ divisions, since Genesis 25:19. Chapter 36 is Book 9 with the generations of Esau, then chapter 37 begins the tenth and final focus on Joseph through the end of Genesis. Chapter 35 includes the last days of Isaac and is the last concentrated look at Jacob.
It is filled with ups and downs. As Job once put it, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” Jacob takes a holy turn in chapter 35, the LORD points him toward a glorious future, and he also loses two of the most significant people in his life.
His life has been filled with hardship and hope, with dysfunction and triumphs, with panic and prosperity. Most recently, good times became dangerous times very quickly.
Jacob made it away from Laban, made it past the God-man who wrestled him, and made it through a reunion with Esau. He made it back into the land of Canaan after more than twenty years. But he camped too long outside the city of Shechem; he lived in Succoth and Shechem for probably around ten years. He was attracted to something he saw, just as Shechem—the man—was attracted to Dinah when he saw her. Jacob’s sons were enraged by the rape of Dinah, so two of the sons murdered all the men of the city after which the rest of the brothers plundered the goods, including women and children. Jacob knew that this would cause him to stink to the surrounding Canaanites, which is true, but his own failure to respond stunk it up in another way.
If he had moved more quickly to Bethel it is unlikely that any of this would have happened. It’s too late now. But not too late for grace, and God calls Jacob to go now. Chapter 35 finishes the focus on his story with ups and downs.
It’s mostly up in the first three paragraphs.
The idolatry isn’t a positive, but turning away from false worship is heading in the right direction.
The turn begins with hearing God’s word. God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” God refers not only to His provision of protection but to His promise of protection from twenty years ago. Jacob could look back on every mercy, including the recent ones, such as the LORD delivering him from Esau again in chapter 33, as evidence that God fulfilled His word. It also reminds Jacob of the vow he made, a vow he has not fulfilled.
Jacob responds, but with a surprising instruction. He said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments.” Better late than idolatry, but when did Jacob let all this idolatry into his house? Those who were with him could include the women of Shechem, but his household describes his family. Was Rachel worshipping the figurines she stole from her father? Had they picked up other gods along the way? Superstition and idolatry are like darkness, always creeping in. But it is a sign of repentance that Jacob finally has the conviction to call for an end to it. Fathers should not allow it.
Jacob called for repentance as part of the worship. There can be no other gods before God. ”Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” God said to go and build, the repentance was necessary to step toward obedience. God can be depended on, He answers in trouble; He is dependable, with me at all times.
So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem. The group repents. They turned to the living God from idols. The earrings must have had something to do with the false worship, not just as decorations for their heads. Perhaps the idols should have been destroyed, not merely buried, but they are left behind nonetheless.
As they went up—literally, since Bethel is about 1,000 feet further above sea level than Shechem (Hamilton)—God protected them.
And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. Jacob feared the revenge that his own sons’ revenge might provoke. He couldn’t go back to Laban; he had burned that bridge. He didn’t want to go to Seir; seeking shelter with Esau was no peace. But he was afraid that he could not defend himself. He didn’t have to. How easily we forget that God doesn’t need us. He may call us to fight, He can use our gifts and humility to soften hearts (as Jacob before Esau), but He can also apply direct heart-melting terror. He could also instantly transport Jacob without travel, but lets Jacob see His protection with each step.
Jacob’s entourage travels as if in a rolling bubble of refuge through the land all the way to Luz, the new name for Bethel. Not even one of the people who were with him was picked off by an enemy. It’s like a running back who finds the linemen running to the sidelines in dread.
As God commanded him (verse 1), he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there God revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. Previously he called it “Beth-el,” “house of God.” Now the emphasis is less on the place, it is “El-beth-el,” “God of the house of God.” He is Jacob’s God.
The only down in the first half of the chapter is found in verse 8. And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called it’s name Allon-bacuth , the name means “oak of crying.” Deborah left with Rebekah when Abraham’s servant came to wife-hunt for Isaac. But why isn’t Rebekah’s death mentioned? Every other patriarch’s wife’s death is recorded. Maybe this is an intentional omission on Moses’ part because she deceived her husband. And why is Deborah with Jacob’s group now? When did she get here? “Deborah had either been sent by Rebekah to take care of her daughters-in-law and grandsons, or had gone of her own accord into Jacob’s household after the death of her mistress” (Keil and Delitzsch). She is cared for and buried.
Though similar to previous revelations to Jacob, God’s appearance here renews the covenant.
God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” (Genesis 35:9–12)
First is the renewed name change. The God-man blessed Jacob and gave him the name Israel after wresting all night. This was not then. Since there is no explanation of the name change as in Genesis 32:29 Moses expected that we know that story already (Wenham). It is another ratification of the name, a blessing of grace, certainly not something earned by Jacob.
Second is the renewed promises of offspring and land. By the order of El Shaddai, God Almighty , nations and kings and country will be given to Israel and come through Israel. Jacob already had eleven sons, and we’re about to meet the twelfth. They will be the United Tribes of Israel, or at least the United-at-some-times-more-than-other-times Tribes. In practical terms, they were regularly divided. In covenantal terms, they were one nation under God.
After this appearance God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him . God left, and God did not reveal Himself in such a direct way to Jacob again. In response Jacob worshipped with a pillar and a drink offering.
Back home, encouraged by his obedience and cleansed worship and the refreshed promise, Jacob is ready for all that fruit and kings and blessing. As many of those who are blessed by God know, ups are often followed by downs in this life.
It seems that Jacob wanted to visit his father so the group headed out from Bethel toward Hebron. When they were still some distance from Ephrath , some understand the Hebrew to be describing a distance of about two hours, with Ephrath being the region where the city of Bethlehem is located. Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor . Hard, in this context, doesn’t mean that it was complex, as if she couldn’t figure out how it worked. It means painful. It hurt, as it has since Eden.
When her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” Maybe she would be discouraged if it was another daughter, but a son, in particular, is what she prayed and hoped for when Joseph was born (Genesis 30:24).
Before Joseph was born she said that she would die without a son (Genesis 30:1). Now she dies giving birth to one. As her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni. All the sons named in chapter 30 were named with significance. Ben-oni may mean “son of (my) sorrow.” But unlike every other son, Jacob gets involved and changes the name to Benjamin , meaning “son of (my) right hand.” This would be a son of importance to him, a son of honor.
But Jacob’s favorite wife was lost. They had been through a lot: seven years (plus one week) of engagement, thirteen more years under her father’s employment, and maybe another decade traveling back to and through Canaan. Her last gift to Jacob was his final son.
This is probably two paragraphs (even the Hebrew text as a division mark before the last sentence of verse 22). These verses includes a list of Jacob’s fruitfulness, but the list is about order of entitlement, and that’s not usually a way to build unity.
Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. Reuben was the firstborn of Leah, and this was probably a play for power more than an act of passion. As later, when Absalom took his father David’s concubines, it was an assertion of authority. He’s trying to take control of the family.
Rachel, Jacob’s favorite wife, was dead. By defiling Rachel’s handmaid Jacob would have to prefer Leah, right? So Leah’s older son seduced Bilhah, and it seems that she consented. She knew that she wasn’t preferred, nor ever would be. Who else was going to show her any attention?
And Israel heard of it. But that’s it. No response from Israel, at least not until handing out blessings on his death bed. While the later Old Testament law did not require the death penalty for rape, it did for laying with the wife of your father (Leviticus 20:11). The first three sons of Leah are out. They’ve disqualified themselves through murder and incest. It’s up to Judah.
The second half of verse 22 through verse 26 name all twelve sons, not in their birth-order but by their birth-mothers and, therefore, birthrights. These are not united brothers and their resentment and brutality and disrespect for their father will be even more obvious soon enough.
The final sentence cannot include Benjamin since we just read about his being born outside of Ephrath, in Canaan.
Jacob would not have been that close to his father. Isaac had always preferred Esau. Isaac didn’t want to acknowledge Jacob, the younger, as God’s chosen. He tried to avoid it to the extent of arranging a private blessing for Esau. The only reason that didn’t work is because Rebekah and Jacob deceived Isaac. Within days of stealing the blessing, Jacob left for Laban’s land. Though Isaac gave him a knowing and legitimate blessing at that point, neither expressed much sorrow in the departure, and they didn’t see each other again for twenty years.
It seems that Jacob made it before Isaac died, so Isaac saw his grandchildren. Isaac lived 180 years, which means he survived another 80 or so after claiming that his time was short (Genesis 27:2). And he breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. This is it for Isaac’s part; it’s how every “generation” ends. Esau gets his genealogy, and even chapter 37 moves the attention from Jacob to Joseph.
Jacob was chosen by God, and it’s good thing that the choice was before he had done anything good or bad, because much of what wasn’t sinful in his life was weak. He gets one verse in Hebrews 11 which is about the blessing he gave, recorded in Genesis 49. There is nothing much stellar about his career at all. He got fired up about righteousness one time the morning after getting drunk and being tricked into marrying Leah. Then he got fired up about righteousness with Laban again when Laban accused him of stealing the household gods, which Jacob just didn’t know he was wrong about.
He was not a model man of faith or model husband or father. He let too many things go, though he did not let go from wrestling God until he got a blessing. Yet through him came a nation that still exists. From him came Judah, then David, then Jesus. Jacob’s in the genealogy lists of God’s own Son, the Savior and King of the nations (Revelation 15:3).
Polygamy and parental favoritism are unwise. Failure to stand up for righteousness is dangerous; it led some of his sons to overreacting and others to perpetrating it. But through all that Jacob got grace, and for that we can be grateful.