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.
1. go up to Beth-el ] From Shechem to Bethel is an ascent of 1000 feet. Bethel is 2890 feet above the sea.
LXX = “unto the place Bethel,” cf. Gen 12:6-8, Gen 13:4, Gen 28:11.
an altar ] Jacob is commanded to worship at Bethel in fulfilment of his vow, Gen 28:22.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
– The Death of Isaac
8. deborah, Deborah, bee. ‘alon–bakut, Allon-bakuth, oak of weeping.
16. kbrah, length stretch. A certain but unknown distance, a stadium or furlong (Josephus) a hippodrome (Septuagint) which was somewhat longer, a mile (Kimchi). ‘ephrath, Ephrath, fruitful or ashy.
18. ben–‘ony, Ben-oni, son of my pain. bnyamyn, Binjamin, son of the right hand.
19. beyt–lechem, Beth-lechem, house of bread.
21. eder, Eder, flock, fold.
This chapter contains the return of Jacob to his fathers house, and then appends the death of Isaac.
Gen 35:1-8
Jacob returns to Bethel. And God said unto Jacob. He receives the direction from God. He had now been six years lingering in Sukkoth and Sleekem. There may have been some contact between him and his fathers house during this interval. The presence of Deborah, Rebekahs nurse, in his family, is a plain intimation of this. But Jacob seems to have turned aside to Shekem, either to visit the spot where Abraham first erected an altar to the Lord, or to seek pasture for his numerous flocks. Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there. In his perplexity and terror the Lord comes to his aid. He reminds him of his former appearance to him at that place, and directs him to erect an altar there. This was Abrahams second resting-place in the land. He who had there appeared to Jacob as the Yahweh, the God of Abraham and Isaac, is now described as (house of El), the Mighty One, probably in allusion to Bethel (house of El), which contains this name, and was at that time applied by Jacob himself to the place. His house; his wives and children. All that were with him; his men-servants and maid-servants.
The strange gods, belonging to the stranger or the strange land. These include the teraphim, which Rachel had secreted, and the rings which were worn as amulets or charms. Be clean; cleanse the body, in token of the cleaning of your souls. Change your garments; put on your best attire, befitting the holy occasion. The God, in contradistinction to the strange gods already mentioned. Hid them; buried them. The oak which was by Shekem. This may have been the oak of Moreh, under which Abraham pitched his tent Gen 12:6. The terror of God; a dread awakened in their breast by some indication of the divine presence being with Jacob. The patriarch seems to have retained possession of the land he had purchased and gained by conquest, in this place. His flocks are found there very shortly after this time Gen 37:12, he alludes to it, and disposes of it in his interview with Joseph and his sons Gen 48:22, and his well is there to this day.
Luz, which is in the land of Kenaan. This seems at first sight to intimate that there was a Luz elsewhere, and to have been added by the revising prophet to determine the place here intended. Luz means an almond tree, and may have designated many a place. But the reader of Genesis could have needed no such intimation, as Jacob is clearly in the land of Kenaan, going from Shekem to Hebron. It seems rather to call attention again Gen 33:18 to the fact that Jacob has returned from Padan-aram to the land of promise. The name Luz still recurs, as the almond tree may still be flourishing. And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el. Thus has Jacob obeyed the command of God, and begun the payment of the vow he made twenty-six years before at this place Gen 38:20-22. There God revealed himself unto him. The verb here nglu is plural in the Masoretic Hebrew, and so it was in the copy of Onkelos. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Septuagint have the singular. The reading is therefore, various. The original was probably singular, and may have been so even with its present letters. If not, this is one of the few instances in which Elohim is construed grammatically with a plural verb. Deborah dies in the family in which she began life. She is buried under the well-known oak at Bethel. Jacob drops a natural tear of sorrow over the grave of this faithful servant, and hence, the oak is called the oak of weeping. It is probable that Rebekah was already dead, since otherwise we should not expect to find Deborah transferred to Jacobs household. She may not have lived to see her favorite son on his return.
Gen 35:9-15
God appears to Jacob again at Bethel, and renews the promise made to him there Gen 28:13-14. Again. The writer here refers to the former meeting of God with Jacob at Bethel, and thereby proves himself cognizant of the fact, and of the record already made of it. When he went out of Padan-aram. This corroborates the explanation of the clause, Gen 35:6, which is in the land of Kenaan. Bethel was the last point in this land that was noticed in his flight from Esau. His arrival at the same point indicates that he has now returned from Padan-aram to the land of Kenaan. He called his name Israel. At Bethel he renews the change of name, to indicate that the meetings here were of equal moment in Jacobs spiritual life with that at Penuel. It implies also that this life had been declining in the interval between Penuel and Bethel, and had now been revived by the call of God to go to Bethel, and by the interview.
The renewal of the naming aptly expresses this renewal of spiritual life. I am God Almighty. So he proclaimed himself before to Abraham Gen 17:1. Be fruitful, and multiply. Abraham and Isaac had each only one son of promise. But now the time of increase is come. Jacob has been blessed with eleven sons, and at least one daughter. And now he receives the long-promised blessing, be fruitful and multiply. From this time forth the multiplication of Israel is rapid. In twenty-six years after this time he goes down into Egypt with seventy souls, besides the wives of his married descendants, and two hundred and ten years after that Israel goes out of Egypt numbering about one million eight hundred thousand. A nation and a congregation of nations, such as were then known in the world, had at the last date come of him, and kings were to follow in due time. The land, as well as the seed, is again promised.
Jacob now, according to his wont, perpetuates the scene of divine manifestation with a monumental stone. God went up; as he went up from Abraham Gen 17:22 after a similar conferencc with him. He had now spoken to Jacob face to face, as he communed with Abraham. A pillar in the place where he talked with him, a consecrated monument of this second interview, not in a dream as before, but in a waking vision. On this he pours a drink-offering of wine, and then anoints it with oil. Here, for the first time, we meet with the libation. It is possible there was such an offering when Melkizedec brought forth bread and wine, though it is not recorded. The drink-offering is the complement of the meat-offering, and both are accompaniments of the sacrifice which is offered on the altar. They are in themselves expressive of gratitude and devotion. Wine and oil are used to denote the quickening and sanctifying power of the Spirit of God. Bethel. We are now familiar with the repetition of the naming of persons and places. This place was already called Bethel by Jacob himself; it is most likely that Abraham applied this name to it: and for aught we know, some servant of the true God, under the Noachic covenant, may have originated the name.
Gen 17:16-22.
On the journey, Rachel dies at the birth of her second son. A stretch. It was probably a few furlongs. Fear not. The cause for encouragement was that the child was born, and that it was a son. Rachels desire and hope expressed at the birth of Joseph were therefore, fulfilled Gen 30:24. When her soul was departing. This phrase expresses not annihilation, but merely change of place. It presupposes the perpetual existence of the soul. Ben-oni, son of my pain, is the natural expression of the departing Rachel. Benjamin. The right hand is the seat of power. The son of the right hand is therefore, the child of power. He gave power to his father, as he was his twelfth son, and so completed the number of the holy family. Ephrath and Beth-lehem are names the origin of which is not recorded. The pillar of Rachels grave. Jacob loves the monumental stone. Unto this day. This might have been written ten or twenty years after the event, and therefore, before Jacob left Kenaan (see on Gen 19:37). The grave of Rachel was well known in the time of Samuel 1Sa 10:2, and the Kubbet Rahil, dome or tomb of Rachel, stands perhaps on the identical spot, about an English mile north of Bethlehem.
Gen 35:21-22
Eder – The tower of the flock was probably a watch-tower where shepherds guarded their flocks by night. It was a mile (Jerome) or more south of Bethlehem. Here Reuben was guilty of the shameful deed which came to the knowledge of his father, and occasions the allusion in Gen 49:4. He was by this act degraded from his position in the holy family. The division of the open parashah in the text here is more in accordance with the sense than that of the verse.
Gen 35:22-29
Jacobs return and his fathers death. The family of Jacob is now enumerated, because it has been completed by the birth of Benjamin. In Padan-aram. This applies to all of them but Benjamin; an exception which the reader of the context can make for himself. Jacob at length arrives with his whole establishment at Hebron, the third notable station occupied by Abraham in the land Gen 13:1. Here also his father sojourns. The life of Isaac is now closed. Joseph must have been, at the time of Jacobs return, in his thirteenth year, and therefore, his father in his hundred and fourth. Isaac was consequently in his hundred and sixty-third year. He survived the return of Jacob to Hebron about seventeen years, and the sale of Joseph his grandson about thirteen. Esau and Jacob his sons buried him. Hence, we learn that Esau and Jacob continued to be on brotherly terms from the day of their meeting at the ford of Jabbok.
This chapter closes the ninth of the pieces or documents marked off by the phrase these are the generations. Its opening event was the birth of Isaac Gen 25:19, which took place in the hundreth year of Abraham, and therefore, seventy-five years before his death recorded in the seventh document. As the seventh purports to be the generations of Terah Gen 11:27 and relates to Abraham who was his offspring, so the present document, containing the generations of Isaac, refers chiefly to the sons of Isaac, and especially to Jacob, as the heir of promise. Isaac as a son learned obedience to his father in that great typical event of his life, in which he was laid on the altar, and figuratively sacrificed in the ram which was his substitute. This was the great significant passage in his life, after which he retires into comparative tranquillity.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Gen 35:1-15
God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there
Jacobs second journey to Bethel
I.
IT WAS UNDERTAKEN AT THE CALL OF GOD.
II. IT WAS ACCOMPLISHED IN THE SPIRIT OF OBEDIENCE AND CONSECRATION.
III. IT WAS ACCOMPANIED BY THE DIVINE PROTECTION.
IV. IT WAS FOLLOWED BY INCREASED SPIRITUAL BLESSING.
1. The old promises were renewed.
2. He has increased knowledge of God.
3. His religious character is purified and raised. (T. H. Leale.)
The second journey of Jacob to Bethel
I. REFRESHING OF EARLY RECOLLECTIONS.
1. Respecting this pilgrimage to Bethel, observe, first, that it was done by Divine direction–God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel. Let us not imagine that a voice spoke articulately. There were simple modes of thinking in those days; men had not learnt to philosophize on their mental operations. They strongly felt an impulse within them. They knew that it was a higher one, and in the simple poetry of thought they said, God is speaking. The voice that spoke to Jacob was the voice within him, the voice of conscience–the same voice that speaks to us.
2. Observe, secondly, Jacobs preparation for this act of remembrance. He puts away the strange gods from his household.
3. The third thing we mark here is the consecration of the place (Gen 35:1). It is not in reference to God, but for a help to our own feelings that we consecrate certain spots of earth and buildings. There are sacred places, not sacred for their own sake, but sacred to us. Where we have loved and lost, where we have gained new light and life, the church where our forefathers worshipped, the place where we first knew God–these are by instinct hallowed. Hence we are told that God met Jacob in Bethel; not that He came down from another place, for He is everywhere, but that Jacob experienced a feeling of awe, a feeling that God was then specially near to him. In this meeting of Jacob with God, there are two facts to observe.
(1) The first is that since he was last at Bethel he had increased in the knowledge of God. He knew Him then only as God, now he knows Him as the God Almighty (Gen 35:11). This is but a type of our own life; our knowledge of God must always be progressive.
(2) Another thing we perceive, that in these twenty years there had been a growth in his personal religion. Once it had been but a selfish religion–he adopted a system of barter with God; if God will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, then shall God be my God (chap. 29.). Now there is a higher step, it is gratitude; God has done it, and now God shall be his God (Gen 35:3)–a higher motive, but not the highest; he has yet to learn to serve Him, not in happiness, but in misery; to serve Him in trial, because He is God, and to learn to say simply and believingly, Thy will be done.
II. THE GATHERING OF HIS DISFORTUNES.
1. The first of these was one not so keenly felt–the death of Deborah, Rebekahs nurse. He buried her at Bethel, under an oak (Gen 35:8), and the story gives us an interesting view of the ancient relation between master and servant.
2. But Jacobs second blow was of a different kind–Rachel dies, his early and youthful passion, his beloved wife, the only one whom, with all his strength of affection, Jacob loved, and whose children were dearer for her sake to him than all the others. Even his father and fondly indulgent self-sacrificing mother he seems to have regarded with coldness. From this moment he becomes a mourner for the rest of his life; and yet we can see the infinite good of this. Jacob was a selfish, comfort-loving man; these sorrows drew him out of himself to think of something higher.
3. The last blow was the death of Isaac. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Jacobs return to Bethel
I. GOD REMINDS OF HIS BENEFACTIONS. God, that appeared to thee, &c.
1. An incident of the past brought to mind.
2. The place of future dwelling indicated.
3. Continual worship required for continued favours. The altar should not be absent from the home.
II. THE BENEFACTORS WILL OBEYED (Gen 35:2-3).
1. An immediate response. Then.
2. A proposal for preparation. Put away–wrong thoughts, desires, purposes, practices.
3. A summons to Divine service. Self-devotion first, then concern for all whom we can influence.
III. THE BENEFACTORS GOODNESS ACKNOWLEDGED.
1. He declared Gods supremacy.
2. He owned Gods kindness.
3. He realized Gods presence. (M. Braithwaite.)
Lessons from the life of Jacob
I. EVERY SPIRITUAL HISTORY HAS ITS SPECIAL PLACES, WHERE MEMORY LOVES TO LINGER, AND WHERE SPIRITUAL POWER PERTAINS.
II. SPECIAL MERCIES DEMAND SPECIAL REMEMBRANCE.
III. THE TEXT MAY BE APPLIED TO A DEVOUT REMEMBRANCE OF THE TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF OUR EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE.
1. Diligence in searching the Scriptures.
2. Fervour of private prayer and devotion.
3. Careful cultivation of the public means of grace.
4. Ardour of Christian zeal and work. The strong man grows stronger by exercise, so the robust Christian is always an active one.
IV. BETHEL WAS THE SCENE OF VOWS WHICH HAD BEEN PARTIALLY NEGLECTED AND FORGOTTEN. Prosperity has turned more heads than Jacobs.
V. DWELL THERE. A picture of a man of activity and business retiring to spend the leisure of age amidst the contemplations of religion and the memories of its power. (G. Deane, B. Sc.)
Jacob sent to Bethel
I. GODS COMMAND TO WORSHIP.
1. This intimates that God places man in the most favourable circumstances to obey His commandments.
2. It intimates the employment of mans highest and noblest faculties.
3. It implies the necessity of having the consciousness of Gods presence.
4. It suggests the spirit of entire dependence upon God.
II. THE NECESSARY PREPARATION TO OBEY THIS COMMAND.
1. A willing heart.
2. A determination to have all obstacles removed.
3. A sincere love for the pure.
III. THE RESULT OF POSSESSING A WORSHIPPING SPIRIT.
1. A manifestation of Divine power.
2. Safety in the midst of foes. (Homilist.)
Forgetfulness of Gods goodness
I. HERE IS A REFERENCE TO JACOBS PAST EXPERIENCE OF JEHOVAHS KINDNESS. The God that appeared to thee.
1. His fleeing from the wrath of an enraged brother.
2. The manifestation of God to him as his Friend.
3. His consecration of himself to God.
II. HERE IS A CALL FOR GRATITUDE TO GOD FOR HIS PAST KINDNESS. Arise, and go to Bethel.
1. God was peculiarly kind to Jacob. He had given him more than he asked–two wives, ten children, and large possessions (chaps. 29., 30., 31.).
2. God had subdued the anger of his brother, even though Esau had kept it up twenty years.
3. Jacob returned to his own country, but forgot his vow. He settles down for eight years before he visits Bethel, and not then until visited by a domestic affliction, and God thereby reminded him of his neglected duties; then he and his household went up to Bethel, and paid his vows, and had a renewed instance of Gods favour.
III. HERE LEARN A LESSON OF GRATITUDE TO THE GOD OF ALL YOUR MERCIES. For this is recorded for that purpose.
1. How many mercies have you to be thankful for! Not only common, but special mercies.
2. Many a place has been a Bethel to the Christians soul.
3. Think of your vows and resolutions, and carry them out, and you will have renewed seasons of enjoyment, and fresh instances of the Divine favour. (The Evangelical Preacher.)
The forgotten vow
I. THE VOW MADE.
II. THE VOW FORGOTTEN. A common occurrence.
III. THE VOW CALLED TO REMEMBRANCE.
1. The Lord is never at a loss for means in order that His ends may be gained.
2. Mark the way in which He acts here.
(1) First a gentle hint–Arise, go to Bethel.
(2) Then the command, and make there an altar.
3. Has not the Lord brought your vows to your remembrance?
(1) Failure.
(2) Sickness.
(3) Conscience.
IV. THE VOW PAID.
Lessons
1. How soon the influences of the most impressive scenes may pass away.
2. Gods forbearance when the performing of the vow is so long delayed.
3. By acting rightly ourselves, we influence others.
4. Bethel was to Jacob the house of God, and he went there. So it is right for you, in a particular place and in a marked manner, to perform your vow. (A. F. Barfield.)
Jacob returning to Bethel
I. JACOB WAS NOW IN A MOURNFUL STATE OF MIND, AND YET A VERY COMMON ONE.
1. Forgotten mercies.
2. Forgotten vows.
II. Let us look now at THE COMMAND GIVEN TO JACOB IN HIS FORGETFULNESS.
1. The Lord remembers our promises and vows.
2. The Lord often reminds His people of their forgotten mercies and vows. He did so in this case again and again.
III. We come now to our third point–THE OBEDIENCE THE PATRIARCH RENDERED TO THE DIVINE COMMAND.
1. Here is something to surprise us. There were strange gods, we find, in the house of Jacob at this time; yes, idols in the house of almost the only man in the world who worshipped the true God; and he knew they were there, and tolerated them. Well may we ask, how was this? We must go back for an answer. The Rachel whom he so tenderly loved, and for whom he had so patiently waited and laboured, was an amiable and affectionate woman; but she wanted one thing, and that one thing was a decided love for the Lord God of Israel. She had been brought up in an idolatrous country, and she herself was half an idolater. Accordingly, when he married her, he introduced a worshipper of false gods into his house; she had her secret idols, and she brought them with her. Here began, perhaps, Jacobs own forgetfulness of God, and here undoubtedly began much of the ungodliness and wretchedness of his children. Shall I say that we may learn here the vast importance of the connections which we form in the days of our youth? that there is a loud warning given here to the pious young never to let their affections wind round one who does not plainly and decidedly love the Lord? to let the heart break rather than give the heart to an idolater? I had rather speak to men like this patriarch, men who have households, children, and servants. I would say to them, Dear brethren, look through your houses and ask, Are there no idols here? Is there nothing here that takes Gods place in our hearts or our childrens? Is there nothing here that is opposed to Gods will and law, and tends to Gods dishonour? Bad books, bad company, dangerous amusements, practices which the world does not condemn nor even some of those who profess to live above the world, but such as will not bear the trial of Scripture for one moment, such as you would see the evil of in a moment did they not in some way or other fall in with your taste or interest–these are all idols; these will lead to irreligion and ungodliness in your houses: these will bring down on you Gods displeasure and judgments. Mischief will rise up in your families from these things, and through your families God will smite you for them.
2. There is something also here to instruct us. It is the promptitude and decision of the patriarchs obedience. (J. Bradley, M. A.)
A call to religious observances
I. JACOB CALLED TO SERIOUS CONSIDERATION. Bethel was forgotten. How often is it forgotten by us! Time wears out the impressions of mercies received. Afflictions come upon us, public calamities, and the approach even of pestilence; we are alarmed and distracted, but we never think of our vow, and of raising our altar, and beginning a thorough, speedy downright conversion to God as the God of mercies. Brethren, we should often turn back the book of our lives. We are fond of reading many books, but no book would be so profitable as the book of our past history.
II. THE PROMPT OBEDIENCE TO THE DIVINE ADMONITION WHICH JACOB RENDERED. The pious man, the conscientious master of a house, loses no time when Providence concurs with his own conviction of duty, in rousing him to religion, and in reminding him of his past neglects and family derelictions; and, therefore, we find Jacob addressing his household, and all that were with him, thus: Put away the strange gods, &c.
1. Jacob addresses his household as one who well knew that he was answerable to God for it.
2. He exhorts them to put away the strange gods that were among them. Alas! idols will enter the best family, in spite of Jacob, because they are the creatures of the human heart, and they regard not Jacobs prohibition. Therefore, when providences are moving, when conscience is awakened, when every heart trembles, then Jacob must say to his family–and every head of a family, every master, every parent, must say unto his household–Put away the strange gods that are among you. For whatever takesthe place in our heart of the Lord God, is a strange god and an idol; whatever takes the place of Gods name is an idol; whatever takes the place of Gods revelation, Gods truth, is an idol. A strange god! Covetousness, which is idolatry. A strange god! The world is the strange god of the worldly-minded. Talents, beauty of person, dress, pleasure, are the strange gods of the young.
3. But besides putting away their strange gods, Jacob called his family to purity of heart. Be clean, and change your garments.
4. Family prayer. The preceding led up to this.
(1) Scriptural exhortations to this duty.
(2) But, further, family prayer comes under the promise, Where two or three are met together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.
(3) The third argument is, the example of the saints in every age.
(4) But the fourth argument is, that family prayer, like social, rests on the nature of man. We are destined to live in society, and are bound together by mutual wants and sympathies; and, therefore, mans religion, like his nature, must be social.
(5) Once more, the duties of the head of a household towards his family cannot be discharged without its observance. You wish to train up your children in the fear of the Lord; but is it possible to do so while you neglect to afford them an example of what you wish them to practice. (D. Wilson, M. A.)
At Bethel again
I. THY ADMONITION FROM GOD. How common a fault it is, to put off some religions duty to what we think a more convenient season! Then, oftentimes, God reminds us by some affliction–some loss–some calamity–of our want of earnestness, and bids us do what we had long left undone in His service.
II. THE PURIFICATION OF JACOBS HOUSEHOLD.
1. The strange gods were to be given up and put away.
2. They were, moreover, to cleanse themselves and to change their clothes. Outward signs of inward consecration and cleansing.
III. THE FULFILMENT OF JACOBS VOW.
IV. THE RENEWAL OF GODS PROMISE.
1. God reminds Jacob of his recent change of name.
2. God reminds Jacob of His own Almighty power.
3. God renews the Abrahamic promise in its threefold form of–
(1). An on reaching blessing;
(2) A promised numerous seed;
(3)A promised possession of the land. (W. S. Smith, B. D.)
Family reformation; or, Jacobs second visit to Bethel
There are critical times in mast families; times when much decision of character will be needed on the part of the father to guide things aright. Even the heathen outside began to smell the ill savour of Jacobs disorganized family, and the one alternative was–mend or end. If you notice, Jacob himself was in a bad way. His business was to remain in Canaan a mere sojourner, dwelling in tents, not one of the people, but moving about among them, testifying that he looked for a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. He expected to inherit the land, but, for the time being, he was to be a stranger and a sojourner, as his fathers Abraham and Isaac had been. Yet at Succoth we read that he built booths–scarcely houses, I suppose, but more than tents. It was a compromise, and a compromise is often worse than a direct and overt disobedience of command. He dares not erect a house, but he builds a booth and thus shows his desire for a settled life; and though it is not ours to judge the purchase of land at Shechem, still it looks in the same direction. Jacob is endeavouring to find a resting-place where Abraham and Isaac had none. I will not speak too positively, but the patriarchs acts look as if he desired to find a house for himself, where he might rest and be on familiar terms with the inhabitants of the land. Now the Lord his God would not have it so. Children of God cannot mix with the world without mischief. The world does hurt to us and we to it when once be begin to be of the world and like it. It is an ill-assorted match. Fire and water were never meant to be blended. The seed of the woman must not mix with the seed of the serpent. A stand must be made. Something behoves to be done, and Jacob must do it. The Lord comes in, and He speaks with Jacob, and since the good mans heart was sound towards Gods statutes, the Lord had only to speak to him and he obeyed. He was pulled up short, and made to look at things, and set his house in order, and he did so with that resolution of character which comes out in Jacob when he is brought into a strait, but which at other times is not perceptible.
I. First, then, WHAT WAS TO BE DONE?
1. The first thing to do was to make a decided move. God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there. You must hasten away from Shechem, with its fertile plains, and make a mountain journey up to Bethel, and dwell there. You have been long enough near these Shechemites; mischief has come from your being so intimate with the world. You must cut a trench between yourselves and the associations you have formed, and you must go up to Bethel and remain there awhile. Every now and then we shall find it necessary to say to ourselves and to our family, We must come out from among worldlings, we must be separate. We are forming connections which are injurious to us, and we must snap the deceitful bonds.
2. Now they must revive old memories. 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. A revival of old memories is often most useful to us, especially to revive the memory of our conversion. Then you must come back to your first hours of communion. Where you lost your joy you will find it, for it remains where you left it. Then go back mourning and sighing to Bethel, and pray that the old feelings may be revived in you.
3. But now, again, Jacob must keep an old vow. I do not quite remember how many years old that vow was, but I suppose some thirty or so; yet he had not kept it. Be very slow to make vows, brethren–very slow. They should be but very seldom presented, because all that you can do for God you are bound to do as it is; and a vow is often a superfluity of superstition. But if the vow be made, let it not wait beyond its time, and complain of thee to thy God. An old and forgotten vow will rot and breed most solemn discomfort to thy heart; at first it will gnaw at thy conscience, and if thy conscience at last grows hardened to it, others of thy powers will suffer the same petrifying process. Moreover, a vow forgotten will bring chastisement on thee, and perhaps the rod will fall upon thy family.
4. It appeared to Jacob, next, that if he was to fulfil his vow, it was necessary to reform his whole house; for he could not serve the Lord and worship other gods. He said to all that were with him–to his sons first, and then to his hired servants and the rest–Put away the strange gods that are among you. Yes, it must come to that. If I am to get back to my old position with God I must break my idols. And then next he said, Be clean. There was to be, I suppose, a general washing, indicative of purgation of character by going to God with repentance and seeking forgiveness. Jacob also said, Change your garments. This was symbolic of an entire renewal of life, though I fear me they were not all renewed. At any rate this is what was symbolized by Change your garments. Alas, it is easier to say this to our families than it is to get them to do it. And do we wonder? Since it is so much easier for ourselves to say than it is for ourselves to do. Yet, beloved, if your walk is to be close with God, if you are to commune with the God of Bethel, you must be cleansed.
5. Well, then, the next and last thing which they were to do was to celebrate special worship. 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. When we get wrong and feel that there must be a decided change, we must set apart special times of devotion. Family prayer is the nutriment of family piety, and woe to those who allow it to cease. I read the other day of parents who said they could not have family prayer, and one asked this question: If you knew that your children would be sick through the neglect of family prayer, would you not have it? If one child was smitten down with fever each morning that you neglected prayer, how then? Oh, then they would have it. And if there was a law that you should be fined five shillings if you did not meet for prayer, would you find time for it? Yes. And if there were five pounds given to all who had family prayer, would you not by some means arrange to have it? Yes. And so the inquirer went on with many questions, and wound up with this: Then it is but an idle excuse when you, who profess to be servants of God, say that you have no time or opportunity for family prayer! Should idle excuses rob God of His worship and our families of a blessing? Begin to pray in your families, and especially if things have gone wrong get them right by drawing near to God more distinctly.
II. And now I come to my second point–WHAT HAPPENED IN THE DOING OF IT? Well, several things happened, and one or two of those were rather surprising.
1. The first was that all heartily entered into the reforming work. I am sure they did, because the fourth verse says, They gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hands–all of them–and all their earrings which were in their ears. He had not said anything about their earrings. Was there any hurt in their earrings? For a woman to wear an earring is not such a dreadful thing, is it? Perhaps not, but I suppose that these earrings were charms, and that they were used in certain incantations, and heathenish customs. Now, as soon as Jacob speaks they all give up their idols and their earrings. I like this. It is a blessed thing when a man of God takes a stand, and speaks, and finds that his family are all ready to follow. Perhaps it was the fear that was upon them just then, the fear of the nations round about which made them so obedient. I am not sure it was a work of grace; but still, as far as outward appearance went, there was a willing giving up of all that could have grieved the Lord. And you will sometimes be pleased, Christian friends, when things get wrong and you determine to set them right, to see how others will yield to your determination. You ought to take courage from this.
2. Another circumstance happened, namely, that protection was afforded him, immediate and complete. 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. When a mans ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him; and now that Jacob has determined to set things right he walks unharmed. You do not know how much of personal trouble which you are now bearing will vanish as soon as you determine to stand out for God. You do not know how much of family difficulty that now covers you with dread will vanish when you yourself have feared the Lord, and have come forth decidedly and determinedly to do the right.
3. In the next place the vow was performed. They came to Bethel, and I can almost picture the grateful delight of Jacob as he looked upon those great stones among which he had lain him down to sleep, a lonely man. He thought of the past, rejoiced in the present, and hoped for the future, for now he had come to be with God and to draw near to Him.
4. But what else happened? Why, now there came a death and a funeral. Deborah, Rebekahs nurse, died. Her name means a bee. And we have had old nurses ourselves, have we not, who have been like busy bees in our household. The good nurse died when they seemed to want her most, but it was better for her to die then than that she should have departed when Dinahs shame and Simeons crime had made the household dark. It was better that she should live to see them purged from idols and on the road to her old master Isaac, for then she would feel as if she could say, Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation. The moral of the incident is that the Lord may heat the fire all the more when He sees the refining process going on, and we must receive the further trial as a token of love and not of anger if He smites us heavily when we are honestly endeavouring to seek His face.
III. Now we close with the third head, namely, WHAT FOLLOWED THEREON. All this putting away of idols and going to Bethel–did anything come of it? Yes.
1. First, there was a new appearance of God. Read the ninth verse. And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram, and blessed him: this was a new appearance of God. It is worth while to have been purged and cleansed, and to have done anything to be favoured with one of those Divine visits in which we almost cry with Paul, Whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell: God knoweth. A clear view of God in Christ Jesus and a vivid sense of Jesus love is a sweet reward for broken idols and Bethel reformations.
2. The next thing that came of it was a confirmation to Jacob of his title of prince, which conferred a dignity on the whole family. For a father to be a prince ennobles all the clan. God now puts upon them another dignity and nobility which they had not known before, for a holy people are a noble people. You that live in Gods presence are in the peerage of the skies. Such honour have all the saints who follow the Lord fully. God help us to keep close to Jesus, and enjoy daily communion with Him.
3. And then, next, there was given to Jacob and his family a vast promise, which was, in some degree, an enlargement of a promise made to Isaac and to Abraham before. 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. I do not remember anything said to Abraham about a company of nations, or about kings coming out of his loins, but out of the loins of Israel, a prince, princes may come. God puts upon His promise a certain freshness of vastness and infinity now that Jacob has drawn near to Him. Brethren, God will give us no new promise, but He will make the old promises look wondrously new. He will enlarge our vision so that we shall see what we never saw before. Have you ever had a painting which hung neglected in, some back room? Did it one day strike you that you would have it framed and brought into a good light? When you saw it properly hung on the wall did you not exclaim, Dear me! I never noticed that picture before. How wonderfully it has come out? And many and many a promise in Gods Word will never be noticed by you till it is set in a new frame of experience. Then, when it is hung up before you, you will be lost in admiration of it.
4. I will not detain you except to say that you may also expect very familiar communion. Notice the thirteenth verse, God went up from him in the place where He talked with him. Talked with him! Talked with him! It is such a familiar word. God talking with man. We say conversing when we are speaking in a dignified manner; but talking! Oh that blessed condescension of God when He speaks to us in the familiar tones of His great love in Christ Jesus. There is a way of converse with God which no tongue can explain: they only know it who have enjoyed it. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
The revival
1. Observe, a season of prosperity is too frequently a season of religious decline. The religion of the Gospel, though it is a scheme of mercy, is a system of discipline. An undisturbed enjoyment of the goods of this world has, at the best, a sensualizing tendency. Now it is in these circumstances of repose–of gradual yielding to allowed indulgence–of lethargic sinking into spiritual self-complacency and inactivity, that men are apt to forget the vows of their distress, and, even within the sphere of their own influence and authority, to suffer sin around them without marking it with that holy indignation with which, at one time, it would have been reprobated and discountenanced. Without meaning to justify any thing decidedly wrong, the declining Christian, from the consciousness of his own listless and unprosperous state, and from a false application of the very principle of justice, deals more leniently with the faults of those around him than he would have done formerly, and remains silent when he ought to administer reproof. In the midst of comforts and indulgence we lose something of that holy jealousy, circumspection and activity, to which the heavy pressure of affliction and temptation had given birth.
2. But observe that God will not suffer His people to sink habitually into this state of spiritual sloth. He will, in His own time, deal strictly and retributively with the true Israel. We see this in the case of Jacob. Painful and humiliating as was the visitation to which he was exposed, yet the whole evil might easily be traced to one source. The disgrace of his daughter, the fraud and cruelty of his sons, the dishonour and danger of his whole family, and the stain brought upon the cause of God and truth, might be all fairly attributed to his incautious sojourning among an unenlightened and careless people, at a time when he should have hastened to Bethel for the performance of his vow. The more we are enabled to look into the history of individual Christians, the more we shall find that their respected afflictions are especially calculated to correct the prevailing evil of their characters; and that they may be traced to close connection with some of their prominent moral defects. The naturally proud man is frequently touched in the very core of his pride. The covetous man is often annoyed by worldly anxieties and losses. Still even the afflictions which are permitted to arise out of a Christians errors have a merciful intention. Their specific object is the more ample sanctification of his soul and body. They are to work out for him the peaceable fruits of righteousness.
3. But observe, that when God really calls a man to a review, and a cleansing of his ways, He makes him serious and in earnest. Any attempts at reformation which originate in merely human effort, are in their extent partial, and in their duration transitory. And it is indeed a beautiful sight when we see the soul of a sincere Christian thoroughly awakened by the dispensations of providence, and by the quickening power of the Spirit of grace, to renewed devotion and activity for God. When the command comes with power into the soul, Arise, and go up to Bethel, then there is no more parleying, delaying, or excuse. The same spirit is shown in the conduct of Jacob. He appears at once to have been roused to aim strenuously at the revival of religion both in himself and his family; and he addresses himself without delay to the confession of his neglect, to the performance of his duty, and to a close inspection into the state of his household, that they also, in whatsoever thing they had sinned against the Lord, should be thoroughly reformed and corrected. Such a work of revival is the work of God; and wherever it occurs, it will be marked by certain characteristics which cannot easily be mistaken; for they savour too strongly of that heaven from whence alone grace and holiness flow, to be fairly attributed to any other source. The call of God to renewed devotion produces a sincere surrender of all idolatrous attachments, either to the things or the persons of this world. Put away your strange gods. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods that were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them in the oak which was Shechem. The call of God produces a cessation from all impurity of the flesh and of the spirit. The reviving call of God will appear in an honest endeavour to repair those breaches which negligence has made, and to remedy by greater effort the evil of time wasted, opportunities lost, evil habits acquired and strengthened, and vows unpaid. 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. The call of God to a revival of religion will appear in a renewed and faithful application, in the means of grace, to God, as a reconciled and covenant God; and this one of the most prominent features–one of the most satisfactory indications of a sincere revival of religious hope and devotion. Again; a sincere revival of religious influence in the heart leads to renewed endeavours to produce a gracious change in those connections over whom we have any influence. It is not sufficient to a gracious spirit to serve God alone. If we feel His love, and value His salvation, we shall be anxious for others–both for the honour of God, and for their eternal welfare. The unfailing mercy of the Lord extended yet farther; for we observe that when the humbled and penitent patriarch presented himself at last at Bethel, and built his promised altar there, God appeared unto him again, in unchanging faithfulness and grace, and blessed him, and renewed with him there His covenant and His promise. The subject addresses itself especially to one class of hearers–to those who, by experience, can sympathize with Jacob in this part of his history. It speaks to those who have felt the powers of the world to come, and tasted of the heavenly gift. (E Craig.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XXXV
Jacob is commanded of God to go to Beth-el, and to build
an altar there, 1.
His exhortation to his family to put away all strange
gods, c., 2, 3.
They deliver them all up, and Jacob hides them in the
earth, 4.
They commence their journey, 5
come to Luz, 6;
build there the altar El-beth-el, 7.
Burial place of Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, 8.
God appears again unto Jacob, 9.
Blesses him and renews the promises, 10-13.
To commemorate this manifestation of God, Jacob sets up
a pillar, and calls the place Beth-el, 14, 15.
They journey to Ephrath, where Rachel, after hard labour,
is delivered of Benjamin, and dies, 16-19.
Jacob sets up a pillar on her grave, 20.
They journey to Edar, 21.
While at this place, Reuben defiles his father’s bed, 22.
Account of the children of Jacob, according to the mothers,
23-26.
Jacob comes to Mamre to his father Isaac, who was probably
then in the one hundred and fifty-eighth year of his age, 27.
Isaac dies, and is buried by his sons Esau and Jacob, 29.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXXV
Verse 1. Arise, go up to Beth-el] The transaction that had lately taken place rendered it unsafe for Jacob to dwell any longer at the city of Shechem; and it seems that while he was reflecting on the horrible act of Simeon and Levi, and not knowing what to do, God graciously appeared to him, and commanded him to go up to Beth-el, build an altar there, and thus perform the vow he had made, Ge 28:20; Ge 28:22.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This was a word in season to comfort his disquieted mind, and convey him to a safer place. Understand, and pay thy vows there made in the time of thy distress, but not yet paid; whether it was Jacob’s error to forget and neglect his former vows and promises; or whether he waited for a fit time, or an admonition from God concerning the season of paying them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. God said unto Jacob, Arise,c.This command was given seasonably in point of time and tenderlyin respect of language. The disgraceful and perilous events that hadrecently taken place in the patriarch’s family must have produced inhim a strong desire to remove without delay from the vicinity ofShechem. Borne down by an overwhelming sense of the criminality ofhis two sonsof the offense they had given to God and the dishonorthey had brought on the true faith distracted, too, with anxietyabout the probable consequences which their outrage might bring uponhimself and family, should the Canaanite people combine to extirpatesuch a band of robbers and murderers; he must have felt this call asaffording a great relief to his afflicted feelings. At the same timeit conveyed a tender rebuke.
go up to Beth-elBeth-elwas about thirty miles south of Shechem and was an ascent from a lowto a highland country. There, he would not only be released from thepainful associations of the latter place but be established on a spotthat would revive the most delightful and sublime recollections. Thepleasure of revisiting it, however, was not altogether unalloyed.
make there an altar unto God,that appearedIt too frequently happens that early impressionsare effaced through lapse of time, that promises made in seasons ofdistress, are forgotten; or, if remembered on the return of healthand prosperity, there is not the same alacrity and sense ofobligation felt to fulfil them. Jacob was lying under that charge. Hehad fallen into spiritual indolence. It was now eight or ten yearssince his return to Canaan. He had effected a comfortable settlementand had acknowledged the divine mercies, by which that return andsettlement had been signally distinguished (compare Ge33:19). But for some unrecorded reason, his early vow at Beth-el[Ge 28:20-22], in agreat crisis of his life, remained unperformed. The Lord appeared nowto remind him of his neglected duty, in terms, however, so mild, asawakened less the memory of his fault, than of the kindness of hisheavenly Guardian; and how much Jacob felt the touching nature of theappeal to that memorable scene at Beth-el, appears in the immediatepreparations he made to arise and go up thither (Ps66:13).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And God said unto Jacob,…. When he was in great distress, on account of the slaughter of the Shechemites by his sons, not knowing what step to take, or course to steer for the safety of him and his family; then God, for his comfort and direction, appeared and spoke to him, either in a dream or vision, or by an impulse on his mind, or by an articulate voice: perhaps this was the Son of God, the second Person, who might appear in an human form, as he often did; since he afterwards speaks of God as of another divine Person, distinct from him, even his divine Father:
arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there; which is said to be twenty eight miles from Shechem r; hither he is bid to go in haste, and where, it is suggested, he would be safe, and where it would be right and proper for him to dwell awhile:
and make there an altar to God; and offer sacrifice to him, praise him for salvation and deliverance wrought, pray to him for present and future mercies that were needful, and pay the vows he had there made, even to that God,
that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother; who, resenting his getting the birthright and blessing from him, threatened to kill him; which obliged him to flee from his father’s house, and go into Mesopotamia, and in his way thither God appeared to him, at the place called by him from thence Bethel, and gave him many precious promises; and Jacob there made a solemn vow, that if God would be with him, and keep him, and give him food and raiment, and return him to his father’s house, the pillar that was then and there set up should be God’s house, as well as he should be his God. Jacob had now been nine or ten years in the land of Canaan, and had all done for him he desired, and much more abundantly, and yet had not been at Bethel to make good his vow, either through forgetfulness or neglect; and therefore, as Jarchi thinks, was chastised for it in the affair of Dinah; or rather, for one can hardly think so good a man could forget, or would wilfully neglect such a vow as this, that he wanted opportunity of going thither, or waited for a divine order, and now he had both, which he readily embraced.
r Bunting’s Travels, p. 72.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Journey to Bethel. – Jacob had allowed ten years to pass since his return from Mesopotamia, without performing the vow which he made at Bethel when fleeing from Esau (Gen 28:20.), although he had recalled it to mind when resolving to return (Gen 31:13), and had also erected an altar in Shechem to the “God of Israel” (Gen 33:20). He was now directed by God (Gen 35:1) to go to Bethel, and there build an altar to the God who had appeared to him on his flight from Esau. This command stirred him up to perform what had been neglected, viz., to put away from his house the strange gods, which he had tolerated in weak consideration for his wives, and which had no doubt occasioned the long neglect, and to pay to God the vow that he had made in the day of his trouble. He therefore commanded his house (Gen 35:2, Gen 35:3), i.e., his wives and children, and “ all that were with him, ” i.e., his men and maid-servants, to put away the strange gods, to purify themselves, and wash their clothes. He also buried “all the strange gods,” i.e., Rachel’s teraphim (Gen 31:19), and whatever other idols there were, with the earrings which were worn as amulets and charms, “ under the terebinth at Shechem, ” probably the very tree under which Abraham once pitched his tent (Gen 12:6), and which was regarded as a sacred place in Joshua’s time (vid., Jos 24:26, though the pointing is there). The burial of the idols was followed by purification through the washing of the body, as a sign of the purification of the heart from the defilement of idolatry, and by the putting on of clean and festal clothes, as a symbol of the sanctification and elevation of the heart to the Lord (Jos 24:23). This decided turning to the Lord was immediately followed by the blessing of God. When they left Shechem a “ terror of God, ” i.e., a supernatural terror, “ came upon the cities round about, ” so that they did not venture to pursue the sons of Jacob on account of the cruelty of Simeon and Levi (Gen 35:5). Having safely arrived in Bethel, Jacob built an altar, which he called El Bethel (God of Bethel) in remembrance of the manifestation of God on His flight from Esau.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Jacob Summoned to Bethel; Jacob’s Journeys towards Bethel. | B. C. 1732. |
1 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth-el, 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 Beth-el; 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.
Here, I. God reminds Jacob of his vow at Beth-el, and sends him thither to perform it, v. 1. Jacob had said in the day of his distress, If I come again in peace, this stone shall be God’s house, ch. xxviii. 22. God had performed his part of the bargain, and had given Jacob more than bread to eat and raiment to put on–he had got an estate, and had become two bands; but, it should seem, he had forgotten his vow, or at least had too long deferred the performance of it. Seven or eight years it was now since he came to Canaan; he had purchased ground there, and had built an altar in remembrance of God’s last appearance to him when he called him Israel (Gen 33:19; Gen 33:20); but still Beth-el is forgotten. Note, Time is apt to wear out the sense of mercies and the impressions made upon us by them; it should not be so, but so it is. God had exercised Jacob with a very sore affliction in his family (ch. xxxiv.), to see if this would bring his vow to his remembrance, and put him upon the performance of it, but it had not this effect; therefore God comes himself and puts him in mind of it: Arise, go to Beth-el. Note, 1. As many as God loves he will remind of neglected duties, one way or other, by conscience or by providences. 2. When we have vowed a vow to God, it is best not to defer the payment of it (Eccles. v. 4), yet better late than never. God bade him go to Beth-el and dwell there, that is, not only go himself, but take his family with him, that they might join with him in his devotions. Note, In Beth-el, the house of God, we should desire to dwell, Ps. xxvii. 4. That should be our home, not our inn. God reminds him not expressly of his vow, but of the occasion of it: When thou fleddest from the face of Esau. Note, The remembrance of former afflictions should bring to mind the workings of our souls under them, Psa 66:13; Psa 66:14.
II. Jacob commands his household to prepare for this solemnity; not only for the journey and remove, but for the religious services that were to be performed, Gen 35:2; Gen 35:3. Note, 1. Before solemn ordinances, there must be solemn preparation. Wash you, make you clean, and then come, and let us reason together, Isa. i. 16-18. 2. Masters of families should use their authority for the promoting of religion in their families. Not only we, but our houses also, should serve the Lord, Josh. xxiv. 15. Observe the commands he gives his household, like Abraham, ch. xviii. 19. (1.) They must put away the strange gods. Strange gods in Jacob’s family! Strange things indeed! Could such a family, that was taught the good knowledge of the Lord, admit them? Could such a master, to whom God had appeared twice, and oftener, connive at them? Doubtless this was his infirmity. Note, Those that are good themselves cannot always have those about them so good as they should be. In those families where there is a face of religion, and an altar to God, yet many times there is much amiss, and more strange gods than one would suspect. In Jacob’s family, Rachel had her teraphim, which, it is to be feared, she secretly made some superstitious use of. The captives of Shechem brought their gods along with them, and perhaps Jacob’s sons took some with the plunder. However they came by them, now they must put them away. (2.) They must be clean, and change their garments; they must observe a due decorum, and make the best appearance they could. Simeon and Levi had their hands full of blood, it concerned them particularly to wash, and to put off their garments that were so stained. These were but ceremonies, signifying the purification and change of the heart. What are clean clothes, and new clothes, without a clean heart, and a new heart? Dr. Lightfoot, by their being clean, or washing themselves, understands Jacob’s admission of the proselytes of Shechem and Syria into his religion by baptism, because circumcision had become odious. 3. They must go with him to Beth-el, v. 3. Note, Masters of families, when they go up to the house of God, should bring their families with them.
III. His family surrendered all they had that was idolatrous or superstitious, v. 4. Perhaps, if Jacob had called for them sooner, they would sooner have parted with them, being convicted by their own consciences of the vanity of them. Note, Sometimes attempts for reformation succeed better than one could have expected, and people are not so obstinate against them as we feared. Jacob’s servants, and even the retainers of his family, gave him all the strange gods, and the ear-rings they wore, either as charms or to the honour of their gods; they parted with all. Note, Reformation is not sincere if it be not universal. We hope they parted with them cheerfully, and without reluctance, as Ephraim did, when he said, What have I to do any more with idols? (Hos. xiv. 8), or that people that said to their idols, Get you hence, Isa. xxx. 22. Jacob took care to bury their images, we may suppose in some place unknown to them, that they might not afterwards find them and return to them. Note, We must be wholly separated from our sins, as we are from those that are dead and buried out of our sight, cast them to the moles and the bats, Isa. ii. 20.
IV. He removes without molestation from Shechem to Bethel, v. 5. The terror of God was upon the cities. Though the Canaanites were much exasperated against the sons of Jacob for their barbarous usage of the Shechemites, yet they were so restrained by a divine power that they could not take this fair opportunity, which now offered itself, when they were upon their march, to avenge their neighbours’ quarrel. Note, The way of duty is the way of safety. While there was sin in Jacob’s house, he was afraid of his neighbours; but now that the strange gods were put away, and they were all going together to Bethel, his neighbours were afraid of him. When we are about God’s work, we are under special protection. God is with us, while we are with him; and, if he be for us, who can be against us? See Exod. xxxiv. 24, No man shall desire thy land, when thou goest up to appear before the Lord. God governs the world more by secret terrors on men’s minds than we are aware of.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
GENESIS – CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Verses 1-5:
The terrible crime at Shechem produced an undesigned blessing to Jacob. It was clearly impossible for him and his family to remain at the scene of the treachery and cruelty of Simeon and Levi. The consternation Jacob felt became a means which caused him to listen to the voice of Elohim, calling him to return to Beth-el, as he had long ago vowed. This illustrates the principle, that tragedy may be used of God to accomplish His will in His child.
Jacob at this point asserted the authority he should have affirmed years before. He demanded of his entire family that they put away all “strange gods” from among them. This included the teraphim Rachel had stolen from Laban, as well as other objects of idolatrous worship either brought from Haran or acquired after moving to Canaan, or those possessed by the captives. They were to purify themselves ceremonially, through some form of ablution. Even the garments were to be changed, symbolizing a complete moral purification of mind and heart. These activities were similar to those later incorporated into Israel’s law (Nu 19:11, 12; Le 14:4; 15:13; Ex 19:10).
Jacob’s family must now go to Beth-el, where he would erect an altar to Elohim. In preparation the family surrendered all idolatrous artifacts. This included jewelry used’ for purposes of idolatrous worship. Earrings were often covered with words and figures supposedly endowed with supernatural virtue (Jg 8:24; Isa 3:20; Ho 2:13). The text implies that Jacob then destroyed all these artifacts, and buried them under a specific tree near Shechem, which was a landmark familiar to those who then lived. It may have been the same tree by which Abraham pitched his tent, (Ge 12:6) on arriving in that country.
When Jacob cleared his conscience, cleansed himself and his house from the trappings of idolatry, and became obedient to God’s direction, God responded by granting protection from his enemies. He inspired a supernatural dread in the city-states of that region, so that none dared pursue after Jacob as might have been expected.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. And God said unto Jacob. Moses relates that when Jacob had been reduced to the last extremity, God came to his help in the right time, and as at the critical juncture. And thus he shows, in the person of one man, that God never deserts his Church which he has once embraced, but will procure its salvation. We must, however, observe the order of his procedure; for God did not immediately appear to his servant, but suffered him first to be tormented by grief and excessive cares, that he might learn patience, deferring his consolation to the time of extreme necessity. Certainly the condition of Jacob was then most miserable. For all, on every side, might be so incensed against him that he would be surrounded with as many deaths as there were neighboring nations: and he was not so stupid as to be insensible of his danger. God suffered the holy man to be thus tossed with cares and tormented with troubles, until, by a kind of resurrection, he restored him, as one half-dead. Whenever we read this and similar passages, let us reflect that the providence of God watches for our salvation, even when it most seems to sleep. Moses does not say how long Jacob was kept in anxiety, but we may infer from the context, that he had been very greatly perplexed, when the Lord thus revived him. Moreover, we must observe that the principal medicine by which he was restored, was contained in the expression, The Lord spoke. Why did not God by a miracle translate him to some other place, and thus immediately remove him from all danger? Why did he not even, without a word, stretch out the hand over him, and repress the ferocity of all, so that no one should attempt to hurt him? But Moses does not insist upon this point in vain. For hereby we are taught whence our greatest consolation in our afflictions is to be sought; and also, that it is the principal business of our life, to depend upon the word of God, as those who are certainly persuaded that, when he has promised salvation, he will deal well with us, so that we need not hesitate to walk through the midst of deaths. Another reason for the vision was, that Jacob might not only truly perceive that God was his deliverer; but, being forewarned by his word, might learn to ascribe to God whatever afterwards followed. For seeing that we are slow and dull, bare experience by no means suffices to attest the favor of God towards us, unless faith arising from the word be added.
Go up to Beth-el. Though it is God’s design to raise his servant from death to life, he may yet have appeared to hold him up to derision; for the objection was ready, Thou indeed, O Lord, commandest me to go up, but all the ways are closed; for my sons have raised such a flame against me, that I cannot remain safe in any hiding-place. I dare scarcely move a finger: what therefore will become of me, if with a great multitude, I now begin to move my camp? shall I not provoke new enmities against me by my movements? But by this mode the faith of Jacob was most fully proved; because, knowing God to be the leader and guardian of his journey, he girded himself to it, relying on the divine favor. Moreover, the Lord does not simply command what it is his will to have done, but he encourages his servant, by adding the promise. For, in reminding him that he is the same God who had before appeared unto him as he was fleeing in alarm from his brother, a promise is included in these words. The altar also refers to the same point; for since it is the divinely appointed token of thanksgiving, it follows that Jacob would come thither in safety, in order that he might duly celebrate the grace of God. God chooses and assigns Bethel, rather than any other place, for his sanctuary; because the very sight of it would greatly avail to take away terror, when he should remember that there the glory of the Lord had been seen by him. Further, since God exhorts his servant to gratitude, he shows that he is kind to the faithful, in order that they, in return, may own themselves to be indebted for everything to his grace, and may exercise themselves in the celebration of it.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
ISAAC. JACOB AND ESAU
Gen 25:10 to Gen 35:1-29
BEGINNING where we left off in our last study of Genesis, Isaac is the subject of next concern, for it came to pass after the death of Abraham that God blessed his son Isaac, and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahai-roi. But we are not inclined to spend much time in the study of Isaacs life and labors. Unquestionably Isaac holds his place in the Old Testament record through force of circumstances rather than by virtue of character. His history is uninteresting, and were it not that he is Abrahams son and Jacobs father, the connecting link between the federal head of the Jews, and father of the patriarchs, he would long since have been forgotten.
Three sentences tell his whole history, and prove him to be a most representative Jew. He was obedient to his father; he was greedy of gain, and he was a gormand! He resisted not when Abraham bound him and laid him upon the altar. Such was his filial submission. At money-making he was a success, for he had possession of flocks and possession of herd, and great store of servants, and the Philistines envied him. His gluttony was great enough to be made a matter of inspired record, for it is written, Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison, and when he was old and his eyes were dim, and he thought the day of his death was at hand, he called Esau and said,
My son**** take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field and take me some venison and make me savory meat, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless thee before I die.
Think of a man preparing to sweep into eternity, and yet spending what he supposed to be his last moments in feasting his flesh!
I have no prejudice against the Jew. I believe him to be the chosen of the Lord. My study of the Scriptures has compelled me to look for the restoration of Israel, and yet I say that Isaac, in his filial obedience, his greed of gain and his gluttony of the flesh, was a type. And to this hour the majority of his offspring present kindred traits of character.
Yet Isaacs life was not in vain. We saw in our second study in Genesis that the man who became the father of a great people, who, through his offspring was made a nation, was fortune-favored of God. The greatest event in Isaacs history was the birth of his twin children, Esau and Jacob. It was through their behavior that his own name would be immortalized and through their offspring that his personality would be multiplied into a mighty people. I propose, therefore, this morning to give the greater attention to his younger son, Jacob, Gods chosen one, and yet not to neglect Esau whom the sacred narrative assigns to a place of secondary consideration. For the sake of simplicity in study, let us reduce the whole of Jacobs long and eventful life to three statements, namely, Jacobs shrewdness, Jacobs Sorrows, and Jacobs Salvation.
JACOBS SHREWDNESS.
In their very birth, Jacobs hand was upon Esaus heel, earnest of his character. From his childhood he tripped whom he could.
His deceptions began in the home. This same twin brother Esau, upon whose heel he laid his hand in the hour of birth, becomes the first victim of his machinations. He takes advantage of Esaus hunger and weariness to buy out his birthright, and pays for it the miserable price of bread and pottage. The child is the prophecy of the man. The treatment one accords his brothers and sisters, while yet the family are around the old hearthstone, gives promise of the character to come. The reason why sensible parents show such solicitude over the small sins of their children is found just here. They are not distressed because the transgressions are great in themselves, but rather because those transgressions tell of things to come. In the peevishness of a child they see the promise of a man, mastered by his temper; in the white lies of youth, an earnest of the dangerous falsehoods that may curse maturer years; in the little deceptions of the nursery, a prophecy of the accomplished and conscienceless embezzler.
There comes from England the story of a farmer who, finding himself at the hour of midnight approaching the end of life, sent hastily for a lawyer, and ordered him to quickly write his will. The attorney asked for pen, ink and paper, but none could be found. Then he inquired for a lead pencil, but a thorough search of the house revealed that no such thing existed in it. The lawyer saw that the farmer was sinking fast, and something must be done, and so casting about he came upon a piece of chalk; and taking that he sat down upon the hearthstone and wrote out on its smooth surface the last will and testament of the dying man. When the court came to the settlement of the estate, that hearthstone was taken up and carried into the presence of the judge, and there its record was read, and the will written upon it was executed. And I tell you that before we leave the old home place, and while we sit around the old hearthstone, we write there a record in our behavior toward father and mother, in our dealings with brother and sister, and servant, that is a prophecy of what we ourselves will be and of the end to which we shall eventually come, for the child is father to the man.
Jacob showed this same character to society. The thirtieth chapter of Genesis records his conduct in the house of Laban. It is of a perfect piece with that which characterized him in his fathers house. A change of location does not altar character. Sometime ago a young man who had had trouble in his own home, and had come into ill-repute in the society in which he had moved, came and told me that he was going off to another city, and when I asked Why? he said, Well, I want to get away from the old associations and I want to put distance between me and the reputation I have made. But when he went he carried his own character with him, and the consequence was a new set of associates worse than those from whom he fled, and a new reputation that for badness exceeded the old. It does not make any difference in what house the deceiver lodges, nor yet with what society he associates himselfthe result is always the same.
Parker, who was the real father of the Prohibition movement of Maine, testified that he had traveled into every state of the Union in an endeavor to overcome his drinking habits, and free himself of evil associates, and that in every state of the Union he failed. But, when God by His grace converted him and changed his character, he went back to his old home and settled down with the old associates and friends and not only showed them how to live an upright life, but inaugurated a movement for the utter abolition of his old enemy. If there is any man who is thinking of leaving his city for another because here he has been unfortunate, as he puts it, or has been taken advantage of by evil company, and has made for himself a bad reputation, let him know that removal to a new place will accomplish no profit whatever. As Beecher once said, Men do not leave their misdeeds behind them when they travel away from home. A man who commits a mean and wicked action carries that sin in himself and with himself. He may go around the world but it goes around with him. He does not shake it off by changing his position.
The Jacob who deceived Esau and had to flee in consequence, twenty years later, for cheating Laban and by his dishonest dealings, divorced himself from his father-in-law.
Jacobs piety was a pure hypocrisy. Now some may be ready to protest against this charge, but I ground it in the plain statements of the Word. In all his early years this supplanter seldom employed the name of God, except for personal profit. When his old father Isaac inquired concerning that mutton, Jacob was palming off on him for venison, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? the impious rascal replied, Because the Lord thy God brought it to me. Think of voicing such hypocrisy! The next time Jacob employed Gods name it was at Bethel.
And Jacob vowed a vow saying, If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I shall go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my fathers house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God.
Satans charge against Job would have had occasion had he hurled it against this supplanter instead, Doth Jacob fear God for naught? When the frauds of this man had taken from Laban the greater part of his flocks and herds, and Labans sons had uttered their complaint of robbery, Jacob replied,
Ye know that with all my power I have served your father, and your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times. But God suffered him not to hurt me.
If he said, thus, the speckled shall be thy wages, then all the cattle bare speckled; and if he said thus, the ring straked shall be thy hire, then bare all the cattle ringstraked; thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father and given them to me. What hypocrisy! God had done nothing of the kind. This supplanter, by his knowledge of physiological laws, had enriched himself and robbed Laban, and when charged with his conduct, defended his fortune by the impious claim that God had given it all. I doubt if a man ever descends to greater depths of infamy than he reaches who cloaks bad conduct with pious phrases.
In a certain city a gentleman moved in and started up in business. He dressed elegantly, dwelt in a splendid house, drew the reins over a magnificent span, but his piety was the most marked thing about him. Morning and evening on the Sabbath day he went into the house of God to worship, and in the prayer meeting his testimonies and prayers were delivered with promptness and apparent sincerity. A few short months and he used the cover of night under which to make his exit, and left behind him a victimized host. Some time since our newspapers reported a Jew, who by the same hypocrisy had enriched himself and robbed many of his well-to-do brethren in Minneapolis. We have more respect for the worldling who is a gambler, a drunkard or an adulterer, than for the churchman who makes his church-membership serve purely commercial ends, and whose pious phrases are used as free passes into the confidence of the unsuspecting. It is a remarkable fact that when Jesus Christ was in the world He used His power to dispossess the raving Gadarene; He showed His mercy toward the scarlet woman; He viewed with pathetic silence the gamblers who cast dice for His own coat, but He assailed hypocrisy with the strongest clean invectives of which human language was capable, naming the hypocrites of His time whited sepulchers, a generation of vipers, children of Satan, and charged them with foolishness, blindness and murder. If Christ were here today, hypocrisy would fare no better at His lips, and when He was crucified again, as He surely would be, this class would lead the crowd that cried, Crucify Him! Crucify Him!
But enough regarding Jacobs shrewdness; let us look into
JACOBS SORROWS.
He is separated from his childhoods home. Scarcely had he and his doting mother carried out their deception of Isaac when sorrow smites both of them and the mother who loved him so much is compelled to say, My son, obey my voice and arise; flee thou to Laban, my brother, to Haran; and this mother and son were destined never to see each others face again. One of the ways of Gods judgment is to leave men to the fruits of their own devices. He does not rise up to personally punish those who transgress, but permits them to suffer the punishment which is self-inflicted. The law is Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. It is a law that approves every righteous act, and bestows great blessings upon every good man, but it is also a law that has its whip of scorpions for every soul that lives in sin. It is on account of this law that you cannot be a cheat in your home and be comfortable there. You simply cannot deceive and defraud your fellows and escape the consequences.
What was $25,000 worth to Patrick Crowe when every policeman in America and a thousand private detectives were in search of him? How fitful must have been his sleep when he lay down at night, knowing that ere the morning dawned the law was likely to lay its hand upon him, and how anxious his days when every man he met and every step heard behind him suggested probable arrest. What had he done that he was so hunted? He had done what Jacob did; he had come into possession of blessings which did not belong to him, and as Jacob took advantage of his brothers weariness and hunger and of his fathers blindness to carry out his plot, so this child-kidnapper took advantage of the weakness of youth, the affection of paternity, to spoil his fellow of riches. It is not likely that either Jacob of old or the kidnapper of yesterday looked to the end of their deception. Greed in each case blinded them, to the sorrows to come, as it is doing to hundreds of thousands of others today. But just as sure as Jacobs deception effected Jacobs separation from mother and father and home, similar conduct on your part or mine will plunge us into sorrows, for he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.
In His adopted house Jacob encounters new difficulties. It is no more easy to run away from sorrow than it is to escape from sin. The man who proved himself a rascal in Minneapolis may remove to Milwaukee, but the troubles he had here will be duplicated in his new home. The shrewd man of Gerar, when he comes to Haran, is cheated himself. Seven hard years of service for Rachel, and lo, Leah is given instead. At Haran his wages were changed ten times, so he says. I have no doubt that every change was effected by some new rascality in his conduct. At Haran he was openly charged with deception and greed by the sons of Laban, and at Haran also he witnessed the jealousy that was growing up between Rachel, his best beloved, and Leah, the favored of God. So sorrows ever attend the sinner.
The man who comes to you in a time when you are tempted, to plead with you to deal honestly, to do nothing that would not have the Divine approval, no matter how great the loss in an upright course, is a friend and is pleading for your good. His counsel is not against success, but against sorrow instead. He is as certainly trying to save you from agonizing experiences as he would be if pleading with you not to drink, not to gamble, or even not to commit murder, for better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right.
It is at the point of his family he suffers most. We have already referred to the estrangement that grew up between Rachel and Leah. That was only the beginning. The baseness of Reuben, the cruelty of Simeon and Levi toward the Shechemites, the spirit of fratricide that sold Joseph into slavery; all of these and more had to be met by this unhappy man. A man never suffers so much as when he sees that his family, his wife and his children, are necessarily involved. Jacob expressed this thought when he prayed to God,
Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children.
Ah, there is the quick of human lifethe mother with the children.
I know a man who has recently been proven a defaulter. His embezzlements amount to many thousands of dollars, so it is said, and they run back through a course of twenty years. In a somewhat intimate association with him I never dreamed such a thing possible. He was a sweet-spirited man, an affectionate father, a kind husband, a good neighbor, outwardly a loyal citizen and apparently an upright Christian. I do not believe at heart he was dishonest, and I know that he was not selfish. Since the press published his disgrace, I have been pondering over what it all meant and have an idea that he simply lacked the courage to go home and tell his wife and children that he was financially bankrupt, and that they must move into a plainer house, subsist upon the simplest food, and be looked upon as belonging to the poverty stricken; so he went on, keeping up outward appearances, possibly for the wifes sake and for the childrens sake, hoping against hope that the tide would turn and he would recover himself and injure none, until one day he saw the end was near, and the sin long concealed was burning to the surface, and society would understand. It plunged him into temporary insanity.
Young men who sin are likely to forget the fact that when they come to face the consequences of their behavior they will not be alone, and their sufferings will be increased by just so much as the wife and children are compelled to suffer.
Some time ago I read a story of a young man who had committed a crime and fled to the West. In the course of time he met a young woman in his new home and wooed and won her. When a little child came into his home, his heart turned back to his mother, and he longed to go back and visit her and let her meet his wife and enjoy the grandchild; and yielding to this natural desire, he went back. But ere a week had passed, officers of the law walked in and arrested him on the old charge. Alone he had sinned, but now his sufferings are accentuated a thousand-fold because his innocent wife must share them, and even the bewildered babe must untwine her arms from about his neck and be torn from her best-loved bed, his breast. The mother with the children! Ah, Jacob, you may sin by yourself, but when you come to suffer, you will feel the pain of many lives.
But, thank God, there came a change in Jacob. In finishing this talk I want to give the remaining space to
JACOBS SALVATION.
I believe it occurred at Peniel. Twice before God had manifested Himself to Jacob. But Jacob had received little profit from those revelations. On his way to Haran, God gave him a vision in the night a ladder set up on the earth the top of which reached up to heaven, and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. When Jacob awakened out of his sleep he said, This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. But not all who come into the House of God, not all before whom Heavens gate opens; not all to whom the way of salvation is revealed are converted. That nights vision did not result in Jacobs salvation. After that he was the same deceiver.
Twenty-one years sweep by and Jacob is on his way back to the old place, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them he said, This is Gods host. But not every man who meets the hosts of God is saved. Jacob is not saved. But when he came to Peniel and there in the night a Man wrestled with him, it was none other than Gods third appearance, and the Jacob who had gone from the House of God unsaved, who had met the hosts of God to receive from them little profit, seeing now the face of God, surrendered once for all. From that night until the hour when he breathed his last, Jacob the politician, Jacob the deceiver, Jacob the defrauder, was Israelthe Prince of God, whose conduct became the child of the Most High!
His repentance was genuine. Read the record of Gen 32:24-30, and you will be convinced that Jacob truly repented. In that wonderful night he ceased from his selfishness. He said never a word that looked like a bargain with God. He did not even plead for personal safety against angered Esau. He did not even beseech God to save the mother with the children, but he begged for a blessing. He had passed the Pharisaical point where his prayer breathed his self-esteem. He had come to the point of the truly penitent, and doubtless prayed over and over again as the publican, God be merciful to me a sinner. And when God was about to go from him he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. That is the best sign of genuine repentance.
In Chicago I baptized a young man who for years had been a victim of drink. For years also he had gone to the gambling house. Often he abused his wife and sometimes he beat the half-clad children. One day in his wretchedness he purchased a pistol and went into his own home, purposing to destroy the lives of wife and children and then commit suicide; but while he waited for the wife to turn her head that he might execute his will without her having suspected it, Gods Spirit came upon him in conviction and he told me afterwards that his sense of sin was such that in his back yard, with his face buried in the earth, he cried for Gods blessing. And I found that I was not so much convicted of drunkenness, or of gambling, or of cruelty, or even of the purpose of murder and suicide, as I was convicted of sin. I did not plead for pardon from any of these acts but for Gods mercy that should cover all and make me a man.
Read the 51st Psalm and see how David passed through a similar experience. His cry was, Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. And Jacobs cry was Bless me. It means the same.
His offer to Esau was in restitution. Two hundred she goats, and 20 he goats, 200 ewes and 20 rams; 30 milk camels with their colts; 40 kine and 10 bulls; 20 she asses and 10 foals; all of these he sent to Esau his brother, as a present. Present, did I say? No, Jacob meant it in payment. Twenty-one years before he had taken from Esau what was not his own and now that God had blessed him, he wanted to return to Esau with usury. It is the story of Zacchaeusrestoring four-fold. And the church of God has never received a better evidence of conversion than is given when a man makes restitution.
Some years ago at Cleveland a great revival was on, into which meeting an unhappy man strayed. The evangelist was talking that night of the children of Israel coming up to Kadesh-Barnea but turning back unblessed. This listener, an attorney, had in his pocket seven hundred dollars which he had received for pleading a case which he knew to be false, won only by perjured testimony, and the promise of $12,000 more should he win the case in the highest court. As the minister talked, Gods Spirit convicted him and for some days he wrestled with the question as to what to do. Then he counselled with the evangelist and eventually he restored the $700, told his client to keep the $12,000 and went his way into the church of God. I have not followed his course but you do not doubt his conversion. Ah, Jacob is saved now, else he would never have paid the old debt at such a price.
Thank God, also, that his reformation was permanent. You can follow this life now through all its vicissitudes to the hour of which it is written,
And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost and was gathered unto his people.
You will never find him a deceiver again; you will never find him defrauding again. The righteousness of his character waxes unto the end, and Pharaoh never entertained a more honorable man than when he welcomed this hoary pilgrim to his palace. The forenoon of his life was filled with clouds and storms, but the evening knew only sunshine and shadow, and the shadow was not in consequence of sins continued but sorrows super induced by the sins of others.
It is related that when Napoleon came upon the battlefield of Marengo, he found his forces in confusion and flying before the face of the enemy. Calling to a superior officer he asked what it meant. The answer was, We are defeated. The great General took out his watch, looked at the sinking sun a moment and said, There is just time enough left to regain the day. At his command the forces faced about, fought under the inspiration of his presence, and just as the sun went down, they silenced the opposing guns.
Suppose we grant that one has wasted his early years, has so misspent them as to bring great sorrow. Shall such despair? No, Jacobs life illustrates the better way. His youth was all gone when he came to Peniel. But there he learned how to redeem the remaining days.
I saw by a magazine to which I subscribe that in Albemarle and surrounding counties of Virginia there are many farms that were once regarded as worn out, and their owners questioned what they could do with them, when somebody suggested that they sow them to violets. The violets perfumed the air, enriched the owner, and recovered the land. It is not too late to turn to God!
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES.
Gen. 35:2. The strange gods.] These were such as the teraphim that Rachel had hidden (Gen. 31:19), and possibly other idolatrous images used by the Shechemites.
Gen. 35:4. Ear-rings.] The ear-rings were connected then, as they are now, with incantations and enchantments, and were idolatrous in their use. (Hos. 2:13.) (Jacobus.) The oak which was by Shechem. In the repetition of this same act of purification by Joshua (Jos. 24:26) mention is again made of an oak (or terebinth) at Shechem. The Hebraists tell us that we must not understand by this term any particular tree, but one tree among many. (Alford.)
Gen. 35:7. El-beth-el.] God of Bethel. Jacob adds to it here the name of God, repeated as indicating a repeated manifestation. (Gen. 32:30). (Jacobus.) God appeared unto him. Heb. There God was revealed unto him. It is not the same word as appeared in Gen. 35:1. The verb is plural, probably to indicate that it was the vision of God accompanied by the holy angels.
Gen. 35:8. Deborah, Rebekahs nurse.] This nurse had accompanied her from Mesopotamia to Canaan. (Gen. 24:59.) She was such a nurse as performed the functions of a mother in giving suck. Allon-bachuth. The oak of weeping.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Gen. 35:1-15
JACOBS SECOND JOURNEY TO BETHEL
I. It was undertaken at the call of God. God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel. (Gen. 35:1.) We need not suppose that he heard the voice of God outwardly speaking to his ear of flesh, but rather that inward voice of God which speaks to the conscience. A strong conviction had grown up within his soul which could no longer leave him at rest. Jacob had now tarried at Shechem for eight years, and he had not yet performed the vow which he made at Bethel. The sense of a solemn duty rests upon him, growing stronger until it really becomes to him the voice of God urging him to action.
II. It was accomplished in the spirit of obedience and consecration.
1. Obedience. Jacob and his people went up to Bethel at Gods command. In order that he might preserve the purity of Gods worship, he puts away from his company all the remains of idolatry. (Gen. 35:4.) By getting rid of these possible sources of temptation, he would be able to render to God a pure offering of service and worship. He intended that the performance of his duty should be extensive and complete.
2. Consecration. He erected an altar unto God, as he had been commanded. (Gen. 35:1-7.) And here he consecrated himself afresh to the service of his God. These outward aids to devotion would make God more deeply felt, and His presence more definitely realised. If we form part of a spiritual history of close and intimate dealings with God, we must have our sacred places. They are so to us, and for our sakes alone; for God, who fills all space, does not require such aids. Jacob erects a pillar of memorial, pours an offering upon the stone, and anoints it with oil. (Gen. 35:14.) And God, who is essentially present everywhere at the same moment, met Jacob at Bethel. Thus to His saints God is not a cold abstraction, or a vaguely diffused Spirit of the universe, but a livinga felt Presence.
III. It was accompanied by the Divine protection. God who commanded Jacob also protected him on his journey. The people were kept from pursuing after the sons of Jacob, which they naturally would have done in order to avenge the slaughter of the Shechemites. (Gen. 35:5.)
IV. It was followed by increased spiritual blessing.
1. The old promises were renewed. All what God had formerly said to him by way of promise was now consolidated and confirmed. (Gen. 35:9-12.) Jacobs name had been changed to Israel, and now this honour is here renewed. (Gen. 35:10.) This was to him an assurance that he should still go on to prevail. In order to confirm his faith, Gods all-sufficiency to fulfil His promises is assured. I am God Almighty. (Gen. 35:11.) Jacob acknowledges this confirmation of his faith and hope by repeating his former acts of devotion. (Gen. 35:14-15.) God may appear unto us by the revival of old truths as well as by the revelation of new ones. We may glorify Him, not by absolutely new modes of obedience, but by doing our first works. We may make the old life, and the scenes and circumstances of it, altogether new by a fresh consecration.
2. He has increased knowledge of God. He now knows God as the Almighty (Gen. 35:11)like Abraham of old. (Gen. 17:1.) Thus our knowledge of God increases as we go on. It comes as the reward of long and faithful service.
3. His religious character is purified and raised. Jacob was a selfish man, and his religion, at first, partook too much of the spirit of barter. (Genesis 29) His language formerly was that of one who was ready to drive a bargain on advantageous terms; for though we may not press his words too far, yet surely there was a trace of this spirit in them. If God will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, then shall God be my God. Now he is grateful that God has accomplished His word. He knows the truth of that word, and that God shall be his God. He was answered in the day of his distress, and God had been with him throughout all his journey. (Gen. 35:3.) This is serving God, because it is true happiness to do so, a higher motive than that which he first started with, but not the highest of all. It falls short of that higher stage of godliness which leads the believer to say in all things Thy will be done.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen. 35:1. Take the phrase and God said literally, and then we must believe that God spake to Jacob but does not speak to us; then we must look upon Him as a different God from what He was to Jacob; but no, He is the same. God is not extinct, but a living God; His voice is now no more silent than in Jacobs time. If He seem silent, the fault lies in us, our ears are become dull of hearing, we want faith.(Robertson.)
This is not the first time that God tells him of that vow, and calls for its performance. (Gen. 31:13.) It is with us as with childreneaten bread is soon forgotten. Deliverances, commonly, are but nine days wonderment at most; and it is ten to one that any leper returns to give praise to God. If anything arouse and raise up our hearts to thankful remembrance of former mercy it must be the sense of some present misery, as here.(Trapp.)
Gen. 35:2. To Gideon began his reformation at his fathers house. David also would walk wisely in the midst of his house; and this he calls a perfect way, a sign of sincerity. (Psa. 101:1.)(Trapp.)
Gods service must be entered upon with due preparation. This is one of the first principles of religious service, and is expressed in the idea of baptism which preaches to us, Be clean and change your garments. The saints must wash their hands in innocency, and so compass Gods altar.(Psa. 26:6.)
Gen. 35:3. He had become so comfortably settled as to be careless about this vow, until charged with it solemnly by God Himself. Woe to them that are at ease in Zion. True reformation as an evidence of repentance is a preparatory to public consecration.(Jacobus).
Gen. 35:4. When going to perform his vow he puts away these idols. But wherein lay the evil? Not in the use of forms and symbols, for these were afterwards given to the Jews by God. Idolatry consists in this: The using of forms and images which give unnecessarily ideas of God; unnecessarily I say, for though all our notions are inadequate they ought not to be unnecessarily so. So Jacob buried the images under the oak. It was most wise. It was not sufficient to say: Let them not be worshipped, let the gold be kept merely for ornament. He knew human nature better; he knew that the same feelings would be suggested again wherever they were seen. And in our own day the things which have been the symbols of idolatry must be parted with. We may say that crucifixes and stone altars, and lighted candles are nothing in themselves; but if they give the idea of localizing God, or in any way degrade His pure worship, then they must at once be buried. Happy for England is it that she has resolved to throw away all such things.(Robertson).
Gen. 35:5. The kind care which God exercised on this occasion was no less contrary to the parents fears than to the deserts of his ungodly children; and its being extended to them for his sake, must appal their proud spirits and repress the insolence with which they had lately treated him.(Fuller).
Gen. 35:6-7. There are sacred places, not sacred for their own sake, but sacred to us. Where we have loved and lost, where we have gained new light and life, the church where our forefathers worshipped, the place where we first knew Godthese are by instinct hallowed. Hence we are told that God met Jacob in Bethel, not that He came down from another place, for He is everywhere, but that Jacob experienced a feeling of awe, a feeling that God was then specially near to him.(Robertson).
Gen. 35:8. This notice of the death and burial of Deborah shows
1. That old and faithful servants were esteemed in the household of Jacob, as they were in Abrahams household. The venerable nurse, Deborah, may be regarded as the counterpart to the aged Eliezer.
2. That the bond between master and servant was one of affectionate attachment and sympathy, not of lucre or slavery. The one rendered faithful service, the other afforded generous sustenance and protection. Such relations were not degraded by the commercial spirit, but elevated by the nobler spirit of humanity.
3. The undying love of Jacob for his mother. The loving regard in which Jacob held Deborah is remarkable when we consider that she belonged not to his family, but to that of Isaac. It is probable that Jacob visited his father, and finding that his mother was dead, he took her faithful old nurse to his own home. We hear nothing of her since the time when she left Padanaram with her young mistress. Jacob tenderly cherished all that belonged to his mother. He was one of those men who lived in the past, rather than in the future.
4. The sacredness of sorrow for the dead. Deborah was now about 180 years old, and had lived through three generations of the family. Now this last tender link, connecting the wandering son with his beloved and doating mother, was snapped asunder by death. This grave renewed the heavy griefs of past years, and we do not wonder that Jacob called the tree which marked this grave, Allon-bachuth, the oak of weeping.
Gen. 35:9-12. At Bethel He renews the change of name, to indicate that the meetings here were of equal moment in Jacobs spiritual life with that at Penuel. It implies also that this life had been declining in the interval between Penuel and Bethel, and had now been revived by the call of God to go to Bethel, and by the interview. The renewal of the naming aptly expresses this renewal of spiritual life.(Murphy.)
Abraham and Isaac had each only one son of promise. Now the time of increase is come. Jacob had already eleven sons and one daughter, and the number of sons was to be increased to twelve; and from this time the increase is rapid. Twenty-six years after this he goes down to Egypt with seventy souls, besides the wives of his married descendants, and two hundred and fifteen years after that he leaves Egypt with one million and eight hundred thousand, which was a nation and a congregation of nations, while kings were to come afterwards.(Jacobus.)
Gen. 35:13-15. Here for the first time we meet with the libation. Wine and oil are used to denote the quickening and sanctifying power of the Spirit of God.(Murphy.)
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
PART FORTY-THREE
THE STORY OF JACOB: INCIDENTS IN CANAAN
(Gen. 34:1 to Gen. 35:28)
The Biblical Account
1 And Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she bare unto Jacob went out to see the daughters of the land. 2 And Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her; and he took her, and lay with her, and humbled her. 3 And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. 4 And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife, 5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; and his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they came. 6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him. 7 And the sons of Jacob came in from the fields when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacobs daughter; which thing ought not to be done. 8 And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you, give her unto him to wife. 9 And make ye marriages with us; give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you. 10 And ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein. 11 And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find favor in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give. 12 Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife. 13 And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with guilt, and spake, because he had defiled Dinah their sister, 14 and said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us. 15 Only on this condition will we consent unto you: if ye will be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised; 16 then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. 17 But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take, our daughter, and we will be gone.
18 And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamors son. 19 And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacobs daughter: and he was honored above all the house of his father. 20 And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying, 21 These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for, behold, the land is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters. 22 Only on this condition will the men consent unto us to dwell with us, to become one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. 23 Shall not their cattle and their substance and all their beasts be ours? Only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us. 24 And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city. 25 And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinahs brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city unawares, and slew all the males. 26 And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechems house, and went forth. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks and their herds and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field; 29 and all their wealth, and all their little ones and their wives, took they captive and made a prey, even all that was in the house. 30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and, I being few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and smite me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. 31 And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with a harlot?
35. 1 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, who 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 foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments: 3 and let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; 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 foreign gods which were in their hand, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. 5 And they journeyed: and a 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 (the same is Beth-el), he and all the people that were with him. 7 And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el; because there God was revealed unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother. 8 And Deborah Rebekahs nurse died, and she was buried below Beth-el under the oak: and the name of it was called Allon-bacuth.
9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, 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 unto 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 spake with him. 14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spake with him, a pillar of stone: and he poured out a drink-offering thereon, and poured oil thereon. 15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Beth-el.
16 And they journeyed from Beth-el; and there was still some distance to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor. 17 And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; for now thou shalt have another son. 18 And it came to pass, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin. 19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath (the same is Beth-lehem). 20 And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave: the same is the Pillar of Rachels grave unto this day. 21 And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 22 And it came to pass, while Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his fathers concubine: and Israel heard of it.
Now the sons of Jacob were twelve: 23 the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacobs first-born, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun; 24 the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin; 25 and the sons of Bilhah, Rachels handmaid: Dan and Naphtali; 26 and the sons of Zilpah, Leahs handmaid: Gad and Asher; these are the sons of Jacob, that were born to him in Paddan-aram. 27 And Jacob came unto Isaac his father to Mamre, to Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.
28 And the days of Isaac were a hundred and fourscore years. 29 And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, old and full of days: and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him.
Jacob at Succoth and Shechem: the Narrative Summarized.
Esau, as we have already noted, returned to Seir and Jacob journeyed on slowly to Succoth (Gen. 33:18-20). At Succoth, Jacob seems to have dwelt for some time; he then moved on to Shechem, at last in the land of Canaan. (Shalem, in the A.V., meaning peaceful, secure, named as a place near Jacobs well; it could be that Shalem is not a proper name. The A.R.V. renders it Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem. The R.S.V. gives it: Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem. Cf. Joh. 4:5-6 : Sychar used to be identified with Shechem. It is now thought to have been about half a mile north of Jacobs well, and a short distance southeast of Shechem). Near Shechem Jacob bought a field of Hamor, the prince of the region, and pitched his tent there and erected an altar. Here Dinah, his daughter by Leah, having mingled with the daughters of the land, was carried off by Shechem, the son of Hamor. The young man wished to atone for his unseemly conduct by marriage, and both he and his father endeavored to propitiate Jacob and his sons. The brethren of Dinah, with guile, agreed to the alliance, but demanded the circumcision of the Shechemites; and on the third day after the ceremony Simeon and Levi fell upon the city, slew all the males, including Hamor and Shechem, took Dinah from the house of the young prince, and carried off the women, children, cattle and all material possessions of the Shechemites. Jacob rebuked his children for this cruel and treacherous act, and remembered it in his death-bed predictions regarding Simeon and Levi (Gen. 33:18-20; ch. 34; also Gen. 49:5-7).
1. The Rape of Dinah, Gen. 34:1-31
The immediate objective of Jacob on his return from Paddan-aram was Shechem in the hills of Palestine, just as it had been that of his grandfather Abraham (Gen. 12:6). He encamped east of the city and bought a parcel of ground from the sons of Hamor (Benei-Hamor) evidently the tribe that had established itself there. Their tribal deity seems to have been Baal-berith; this is how they are known to us in the story of the conquest of central Palestine under Joshua (cf. Jos. 8:33). (Cf. Jdg. 9:46 : it seems that for the Israelites later, on drifting into idolatryin this case as generallymeant drifting into the usual mode of cultural absorption whereby they acquired the name El-berith, El having been to the Hebrews the short form of Elohim, God.) Jacobs purchase of a field is in a certain sense parallel to Abrahams purchase of the field and cave at Mamre (cf. Gen. 23:18 and Gen. 33:19).
The outstanding eventand the most interesting, from various points of viewof the prolonged sojourn of Jacob and his household (clan) in Shechem is the dramatic episode about the treachery of Simeon and Levi, and its backdrop, so to speak, in the rape of Dinah by the prince of Shechem. Speiser comments pointedly on these incidents as follows: The narrative is unusual on more counts than one. For one thing, it is the only account to concern itself with Jacobs daughter Dinah, who is otherwise relegated to two statistical entries (Gen. 30:21, Gen. 46:15). For another, Jacob himself has a minor part, while the spotlight rests on the next generation. For still another, there is a pronounced chronological gap between this section and the one before. There, Jacobs children were still of tender age (Gen. 33:13); here, they have attained adulthood. Most important of all, the history of Jacob has hitherto been in the main a story of individuals. This time, to be sure, personalities are still very much at the forefront of the stage; but their experiences serve to recapitulate an all but lost page dealing with remote ethnic interrelations. The account, in other words, presents personalized history, that is, history novelistically interpreted. And since we have so little evidence about the early settlement of Israelites in Canaan, the slender thread that we find here assumes that much more importance. By the same token, extra caution is needed to protect the sparse data from undue abuse (ABG, 266). Again: The story before us is a tale of sharp contrasts: pastoral simplicity and grim violence, love and revenge, candor and duplicity. There is also a marked difference between the generations. Hamor and Jacob are peace-loving and conciliatory; their sons are impetuous and heedless of the consequences that their acts must entail. The lovesick Shechem prevails on his father to extend to the Israelites the freedom of the landwith the requisite consent of his followers. But Dinahs brothers refuse to be that far-sighted. After tricking the Shechemites into circumcising their males, and thus stripping the place of its potential defenders, they put the inhabitants to the sword. Jacob is mournful and apprehensive. But his sons remain defiant and oblivious of the future (ibid., 268).
This may well be described as the story of a generation gap of the long, long ago.
Note that Dinah is specifically mentioned as the daughter of Leah. Like mother, like daughter. Of Leah it is said, And Leah went out to meet him (Gen. 30:16), and now her daughter went out. She is described as Leahs daughter in order to draw attention to the fact that she was the full sister of Simeon and Levi who avenged her (Gen. 34:25) and whom she had borne unto Jacob is added to indicate that all the brothers were jealous for her honor (SC, 205). Dinah, we are told, went out to see the daughters of the land, that is, she evidently went into the city (Jacob had pitched his tent outside it). And Prince Shechem saw her, and, like the pagan he was, took her and humbled her. The verb always implies the use of force. Although Shechem was a prince of the land, she evidently did not submit of her own free will (SC, 205). Though freed from foreign troubles Jacob met with a great domestic calamity in the fall of his only recorded daughter. According to Josephus she had been attending a festival; but it is highly probable that she had been often and freely mixing in the society of the place, and that being a simple, inexperienced, and vain young woman, had been flattered by the attentions of the rulers son. There must have been time and opportunities of acquaintance to produce the strong attachment that Shechem had for her (Jamiespn, CECG, 219). It is useless to speculate as to whether she was prompted by mere idle curiosity, in this instance, or whether she went without consulting her parents, or whether she even went forth contrary to their wishes. We have no means of knowing to what extent she was at fault, if at all. In any case, it seems she should have known that Egyptians and Canaanites (Gen. 12:15, Gen. 20:2, Gen. 26:7) regarded unmarried women abroad in the land as legitimate prey and should not have gone unattended. Shechem happens to find her. The fact that he is the son of Hamor, a Hivite, prince, seems to make him feel that he especially has privileges in reference to unattended girls. We are not told whether she was pleased with and encouraged his first approaches. At least the young prince was bent upon seduction. This his object was accomplished, whether she resisted or not. If Gen. 48:22 informs us that the inhabitants of Shechem were Amorites, the apparent contradiction seems to be solved by the fact that the general name for the Canaanite tribes was Amorites (Leupold, EG, 897). (Surely our present-day knowledge of the gross immoralities which characterized the Cult of Fertility so widespread throughout the ancient pagan world (cf. Rom. 1:18-32) would cause us to think that Shechem would have had no scruples against seizing and violating the young maiden the first time he ever saw her. We see no point in sugar-coating this plain case of rape, or the acts of presumption, treachery and violence which ensued as consequences of it. The Bible, it must be remembered is a very realistic book: it pictures life just as people lived it.) It should be said, however, in favor of the young prince, that he really loved the maiden: his soul clave unto her (Gen. 34:3). Of course Dinah would have been only one among the many others of his harem, if the marriage had been formalized. It was in some degree an extenuation of the wickedness of Shechem that he did not cast off the victim of his violence and lust, but continued to regard her with affection . . . addressed to her such words as were agreeable to her inclinations (Gen. 34:3, spake to the heart of the damsel) probably expressing his affection, and offering the reparation of honorable marriage, as may be legitimately inferred from what is next recorded of his behavior (PCG, 405).
How old was Dinah when this incident occurred? We suggest the following explanation of the chronological problem here: Dinah was born about the end of the fourteenth year of Jacobs residence in Haran. She was thus about six years old at the settlement at Succoth. The sojourn at Succoth appears to have lasted for about two years. Jacob must have spent already several years at Shechem, since there are prominent and definite signs of a more confidential intercourse with the Shechemites. We may infer, therefore, that Dinah was now from twelve to sixteen years of age. Joseph was seventeen years old when he was sold by his brethren (Gen. 37:2), and at that time Jacob had returned to Hebron. There must have passed, therefore, about eleven years since the return from Haran, at which time Joseph was six years of age. If now we regard the residence of Jacob at Bethel and the region of Ephrata as of brief duration, and bear in mind that the residence at Shechem ceased with the rape of Dinah, it follows that Dinah must have been about fourteen or fifteen years of age when she was deflowered. In the East, too, females reach the age of puberty at twelve, and sometimes still earlier (Delitzsch). From the same circumstances it is clear that Simeon and Levi must have been about twenty (Lange). Again: If Dinah was born before Joseph (Gen. 30:21) she was probably in her seventh year when Jacob reached Succoth (Gen. 33:17); but it does not follow that she was only six or seven years of age when the incident about to be described occurred (Tuch, Bohlen). If Jacob stayed two years at Succoth and eight in Shechem (Petavius), and if, as is probable, his residence in Shechem terminated with his daughters dishonor (Lange), and if, moreover, Josephs sale into Egypt happened soon after (Hengstenberg), Dinah may at this time have been in her sixteenth or seventeenth year (Kurtz). Yet there is no reason why she should not have been younger, say between thirteen and fifteen (Keil, Lange, Kalisch, Murhpy, et alii), since in the East females attain to puberty at the age of twelve, and sometimes earlier (Delitzsch) (PCG, 404). With reference to the statement in Gen. 34:1, Whitelaw comments: it is not implied that this was the first occasion on which Dinah left her mothers tent to mingle with the city maidens in Shechem: the expression is equivalent to once upon a time she went out (Hengstenberg)to see the daughters of the landwho were gathered at a festive entertainment (Josephus, Ant., I, 21, 1), a not improbable supposition (Kurtz), though the language rather indicates the paying of a friendly visit (Lange), or the habitual practice of associating with the Shechemite, women (Bush), in their social entertainment, if not in their religious festivals (PCG, 404).
Gen. 34:2-4. Shechem was captivated by Dinah, the daughter of Jacob; he fell in love with the young girl and comforted her. Accordingly Shechem said to his father Hamor, Get me this young girl, I want to marry her (JB rendering). (Cf. Samsons request, Jdg. 14:2). Gen. 34:5-7 : Jacob somehow heard of the incident, but took no steps to redress the wrong until Dinahs brothersJacobs sons by Leah and probably by Zilpahcame in from the fields. It is interesting to note that the brothers of the daughter had a voice in all important concerns relating to her (cf. Gen. 24:50 ff.). In the meantime Hamor, Shechems father, consulted with Jacob about the incident. When the sons came in from the field, and were told what had occurred, they were very wroth because Shechem had wrought folly in Israel by his act . . . which thing ought not to be done, etc. This idea of folly in Israel seems to have been that of Jacobs sons, though the manner of expressing it seems to have been that of the historian, as usual in his time: folly or wickedness in Israel, where God ought to be reverenced and obeyed. As we know that the Canaanites were steeped in immorality: ought not, etc. refers to Israel: it was repulsive to the house of Israel. (It is a matter of note that this is the first use of the new name in the Old Testament). Folly: this is a standing expression for crimes which are irreconcilable with the dignity and destiny of Israel as the people of God, but especially for gross sins of the flesh (Deu. 22:21, Jdg. 20:10, 2Sa. 13:12), but also for other great crimes (Jos. 7:15). The sons of Jacob were enraged; they burned with anger; it was kindled to them (Gosman, in Lange, 560). In this case the dishonor was a double impurity, because it was an uncircumcised person who had dishonored the maiden. Moreover, Shechems special wickedness consisted in dishonoring a daughter of one who was the head of the theocratic line, and therefore under peculiar obligations to live a holy life.
Gen. 34:8-12 : Hamor, the king, now offers Jacob and his sons the full rights of citizens in his little country. The son offers to fuflil any demand of the brothers as to the bridal price and bridal gifts. The king offers them the privilege of unrestricted movement throughout his domain, with the right of establishing settlements, carrying on trade, and acquiring property. (Perhaps it should be stated here, parenthetically, that we do not know what happened to Dinah after this incident. Dinah was in Shechems house all this time, and although he believed that he could have her by force, being the son of the prince of the land, he spoke thus because he wanted to win her by consent. Scripture does not record what happened to her afterwards; she probably remained a living widow, i.e., unmarried, descended to Egypt with the rest of the family, died there, and her body was brought back by Simeon and buried in Canaan. According to tradition, her tomb is in Arbeel. Sforno suggests that he [Shechem] offered the large dowry and gift as an atonement (SC, 206). Hamor seems to have taken a rather broad view of the matter: in addition to offering to arrange this particular marriage, he proposes an amalgamation of the two ethnic peoples, thinking, apparently, that the advantage to Jacob would be adequate compensation for the offense. His sons offer, obviously, related only to his own private affair with respect to Dinah. (The Hebrew law of compensation for seduction is given in Exo. 22:15 ff. . . . the price paid to the parents (Exo. 22:16-17, 1Sa. 18:25) . . . and the gift to the bride, are virtually distinguished in Gen. 24:53).
The story of the fanatical revenge of the sons of Jacob follows, Gen. 34:14-31. The sons of Jacob answered the king and his son with guile, i.e., with duplicity. As noted above, they were consumed with rage: it burned them greatly (cf. Gen. 31:36, 1Sa. 15:11, 2Sa. 19:43). Michaelis mentions an opinion still entertained in the East which explains the excessive indignation kindled in the breasts of Dinahs brothers, viz., that in those countries it is thought that a brother is more dishonored by the seduction of his sister than a man by the infidelity of his wife; for, say the Arabs, a man may divorce his wife, and then she is no longer his, while a sister and daughter remain always sister and daughter (PCG, 405). Some writers express the opinion that the refusal lay basically in the proposal itself, that is, if they had not refused they would have denied the historical and saving vocation of Israel and his seed. The father, Israel, appears, however, to have been of a different opinion. For he doubtless knew the proposal of his sons in reply. He does not condemn their proposition, however, but the fanatical way in which they availed themselves of its consequences. Dinah could not come into her proper relations again but by Shechems passing over to Judaism. This way of passing over to Israel was always allowable, and those who took the steps were welcomed. We must therefore reject only: (1) The extension of the proposal, according to which the Israelites were to blend themselves with the Shechemites; (2) the motives, which were external advantages. It was, on the contrary, a harsh and unsparing course in reference to Dinah, when Leahs two sons wished her back again; or, indeed, would even gratify their revenge and Israelitish pride. But their resort to subtle and fanatical conduct merits only a hearty condemnation (Lange, 561). (Note that Jacob had scarcely become Israel when the arts and cunning of Jacob appear in his sons, and, indeed, in a worse form, since they glory in being Israel (ibid., 560).
Note that the duplicity of Leahs sons consisted in their utter hypocrisy and accompanying trifling with a divine institution (just as people in our day, and thousands of professings church-members trifle with the institution of Christian baptism. This writer has had parents request of him what they called infant baptism solely for the purpose of acquiring a legitimate birth certificate for the child: a modernized hypocritical form of union of church and state.) These brothers answered deceitfully. The honor of their family consisted in having the sign of the covenant. Circumcision was the external rite by which persons were admitted members of the ancient Church (rather, theocracy or commonwealth: the church is first, last, and always the ecclesia of Christianity and was never a part of the Jewish system). But although that outward rite could not make the Shechemites true Israelites, yet it does not appear that Jacobs sons required anything more. Nothing is said of their teaching them to worship the true God, but only of their insisting on the Shechemites being circumcised; and it is evident that they did not seek to convert Shechem, but only made a show of religiona cloak to cover their diabolical design. Hypocrisy and deceit, in all cases vicious, are infinitely more so when accompanied with a show of religion; and here the sons of Jacob, under the pretense of conscientious scruples, conceal a scheme of treachery as cruel and diabolical as was perhaps ever perpetrated (Jamieson, 221). The demand was made that they [Shechemite males] should circumcise themselves in the belief that they or their townspeople would not consent (Sforno). Although Shechem and Hamor spoke to Jacob and his sons, only the latter answered, Jacob remaining silent because the incident was so disgraceful that he could not speak about it. Jacob and all his sons assented to this guile, either for the reason given by Sforno, or because they thought to take advantage of the resulting weakness to get Dinah out of Shechems house. But only Simeon and Levi contemplated the revenge which was subsequently taken (Nachmanides) (SC, 206). (It seems to me, however, that any person with moral standards of consequence could not possibly excuse Jacobs silence on so flimsy a ground. The fact appears to be that Israel had drifted back into the role of Jacob, despite what may be suggested as a reasonin reality, a pretextfor his failure to act, if for no other purpose than to protect the moral and spiritual image implicit in his theocratic pre-eminence.) The ground on which they declined a matrimonial alliance with Shechem was good; their sin lay in advancing this simply as a pretext to enable them to wreak their unholy vengeance on Shechem and his innocent people. The treacherous character of their next proposal [Gen. 34:15-16] is difficult to be reconciled with any claim to humanity, far less to religion, on the part of Jacobs sons; so much so, that Jacob on his death-bed can offer no palliation for the atrocious cruelty to which it led (Gen. 49:6-7). . . . This proposal was sinful, since (1) they had no right to offer the sign of Gods covenant to a heathen people; (2) they had less right to employ it in ratification of a merely human agreement; and (3) they had least right of all to employ it in duplicity as a mask for their treachery (PCG, 406).
Parenthetically, the question of the extent and design of the practice of circumcision obtrudes itself at this point. It will be noted that when the proposal made by the sons of Leah was presented to the males of Shechem, the primary argument for its acceptance was the material advantage which such an alliance would inevitably secure for them. The appeal of the rulers was in the strongest manner to the self-interest of the Shechemites: Jacobs house was wealthy, and the Shechemites therefore could only gain by the connection: as stated above, a complete amalgamation of the two groups. Hamor naturally says nothing of the personal matter, but dwells on the advantages the clan will derive from union with the Israelites. The men are already on friendly terms with them; the land is spacious enough; and by adopting circumcision they will obtain a great accession to their wealth (Skinner, 420), The ready acquiescence of the Shechemites has with some measure of validity been regarded by some authorities as a proof that they were already acquainted with circumcision as a social, if not religious rite. Knobel notes it as remarkable that the Hivites were not circumcised, since, according to Herodotus, the rite was observed among the Phoenicians, and probably also the Canaanites, who were of the same extraction, and thinks that either the rite was not universally observed in any of these ancient nations where it was known, or that the Hivites were originally a different race from the Canaanites, and had not conformed to the customs of the land (Lange). Murphy thinks the present instance may point out one way in which the custom spread from tribe to tribe (PCG, 408). As a matter of fact According to Herodotus, circumcision was practised by the Phoenicians, and probably also among the Canaanites, who were of the same race and are never referred to in the Old Testament as uncircumcised, as, e.g., it speaks of the unCanaanitish Philistines (Lange, 561); cf. uncircumcised Philistines, 1Sa. 14:6; 1Sa. 17:26; 1Sa. 17:36; 1Sa. 31:4; 2Sa. 1:20; 1Ch. 10:4, etc. Some authorities think that the spread of circumcision was the consequence of the growing awareness of its value as a sanitary measure. That it did exist among the Egyptians, Canaanites, and Hebrews is well established; but not, so far as the records go, among the Greeks, Romans, and Hindoos. At the present time, we are told, it is to be found among all Moslems and most Jewish communities, throughout Africa, Australia, Polynesia, and Melanesia, and, it is said, in Eastern Mexico. It is hardly possible to say what its original distribution was, and whether or not there was a single center of distribution. As to its origin many theories have been advanced. Its character as initiatory is not an explanationall customs of initiation need to have their origins explained. . . . It may be said at the outset that it must have sprung from simple physical need, not from advanced scientific or religious conceptions (Toy, IHR, 69). The simple fact is that for the Hebrews it was specifically appointed a Divine institution, a fleshly sign, to separate Gods people of olden times from the pagan world and at the same time to serve as a symbol of religious faith and moral purity. Circumcision was a divinely appointed sign of the old covenant, much in the same manner, it would seem that the rainbow was appointed a sign of Gods promise (covenant) to Noah and all mankind that He would never bring a universal judgment on the human race in the form of a Deluge, and as the bread and fruit of the vine of the Lords Supper were appointed memorials of the death of Christ for our sins (Gen. 8:20-22; Mat. 26:26-29; 1Co. 11:23-28; 1Co. 15:13, etc.). Surely it is not to be understood that these things came into existence just at the respective times they were appointed signs, memorials, etc. It would be unreasonable to assume that they had not existed from the beginning, that is, from the foundation of the world (Mat. 13:15; Mat. 25:34; Luk. 11:50, Joh. 17:24, Eph. 1:4, 1Pe. 1:20; Rev. 13:8; Rev. 17:8; Heb. 4:3, etc.). With respect to the symbolical significance of circumcision it is said to have originated in phallus worship, but if so this would have no bearing on the Israelite view of the rite. It was practised, say some, because of its medical advantages, as the warding off of disease through ease in cleanliness, or that it served to increase the generative powers, but these can hardly be received as proper explanations, for whole nations not practicing circumcision appear as healthy and fruitful. Nor can the rite be brought into connection with the idea of sacrifice, the consecration of a part of the body for the whole, or even as an act of emasculation in honor of the Deity, that has gradually dwindled down to the mere cutting away of the foreskin. We must rather look for the significance of this rite in the fact that the corruption of sin usually manifests itself with peculiar energy in the sexual life, and that the sanctification of the life was symbolized by the purifying of the organ by which life is reproduced. But, as spiritual purity was demanded of the chosen people of God, circumcision became the external token of the covenant between God and His people. It secured to the one subjected to it all the rights of the covenant, participation in all its material and spiritual benefits; while, on the other hand, he was bound to fulfill all the covenant obligations. It had not, however, a sacramental nature; it was not a vehicle through which to convey the sanctifying influences of God to His people, but was simply a token of the recognition of the covenant relation existing between Israel and God (UBD, s.v., 206). (We must call attention to the fact, however, that the word sacrament derives from the Latin sacramentum, which was the name of the oath of obedience taken by the Roman soldier to his centurion. In this sense, circumcision was indeed a sacrament, the oath of fidelity to the provisions of the Old Covenant by the Covenant-people. We reject the theological corruption of the term in using it to designate some mystical [esoteric] impartation [usually explained as a means of grace] from God to His New-Covenant people.) Circumcision was formally enacted as a legal institution by Moses (Lev. 12:3, Joh. 7:22-23), and was made to apply, not only to the Jewish fathers own children, but to slaves, home-born or purchased; to foreigners before they could partake of the Passover or become Jewish citizens (Cf. Gen. 17:13he that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with money of any foreigner not of thy seed, etc.). In its specific meaning for the Children of Israel circumcision was a seal, a seal in the flesh, as the Old Covenant was a fleshly Covenant, and hence indicative of the relationship designed to obtain between God and His Old-Covenant people, proffered by grace and accepted by the obedience of faith, See my Genesis, Vol. III, 250264, 272282).
During the wilderness journey circumcision fell into disuse. This neglect is most satisfactorily explained as follows: The nation, while bearing the punishment of disobedience in its wanderings, was regarded as under temporary rejection by God, and was therefore prohibited from using the sign of the covenant. As the Lord had only promised his assistance on condition that the law given by Moses was faithfully observed, it became the duty of Joshua, upon entering Canaan, to perform the rite of circumcision upon the generation that had been born in the wilderness. This was done, immediately upon crossing the Jordan, at or near Gilgal (Jos. 5:2-9). From this time circumcision became the pride of Israel, they looking with contempt upon all those people not observing it (Jdg. 14:3; Jdg. 15:18; 1Sa. 14:6, Isa. 52:1, etc.). It became a rite so distinctive of them that their oppressors tried to prevent their observing it, an attempt to which they refused submission (1Ma. 1:48; 1Ma. 1:50; 1Ma. 1:60; 1Ma. 1:62). The process of restoring a circumcised person to his natural condition by a surgical operation was sometimes undergone from a desire to assimilate themselves to the heathen around them, or that they might not be known as Jews when they appeared naked in the games. Against having recourse to this practice, from an excessive anti-Judaistic tendency, St. Paul cautions the Corinthians (1Co. 7:18-19). Circumcision was used as a symbol of purity of heart, in certain instances (Deu. 10:16; Deu. 30:6; cf. Lev. 26:41; Jer. 4:4; Jer. 9:25; Eze. 44:7). Exo. 6:12Who am of uncircumcised lips: By this figure Moses would seem to imply that he was unskilled in public address, as the Jews were wont to consider circumcision a perfecting of ones powers. Circumcision is also figurative of a readiness to hear and obey (Jer. 6:10) (UBG, 207). (For Christian [spiritual] circumcision, see my Genesis, Vol. III, 282290).
Skinner holds that the requirement of circumcision imposed by the sons of Jacob upon the Shechemites was merely a pretext to render them incapable of self-defense (ICCG, 419). Certainly the Scripture account of the transaction contains no hint of anything that would refute this view; if it be true, it renders their duplicity even more perfidious. And even though the rulers of Shechem and their people agreed to the proposaleven though for reasons of expediency (for them no question of morality was involved)Jacobs sons must have rejoiced within themselves that those against whom they sought revenge were so open-minded as to accept a proposal that would render them so completely helpless against the execution of this vengeance. And so we read, that on the third day when they (the Shechemites) were sore (when the inflammation is said, in the case of adults, to be at its height), two of the sons of Jacob, namely, Simeon and Levi took the lead in attacking the unsuspecting city with the sword, killing the males therein, and carrying off the women and children and all material goods as spoils. In this ferocious act of revenge they slew both Hamor and Shechem with the edge of the sword and took Dinah out of Shechems house (Gen. 34:25-26).
Jacobs displeasure (Gen. 34:30-31) seems to have been occasioned by the principle of expediency rather than by considerations of morality or righteousness. The massacre displeased Jacob, the more so since he had few supporters and he was a sojourner who could ill afford enemies (AtD, 92). Jacob rebukes Simeon and Levi, not for their treachery and cruelty, but for their recklessness in exposing the whole tribe to the vengeance of the Canaanites (ICCG, 421). Lange is inclined to be a bit more lenient: Jacob felt that, as the Israel of God, he was made offensive even to the moral sense of the surrounding heathen, through the pretended holy deed of his sons; so far so that they had endangered the very foundation of the theocracy, the kingdom of God, the old-covenant church. Fanaticism always produces the same results; either to discredit Christianity in the moral estimate of the world, and imperil its very existence by its unreasonable zeal, or to expose it to the most severe persecutions (CDHCG, 564). Whitelaw summarizes as follows: That Jacob should have spoken to his sons only of his own danger, and not of their guilt, has been ascribed to his belief that this was the only motive which their carnal minds could understand (Keil, Gerlach); to a remembrance of his own deceitfulness, which disqualified him in a measure from being the censor of his sons (Kalisch, Wordsworth); to the lowered moral and spiritual tone of his own mind (Candlish); to the circumstance that, having indulged his children in their youth, he was now afraid to reprove them (Inglis). That Jacob afterwards attained to a proper estimate of their bloody deed his last prophetic utterance reveals (Gen. 49:5-7). By some it is supposed that he even now felt the crime in all its heinousness (Kalisch), though his reproach was somewhat leniently expressed in the word trouble (Lange); while others, believing Jacobs abhorrence of his sons fanatical cruelty to have been deep and real, account for its omission by the historian on the ground that he aimed merely at showing the protection of God (Gen. 35:5), through which Jacob escaped the evil consequences of their conduct (Hengstenberg) (PCG, 408). Note the sons attempted justification: Should he [Shechem] deal with our sister as with a harlot? That is, She is not a harlot and her wrong must be avenged; so we as her brothers had to do it (SC, 209). But Shechem offered Dinah honorable marriage!
Note Gen. 34:27-29In the sons of Jacob here surely all the sons of Jacob are included. It is inconceivable that only two of them could have massacred all the males of the city. They must have had the help of other males (servants, herdsmen) in Jacobs entourage. Simeon and Levi, however, were the ringleaders. But the other males were surely involved: the prospect of loot becomes to many the primary, rather than the secondary motivation when a mob forms. They who seemed to have scruples or fears about taking part in the slaughter have no compunctions of conscience about taking a hand in the plundering of the city. This act of theirs again does them little credit. The thing that ranked in the bosom of all was that this was the city that had defiled their sister. They are, indeed, largely correct in imputing to the city a share in the wrong done; for the city condoned the wrong and had not the slightest intentions of taking steps to right it. But only the most excessive cruelty can demand such a wholesale retribution for a personal wrong. . . . Then to show how thoroughly Jacobs sons were in the heat of their vengeance the author reports that also all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives were captured, the latter, no doubt, being kept as slaves. Then to produce the impression that the sacking of the city was done with utmost thoroughness the writer adds: and they plundered even everything that was in the houses. By translating thus we remove the necessity of textual changes which the critics regard as necessary (EG, 909). (But can we truly say that the Shechemites did nothing to right the wrong done Dinah? Only if we assume, of course, that their proposal for amalgamation was motivated solely by expediency without any awareness of the moral law which had been violated. But again did they have any notion of moral law whatsoever? Of course, we have no way of obtaining conclusive answers to these questions.) Again: It is almost unbelievable that Jacob should be reproached by commentators at this point for what he is supposed to have failed to say, namely, for not rebuking Simeon and Levi for their treachery and cruelty. Yet such a man as Jacob could not have failed to be in perfect accord with us in our estimate of this bloody deed of his sons, for Jacob was truly a spiritual man, especially in these later years. Nor was the moral issue involved in the least difficult to discern, The chief reason for the writers not mentioning Jacobs judgment on the moral issue is that this issue is too obvious. Furthermore, that judgment is really included in the statement, Ye have brought trouble upon me. Then, lastly, the author is leading up to another matter that specially calls for discussion. Since, namely, the entire Pentateuch aims to set forth how Gods gracious care led to the undeserving people of His choice from grace to grace, the author is preparing to show another instance of such doing and prepares for it by mentioning how greatly Jacob was troubled by this deed. For akhar, which means disturb, destroy, here means bring into trouble. In what sense he means this in particular is at once explained, by causing me to become odious (literally, to stink) to the inhabitants of the land. That surely implies that the deed done was both obnoxious and dangerous. In comparison with the inhabitants of the land Jacob had but a small following, or, says the Hebrew, Men of numbers, i.e., men easily numbered. Had not God intervened, the outcome would inevitably have been as Jacob describes it: they would have gathered together and destroyed him and his family. Though without a doubt the deed of Jacobs sons gave evidence of great courage, it certainly also entailed even greater rashness. The thoughtlessness of young men who rush headlong into ill-considered projects was abundantly displayed by this massacre. . . . We are greatly amazed in reflecting upon the event as a whole that descendants of the worthy patriarch Abraham should almost immediately after his time already have sunk to the level upon which Jacobs sons stand in this chapter. A partial explanation is to be sought in the crafty cunning of their father which in the sons degenerated to the extremes here witnessed. A further bit of explanation is to be sought in their environment; hardly anywhere except in their own home did they see any manifestation of godly life. Then, in the third place, we must attribute a good measure of the guilt of any improper bringing up of these young men to the irregularities of a home where bigamy ruled. All true spirit of discipline was cancelled by the presence of two wives and two handmaidens in the homepractically four wives. Lastly, the chapter as a whole furnishes, a clear example as to how much the critics are divided against themselves in spite of their strong protestations of unanimity (EG, 909912).
Some additional pertinent comments concerning the tragedy of Shechem are in order at this point. For instance, the following: Shechem was inhabited at the time by Hurrian elements; the text (Gen. 34:2) calls Hamor a Hivite, but the LXX identifies him as a Horite. The latter identification is supported by two independent details: (1) The Shechemites are as yet uncircumcised, a circumstance that supplies the key feature of the story; the contrary was presumably true of Semitic Canaanites. (2) Cuneiform records from the region of Central Palestine have shown that Hurrians were prominent there during the Amarna age (ca. 1400 B.C.); they must have arrived prior to that date. There is, furthermore, the fact . . . that Simeon and Levi are depicted here as headstrong, and vengeful. In later sources, Simeon was a rudimentary tribe settled in the south of Judea, a long way from Shechem; and Levi has no territorial holdings whatsoever. Evidently, therefore, a pair of once vigorous tribes had suffered critical losses in their attempt to settle in Central Palestine, losses which they were never able to recoup. Standard tradition retained no memory of that remote event, except for the faint echo in the Testament of Jacob (ch. 49), where the blame is laid, significantly enough, on the two brother tribes themselves. The period in question should thus be dated before the Exodus, and very likely prior to Amarna times (Speiser, ABG, 267). (It should be recalled that there were four other sons of Jacob by Leah, in addition to Simeon and Levi: namely, Reuben, the eldest; then respectively Simeon and Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, There were also two (adopted) sons of Leah, by her handmaid, Zilpah, namely, Gad and Asher. Of all these Simeon and Levi undoubtedly took the lead in pressing and executing vengeance on Shechem). (It is interesting to note that among the Amarna clay tablets in Accadian cuneiform, discovered by a peasant woman in 1886 at Tell el Amarna (mound of the city of the Horizon) about 200 miles south of present-day Cairo, there is mention of events leading to the surrender of Shechem to the Habiru. Apparently, roving bands of these Habiru (Hebrews?) infested the country and menaced the settled communities, adding to the general insecurity during the period when Egyptian hegemony in Palestine was on the wane. These tablets were found to contain correspondence of petty Canaanite princelings with their Egyptian overlords. They date back to about 1400 B.C. (See Chronology, xx., supra). The Habiru appear prominently in the letters of Abdi-Hiba, governor of Jerusalem (Urusalim) to the Pharaoh Akhnaton asking for Egyptian troops to hold off these invaders, who could easily have been the Israelite tribes invading Canaan under Joshua. Among these hundreds of clay tablets there is a letter written by Labayu, ruler of Shechem, to the Egyptian king vehemently protesting his loyalty). The indications in the Bible may imply that the patriarchs were not ordinary nomads, whom an older school of Orientalists liked to compare with the present-day Arab nomads. Even though the latter live exotically in tents and move about, they are quite unsophisticated and detached from the current history of their time. They stand in sharp contrast to the Hebrew patriarchs, who had dealings with Amorites, Canaanites, Philistines (early Caphtorians), Egyptians and, of course, kinglets from all over the Near East. The patriarchs careers seem to lie on the hub of the highly cosmopolitan Amarna Age, or very close to it. . . . Whatever its background in history may be, it is evident that the proto-Aramean strain, represented in the saga of Jacob, is the nomadic element referred to later in the Deuteronomic phrase a wandering Aramean was my father and from this stock of Hebrew and Aramean origin sprang the clans who formed the beginning of a Hebrew settlement in Canaan, at Shechem and Bethel, long before the sojourn in Egypt and the Exodus out of Egypt. G. E. Wright maintains that it has long been realized that Genesis 34 has behind it a tradition of a Hebrew relationship with Shechem which relates to early events not necessarily altered by the Sojourn and Exodus. Even during the Sojourn the city must have been under Israelite control; that is, a mixed Canaanite-Hebrew group of clans may have been united by covenant, worshipping a deity called Baal-berith (Lord of the Covenant) (AtD, 94). (Cf. Deu. 26:5; Deu. 1:10; Deu. 10:22; Gen. 46:27; Jdg. 8:33; Jdg. 9:4; Jdg. 9:27; Jdg. 9:46).
It might be well to note, in this connection, the rather important role played by Shechem in the Old Testament story, as follows: (a) A capital of the Hivites, and as such the scene of the brutal heathenish iniquity, in relation to the religious and moral dignity of Israel; (b) The birthplace of Jewish fanaticism in the sons of Jacob; (c) A chief city of Ephraim, and an Israelitish priestly city; (d) The capital of the kingdom of Israel for some time; (e) The principal seat of the Samaritan nationality and cults. The acquisition of a parcel of land at Shechem by Jacob, forms a counterpart to the purchase of Abraham at Hebron. But there is an evident progress here, since he made the purchase for his own settlement during life, while Abraham barely gained a burial place. The memory of Canaan by Israel and the later conquest (cf. Gen. 48:22) is closely connected with this possession. In Jacobs life, too, the desire to exchange the wandering nomadic life for a more fixed abode, becomes more apparent than in the life of Isaac. [Wordsworths remarks here, after enumerating the important events clustering around this place from Abraham to Christ, is suggestive. Thus the history of Shechem, combining so many associations, shows the uniformity of the divine plan, extending through many centuries, for the salvation of the world by the promised seed of Abraham, in whom all nations are blessed; and for the outpouring of the Spirit on the Israel of God, who are descended from the true Jacob; and for their union in the sanctuary of the Christian church, and for the union of all nations in one household in Christ, Luk. 1:68Gosman] (Lange, 563).
Shechem has a long history Biblically. (1) The name appears once as Sichem (Gen. 12:6, A.V., marginal rendering, Sychar, cf. Joh. 4:5). The town was in Central Palestine. The etymology of the Hebrew word shekem indicates that the place was situated on some mountain or hillside; and this presumption agrees with Jos. 20:7, which places it on Mount Ephraim (see also 1Ki. 12:25), and with Jdg. 9:6, which represents it as under the summit of Gerizim, which belonged to the Ephraim range (UBD, s.v.). (2) Shechem is the first Palestinian site mentioned in Genesis. Abram, on first entering the land of promise, pitched his tent there and built an altar under the oak (or terebinth) of Moreh (Gen. 12:6). The Canaanite was then in the land, i.e. even at that early time; nevertheless, Yahweh revealed Himself to the patriarch there, and renewed His covenant promise (Gen. 12:7, whereupon the patriarch built an altar unto Him. (3) Abrahams grandson, Jacob, on returning from Paddan-aram, came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, and pitched his tent (Gen. 33:18-19; ch. 34) on a parcel of ground which he bought from Hamor, the Hivite prince of the region (Gen. 33:18; Gen. 34:2). When Shechem, the son of Hamor, defiled Dinah, Simeon and Levi led in the massacre of the men of the region (Gen. 34:25-26) and the other sons of Jacob pillaged the town (Gen. 34:27-29), though Jacobthen Israelcondemned the action (Gen. 34:30; Gen. 49:5-7). (4) Here Jacob buried all of his households strange gods under the oak (Gen. 35:1-4) and raised an altar to El-elohe-Israel (God, the God of Israel), Gen. 32:20. This parcel of ground which Jacob purchased he subsequently bequeathed as a special patrimony to his son Joseph (Gen. 33:19, Jos. 24:32, Joh. 4:5); and here the Israelites buried the bones of Joseph which they had brought with them out of Egypt (Jos. 24:32, cf. Gen. 50:25). (5) Joseph as a young man in Canaan sought his brothers who were tending their flocks near the rich pasture lands around Shechem (Gen. 37:12 ff.). (6) In the 15th century B.C. the town fell into the hands of the Habiru as we learn from the Tell-el-Amarna letters (Ancient Near Eastern Texts, J. B. Pritchard, 1950: pp. 477, 485487, 489, 490). The name probably occurs earlier in the Egyptian records dating back to the 19th-18th centuries B.C. (ANET, 230, 239; see Douglas, NBD, 1173). (7) In the course of the Conquest, Joshua as the successor of Moses called for a renewal of the Covenant at Shechem: at this time the Law was again promulgated: its blessings were proclaimed from Gerizim and its curses from Ebal (Deu. 27:11, Jos. 8:33-35). Various features of the typical covenant pattern well known in the East in the centuries 1500700 B.C., may be identified in these Scriptures. (See especially NBD, under covenant.) (8) In the distribution of the land, Shechem fell to Ephraim (Jos. 20:7, 1Ch. 7:28) but was assigned to the Kohathite Levites, and became a city of refuge (Jos. 21:20-21). (9) At Shechem Joshua assembled the people shortly before his death and delivered to them his last counsels (Jos. 24:1; Jos. 24:25). (10) After the death of Gideon, Abimelech, his illegitimate son by a Shechemite woman, persuaded the men of the city to make him king (Jdg. 9:6; cf. Jdg. 8:22-23). In the time of the Judges, Shechem was still a center of Canaanite worship and the temple of Baal-berith (the lord of the covenant). Abimelech proceeded to exterminate the royal seed, but Jotham, one son who escaped the bloody purge, standing on Mount Gerizim, by means of a parable about the trees, appealed eloquently to the people of Shechem to repudiate Abimelech (Jdg. 9:8-15). This they did after some three years (Jdg. 9:22-23), but Abimelech destroyed Shechem (Jdg. 9:45) and then attacked the stronghold of the temple of Baal-berith and burned it over the heads of those who sought refuge there (Jdg. 9:46-49). In a subsequent engagement at Thebez, however, Abimelech was mortally wounded by a millstone thrown down on his skull by a woman, and to save his honor commanded his armor-bearer to end his life (Judg., ch. 9). (11) Evidently the city was soon restored, for we are told that all Israel assembled at Shechem and that Rehoboam, Solomons successor, went there to be inaugurated king of all Israel (1 Ki.,ch. 12): at this same place, however, the ten tribes renounced the House of David and transferred their allegiance to Jeroboam (1Ki. 12:1-20, 2Ch. 10:1-19). Jeroboam restored Shechem and made it the capital of his kingdom (the northern kingdom, Israel) for a time (1Ki. 12:25): later it seems, he moved his capital to Penuel, and his successors still later moved it to Tirzah (1Ki. 12:25; 1Ki. 15:21; 1Ki. 16:6). (12) From that time on, the town declined in importance, but continued to exist long after the fall of Samaria, 722 B.C., for men from Shechem came with offerings to Jerusalem as late as 586 B.C. (Jer. 41:5). The Assyrian king, Shalmeneser (or Sargon?) on taking over Samaria carried most of the people of Shechem into captivity and then sent colonies from Babylon to take the place of the exiles (2Ki. 17:5-6; 2Ki. 17:24; 2Ki. 18:9 ff.). Another influx of strangers came under Esarhaddon (Ezr. 4:2). In post-exilic times Shechem became the chief city of the Samaritans who built a temple there (Sir. 50:26-28; Josephus, Ant., 11, 8, 6). In 128 B.C. John Hyrcanus captured the town (Josephus, Ant., 13, 9, 1). In the time of the first Jewish revolt Vespasian camped near Shechem, and after the war the town was rebuilt and was named Flavia Neapolis in honor of the emperor Flavius Vespasianus: hence the modern Nablus. From the time of the origin of the Samaritans (cf. 1Ki. 16:23-24) the history of Shechem is interwoven with that of this people (the ten tribes having lost their identity by forced amalgamation with foreign colonials) and their sacred mount, Gerizim. It was to the Samaritans that Shechem owed the revival of its claims to be considered the religious center of the land; but this was in the interest of a narrow and exclusive sectarianism (Joh. 4:5 ff.) (UBD, 1008). (For information about archaeological discoveries at Shechem, see especially BWDBA, or any reliable Bible Dictionary, e.g., UBD, NBD, HBD, etc.). Shechem is now generally identified with Tell-Balatah.
A final word is in order here concerning the tragedy of Shechem. Jacob reproved the originators of this act most severely for their wickedness. Ye have brought me into trouble (conturbare), to make me stink (an abomination) among the inhabitants of the land; . . . and yet I (with my attendants) am a company that can be numbered (lit. people of number, easily numbered, a small band, Deu. 4:27, Isa. 10:19); and if they gather together against me, they will slay me, etc. If Jacob laid stress simply upon the consequences which this crime was likely to bring upon himself and his house, the reason was, that this was the view most adapted to make an impression upon his sons. For his last words concerning Simeon and Levi (Gen. 49:5-7) are a sufficient proof that the wickedness of their conduct was also an object of deep abhorrence. And his fear was not groundless. Only God in His mercy averted all the evil consequences from Jacob and his house (Gen. 35:5-6). But his sons answered, Are they to treat our sister like a harlot? . . . Their indignation was justifiable enough; and their seeking revenge, as Absalom avenged the violation of his sister on Amnon (2Sa. 13:22 ff.), was in accordance with the habits of nomadic tribes. In this way, for example, seduction is still punished by death among the Arabs, and the punishment is generally inflicted by the brothers. . . . In addition to this, Jacobs sons looked upon the matter, not merely as a violation of their sisters chastity, but a crime against the peculiar vocation of their tribe. But for all that, the deception they practised, the abuse of the covenant sign of circumcision as a means of gratifying their revenge, and the extension of that revenge to the whole town, together with the plundering of the slain, were crimes deserving of the strongest reprobation. The crafty character of Jacob degenerated into malicious cunning in Simeon and Levi; and jealousy for the exalted vocation of their family, into actual sin. This event shows us in type all the errors into which the belief in the pre-eminence of Israel was sure to lead in the course of history, whenever that belief was rudely held by men of carnal minds (O. v Gerlach) (K-D, 314315).
To sum up: The city of Shechem was overpowered, of course, but Jacob thought it prudent to avoid the revenge of the Canaanites by departing from the region of what must have been to him a great disillusionment. It seems most likely that he returned afterward and rescued from the Amorite with his sword and his bow the piece of land he had previously purchased and which he left, as a special inheritance, to Joseph (Gen. 48:22, Jos. 17:14).
2. Jacob at Bethel, Gen. 35:1-15.
Jacob had allowed some ten years to pass since his return from Mesopotamia, without performing the vow which he had made at Bethel when in flight from Esau (Gen. 28:20-22). However, he had recalled it in his own mind when he was resolving to return (Gen. 31:13), and had also erected an altar in Shechem to God, the God of Israel (Gen. 33:20). He is now divinely directed to go to Bethel and there build an altar to the God who had appeared to him on his original flight to Paddan-aram. This divine injunction evidently prompted him to perform a task which he had evidently kept putting off, namely, to put out of his house the strange gods which he apparently had tolerated, weakly enough, out of misplaced consideration for his wives, and to pay to God the vow he had made in the day of his trouble. He therefore ordered his household (Gen. 34:2-3), i.e., his wives and children, and all that were with him, i.e., his men and maid-servants, to put away all the strange gods they were harboring (and, it may be, concealing), then to purify themselves and wash their clothes. He also buried all the strange (foreign) gods, including no doubt Rachels teraphim (Gen. 31:19), and whatever other idols there were (including, in all likelihood some that were carried off in the looting of Shechem), and along with these the earrings which were worn as amulets and charms: all these he buried under the terebinth at Shechem, probably the very tree under which his grandfather Abraham had once pitched his tent (Gen. 12:8, Gen. 13:3, Gen. 28:19). Bethel was about twelve miles north of Jerusalem and thirty miles south of Shechem. From Shechem to Bethel there is a continuous ascent of over 1000 ft.
Gen. 34:1Because you delayed on the road you were punished by what happened to Dinah (Rashi). Dwell there: You must dwell there a little time before you set up the altar, so that your mind may be duly attuned to the service of God (Sforno, Nachmanides). The purpose of the altar was, according to N, to cleanse himself from his contact with idols, or from the slain; according to S, as a thanksgiving for his deliverance (SC, 209). The command to dwell there (at Bethel) surely signified at least one thing, namely, that the massacre of the Shechemites had rendered longer residence in that region unsafe. The divine injunction here contained an assurance that the same Divine arm which had shielded him against the enmity of Esau and the oppression of Laban would extend to him protection on his future way. Gen. 34:2Put away the foreign gods, etc. Note that the same words were spoken by Joshua under the same tree (Jos. 24:23). These facts would point, it would appear, to the memory of a great national renunciation of idolatry at Shechem in the early history of Israel (Skinner, ICCG, 423). The gods of the stranger included most likely the teraphim of Laban, which Rachel still retained, and other objects of idolatrous worship, either brought by Jacobs servants from Mesopotamia, or adopted in Canaan, or perhaps possessed by the captives (PCG, 411). Cleanse yourselves. The word is that which is used later to describe purifications under the Law (Num. 19:11-12, Lev. 14:4; Lev. 15:3), Change your garments: the directions here given were similar to those subsequently given at Sinai (Exo. 19:10-15), and were designed to symbolize a moral and spiritual purification of the mind and heart (the inward man, cf. Rom. 7:22, 2Co. 4:16). Let us arise and go up to Bethel: evidently Jacob had acquainted his family with the original experience at Bethel. I will make there an altar unto God: El is probably used because of its proximity to and connection with Bethel, or house of El, and the intended contrast between the El of Bethel and the strange Elohim (gods) which Jacobs household were commanded to put away (PCG, 411). Note that the language here, Gen. 34:3, clearly looks back to his Bethel experiences (Gen. 28:20, Gen. 32:9, Gen. 31:9). It ought not to be forgotten that Jacob had now a large band of followerswives, children, domestics, slaves, and shepherds. His tribe, as it may be called, could scarcely have numbered fewer than from two hundred to three hundred persons, old and young. These had all come from Mesopotamia, and most of them had been trained in idolatry. So long as Jacob resided in Mesopotamia it is probable he had not the power to prevent idolatrous practices; but now, having come to another countrya country in which the power of Jehovah had been so signally manifested to himself and his fathershe felt that he might safely and effectually eradicate idolatry from his people (SIBG, 270). Did he not also have a great number of captives from Shechem? (Cf. Gen. 35:29). Note that the purgation followed Jacobs commands, evidently without protest. The foreign gods were handed over and buried, as were also all their earrings, those employed for purposes of idolatrous worship, which were often covered with allegorical figures and mysterious sentences, and supposed to be endowed with a talismanic virtue (PCG, 411). Cf. Jdg. 8:24, Isa. 3:20-21; Hos. 2:13). Tradition has it that these were the teraphim which Rached had stolen and kept until now. The verse may mean that the servants of Jacob had brought their own household gods from their homeland. Jacob compels them to give them up and accept the worship of the God of Israel. Earrings were, and still are, worn in the Orient as amulets or charms against evil. In ancient times they had ritual significance, Jdg. 8:24-27 (Morgenstern). The oak which was by Shechem: Whether the oak (terebinth) under which Abraham once pitched his tent (Gen. 12:6), the one beneath which Joshua later erected his memorial pillar (Jos. 24:26), the oak of the sorcerers (Jdg. 9:37), and the oak of the pillar at Shechem (Jdg. 9:6), were one and the same, we cannot determine with certainty: the probability is, however, that they were. Change your garments: From this we learn that when one goes to pray in a place dedicated to that purpose, one must be clean bodily and in raiment (Ibn Ezra). Lest you have garments dedicated to idolatry (Rashi) (SC, 209). What a lesson here for our generation. A lesson this is, to be commended to our present-day long-haired, female-imitating hippies and to our hip-skirted, fashion-enslaved women (both young and old), indeed to the entire unholy breed of our twentieth-century idolaters! Let them be reminded of one thing; namely, that garishness, rather than modesty, has no place in the conduct or dress of one who presumes to come into the presence of God for divine worship. (Cf. 1Co. 10:31, 1Pe. 3:1-7). Truly he that sitteth in the heavens must laugh at such antics: the Lord will have all such in derision, Psa. 2:4). The burial of the idols was followed by purification through the washing of the body, as a sign of the purification of the heart from the defilement of idolatry and by the putting on of clean and festal clothes, as a symbol of the sanctification and elevation of the heart to the Lord (Jos. 24:23) (K-D, 316).
So Jacob and his household journeyed toward Bethel. And a terror of God was upon the cities round about them and they did not pursue them. Was this simply a great terror literally? Or was it a supernatural dread inspired by Elohim, or a fear of Elohim, under whose care Jacob manifestly had been taken? It seems obvious that we have here another instance of what is designated the numinous revelation of Elohim: that is, a manifestation, and the accompanying awareness, by human beings, of the dreadfulness, the awesomeness of God. (It will be recalled that this is the thesis of the book, The Idea of the Holy, by Rudolph Otto. See infra, pp. 140ff., 171ff., esp. 174). (Cf. Gen. 28:17; Gen. 32:30; Exo. 19:16-19; Exo. 23:27; 1Sa. 14:15, 2Ch. 14:13, Psa. 68:35, Heb. 10:26-31). So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan (a clause obviously designed to draw special attention to the fact that Jacob had now accomplished his return to Canaan), the same is Bethel, he and all the people that were with him (the members of his household and the captive Shechemites). (Luz, as we have noted, was the ancient name of Bethel, and continued to be the name by which it was known to the Canaanites (Gen. 28:19; Gen. 35:6; Gen. 48:3; cf. Jdg. 1:22-26). Luz was given the name of Bethel by. Jacob (Gen. 28:16-19), after spending the night of his sublime dream-vision near to the city. It was the site of Jacobs sojourn near to the city, rather than the city itself, that received the name Bethel (Jos. 16:2); but this site later became so important that the name was applied to the city as well (Jos. 18:13, Jdg. 1:23) (NBD, s.v.).
Jacob, having arrived safely at Bethel, built an altar, but this time he called the place El Bethel (the God of Bethel) in remembrance of Gods manifestation of Himself to him on his flight from Esau. It will be noted that Bethel marks two significant stages in the course of Jacobs life: the first on his flight from Esau (ch. 28), and now the second on his return trip home, many years later. The name God of the House of God definitely connects the present experience with that of his dream-vision on the journey to Paddan-aram (Gen. 28:16-22). V. 5He had formerly called it Beth-el, i.e., the house of God. Now, to attest his experience of Gods fulfillment of His promises, he calls it, El Bethel, i.e., the God of Bethel (SIBG, 270).
The death of Deborah, Gen. 34:8. Deborah was the same nurse who accompanied Rebekah when she left home (Gen. 24:59). She had been sent by Rebekah to fetch Jacob home in fulfilment of her promise (Gen. 27:45), but she died on the way (Rashi). It is extremely unlikely that it was the same nurse, because she would have been very old by then and hardly fit for such a mission. She was probably another nurse who had remained with Laban after Rebekah left, and then became nurse to Jacobs children. Now Jacob was taking her home with him to look after Rebekah in her old age. But why is this fact mentioned? The Rabbis asserted that we have here a veiled hint at the death of Rebekah herself, this being really the reason why the place was named Allon-bacuth (Nachmanides). As to why Rebekahs death is not explicitly stated, Rashi cites a Midrash that the reason was that the people might not curse her as the mother who bore Esau. Nachmanides holds that it was because very little honor could have been paid to her at the funeral, in view of Isaacs blindness which confined him to the house so that he could not attend it, and Jacobs absence (SC, 210). A Midrash is an exposition of Hebrew Scripture esp. one that was made between 4th Century B.C. and the 11th century A.D.) Morgenstern suggests the following: There could be some confusion here between this tradition of the great tree near Bethel, sacred because of its association with a certain Deborah, and the tradition recorded in Jdg. 4:5 of the sacred palm-tree of Deborah also located near Bethel, because Deborah the prophetess was supposed to have sat beneath it while revealing the oracle to Israel (JIBG). Lange comments: The nurse of Rebekah had gone with her to Hebron, but how came she here? Delitzsch conjectures that Rebekah had sent her, according to the promise (Gen. 27:45), or to her daughter-in-law and grandchildren, for their care; but we have ventured the suggestion that Jacob took her with him upon his return from a visit to Hebron. She found her peculiar home in Jacobs house, and with his children after the death of Rebekah. Knobel naturally prefers to find a difficulty even here. It is a well-known method of exaggerating all the blanks in the Bible into diversities and contradictions (p. 563). Leupold writes: Deborah must have been very old at this time. Since Jacob may have been nearly 110 years old at this time and was born rather late in his mothers life, an age of 170 years for Deborah is not unlikely. But Isaac lived to be 180 years old (Gen. 34:28). But these unexplained and unusual features constitute no reason for questioning the historicity of the event. The confusion of our event and the person of Deborah (Jdg. 4:5) does not lie in these passages but in the minds of the critics. The Deborah of a later date judged and dwelt under a palmtree between Ramah and Bethel. Our Deborah died and was buried under an oak below Bethel. More important to observe is the fact that the Scripture regards the death and burial of this menial worthy of notice; and that fact would lead us to infer, as Luther does, that she was a wise and godly matron, who had served and advised Jacob, had supervised the domestics of the household and had often counseled and comforted Jacob in dangers and difficulties. So the Oak of Weeping became a monument to a godly servant whose loss was deeply mourned by all (EG, 919). This final word, in the present connection: V. 8There Deborah, Rebekahs nurse, died, and was buried below Bethel under an oak, which was henceforth called the oak of weeping [Allon-bacuth], a mourning oak, from the grief of Jacobs house on account of her death. 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 Jacobs household after the death of her mistress. The mourning at her death, and the perpetuation of her memory, are proofs that she must have been a faithful and highly esteemed servant in Jacobs house (K-D, 316). Skinner is right (ICCG, 425), it seems to us at this point, in saying that the chief mystery here is not concerning Deborah, but the mystery as to how the name of Rebekah got introduced in this connection at all. He adds that it is an unsafe argument to say that a nurse could not have been conspicuous in legend, e.g., cf. the grave of the nurse of Dionysus at Scythopolis, in Pliny, Natural History, 5, 74).
The Renewal of the Covenant Promises at Bethel, Gen. 34:9-15. Gen. 34:9The distinction between God spake and God appeared is analogous to the distinction in the mode of revelation: cf. ch. 12, 1 and 7 (Lange, 563). Whitelaw comments: This was a visible manifestation, in contrast to the audible one in Shechem (Gen. 34:1), and in a state of wakefulness (Gen. 34:13), as distinguished from the dream-vision formerly beheld at Bethel (Gen. 28:12). God appeared to Jacob, and blessed him, that is, renewed the covenant-promise of which Jacob was the heir. Note again the mention of the change of name (cf. Gen. 32:28). At Peniel the name of Israel was given to Jacob; here it is sealed to him; hence, here it is definitely connected with the Messianic Promise. (Murphy suggests also that the repetition of the new name here implies a decline in Jacobs spiritual life between Peniel and Bethel). Not also that God appeared unto Jacob again: Now, at his return when the vow has been paid, as before in his migration, when the vow was occasioned and made (Gen. 28:20-22). After Jacob had performed his vow by erecting the altar at Bethel, God appeared to him again there (again, referring to ch. 28), on his coming out of Paddan-aram. as He had appeared to him 30 years before on his journey thitherthough it was then in a dream, now by daylight in a visible form (cf. Gen. 34:13, God went up from him). The gloom of that day of fear had now brightened into the clear daylight of salvation. This appearance was the answer, which God gave to Jacob on his acknowledgment of Him; and its reality is thereby established, in opposition to the conjecture that it is merely a legendary repetition of the previous vision. The former theophany had promised to Jacob divine protection in a foreign land and restoration to his home, on the ground of his call to be the bearer of the blessings of salvation. This promise God had fulfilled, and Jacob therefore performed his vow. On the strength of this, God now confirmed to him the name of Israel, which He had already given him in chap. Gen. 32:28, and with it the promise of a numerous seed and the possession of Canaan, which, so far as the form and substance are concerned, points back rather to chap. Gen. 17:6; Gen. 17:8 than to chap. Gen. 28:13-14, and for the fulfilment of which, commencing with the birth of his sons and his return to Canaan, and stretching forward to the most remote future, the name of Israel was to furnish him with a pledge. Jacob alluded to this second manifestation of God at Bethel towards the close of his life (chap. Gen. 48:3-4); and Hosea (Hos. 12:4) represents it as the result of his wrestling with God. The remembrance of this appearance Jacob transmitted to his descendants by erecting a memorial stone, which he not only anointed with oil like the former one in chap. Gen. 28:18, but consecrated by a drink-offering and by the renewal of the name Bethel (K-D, 317). Note again the name-change. The reason of the second investiture with the name of Israel seems probably to be that either Jacob himself, or his family, had refrained from using it. Note: Believers, like Jacob and his family, are oftentimes negligent of the use and unmindful of the privilege of the new name. Believers were by nature children of wrath, even as others, Eph. 2:3. But, Behold what manner of love God has bestowed, that they should be called, through faith (Gal. 3:26) the children of God, 1Jn. 3:2 (SIBG, 270).
Note especially Gen. 34:11 : I am God Almighty, etc. This self-applied title of God has the same significance here as it had in the revelation of God for Abraham (Gen. 17:1); there he revealed himself as the miracle-working God, because he had promised God a son; here, however, because he promises to make from Jacobs family a community [assembly] of nations (Lange). The kahal here is significant as it refers to the ultimate complete fulfilment of the promise in true spiritual Israel (Gosman, in Lange, p. 563). Murphy calls attention to the fact that from this time the multiplication of Israel is rapid. In twenty-five years after this time he goes down into Egypt with seventy souls, besides the wives of his married descendants, and two hundred and ten years after that Israel goes out of Egypt with numbering about one million eight hundred thousand. A nation and a congregation of nations, such as were then known known in the world, had at the last date come of him, and kings were to follow in due time (MG, 427). It should be noted that the land, as well as the seed, is again promised. Note here also the repeated items of the Promise. (1) Be fruitful and multiply: Abraham and Isaac had each only one son of promise; but now the time of increase has come (MG, 427). (Cf. Gen. 1:28). (2) A nation and a company of nations shall be of thee: cf. Gen. 17:5, Gen. 28:3. (3) And kings shall come out of thy loins: cf. Gen. 17:6; Gen. 17:16. (4) And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac (cf. Gen. 12:7, Gen. 13:15, Gen. 26:3-4), to thee I will give it (Gen. 28:13), and to thy seed after thee will I give the land (the time of their actual taking possession of the land was specified to Abraham, Gen. 15:12-16).
Note also that this is the first mention of the drink-offering in the Old Testament (Gen. 34:14).
Gen. 34:14And Jacob set up a pillar, etc. It would seem that the former pillar (Gen. 28:18) had fallen down and disappeared. This pillar of stone was to commemorate the interview, God having gone up from him in the place where He talked with him. This setting up of memorial pillars seems to have been a favorite practice of Jacobs. Cf. the first pillar at Bethel (Gen. 28:18), the pillar on Galeed (Gen. 31:45), the second pillar at Bethel (Gen. 35:14), the pillar over Rachels grave (Gen. 35:20). Note that Jacob poured a drink-offering on this pillar of stone, and oil also. This is the first mention of a drink-offering (sacrificial libation) in the Old Testament. Mosaic sacrifices were often accompanied by drink offerings (cf. Exo. 29:40, Lev. 23:13. In Num. 15:3-10 the quantity is prescribed according to the types of blood sacrifice to be presented. Its use was perverted by the Jews who offered it along with their sacrificial cakes to Ashtoreth the queen of heaven (Jer. 44:17). God reproved Israel for offering it to idols (Isa. 57:5-6; Isa. 65:11; Jer. 19:13; Eze. 20:28). The drink offering is symbolic of the outpoured blood of Christ on Calvary (Isa. 53:12, Mat. 26:28, Heb. 9:11-14) and of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon His Church (Joe. 2:28, Act. 2:17-18; Act. 10:45) (HBD, 57). The drink offering consisted of a fourth part of a hin of wine, which was equal to about a third of a gallon (Exo. 29:40). Jacob poured oil on the memorial stone as he had done previously (Gen. 28:18). The holy anointing oil of the Old Testament was always a type of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit (Lev. 8:12, Psa. 45:7, Heb. 1:9, Act. 10:38, etc.).
Gen. 34:15God called the place Bethel (cf. Gen. 28:19). Do we not have a pro-lepsis here, that is, a referring back, by way of explanation for the sake of emphasis, to what had previously been said and done at this place on the occasion of Jacobs dream-vision (Gen. 28:18-22).
Bethel (known originally as Luz, Gen. 28:19) has a long and notable history in the Biblical record. (It is usually identified as the modern Tell Beitin on the watershed route 12 miles north of Jerusalem.) Abram camped to the east of Bethel and there built an altar to Yahweh (Gen. 12:8), at the time of his entrance into Canaan. After his sojourn in Egypt, he returned to this site (Gen. 13:3). For Jacob, Bethel was the starting-point of his understanding of God, who was for him in a special sense God of Bethel (Gen. 31:13; Gen. 35:7). On being divinely ordered to Bethel, on his return from Mesopotamia, he built an altar and set up a memorial pillar, renewing the name he had given the place originally (Gen. 35:1-15). After the Conquest it was assigned to the Joseph tribes who captured it, especially to Ephraim (1Ch. 7:28), and bordered the territory of Benjamin (Jos. 18:13). According to excavated potsherds Bethel began to be occupied as a city in the 21st century B.C. It suffered a severe destruction in the early 14th century B.C.: this is usually referred to as a burning by the tribes of Israel at the time of the Conquest. Later excavations seem to support the view that this destruction was wrought by the Josephites, some time after Joshuas death (Jdg. 1:22-26), and had nothing to do with the actual Conquest. When the Israelites took over after Joshuas death, they called it by the name Jacob had given to the place of his vision instead of calling it Luz (Jdg. 1:23). When it became necessary for Israel to punish Benjamin, the people sought advice as to the conduct of the battle and worshiped at Bethel for the ark . . . was there (Jdg. 20:18-28; Jdg. 21:1-4). It was a sanctuary in the time of Samuel who visited it annually to hold court (1Sa. 7:16; 1Sa. 10:3); hence it obviously was a site of one of the schools of the prophets which were originated under Samuel (2Ki. 2:1-3; 1Sa. 10:10; 1Sa. 19:20; 1Ki. 20:35, etc.). The archaeological remains of this period indicate that it was a time of great insecurity: the settlement was burned twice by the Philistines. Under the early monarchy, the city seems to have begun to prosper again, becoming the center of Jeroboams rival cultus, condemned by a man of God from Judah (2 Ki. 12:28-13:32). Abijah of Judah captured the site (2Ch. 13:19); and Asa, his son, may have destroyed it (2 Chron., ch. 14). Elisha met a group of sons of the prophets from Bethel, and along with them the mocking boys (2Ki. 2:3; 2Ki. 2:23). Amos condemned the pagan rites of the Israelite royal sanctuary (Amo. 4:4; Amo. 5:5-6; Amo. 7:13; cf. Hos. 10:15) and Jeremiah bespoke their futility (Jer. 48:13). (Ashtoreth was the Canaanite mother-goddess of the Canaanites, the goddess of fertility, love and war (1Ki. 11:5): her counterparts were the Syrian Atargatis, the Phoenician Astarta, the Babylonian Ishtar, the Phrygian Cybele, the Egyptian Isis, etc.). The priest sent to instruct the Assyrian settlers in Samaria settled at Bethel (2Ki. 17:28). Josiah invaded all the pagan sanctuaries of both Judah and Israel and restored the true worship of Jehovah in a mighty national reformation (2Ki. 23:15 ff.). Bethel was later occupied by the returning exiles from Babylon (Ezr. 2:28, Neh. 11:31); their worship, however, was again centered in Jerusalem (Zec. 12:2, Isa. 51:22-23). The city grew again during the Hellenistic period until it was fortified by Bacchides about 160 B.C. (1 Macc. 9, 50). Vespasian captured it in A.D. 69, and a little later it was rebuilt as a Roman township (a small political unit). (In this connection, cf. Beth-aven (house of iniquity), which was near Ai and to the east of Bethel (Jos. 7:2 and served as boundary mark for Benjamins allotment (Jos. 18:12). In Hosea (Hos. 4:15; Hos. 5:8; Hos. 10:5), the name may be a derogatory synonym for Bethel, House of the (false) god (NBD, s.v.). Bethel continued to flourish until the time of the Arab conquest. Bethel, specified by Eusebius and Jerome, twelve miles from Jerusalem and on the right hand of the road to Shechem, corresponds precisely to the ruins which bear the name Beitin (UBD, 139). The site is perhaps Burg Beitin to the southeast of Tell Beitin, the shoulder of Luz (Jos. 18:13) (NBD, 143).
3. The Birth of Benjamin and the Death of Rachel, Gen. 34:16-20.
Jacob now left Bethel, evidently not in opposition to the divine command which simply directed him to go there, build an altar, and dwell there long enough at least to perform his vow. In accordance probably with his own desire, if not also Heavens counsel, we find him leaving Bethel and proceeding toward Mamre, no doubt to visit Isaac, (What has happened to Rebekah, in the meantime? When did she die? The Scriptures do not give us the answers, It has been conjectured that her death occurred while Jacob was absent in Paddan-aram, The place of her burial, incidentally mentioned by Jacob on his deathbed (Gen. 49:31), was in the field of Machpelah. The Apostle Paul refers to Rebekah as having been acquainted with Gods purposes regarding her sons even before they were born (Rom. 9:10-12, cf. Gen. 25:23), It seems obvious that Jacob never saw her after his hurried departure for Paddan-aram (Gen. 27:46, Gen. 28:5). Was not this very fact a form of retribution for her deceptive manipulation of events in favor of Jacob, her favorite?)
As they proceeded on their journey southward in the direction of Hebron, Rachel was taken in labor as they entered the vicinity of Ephrath. The text tells us literally that she was suffering hard labor in her parturition, all the more severe no doubt because it had been some sixteen years since her first son, Joseph, was born. In the course of the labor, the midwife told her that this baby was also to be a son, fulfilling a wish expressed by her when Joseph was born (Gen. 30:24). And Rachel dies during the final fulfilment of the strongest wish of her life. Note as her soul was departing (for she died). the term nephesh meaning soul or life. That is, departing not to annihilation, but to another state of being (cf. Luk. 16:22, Joh. 1:18). For she died (Whitelaw calls this a rather pathetic commentary on ch. Gen. 30:1). As Rachel was dying she named the baby Ben-oni, son of my pain. Jacob, however, called him Ben-jamin, probably son of good fortune, according to the meaning of the word jamin sustained by the Arabic, to indicate that his pain at the loss of his favorite wife was compensated by the birth of this son, who now completed the number twelve (K-D, p. 318). The father changes the name of ill omen to Benjamin: son of the right hand, i.e., son of happy omen (JB, 57). With her last breath Rachel names her son Ben-oni; but the father, to avert the omen, calls him Bin-yamin. The pathos of the narrative flows in sympathy with the feelings of the mother: a notice of Jacobs life-long grief for the loss of Rachel is reserved for Gen. 48:7 (ICCG, 426). Joseph buried Rachel on the road to Ephratah, or Ephrath . . . i.e., Bethlehem (bread-house), by which name it is better known, though the origin of it is obscure (K-D, 318). Jacob erected a monument (pillar) upon Rachels grave; the same is the Pillar of Rachels grave unto this day (Gen. 34:20). That is, unto the time of Moses; yet the site of Rachels sepulchre was known as late as the time of Samuel (1Sa. 10:2). There seems no reason to question the tradition which in the fourth century has placed it within the Turkish chapel Kubbet Rachil, about half-an-hours journey north of Bethlehem (Whitelaw, PCG, 417; cf. Robinson, I, 322; Thompson, LB, 644; Tristram, Land of Israel, 404; Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, 149). Bethlehem, or House of Bread, became the birthplace of David, 1Sa. 16:18), and of Christ (Mic. 5:2, Mat. 2:1). This narrative is more than mere history, for the event occurred, and the record was made, to symbolize a greater sorrow that was to occur at Ephrath nearly two thousand years after, in connection with the birth at Bethlehem of that Man of Sorrows in whom every important event in Hebrew history received its final and complete significance (Thomson, LB, 644645). The grave of Rachel was long marked by the pillar which Jacob erected over it; and her memory was associated with the town Bethlehem (Jer. 31:15, Mat. 2:18) (OTH, 105). Nachmanides remarks that the Tomb is about four parasangs from the Ramah of Benjamin, but more than two days journey from the Ramah of Ephraim. Hence, when Jeremiah said, A voice is heard in Ramah . . . Rachel weeping for her children (Jer. 31:15), it must be hyperbole: so loud is her weeping that it can be heard as far as Ramah. Jacob buried Rachel on the way and did not take her body into the nearby city of Bethlehem because he foresaw that it would belong to the tribe of Judah, and he wished her body to lie in the portion of Benjamin (SC, 212). Rachels sepulchre is still a noted spot. Jews and Mohammedans unite in honoring it. It is marked by a small building surmounted by a white dome. It is on the leading road from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, three miles from the former and one from the latter. The original name of Bethlehem appears to have been Ephrath, fruitful. This gave place to Bethlehem, house of bread; which in modern times has given place to the Arabic Beit-lahm, house of flesh (SIBG, 270). Benjamin was the twelfth and last son of Jacob. He was a full brother to Joseph, being born of Rachel, the favorite wife of Jacob. Benjamin alone was born in Canaan rather than Paddan-aram, and his mother was buried on the way to Bethlehem in the region later assigned to Benjamin. He and Joseph were special objects of the affection of Jacob, because their mother was Rachel. In her dying agonies Rachel gave him the name of Benoni, son of my sorrow, but Jacob named him Benjamin, son of the right hand. The peculiar concern of Joseph for Benjamin during the Egyptian episode may be understood by the fact that they were full brothers, whose half brothers looked upon them with envy because of Jacobs special love for them (HBD, 58). In Jer. 31:15-16, the prophet refers to the exile of the ten tribes under Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and the sorrow caused by their dispersion (2Ki. 17:20), under the symbol of Rachel, the maternal ancestor of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, bewailing the fate of her children, which lamentation was a type or symbol of that which was fulfilled in Bethlehem when the infants were slaughtered by order of Herod (Mat. 2:16-18) (UBD, 907).
Rachel is a figure of great importance in the saga, as Jacobs beloved wife and as the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, who were to constitute the very core of the Israelite state. And so the narrative in Chapter 35 continues with the death of Rachel and the birth of Benjamin, for she died in childbirth. Tradition hails a cupola-topped structure on the road from Jerusalem to Bethlehem as the tomb of Rachel. It was actually erected in the 15th century A.D. over a monolith which marks an ancient grave. It is mentioned by the 7th century pilgrim Arculf. This shrine was frequented by Jewish pilgrims in Palestine until 1948 when the Arab-Israel War of Liberation broke out (AtD, 95). In the time of the sixth-century [?] pilgrim Arculf, the grave was already marked by a monument of some sort, which he calls a pyramid. That probably means a pyramid-topped mausoleum, for these were frequently constructed in Roman times (Kraeling, BA, 88).
4. Reubens Incest. Gen. 34:21-22.
Israel went on his way toward Hebron from Ephrath, after the funeral of Rachel, and spread (i.e., unfolded, cf. Gen. 12:8, Gen. 26:25) his tent beyond the tower of Eder. He that departs from the scene of his sorrow is designated as Israel, as it would seem to indicate that he bore his grief as his better, newer nature helped him to do, and so moved on a chastened but a more seasoned saint of God. But for the present he did not move far. For Migdal-Eder, meaning the tower of the flocks, i.e., a lookout tower for shepherds, was, according to Mic. 4:8, (rightly interpreted), on the southeast hill of Jerusalem on old territory of the tribe of Benjamin (Jos. 18:28, Jdg. 1:21) (EG, 926). Probably a turret, or watch-tower, erected for the convenience of shepherds in guarding their flocks (2Ki. 18:8, 2Ch. 26:10; 2Ch. 27:4), the site of which is uncertain, but which is commonly supposed to have been a mile (Jerome) or more south of Bethlehem (PCG, 416). Such towers would be numerous in any pastoral country; and the place referred to here is un-, known (Skinner, 426). Here it was that Reuben, Jacobs eldest, committed incest (Lev. 18:8) with Bilhah, Rachels handmaid and Jacobs concubine. For this crime he received the dying curse of Jacob and his birthright was taken from him (Gen. 49:4, 1Ch. 5:1). Need we be told the self-evident thing, that Jacob disapproved and was deeply grieved and shamed? We are merely informed that he became aware of what had happened: he heard of it. This prepares us for Gen. 49:4 where his disapproval finds lasting expression for all future time (EG, 927). Another local story, writes Cornfeld, attached to a place called Migdal Eder, is connected with the oldest roots of the Jacob traditions. It concerns Reuben, Jacobs eldest son, and an affair with his fathers concubine, Bilhah. It is of such a scandalous nature that it is reported with characteristic Hebrew conciseness. The biblical storyteller, while not suppressing scandal and frauengeschichten does not lavish time and words on sex and gossip, in line with the Bibles rigid and ascetic social code. This incident, a mere fragment of the vast Jacob saga, is necessary to the Biblical storyteller for an understanding of Jacobs last blessing to his sons, and his paternal curse on Reuben, in Gen. 49:4. But according to the oldest Jewish commentators, Reuben was not motivated by lust, but acted to protect his mother Leah [as in Gen. 30:14?] and defend her interests. Commentators assume that Jacob made Bilhah his favorite after Rachels death, whereupon Reuben seduced her and alienated the patriarchs affection from her. There is more to this than appears in a few short sentences. This motif is part of the epic repertoire of the East Mediterranean and comes up in the Iliad (9:44457), where Phoenix, like Reuben, received a paternal curse and no blessing for seducing his fathers concubine. He also, like Reuben, was not motivated by lust. This goes to prove that the more we study the Bible, the more we have to respect the importance of the mere details which help to piece together and interpret Biblical stones (AtD, 9596). But why was it necessary to try to explain away the content of Gen. 49:4, or also of 1Ch. 5:1? The connection between these passages and Gen. 35:22 is very clear and meaningful. Moreover, there is no real reason for trying to prove that Reuben was too much different from young men of his time, especially in his attitude toward one who was only a concubine? Imaginative reconstructions are entirely unnecessary: the Scriptures in this case, when allowed to do so, speak for themselves. This is equally true of other Jewish interpretations. E.g., Reuben did not actually do this, but removed her couch from his fathers tent, and Scripture stigmatized his action as heinous as though he had lain with her. For during Rachels lifetime Jacobs couch was always in her tent; on her death he removed it to Bilhahs, Rachels handmaid. Reuben resented this, saying, If my mother, Leah, was subordinate to Rachel, must she also be subordinate to Rachels handmaid! Thereupon he removed her couch and substituted Leahs (Rashi, quoting the Talmud). Nachmanides suggests that he did this from the fear that Jacob might have another son by her, as she was still young, and so diminish his heritage (SC, 213). We call attention to the fact that these passages (Gen. 35:22; Gen. 49:4, and 1Ch. 5:1) all make sense when taken together. Why then should anyone resort to utterly uncalled-for and unnecessary flights of the imagination which serve only to create confusion and offer little or nothing that can be substantiated by external evidence. The Scriptures present the story of Reubens incest as fact: the whole story forms a pattern which authenticates itself, Why should any writer have indulged a midrash trying to ameliorate Reubens sin, when as a matter of fact it could hardly be comparable in its heinousness to the massacre of the Shechemites perpetrated by Simeons and Levis thirst for vengeance?
5. The Twelve Sons of Jacob, Gen. 34:22-26.
(1) By Leah: Reuben, Jacobs firstborn, and Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, (Cf. Gen. 29:32-35, Gen. 30:18-20, Gen. 46:8-15; Exo. 1:2-3). (2) By Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. (Cf. Gen. 30:22-24, Gen. 35:18, Gen. 46:19). (3) By Bilhah, Rachels haidmand: Dan, and Naphtali. (Cf. Gen. 30:4-8). (4) By Zilpah (Leahs handmaid): Gad, and Asher. (Cf. Gen. 30:9-15). Of all these, Benjamin was the only one born in Canaan; the others were born to Jacob in Paddan-aram. We now have the genealogy of the origin of the twelve tribes who later became a people (a nation, the Children of Israel). These verses are anticipatory of the Testament of Israel (ch. 49) and of the establishment of the Theocracy, under the mediatorship of Moses, at Sinai.
6. The Death of Isaac, Gen. 34:26-28.
Jacob came finally to Mamre, unto Kiriath-arba, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned, Cf. Gen. 13:18, Gen. 23:2; Gen. 23:19; Joh. 14:15; Joh. 15:13, etc. Here Isaac died, being old and full of days, literally satisfied with days. (Cf. the statement about Abrahams death, Gen. 25:8). This chapter closes the ninth of the pieces or documents marked off by the phrase these are the generations. Its opening event was the birth of Isaac (Gen. 25:19), which took place in the hundredth year of Abraham, and therefore seventy-five years before his death recorded in the seventh document. As the seventh purports to be the generations of Terah (Gen. 11:27), and relates to Abraham who was his offspring, so the present document, containing the generations of Isaac, refers chiefly to the sons of Isaac, and especially to Jacob, as the heir of the promise. Isaac as a son learned obedience to his father in that great typical event of his life, in which he was laid on the altar, and figuratively sacrificed in the ram which was his substitute. This was the great significant passage in his life, after which he retired into comparative tranquility (MG, 429). (Murphy, by the term document here has reference to the sections which are introduced by the word toledoth, of which there are nine, not including the use of the word with reference strictly, in Gen. 2:4, to the physical or non-human phases of the Creation. Note the use of toledoth (generations) to mark off the nine sections of the book as follows: the generations of Adam, beginning at Gen. 5:1; of Noah, beginning at Gen. 6:9; of the sons of Noah, at Gen. 10:1; of Shem, at Gen. 11:10; of Terah, at Gen. 1:27; of Ishmael, at Gen. 25:12; of Isaac, at Gen. 25:19; of Esau, at Gen. 36:1; and of Jacob at Gen. 37:2. See my Genesis, I, 4647.)
Isaac did indeed live in relative tranquility throughout most of his life; as a matter of fact, his personality seems not to have been motivated at any time to works of greatness: he was more or less under the domination of his wife throughout his entire married life. Commentators write eloquently of the Saga of Abraham, the Saga of Jacob, and the Saga of Joseph, but never of the Saga of Isaac: Isaacs career never attained such note, such epic proportions, one might well say. The careers of Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph, on the other hand, did attain epic proportions.
It is interesting to note also the prominent role played by the women of the patriarchal narratives. For example, Abraham accepted, apparently without any protest whatsoever, the barren Sarahs proffer of a concubine as a substitute bearer of children, and thus acquiesced in her lack of faith and unwillingness to abide Gods own time for the fulfilment of His promise (Gen. 16:1-2). Isaac allowed himself to be victimized by the schemes of the strong-willed Rebekah (Gen. 27:5 ff.). Jacob labored under the spell which his deep love for Rachel seems to have cast over him throughout her life and even after her death (as evinced by the fact that he worked fourteen years to secure her as a wife: cf. Gen. 29:10-11; Gen. 29:30; Gen. 35:16-20; Gen. 37:3; Gen. 44:20-22); it was Jacobs great love for Rachel that sparked his deep affection for Joseph and Benjamin, no doubt to the disgust of his other sons. It has always been true, and we suppose always will be that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Men are frequently made or marred, or even destroyed, by the passionate devotion they give to the women whom they truly love.
Jacob finally arrived at Hebron with his whole entourage of relatives and servants. Hebron was the third notable station occupied by his grandfather Abraham in the Land of Promise (Gen. 13:18). Here also Jacobs father Isaac now sojourned. At the time of Jacobs flight Isaac, we will recall, was resident in Beer-sheba; however, as he advanced in age he seems to have moved to Mamre, probably to be near the family sepulchre. Hebron was a town in the Judean mountains, some 2800 feet above sea level, midway between Jerusalem and Beersheba, and about twenty miles from each. It was named Kiriath-arba (Gen. 23:2; Jos. 14:15; Jos. 15:13), also Mamre, after Mamre the Amorite (Gen. 13:18; Gen. 14:13; Gen. 14:24; Gen. 35:27; Gen. 23:17; Gen. 23:19). Here Abraham entertained three heavenly Visitants on occasion and was promised a son (Gen. 18:1; Gen. 18:10; Gen. 18:14). The cave of Machpelah lay before Mamre, probably to the east of the grove of Mamre (Gen. 23:17; Gen. 23:19; Gen. 25:9; Gen. 49:30-32; Gen. 50:13; Gen. 50:26).
Isaac died at the age of 180 years (cf. Psa. 91:16). The death of this venerable patriarch is here recorded by anticipation, for it did not take place till fifteen years after Josephs disappearance. Feeble and blind though he was, he lived to a very advanced age; and it is a pleasing evidence of the permanent reconciliation between Esau and Jacob, that they met at Mamre, to perform the funeral rites of their common father (Jamieson, CECG, 225). This author would have us think kindly of Isaac, even reverently. He writes: In the delicate simplicity and unobtrusive humility of Isaac, in the quiet, gentle, amiable purity of his life, we have an early type of Christs perfect example. Indeed, his whole character, and the leading events of his history were a foreshadowing of those of the Savior (ibid., 225). It can be said of Isaac truthfully, whatever else might be said in criticism, that he was a man of peace, a man who always sought peace in preference to violence.
The last sentence in this chapter 35 reads like a benediction in itself: Esau and Jacob his sons buried him. Esau evidently arrived from Mount Seir to pay the final service due his deceased parent, Jacob according to him that precedence which had once belonged to him as Isaacs firstborn. The Solemnity of Death: in Gen. 34:29 there comes a haunting echo of an earlier passage: Gen. 25:8-9. Except for the names, the two are identical. Isaac dies, and his sons Esau and Jacob come to bury him. Abraham died, and his sons Isaac and Ishmael came and buried him. In each case there had been bitterness between the two sons. Isaac was the cherished one: Ishmael had been driven out because of Sarahs jealousy for Isaac. So in the next generation also the two sons had been divided by Jacobs crafty trick that stole the birthright and Esaus resulting furious anger. But both times the two sons meet at a fathers funeralthe one thing that after a long separation could unite them. The verses are more than bare records of events. They suggest a deep instinct that runs throughout all the history of Israelthe instinct of family loyalty. Whatever might drive individuals apart, something stronger held them, and would keep them from complete estrangement. Not in word only, but in fact the people of Israel accepted the commandment, Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Obedience to that commandment is one reason why the Jewish race has had such tenacity and toughness of survival. It has honored and protected the family. It has chastened and corrected selfish irresponsibility by putting into the hearts of each generation a sense of duty to the group (IB, 743). History proves beyond all possibility of doubt that when family life goes to pieces the nation falls.
This is the last mention of the living Esau in Scripture. The sentence seems to indicate that Jacob and Esau continued to be on brotherly terms from the day of their meeting at the ford of Jabbok. Stillno mention whatever of Rebekah in her last days! Nothingbut a passing mention, by Israel himself, of her place of burial, the Cave of Machpelah (50:31).
It is interesting to note the chronology involved in the intertwined lives of Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Jacob was born in the sixtieth year of Isaacs life (Gen. 25:26), and was thus 120 years old when Isaac died (at the age of 180). But later when he (as Israel) was presented before Pharaoh in Egypt he was 130 years old (Gen. 47:9). Of this stretch of time there were seven fruitful and two unfruitful years since Josephs exaltation to power in Egypt (Gen. 41:53-54; Gen. 45:6), and thirteen years between the selling of Joseph and his elevation, for he was sold at the age of seventeen and made prime minister at thirty (Gen. 37:2, Gen. 47:9). Hence we must take twenty-three years from the 130 years of Jacob, to determine his age at the time Joseph was sold: which is thus 107. Isaac therefore shared the grief of Jacob over the loss of his son for thirteen years. In a similar way, Abraham had witnessed and sympathized with the long unfruitful marriage of Isaac. But Isaac could see in these sorrows of Jacob the hand of God, who will not allow that anyone should anticipate him in the self-willed preference of a favorite son (Lange, 571). Leupold presents this problem in a somewhat clearer light as follows: From this time [of Isaacs death] onward Jacob enters into the full patriarchal heritage, having at last attained unto a spiritual maturity which is analogous to that of the patriarch. Coincident with this is Isaacs receding into the background. Consequently Isaacs death is now reported, though it did not take place for another twelve or thirteen years. For shortly after this, when Joseph was sold into Egypt, he was seventeen years old. When he stood before Pharaoh he was thirty (Gen. 41:46). Seven years later when Joseph was thirty-seven, Jacob came to Egypt at the age of 130 (Gen. 47:9). Consequently Jacob must have been ninety-three at Josephs birth and at the time of our chapter, 93, plus 15, i.e., about 108 years. But Isaac was sixty years old when Jacob was born: 108 plus 60 equals 168, Isaacs age when Jacob returned home. But in closing the life of Isaac it is proper to mention his death, though in reality this did not occur for another twelve years. Strange to say, Isaac lived to witness Jacobs grief over Joseph (EG, 929). Whitelaw writes as follows: At this time [of Isaacs death] Jacob was 120; but at 130 he stood before Pharaoh in Egypt, at which date Joseph had been ten years governor. He was therefore 120 when Joseph was promoted at the age of thirty, and 107 when Joseph was sold. Consequently Isaac was 167 years of age when Joseph was sold, so that he must have survived that event and sympathised with Jacob his son for a period of 13 years (PCG, 417). Isaac died at the age of 180, and was buried by his two sons in the Cave of Machpelah (ch. Gen. 49:31), Abrahams family grave, Esau having come from Seir to Hebron to attend the funeral of his father. But Isaacs death did not actually take place for 12 years after Jacobs return to Hebron. For as Joseph was 17 years old when he was sold by his brethren (Gen. 37:2), and Jacob was then living at Hebron (Gen. 37:14), it cannot have been more than 31 years after his flight from Esau when Jacob returned home (cf. ch. Gen. 34:1). Now, since according to our calculation at ch. Gen. 27:1; he was 77 years old when he fled, he must have been 108 when he returned home; and Isaac would only have reached his 168th year, as he was 60 years old when Jacob was born (Gen. 25:26). Consequently, Isaac lived to witness the grief of Jacob at the loss of Joseph, and died but a short time before his promotion in Egypt, which occurred 13 years after he was sold (Gen. 41:46), and only 10 years before Jacobs removal with his family to Egypt, as Jacob was 130 years old when he was presented to Pharaoh (Gen. 47:9). But the historical significance of his life was at an end, when Joseph returned home with his twelve sons (K-D, 320). This means simply that Jacob and his household must have dwelt with, or in close proximity to that of Isaac for some twelve or thirteen years, that is, until Isaac was gathered to his people at the age of 180.
We learn later, from Jacobs last words, that Isaac and Rebekah were both buried in the Cave at Machpelah (Gen. 49:31). However, the Scriptures are completely silent about her life and death, following the departure of Jacob for Paddan-aram at her instigation. It seems only reasonable to conclude that after that departure she never saw her favorite son again.
FOR MEDITATION AND SERMONIZING
John Peter Lange: On the Fanaticism of Leahs Sons
(CDHCG, 564)
The collision between the sons of Jacob and Shechem the son of Hamor, is a vidid picture of the collisions between the youthful forms of political despotism and hierarchal pride. Shechem acts as an insolent worldly prince, Jacobs sons as young fanatical priests, luring him to destruction.
After Jacob became Israel, the just consciousness of his theocratic dignity appears manifestly in his sons, under the deformity of fanatical zeal. We may view this narrative as the history of the origin, and first original form of Jewish and Christian fanaticism. We notice first that fanaticism does not originate in and for itself, but clings to religious and moral ideas as a monstrous and misshapen outgrowth, since it changes the spiritual into a carnal motive. The sons of Jacob were right in feeling that they were deeply injured in the religious and moral idea and dignity of Israel, by Shechems deed. But still they are already wrong in their judgment of Shechems act, since there is surely a difference between the brutal lust of Amnon, who after his sin pours his hatred upon her whom he had dishonored, and Shechem who passionately loves and would marry the dishonored maiden, and is ready to pay any sum as an atonement; a distinction which the sons of Jacob mistook, just as those of the clergy do at this day who throw all breaches of the seventh commandment into one common category and as of the same heinous dye. Then we observe that Jacobs sons justly shun a mixture with the Shechemites, although in this case they were willing to be circumcised for worldly and selfish ends. But there is a clear distinction between such a wholesale, mass conversion, from improper motives, which would have corrupted and oppressed the house of Israel, and the transition of Shechem to the sons of Israel, or the establishment of some neutral position for Dinah. But leaving this out of view, if we should prefer to maintain (what Jacob certainly did not maintain) that an example of revenge must be made, to intimidate the heathen, and to warn the future Israel against the Canaanites, still the fanatical zeal in the conduct of Jacobs sons passed over into fanaticism strictly so called, which developed itself from the root of spiritual pride, according to three world-historical characteristics. The first was cunning, the lie, and enticing deception. Thus the Hugenots were enticed into Paris on the night of St. Bartholomew. The second was the murderous attack and carnage. How often has this form shown itself in the history of fanaticism! This pretended sacred murder and carnage draws the third characteristic sign in its train: rapine and pillage. The possessions of the heretics, according to the laws of the Middle Ages, fell to the executioner of the pretended justice; and history of the Crusades against the heretics testifies to similar horrors and devastation. Jacob, therefore, justly declared his condemnation of the iniquity of the brothers, Simeon and Levi, not only at once, but upon his death-bed (ch. 49) and it marks the assurance of the apocryphal standpoint, when the book Judith, for the purpose of palliating the crime of Judith, glorifies in a poetical strain the like fanatical act of Simeon (ch. 9). Judith, indeed, in the trait of cunning, appears as the daughter in spirit of her ancestor Simeon. We must not fail to distinguish here in our history, in this first vivid picture of fanaticism, the nobler point of departure, the theocratic motive, from the terrible counterfeit and deformity. In this relation there seems to have been a difference between the brothers, Simeon and Levi. While the former appears to have played a chief part in the history of Joseph also (Gen. 42:24), and in the division of Canaan was dispersed among his brethren, the purified Levi came afterwards to be the representative of pure zeal in Israel (Exo. 32:28, Deu. 33:8) and the administrator of the priesthood, i.e., the theocratic priestly first-born, by the side of Judah the theocratic political first-born. A living faith and a faithful zeal rarely develop themselves as a matter of fact without a mixture of fanaticism; the flame gradually purifies itself from the smoke. In all actual individual cases, it is a question whether the flame overcomes the smoke, or the smoke the flame. In the life of Christ, the Old-Testament covenant faithfulness and truth burns pure and bright, entirely free from smoke; in the history of the old Judaism, on the contrary, a dangerous mixture of fire and smoke steams over the land. And so in the development of individual believers we see how some purify themselves to the purest Christian humanity, while others, even sinking more and more into the pride. cunning, uncharitableness and injustice of fanaticism, are completely ruined. Delitzsch: The greatest aggravation of their sin was that they degraded the sacred sign of the covenant into the common means of their malice. And yet it was a noble germ which exploded so wickedly.
This Shechemite carnage of blind and Jewish fanaticism is reflected in a most remarkable way, as to all its several parts, in the most infamous crime of Christian fanaticism, the Parisian St. Bartholomew. [The narrative of these events at Shechem shows how impartial the sacred writer is, bringing out into prominence whatever traits of excellence there were in the characters of Shechem and Hamor, while he does not conceal the cunning, falsehood, and cruelty of the sons of Jacob. Nor should we fail to observe the connection of this narrative with the later exclusion of Simeon and Levi from the rights of the firstborn, to which they would naturally have acceded after the exclusion of Reuben; and with their future location in the land of Canaan. The history furnishes one of the clearest proofs of the genuineness and unity of GenesisGosnian] (Lange, 564). (Cf. Gen. 29:32-35; Gen. 35:22; Gen. 49:3; Gen. 49:5-7, etc.).
Analogies: Jacob and Christ
Gen. 32:24-32; Joh. 14:1-14
A study of the lives of the patriarchs reveals the fact that human nature has been the same in all ages. The Bible is unique and superior in that it reveals men just as they are and have always been. It does not turn aside from its faithful record to cover up a single fault, nor hide an unpleasant incident. It is essentially the Book of Life.
In the biography of Jacob, we will find some very marked weaknesses of character. On the other hand, the remarkable virtues that manifest themselves demonstrate the superiority of his character over that of Esau, his brother, who was willing to sell his birthright for a mere mess of pottage, Gen. 25:29-34, Heb. 12:16. Hence the promise to Abraham, which looked forward to the Gospel, Gen. 12:1-3, Gal. 3:8, was repeated to Isaac, Gen. 26:4, and to Jacob, Gen. 28:14. The names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are inseparably linked together as the fathers of the Jewish people, Exo. 3:6, Mat. 8:11, Act. 3:13, Heb. 11:18-20.
While Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph are spoken of as types of Christ, it is not to be understood that they are types in character. That would be impossible, for in this He stood alonegreat in His solitude, and solitary in His greatness in holiness and perfection. We do not desire to become too fanciful in this study, yet there are many circumstances in the lives of these men that are strongly typical. We take up now the analogies between Jacob and Christ.
1. Jacobs vision at Bethel, Gen. 28:10-22.
1. Christs place in the world vision he announced, Joh. 1:51. As Jacob saw in his dream the vision of angels ascending and descending the ladder, so the disciples would see in Christ the connecting link between heaven and earth. Through Christ the heavens would again be opened, and communion between heaven and earth restored, Joh. 14:6, Heb. 8:1-2.
2. Jacob went into a far country to secure his bride, laboring as a servant to secure her, Genesis 29-30.
2. Christ came to the world as a servant, laboring to secure His Bride, the Church. Joh. 1:1-5, Col. 1:16-17, Heb. 1:2-3, Php. 2:5-8, Joh. 8:58.
3. In the far country eleven sons were born, Genesis 29-30.
3. While on earth, Christ called twelve apostles, but one of them fell. Mat. 10:2-4, Joh. 6:70-71, Mat. 27:3-5, Act. 1:25.
4. Jacob was servant of Laban. At the end of his service, they set a three days journey between them. Gen. 30:36.
4. At the end of Christs personal ministry, a three days journey was set between Himself and the world. Joh. 2:18-21, Mat. 16:21, 1Co. 15:1-4.
5. Following the return to Canaan, Benjamin was born, making, the twelfth son. These twelve sons were the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel. Gen. 35:22; Gen. 49:28-29, Exo. 24:4, Lev. 24:5.
5. After Christs return to Heaven, Paul was called to be an apostle, born out of due season, of the tribe of Benjamin. Act. 9:1-43; Act. 26:1-7; Act. 26:16-17, Php. 3:4-6, 1Co. 15:8. The apostles will occupy thrones of judgment and positions of power in the Kingdom, 1Co. 6:2, Luk. 22:29-30, Rev. 3:21; Rev. 21:14. These twelve are now the pillars, or the foundation of the Church, Gal. 2:9, Eph. 2:20.
6. Benjamin was born amidst sorrow and grief, yet was named The Son of the Right Hand, Gen. 35:16-20.
6. Paul was born to the Church in the period of intense sorrow and persecution, yet came to be the greatest of the apostles, Act. 8:13; Act. 26:9-10, 2Co. 11:22-28. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles distinctly, Act. 26:16-18. To him was committed the task of writing a large part of the New Testament.
7. Thy name shall be called Israel, (that is, a prince of God); As a prince thou hast power with God and with men, Gen. 32:24-30.
7. Christ has power with God and with men, Joh. 12:32; Joh. 11:41-42, Heb. 7:25.
It is said that Frederick the Great of Prussia once asked a minister, of whom he was an intimate friend, What do you consider the best evidence of the claims that Jesus is the Son of God, and that the Bible is divinely inspired? The man of God very quickly replied, The history of the Jews. And the supposed unbeliever was silenced.
In studying Gods dealings with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their posterity, we are plainly shown that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men. God is in history, and especially in the history of the Jews. Today they are scattered among all nations, for their rejection of Christ, until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled. What a warning to Gentiles who refuse to acknowledge Jesus as their Christ, Rom. 11:11-12. When the world is again bathed in sorrows, we may see the light!
REVIEW QUESTIONS ON PART FORTY-THREE
1.
Name the places that figured in the journey of Jacob and state what important event (or events) took place at each.
2.
What place was the immediate objective of Jacob on his return from Paddan-aram?
3.
What dramatice episode took place at Shechem?
4.
Who was Dinah and what apparently were her relations with the women of Shechem?
5.
What indignity was perpetrated on Dinah by Shechem the prince of the place?
6.
Who was the king of Shechem at this time?
7.
What was the reaction of Jacobs sons to this indignity? Who were the ringleaders in the terrible revenge visited on the Shechemites?
8.
What is the significance of the statement regarding Shechems folly, which thing ought not to be done?
9.
What restitution did the king and prince of Shechem propose for the latters crime? To what extent did this restitution include Jacobs entire tribe or ethnic group?
10.
What was the feature of Shechems act that was to Jacobs sons a special kind of iniquity? Do we see here a taint of national (or ethnic) pride and self-righteousness?
11.
What can we ascertain about Dinahs life following the incident at Shechem?
12.
What fanatical revenge did the sons of Jacob perpetrate on the Shechemites?
13.
In what way did they profane the institution of circumcision in actualizing this vengeance? Did they have any right to propose circumcision to non-Hebrews? Explain your answer.
14.
Of what special kind of hypocrisy were the sons of Jacob guilty?
15.
What was the total vengeance which they imposed on the Shechemites?
16.
What was Jacobs attitude toward this tragedy?
17.
What special character did circumcision have in relation to the progeny of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? How was it related to the Abrahamic Covenant?
18.
Is there any evidence that circumcision had any other meaning to the children of Abraham than that assigned to it as a feature of the Covenant? Explain your answer.
19.
What other suggestions have been offered by anthropologists as to the design of circumcision? Do these suggestions apply to the design of circumcision in the Abrahamic covenant? Explain.
20.
What validity is there in the view that the imposition of Circumcision on the Shechemites was merely a pretext to render them incapable of self-defense? Explain your answer.
21.
What do we mean by the statement that Jacobs displeasure over the tragedy perpetrated by his sons seems to have been occasioned by expediency? Do you consider this charge valid?
22.
Do you consider that parental weakness comes to light in the duplicity of Jacobs sons?
23.
Trace the significant role played by Shechem in the Old Testament story. Where was the place located? How is it related to events in the New Testament?
24.
May the, tragedy of Shechem be rightly called an example of the dangers of religious fanaticism?
25.
Explain, in this connection, the origin of the Samaritans. Why were they so cordially disliked by the Jews in New Testament times? Where in the New Testament do we find this prejudice, clearly revealed?
26.
Why, in all likelihood, did Jacob set out immediately for Bethel after the tragedy of Shechem? What did he do with the people of Shechem?
27.
What did God command Jacob to do, after the incident at Shechem?
28.
What steps did Jacob take to purify his household? What did he do with their foreign gods? Whom may we suppose to have had these gods?
29.
What final purification ceremonies did Jacob enforce? What lessons do we learn from this incident about the importance of cleanliness and modesty of dress when we come into the presence of Jehovah to worship Him?
30.
What was the first thing Jacob did on arriving at Bethel? On this second visit, what name did he give to the place and what was the significance of it?
31.
Who was Deborah? On what grounds can we account for her appearance in the narrative at this point? How had she probably figured in the life of Josephs household? What significance is there in the name Allon-bacuth?
32.
What happened at Bethel with reference to the change of Jacobs name?
33.
In what sense did Jacob perform the vow he had uttered at Bethel on his way to Paddan-aram?
34.
What is the import of the name El Shaddai (God Almighty) as it occurs in this theophany?
35.
What were the items of the Abrahamic Promise which were repeated and renewed to Jacob at this time?
36.
What memorial did Jacob set up at this time? What was the drink-offering and what was its symbolic meaning?
37.
Who was the goddess known as the queen of heaven? Of what cult was the worship of this goddess an essential feature?
38.
What names were given this goddess among various other peoples?
39.
Where did the Israelites bury the bones of Joseph when they came out of Egypt?
40.
What was the usual punishment for seduction among nomadic tribes?
41.
On what ground was the indignation of Simeon and Levi against the rulers of Shechem justifiable?
42.
What great evils were involved in the vengeance which they executed?
43.
Sketch the notable history of Bethel as it is given us in the Old Testament.
44.
Where was Rachels second son born? How did Rachels life come to an end?
45.
What did she name this son? What name did Jacob bestow on him? What did each of these names mean?
46.
Where was Rachel buried? What was her special importance in the patriarchal history?
47.
What crime did Reuben commit? What penalty did he suffer for this crime?
48.
What probably was the original name of Bethlehem and what did it mean? What does the name Bethlehem mean?
49.
What explanations of Reubens act do we find in Jewish interpretations? Is there any legitimate ground for rejecting the truthfulness of the Biblical record as indicated in Gen. 35:22; Gen. 49:4, and 1Ch. 5:1?
50.
Name the twelve sons of Jacob and their respective mothers.
51.
Where did Jacobs journeying finally come to an end?
52.
How old was Isaac when he died? What general characteristic can we apply to Isaacs life?
53.
Where were Isaac and Rebekah buried? How account for the lacuna in the Biblical record with reference to the later period of Rebekahs life?
54.
Why do we say that the last statement in the 29th chapter of Genesis reads like a benediction? With what event does the story of Esaus life come to an end?
55.
Why do we say that Jacob and his household spent some twelve or thirteen years with Isaac at Hebron prior to Isaacs death? Explain the chronology of this interesting fact.
56.
Summarize Langes essay on fanaticism.
57.
List the analogies between the life of Joseph and that of Christ.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XXXV.
JACOB RETURNS TO BETH-EL AND HEBRON.DEATH OF ISAAC.
(1) Arise, go up to Beth-el.The position of Jacob at Shechem had become dangerous; for though the first result of the high-handed proceeding of Simeon and Levi was to strike the natives with terror (Gen. 35:5), yet reprisals might follow if they had time to learn the comparatively small number of Jacobs followers. It was necessary, therefore, to remove; but besides this, Beth-el was the goal of the patriarchs jonrneyings. He had made a solemn vow there on his journey to Padanaram, and though forty-two years had elapsed, it had not been forgotten (see Gen. 31:13); and the Divine command to go thither Was the outward authorisation of what his own conscience dictated. On this account we cannot believe that he had remained long at Shechem. Nomads are singularly leisurely in their movements. There is nothing of the rush and hurry of city life in their doings or purposes. They are capable of a great effort occasionally, but then relapse into their usual slowness. And so, when Jacob found good pasture and plenty of room for his cattle at Shechem, he remained there for awhile; but he did not abandon his purpose of going first to Beth-el, and finally to Hebron.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE TLDTH ISAAC (Gen. 25:19 to Gen. 35:29).
THE BIRTH OF ISAACS SONS.
Abraham begat IsaacThe Tldth in its original form gave probably a complete genealogy of Isaac, tracing up his descent to Shem, and showing thereby that the right of primogeniture belonged to him; but the inspired historian uses only so much of this as is necessary for tracing the development of the Divine plan of human redemption.
The Syrian.Really, the Aramean, or descendant of Aram. (See Gen. 10:22-23.) The name of the district also correctly is Paddan-Ararn, and so far from being identical with Aram-Naharaim, in Gen. 24:10, it is strictly the designation of the region immediately in the neighbourhood of Charran. The assertion of Gesenius that it meant Mesopotamia, with the desert to the west of the Euphrates, in opposition to the mountainous district towards the Mediterranean, is devoid of proof. (See Chwolsohn, Die Ssabier, 1, p. 304.) In Syriac, the language of Charran, padana means a plough (1Sa. 13:20), or a yoke of oxen ( 1Sa. 11:7); and this also suggests that it was the cultivated district close to the town. In Hos. 12:12 it is said that Jacob fled to the field of Aram; but this is a very general description of the country in which he found refuge, and affords no basis for the assertion that Padan-aram was the level region. Finally, the assertion that it is an ancient name used by the Jehovist is an assertion only. It is the name of a special district, and the knowledge of it was the result of Jacobs long-continued stay there. Chwolsohn says that traces of the name still remain in Faddn and Tel Faddn, two places close to Charran, mentioned by Yacut, the Arabian geographer, who flourished in the thirteenth century.
Isaac intreated the Lord.This barrenness lasted twenty years (Gen. 25:26), and must have greatly troubled Isaac; but it would also compel him to dwell much in thought upon the purpose for which he had been given to Abraham, and afterwards rescued from death upon the mount Jehovah-Jireh. And when offspring came, in answer to his earnest pleading of the promise, the delay would serve to impress upon both parents the religious significance of their existence as a separate race and family, and the necessity of training their children worthily. The derivation of the verb to intreat, from a noun signifying incense, is uncertain, but rendered probable by the natural connection of the idea of the ascending fragrance, and that of the prayer mounting heavenward (Rev. 5:8; Rev. 8:4).
The children struggled together.Two dissimilar nations sprang from Abraham, but from mothers totally unlike; so, too, from the peaceful Isaac two distinct races of men were to take their origin, but from the same mother, and the contest began while they were yet unborn. And Rebekah, apparently unaware that she was pregnant with twins, but harassed with the pain of strange jostlings and thrusts, grew despondent, and exclaimed
If it be so, why am I thus?Literally, If so, why am I this? Some explain this as meaning Why do I still live? but more probably she meant, If I have thus conceived, in answer to my husbands prayers, why do I suffer in this strange manner? It thus prepares for what follows, namely, that Rebekah wished to have her condition explained to her, and therefore went to inquire of Jehovah.
She went to enquire of the Lord.Not to Shem, nor Melchizedek, as many think, nor even to Abraham, who was still alive, but, as Theodoret suggests, to the family altar. Isaac had several homes, but probably the altar at Bethel, erected when Abraham first took possession of the Promised Land (Gen. 12:7), and therefore especially holy, was the place signified; and if Abraham were there, he would doubtless join his prayers to those of Rebekah.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
JACOB AGAIN AT BETHEL. Gen 35:1-15.
The fear of Esau occasioned Jacob’s departure from Beer-sheba; the fear of the Canaanites his departure from Shechem. In both cases he went to Beth-el, the house of God, the gate of heaven. In the former case he had the command of Rebekah, and the blessing and charge of Isaac; now he has the command of God. He seems to have been slow in fulfilling his vow at Beth-el. At Succoth and Shechem he tarried many years. Probably the fear of Esau still detained him, and he would fain keep as remote from him as practicable. The secular cares of his large household and flocks, and the interests of his growing sons, had also occupied his thoughts. It was not until the shame and troubles of Shechem broke his sense of security, and the voice of God called him again, that he aroused from his neglect, put away the idols of his household, and proceeded to Beth-el.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1. God said Probably in a dream or vision of the night .
Go up to Beth-el Though southward from Shechem, and on a lower range, its importance led to speaking of it as a going up .
Dwell there Not at Shechem; an implied rebuke for his long dwelling in such proximity to idolaters . So, too, the reference to his flight from Esau, and the vision of God at Beth-el, were of the nature of admonition and rebuke .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jacob Returns to Bethel and Erects an Altar There. God Renews His Covenant With Him. He Finally Joins With Isaac. The Death of Isaac (35:1-36:1a)
This covenant record is based around the theophany and covenant in Gen 35:9-12. It is a moment of extreme sacredness on Jacob’s return to Bethel after so long an absence from the promised land and results in his finally joining his father Isaac and the main family tribe at Mamre.
Gen 35:1
‘And God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there, and make there an altar to God who appeared to you when you fled from Esau your brother.” ’
Jacob is still at Shechem (Gen 35:4) but it would not have been wise to remain there in view of what has happened. It is thus timely that God appears again to Jacob with the command to move on. God’s motive is however slightly different. He had seen that Jacob had been ready to compromise. Now He requires him to go back to Bethel to reconsecrate himself and his tribe. A dangerous and covenant-wrecking situation has been averted.
We should note that the narrative is fully aware of Jacob’s previous visit to Bethel (Gen 35:1; Gen 35:7; Gen 35:9). It is, of course, only ‘Bethel’ at this time to Jacob because of his experience there. To the outside world it is still in the region of Luz (Gen 35:6).
The command then is to return to where he had had his previous vision. This will take him well away from the neighbourhood of Shechem. God is calling Jacob to a new dedication of himself. And indeed Jacob is aware that he cannot approach that holy place without re-examining his life for there he had met with God in an unusually vivid way.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Ten Genealogies (Calling) – The Genealogies of Righteous Men and their Divine Callings (To Be Fruitful and Multiply) – The ten genealogies found within the book of Genesis are structured in a way that traces the seed of righteousness from Adam to Noah to Shem to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob and the seventy souls that followed him down into Egypt. The book of Genesis closes with the story of the preservation of these seventy souls, leading us into the book of Exodus where we see the creation of the nation of Israel while in Egyptian bondage, which nation of righteousness God will use to be a witness to all nations on earth in His plan of redemption. Thus, we see how the book of Genesis concludes with the origin of the nation of Israel while its first eleven chapters reveal that the God of Israel is in fact that God of all nations and all creation.
The genealogies of the six righteous men in Genesis (Adam, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) are the emphasis in this first book of the Old Testament, with each of their narrative stories opening with a divine commission from God to these men, and closing with the fulfillment of prophetic words concerning the divine commissions. This structure suggests that the author of the book of Genesis wrote under the office of the prophet in that a prophecy is given and fulfilled within each of the genealogies of these six primary patriarchs. Furthermore, all the books of the Old Testament were written by men of God who moved in the office of the prophet, which includes the book of Genesis. We find a reference to the fulfillment of these divine commissions by the patriarchs in Heb 11:1-40. The underlying theme of the Holy Scriptures is God’s plan of redemption for mankind. Thus, the book of Genesis places emphasis upon these men of righteousness because of the role that they play in this divine plan as they fulfilled their divine commissions. This explains why the genealogies of Ishmael (Gen 25:12-18) and of Esau (Gen 36:1-43) are relatively brief, because God does not discuss the destinies of these two men in the book of Genesis. These two men were not men of righteousness, for they missed their destinies because of sin. Ishmael persecuted Isaac and Esau sold his birthright. However, it helps us to understand that God has blessed Ishmael and Esau because of Abraham although the seed of the Messiah and our redemption does not pass through their lineage. Prophecies were given to Ishmael and Esau by their fathers, and their genealogies testify to the fulfillment of these prophecies. There were six righteous men did fulfill their destinies in order to preserve a righteous seed so that God could create a righteous nation from the fruit of their loins. Illustration As a young schoolchild learning to read, I would check out biographies of famous men from the library, take them home and read them as a part of class assignments. The lives of these men stirred me up and placed a desire within me to accomplish something great for mankind as did these men. In like manner, the patriarchs of the genealogies in Genesis are designed to stir up our faith in God and encourage us to walk in their footsteps in obedience to God.
The first five genealogies in the book of Genesis bring redemptive history to the place of identifying seventy nations listed in the Table of Nations. The next five genealogies focus upon the origin of the nation of Israel and its patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
There is much more history and events that took place surrounding these individuals emphasized in the book of Genesis, which can be found in other ancient Jewish writings, such as The Book of Jubilees. However, the Holy Scriptures and the book of Genesis focus upon the particular events that shaped God’s plan of redemption through the procreation of men of righteousness. Thus, it was unnecessary to include many of these historical events that were irrelevant to God’s plan of redemption.
In addition, if we see that the ten genealogies contained within the book of Genesis show to us the seed of righteousness that God has preserved in order to fulfill His promise that the “seed of woman” would bruise the serpent’s head in Gen 3:15, then we must understand that each of these men of righteousness had a particular calling, destiny, and purpose for their lives. We can find within each of these genealogies the destiny of each of these men of God, for each one of them fulfilled their destiny. These individual destinies are mentioned at the beginning of each of their genealogies.
It is important for us to search these passages of Scripture and learn how each of these men fulfilled their destiny in order that we can better understand that God has a destiny and a purpose for each of His children as He continues to work out His divine plan of redemption among the children of men. This means that He has a destiny for you and me. Thus, these stories will show us how other men fulfilled their destinies and help us learn how to fulfill our destiny. The fact that there are ten callings in the book of Genesis, and since the number “10” represents the concept of countless, many, or numerous, we should understand that God calls out men in each subsequent generation until God’s plan of redemption is complete.
We can even examine the meanings of each of their names in order to determine their destiny, which was determined for them from a child. Adam’s name means “ruddy, i.e. a human being” ( Strong), for it was his destiny to begin the human race. Noah’s name means, “rest” ( Strong). His destiny was to build the ark and save a remnant of mankind so that God could restore peace and rest to the fallen human race. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, meaning, “father of a multitude” ( Strong), because his destiny was to live in the land of Canaan and believe God for a son of promise so that his seed would become fruitful and multiply and take dominion over the earth. Isaac’s name means, “laughter” ( Strong) because he was the child of promise. His destiny was to father two nations, believing that the elder would serve the younger. Isaac overcame the obstacles that hindered the possession of the land, such as barrenness and the threat of his enemies in order to father two nations, Israel and Esau. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, which means “he will rule as God” ( Strong), because of his ability to prevail over his brother Esau and receive his father’s blessings, and because he prevailed over the angel in order to preserve his posterity, which was the procreation of twelve sons who later multiplied into the twelve tribes of Israel. Thus, his ability to prevail against all odds and father twelve righteous seeds earned him his name as one who prevailed with God’s plan of being fruitful and multiplying seeds of righteousness.
In order for God’s plan to be fulfilled in each of the lives of these patriarchs, they were commanded to be fruitful and multiply. It was God’s plan that the fruit of each man was to be a godly seed, a seed of righteousness. It was because of the Fall that unrighteous seed was produced. This ungodly offspring was not then nor is it today God’s plan for mankind.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. The Generation of the Heavens and the Earth Gen 2:4 to Gen 4:26
a) The Creation of Man Gen 2:4-25
b) The Fall Gen 3:1-24
c) Cain and Abel Gen 4:1-26
2. The Generation of Adam Gen 5:1 to Gen 6:8
3. The Generation of Noah Gen 6:9 to Gen 9:29
4. The Generation of the Sons of Noah Gen 10:1 to Gen 11:9
5. The Generation of Shem Gen 11:10-26
6. The Generation of Terah (& Abraham) Gen 11:27 to Gen 25:11
7. The Generation Ishmael Gen 25:12-18
8. The Generation of Isaac Gen 25:19 to Gen 35:29
9. The Generation of Esau Gen 36:1-43
10. The Generation of Jacob Gen 37:1 to Gen 50:26
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Calling of the Patriarchs of Israel We can find two major divisions within the book of Genesis that reveal God’s foreknowledge in designing a plan of redemption to establish a righteous people upon earth. Paul reveals this four-fold plan in Rom 8:29-30: predestination, calling, justification, and glorification.
Rom 8:29-30, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
The book of Genesis will reflect the first two phase of redemption, which are predestination and calling. We find in the first division in Gen 1:1 to Gen 2:3 emphasizing predestination. The Creation Story gives us God’s predestined plan for mankind, which is to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth with righteous offspring. The second major division is found in Gen 2:4 to Gen 50:25, which gives us ten genealogies, in which God calls men of righteousness to play a role in His divine plan of redemption.
The foundational theme of Gen 2:4 to Gen 11:26 is the divine calling for mankind to be fruitful and multiply, which commission was given to Adam prior to the Flood (Gen 1:28-29), and to Noah after the Flood (Gen 9:1). The establishment of the seventy nations prepares us for the calling out of Abraham and his sons, which story fills the rest of the book of Genesis. Thus, God’s calling through His divine foreknowledge (Gen 11:27 to Gen 50:26) will focus the calling of Abraham and his descendants to establish the nation of Israel. God will call the patriarchs to fulfill the original purpose and intent of creation, which is to multiply into a righteous nation, for which mankind was originally predestined to fulfill.
The generations of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob take up a large portion of the book of Genesis. These genealogies have a common structure in that they all begin with God revealing Himself to a patriarch and giving him a divine commission, and they close with God fulfilling His promise to each of them because of their faith in His promise. God promised Abraham a son through Sarah his wife that would multiply into a nation, and Abraham demonstrated his faith in this promise on Mount Moriah. God promised Isaac two sons, with the younger receiving the first-born blessing, and this was fulfilled when Jacob deceived his father and received the blessing above his brother Esau. Jacob’s son Joseph received two dreams of ruling over his brothers, and Jacob testified to his faith in this promise by following Joseph into the land of Egypt. Thus, these three genealogies emphasize God’s call and commission to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their response of faith in seeing God fulfill His word to each of them.
1. The Generations of Terah (& Abraham) Gen 11:27 to Gen 25:11
2. The Generations Ishmael Gen 25:12-18
3. The Generations of Isaac Gen 25:19 to Gen 35:29
4. The Generations of Esau Gen 36:1-43
5. The Generations of Jacob Gen 37:1 to Gen 50:26
The Origin of the Nation of Israel After Gen 1:1 to Gen 9:29 takes us through the origin of the heavens and the earth as we know them today, and Gen 10:1 to Gen 11:26 explains the origin of the seventy nations (Gen 10:1 to Gen 11:26), we see that the rest of the book of Genesis focuses upon the origin of the nation of Israel (Gen 11:27 to Gen 50:26). Thus, each of these major divisions serves as a foundation upon which the next division is built.
Paul the apostle reveals the four phases of God the Father’s plan of redemption for mankind through His divine foreknowledge of all things in Rom 8:29-30, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Predestination – Gen 1:1 to Gen 11:26 emphasizes the theme of God the Father’s predestined purpose of the earth, which was to serve mankind, and of mankind, which was to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with righteousness. Calling – Gen 11:27 to Gen 50:26 will place emphasis upon the second phase of God’s plan of redemption for mankind, which is His divine calling to fulfill His purpose of multiplying and filling the earth with righteousness. (The additional two phases of Justification and Glorification will unfold within the rest of the books of the Pentateuch.) This second section of Genesis can be divided into five genealogies. The three genealogies of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob begin with a divine calling to a patriarch. The two shorter genealogies of Ishmael and Esau are given simply because they inherit a measure of divine blessings as descendants of Abraham, but they will not play a central role in God’s redemptive plan for mankind. God will implement phase two of His divine plan of redemption by calling one man named Abraham to depart unto the Promised Land (Gen 12:1-3), and this calling was fulfilled by the patriarch. Isaac’s calling can also be found at the beginning of his genealogy, where God commands him to dwell in the Promised Land (Gen 26:1-6), and this calling was fulfilled by the patriarch Isaac. Jacob’s calling was fulfilled as he bore twelve sons and took them into Egypt where they multiplied into a nation. The opening passage of Jacob’s genealogy reveals that his destiny would be fulfilled through the dream of his son Joseph (Gen 37:1-11), which took place in the land of Egypt. Perhaps Jacob did not receive such a clear calling as Abraham and Isaac because his early life was one of deceit, rather than of righteousness obedience to God; so the Lord had to reveal His plan for Jacob through his righteous son Joseph. In a similar way, God spoke to righteous kings of Israel, and was silent to those who did not serve Him. Thus, the three patriarchs of Israel received a divine calling, which they fulfilled in order for the nation of Israel to become established in the land of Egypt. Perhaps the reason the Lord sent the Jacob and the seventy souls into Egypt to multiply rather than leaving them in the Promised Land is that the Israelites would have intermarried the cultic nations around them and failed to produce a nation of righteousness. God’s ways are always perfect.
1. The Generations of Terah (& Abraham) Gen 11:27 to Gen 25:11
2. The Generations Ishmael Gen 25:12-18
3. The Generations of Isaac Gen 25:19 to Gen 35:29
4. The Generations of Esau Gen 36:1-43
5. The Generations of Jacob Gen 37:1 to Gen 50:26
Divine Miracles It is important to note that up until now the Scriptures record no miracles in the lives of men. Thus, we will observe that divine miracles begin with Abraham and the children of Israel. Testimonies reveal today that the Jews are still recipients of God’s miracles as He divinely intervenes in this nation to fulfill His purpose and plan for His people. Yes, God is working miracles through His New Testament Church, but miracles had their beginning with the nation of Israel.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Genealogy of Isaac The genealogies of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have a common structure in that they open with God speaking to a patriarch and giving him a commission and a promise in which to believe. In each of these genealogies, the patriarch’s calling is to believe God’s promise, while this passage of Scripture serves as a witness to God’s faithfulness in fulfilling each promise. Only then does the genealogy come to a close.
We find in Gen 25:19 to Gen 35:29 the genealogy of Isaac, the son of Abraham. Heb 11:20 reveals the central message in this genealogy that stirs our faith in God when Isaac gave his sons redemptive prophecies, saying, “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.” As Abraham’s genealogy begins with a divine commission when God told him to leave Ur and to go Canaan (Gen 12:1), so does Isaac’s genealogy begin with a divine commission predicting him as the father of two nations, with the elder serving the younger (Gen 25:23), with both nations playing roles in redemptive history, Jacob playing the major role. The first event in Isaac’s genealogy has to do with a God speaking to his wife regarding the two sons in her womb, saying that these two sons would multiply into two nations. Since his wife Rebekah was barren, Isaac interceded to God and the Lord granted his request. The Lord then told Rebekah that two nations were in her womb, and the younger would prevail over the elder (Gen 25:21-23). Isaac, whose name means laughter (Gen 21:6), was called to establish himself in the land of Canaan after his father Abraham, and to believe in God’s promise regarding his son Jacob. During the course of his life, Isaac’s genealogy testifies of how he overcame obstacles and the enemy that resisted God’s plan for him. Thus, we see Isaac’s destiny was to be faithful and dwell in the land and father two nations. God’s promise to Isaac, that the elder will serve the younger, is fulfilled when Jacob deceives his father and receives the blessings of the first-born. The fact that Isaac died in a ripe old age testifies that he fulfilled his destiny as did Abraham his father. Rom 9:10-13 reflects the theme of Isaac’s genealogy in that it discusses the election of Jacob over Isaac. We read in Heb 11:20 how Isaac expressed his faith in God’s promise of two nations being born through Rebekah because he blessed his sons regarding these future promises.
Gen 12:1, “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:”
Gen 21:6, “And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.”
Gen 25:23, “And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.”
Gen 25:19 And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begat Isaac:
Gen 25:20 Gen 25:20
Gen 25:21 And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
Gen 25:22 Gen 25:22
Hos 12:3, “He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God:”
1. At his natural birth in the womb with his brother:
Gen 25:26, “And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.”
2. At his “spiritual” birth with an angel:
Gen 32:24, “And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.”
Gen 25:22 Comments – Any mother who has given birth to children understands the importance of the child’s continual kicks within her womb. Although painful at times, these kicks serve to assure the mother that the baby is alive and healthy. When these kicks cease for a few days a mother naturally becomes worried, but in the case of Rebekah the very opposite was true. There was too much kicking to the point that she besought the Lord in prayer. It was her beseeching God rather than her husband because a pregnant mother is much more focused upon these issues.
Gen 25:22 Comments – Why did Jacob and Esau struggle within their mother’s womb? One pastor suggests that they were struggling for the birthright by becoming the firstborn, which struggle was played out during the course of their lives.
Gen 25:23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
Gen 25:23
In the same sense, the prophecy in Mal 1:2-3 is not so much about the two individual sons of Jacob as it is a prophecy of two nations. In other words, God loved the nation of Israel and hated the nation of Edom.
Mal 1:2-3, “I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.”
Bruce goes on to explain that the Hebrew thought and speech is making an extreme contrast of love and hate in these passages for the sake of emphasis. He uses Luk 14:26 to illustrate this Hebrew way of saying that someone must love God far more than his earthly family. [227]
[227] F. F. Bruce, The Books and the Parchments (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1963), 46-47.
Luk 14:26, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”
This is exactly what the parallel passage in Mat 10:37 says when Jesus tells us that we must love Him more than our parents or children.
Mat 10:37, “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”
Thus, God was saying that He loved Jacob far more than He loved Jacob’s closest blood kin. This statement is meant to place emphasis upon the immeasurable love that God has for His people.
Gen 25:23 Comments The genealogy of Isaac begins with a divine commission promising Isaac that he would father two nations, one mightier than the other, and both playing important roles in redemptive history. Gen 25:23 records this divine commission to Isaac and Rebecca, which is the first recorded event of the Lord speaking to Isaac or his wife.
Gen 25:23 Old Testament Quotes in the New Testament – Note that the phrase “and the elder shall serve the younger” is quoted in the New Testament.
Rom 9:11-13, “(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger . As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”
Gen 25:23 Scripture References – Note a reference to Jacob’s favour over Esau in Mal 1:1-3.
Mal 1:1-3, “The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.”
Gen 25:24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
Gen 25:25 Gen 25:25
1Sa 16:17, “And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me.”
1Sa 17:42, “And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.”
Gen 25:25 Word Study on “Esau” Strong says the Hebrew name “Esau” (H6215) means “hairy.”
Gen 25:25 Comments – Esau was a hairy man, while Jacob was not (Gen 27:11).
Gen 27:11, “And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man:”
Gen 25:26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.
Gen 25:26
One pastor suggests that Jacob’s name means “hand upon the heel” because this is what his parents saw when he was born. He uses the Hebrew word “yod” ( ) as a symbol of a hand, with the root word ( ) meaning “heel.”
Gen 25:26 Comments – We know that Jacob and Esau struggled together in the womb. Why did Jacob grab his brother’s heel? One pastor suggests that he was trying to stop Esau from crushing his head. He refers to Gen 3:15 as the prophecy to explain this suggestion. The seed of woman was going to crush the head of Satan. We know that according to Jewish tradition Cain, who was of the evil one, struck Abel on the head and killed him. So it appears that Satan was trying to reverse this prophecy by crushing the head of the woman’s seed. Perhaps Esau was trying to crush the head of Jacob while in the womb.
Gen 25:27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.
Gen 25:27
Gen 25:27 Comments – There will eventually arise between Esau and Jacob a similar competition that took place between Cain and Abel. Esau did eventually attempt to kill Jacob, but was protected by divine providence.
Gen 25:28 And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Jacob Moves to Bethel
v. 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. v. 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. v. 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. v. 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. v. 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. v. 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. v. 7. And he built there an altar, and called the place El Bethel v. 8. But Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak; and the name of it was called Allonbachuth EXPOSITION
Gen 35:1
And GodElohim. The employment of this name for the Deity throughout the present chapter has been deemed conclusive evidence that, with Rome Jehovistic alterations, it belongs to the fundamental document (Tuch, Bleek, Delitzsch, Kalisch, et alii); but the frequent allusions to Gen 28:13-16, which by partitionists is almost universally assigned to the Jehovist, prove that both sections have proceeded from the same author, and that, “though the mention of the name is avoided, this chapter, there is no doubt, substantially relates to Jehovah” (Hengstenberg), while the name Elohim may simply indicate that Jacob’s journey from Shechem was undertaken in obedience to a Divine intimation (Quarry)said unto Jacob (shortly after the incidents recorded in the preceding chapter), Arise, go up to Bethel,about thirty miles distant (Gen 12:8; Gen 13:3; Gen 28:19), to which, some thirty years previous, he had solemnly vowed to return (Gen 28:22)a vow which he appeared somewhat dilatory in performing, although its conditions had been exactly fulfilled (Keil, Kurtz, Kalisch, &c.)and dwell there (the massacre of the Shechemites had obviously rendered longer residence in that neighborhood unsafe): and make there an altarthis Jacob had substantially promised to do in his vow (vide Gen 28:22)unto God, that appeared unto theei.e. unto Jehovah (vide Gen 28:13)when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. The words contained an assurance that the same Divine arm which had shielded him against the enmity of Esau and the oppression of Laban would extend to him protection on his future way.
Gen 35:2, Gen 35:3
Then Jacob said unto his household (i.e. those more immediately belonging to his family), and to all that were with him (referring probably to the captured Shechemites), Put away the strange godsliterally, the gods of the stranger, including most likely the teraphim of Laban, which Rachel still retained, and other objects of idolatrous worship, either brought by Jacob’s servants from Mesopotamia, or adopted in Canaan, or perhaps possessed by the captivesthat are among you, and be clean,literally, cleanse yourselves. The word is that which afterwards describes the purifications of the law (Num 19:11, Num 19:12; Le Num 14:4; Num 15:13). Aben Ezra interprets it as meaning that they washed their bodies; and Michaelis views the rite as a kind of baptism, signifying their adoption of the true religion of Jehovaha quasi baptism of repentance, like that afterwards preached by Johnand change your garments. The directions here given are very similar to those which were subsequently issued at Sinai (Exo 19:10), and were meant to symbolize a moral and spiritual purification of the mind and heart. And let us arise, and go to Bethel. “This is obviously not the first time Jacob acquainted his family with the vision at Bethel (Inglis). And I will make there an altar unto God,El is probably employed because of its proximity to and connection with Bethel, or house of El, and the intended contrast between the El of Bethel and the strange Elohim which Jacob’s household were commanded to put awaywho answered me in the day of my distress,this seems to imply that Jacob prayed at Bethel before he slept, if it does not refer to his supplication before meeting, Esau (Gen 32:9)and was with me in the way which I went. This language clearly looks back to Bethel (vide Gen 28:20).
Gen 35:4
And they gave mate Jacob all the strange godsRosenmller thinks these must have been many, since the historian would not otherwise have used the term which were in their hand (i.e. which they possessed), and all their earrings which were in their ears;i.e. those employed for purposes of idolatrous worship, which were often covered with allegorical figures and mysterious sentences, and supposed to be endowed with a talismanic virtue (Jdg 8:21; Isa 3:20; Hos 2:13)and Jacob hid themhaving probably first destroyed them, since they do not appear to have been ever after sought for or resumed by the parties who gave them up (Hughes)under the oak which was by Shechem. Whether the oak, or terebinth, under which Abraham once pitched his tent (Gen 12:6), that beneath whose shade Joshua afterwards erected his memorial pillar (Jos 24:26), the oak of the sorcerers (Jdg 9:37), and the oak of the pillar at Shechem (Jdg 9:6) were all the tree under which Jacob buried the images and earrings cannot with certainty be determined, though the probability is that they were.
Gen 35:5
And they journeyed (from Shechem, after the work of reformation just described): and the terror of Godmeaning not simply a great terror, as in Gen 23:6; Gen 30:8 (Dathe, Bush), but either a supernatural dread inspired by Elohim (Ainsworth, Clericus, Rosenmller, Keil, Kalisch, and others), or a fear of Elohim, under whose care Jacob manifestly bad been taken (Murphy, Quarry)was upon the cities that were round about them,literally, in their circuits, i.e. wherever they wentand they did not pursue after the sons of Jacobas might have been expected.
Gen 35:6
So (literally, and) Jacob came to Luz (vide Gen 28:19), which is in the land of Canaan (this clause is added to draw attention to the fact that Jacob had now accomplished his return to Canaan), that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with himi.e. his household and the captured Shechemites.
Gen 35:7
And he built there an altar,thus redeeming his vow (cf. Ecc 5:4)and called the place El-beth-el:i.e. God of Bethel. Not he called the place of God, or the place sacred to God, Bethel, nor he called the altar (Keil, Kalisch, Gerlach, &c.), but he called the place where the altar was El-beth-el; i.e. either he devoted the place as sacred to the El of Bethel (Rosenmller), or he gave to the place the name of (so. the place of) the El of Bethel, reading the first El as a genitive (Lange); or he called it El-Beth-el metaphorically, as Jerusalem afterwards was styled Jehovah Tsidkenu (Jer 33:16) and Jehovah Shammah (Eze 48:35; Inglis). It has been proposed, after the LXX; to avoid the seeming incongruity of assigning such a name to a place, to read, he invoked upon the place the El of Bethelbecause there God appeared unto him,the El of Bethel was Jehovah (vide Gen 28:13; Gen 31:13)when he fled from the face of his brother.
Gen 35:8
But DeborahBee (Gesenius, Furst) Rebekah’s nurse (vide Gen 24:59) diedat a very advanced age, having left Padan-aram for Canaan along with Rebekah, upwards of 150 years ago. That she is now found in Jacob’s household may be accounted for by supposing that Rebekah had sent her, in accordance with the promise of Gen 27:45 (Delitzsch); or that Jacob had paid a visit to his father at Hebron, and brought her back with him to Shechem, probably because of Rebekah’s death (Lange); or that on Rebekah’s death she had been transferred to Jacob’s household (Keil, Murphy, Alford); or that Isaac, “who had during the twenty years of his son’s absence wandered in different parts of the land” (?), had “at this period of his migrations come into the neighborhood of Bethel” (Kalisch). And she was buried beneath Bethelwhich was situated in the hill country, whence Jacob is instructed to “go up” to Bethel (Gen 27:1) under an oak. More correctly, the oak or terebinth, i.e. the well-known tree, which long after served to mark her last resting-place, which some have without reason identified with the palm tree of Deborah the prophetess (Jdg 4:5), and the oak of Tabor mentioned in 1Sa 10:3 (Delitzsch, Kurtz, &c.). And the name of it was callednot “he,” i.e. Jacob, “called it” (Ainsworth), but “one called its name,” i.e. its name was called (Kalisch)Allon-bachuth (i.e. the oak of weeping).
Gen 35:9, Gen 35:10
And God appeared unto Jacob again,this was a visible manifestation, m contrast to the audible one in Shechem (Gen 35:1), and in a state of wakefulness (Gen 35:13), as distinguished from the dream vision formerly beheld at Bethel (Gen 28:12)when he came (or had come) out of Padan-aram (as previously he had appeared to the patriarch on going into Padan-aram), and blessed himi.e. renewed the promises of the covenant, of which he was the heir. And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob:or Supplanter (vide Gen 25:26). Lange reads, Is thy name Jacob?thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel (vide Gen 32:28) shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel. The renewal of the name given at Peniel may possibly indicate a revival in the spiritual life of Jacob, which had been declining in the interval between the former interview with God and the present (Murphy), but was probably designed as a confirmation of the former interview with God, and of the experience through which he then passed. Cf. the twice-given name of Peter (Joh 1:42; Mat 16:16-19).
Gen 35:11, Gen 35:12
And God said unto him (repeating substantially the promises made to Abraham), I am God Almighty:El Shaddai (cf. Gen 17:1)be fruitful and multiply;”Abraham and Isaac had each only one son of promise; but now the time of increase was come” (Murphy; cf. Gen 1:28)a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee (cf. Gen 17:5; Gen 28:3), and kings shall come out of thy loins (cf. Gen 17:6, Gen 17:16); and the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac (vide Gen 12:7; Gen 13:15; Gen 26:3, Gen 26:4), to thee I will give it (cf. Gen 28:13), and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. The time of their entering on possession was specified to Abraham (Gen 15:16).
Gen 35:13
And God went up from himshowing this to have been a visible manifestation (cf. Gen 17:22)in the place where he talked with him.
Gen 35:14
And Jacob set up a pillarthe former pillar (Gen 28:18) having probably fallen down and disappearedin the place where he (God) talked with him (to commemorate the interview), even a pillar of stone. The setting up of pillars, according to Tuch a peculiarity of the Elohist, appears to have been a favorite practice of Jacob’s: witness the first pillar at Bethel (Gen 28:18), the pillar on Galeed (Gen 31:45), the second pillar at Bethel (Gen 35:14), the pillar over Rachel’s grave (Gen 35:20). And he poured a drink offering thereon. This is the first mention of those sacrificial libations which afterwards became so prominent in connection with the Mosaic ritual (Exo 29:40, Exo 29:41; Le Exo 23:13, Exo 23:18, 37; Num 6:15; and elsewhere). Under the law the (LXX.) libamentum, libamen (Vulgate); frankopfer (Luther)consisted of a fourth part of a hin of wine, which was equal to about a third of a gallon. And he poured oil thereonas he did on the previous occasion (Gen 28:18, q.v.).
Gen 35:15
And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel. This name was first given after the dream vision of the ladder (Gen 28:19); already on this occasion it had been changed into El-beth-el (Gen 35:7); now its old name is reimposed.
HOMILETICS
Gen 35:1-15
Bethel revisited.
I. JACOB‘S JOURNEY TO BETHEL.
1. The occasion of the journey. The crime of his sons had made it necessary that Jacob should leave Shechem and its neighborhood; but it is doubtful if in the circumstances Jacob would have thought of going to Bethel without an express invitation from Heaven, which, however, he got.
2. The object of the journey. This was stated by the Divine communication which Jacob received to be the fulfillment of the vow which twenty years before he had made to erect an altar on the spot where he enjoyed the vision of the ladder and the angels. Vows do not lose their obligatory character by lapse of years. Men may, but God never does, forget the promises which are made to him. Hence the counsel of the Preacher (Ecc 5:4, Ecc 5:5).
3. The preparation for the journey. The removal of the strange gods
(1) Was needful if God was to be sincerely worshipped by Jacob and his household. The necessity of having no other gods but Jehovah was afterwards enjoined upon Israel as a nation. In the gospel the law is equally imperative. God and Christ demand the undivided homage of the human heart.
(2) Was counseled by Jacob to his household. It is well when heads of families have the ability as well as inclination to direct their children and dependents in the duties of religion.
(3) Was cheerfully assented to by Jacob’s household. The silver and wooden images (the teraphim) that Rachel had abstracted from her father’s tent, the idolatrous objects that the Shechemites may have brought with them, and the earrings that were in their ears, were at once and completely given up, and by Jacob’s own hand buried beneath the oak of Shechem.
(4) Was symbolized in Jacob’s household by the acts of washing and putting on of clean apparel. Under the law corporeal ablutions and beautified habiliments were typical of spiritual renovation and the putting on of the righteousness of the saints (cf. Eze 36:25; Heb 10:22; Jud 1:23; Rev 19:2).
4. The experience of the journey. Wherever the travelers went they found themselves unmolested, and the cities round about them alarmed, and afraid to pursue. The terror of Elohim was upon the people of the land, and thus the care of Jehovah was around his saints.
5. The completion of the journey. Jacob and all the people that were with him came to Luz in the land of Canaan, which is Bethel. Many journeys are begun that never end. Some that promise well at the outset are overwhelmed in disaster before they terminate. It is only he who keeps Israel that can preserve a good man’s going out and coming in.
II. JACOB‘S RESIDENCE AT BETHEL.
1. The building of an altar. This was on the part of Jacob
(1) an act of obedience, since it was done in accordance with Divine instructions (Gen 35:1);
(2) an act of justice, inasmuch as it was executed in fulfillment of a vow, (Gen 28:22);
(3) an act of gratitude, being designed to give expression to Jacob’s thankfulness for God’s mercies (Gen 35:3, Gen 35:7).
2. The death of Deborah.
(1) Her life-work: Rebekah’s nurse.
(2) Her death: this must have taken place at an advanced age.
(3) Her burial: the place of sepulture was on the slope of Bethel hill, beneath the shadow of a wide-spreading oak.
(4) Her memorial: the tree was named Allon-bachuth, oak of weeping.
3. The appearance of Elohim.
(1) The blessing renewed (Gen 35:9😉
(2) the new name confirmed (Gen 35:10);
(3) the promises repeated (Gen 35:11).
4. The erection of a pillar. The old column having probably been thrown down, this was
(1) set up as a memorial of the interview with God which had just been enjoyed;
(2) employed as an altar for the worship of Elohim”he poured a drink offering thereon;” and
(3) consecrated as an object of reverential regard by pouring oil thereon.
5. The renaming of the place. The name given twenty years previously is renewed, Bethel (Gen 35:15), with a slight modification, El-Bethel (Gen 35:7), to connect it with the altar just erected.
Learn
1. That good men sometimes require to be reminded by God of their duty.
2. That acts of Divine worship should be preceded by heart purification and life reformation.
3. That God is perfectly able to protect his people when they are walking in his appointed paths.
4. That good men when serving God are not exempt from the afflictions of life.
5. That faithful servants should be tenderly cherished by their masters when old, decently buried when dead, and lovingly remembered when entombed.
6. That God never forgets either his promises or his people.
7. That God should not be forgotten by those whom he remembers.
HOMILIES BY J.F. MONTGOMERY
Gen 35:1-15
God with us.
Jacob’s settlement with his family at Bethel. This was a solemn renewal of the covenant to the patriarch at the end of his pilgrimage. It was the occasion for a new dedication of himself and his household by vows and offerings, and by separation of themselves from all heathen things and thoughts around the newly-erected altar El-Bethel.
I. REVELATION the basis of faith. God went up from him after he had spoken with him, and there he set up a pillar of stone, and poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon.
II. PERSONAL EXPERIENCE the background of a consecrated life. We should make the memory of Gears goodness the foundation on which we build up the monuments of our life. Mark the places by offerings. Let the Bethel of our worship be the Bethel of his praise.R.
HOMILIES BY J.F. MONTGOMERY
Gen 35:1, Gen 35:2
Spiritual renovation.
Spiritual life is a thing of growth; never finished here (Php 3:13; Heb 6:1). No doubt the all-important question is, Art thou in Christ? And in every Christian life there is a point, known to God, when the soul passes from death to life (1Jn 5:12). For by nature children of wrath. Still there is a life’s work. The spirit may have chosen Christ; but the flesh is weak, and the law of sin still works. Most commonly in such a life certain times will stand out, connected with special lessons and special dealings, when some window of the soul has been opened to heavenly light, some line of action pressed upon the mind.
I. THE LESSON LEARNED BY JACOB HIMSELF. We know not when his spiritual life began. Probably before he left home; for with all his faults he desired a spiritual blessing. But at Bethel and Penuel great steps were made. He learned the presence of God, and the protecting care of God, as he had never known them before. Yet the lessons were chiefly subjective; they regarded his own attitude towards God. And this generally comes first, but it is not all. “Arise, go up to Bethel.” Take up again the lesson book. Is there not more to be learned from it? Those angels ascending and descending, were they charged with thy good only? The Lord who stood above, did he care only for thee? With all thy possessions thou art in “a solitary way” (Psa 107:4). Here Jacob seems first to realize his responsibility for the spiritual state of others (cf. Psa 119:136). The Christian character is not thoroughly formed till it is felt that the possession of truth hinds us to use-it for the good of others. Being “bought with a price,” we are debtors to all (Rom 1:14); and chiefly to those with whom we are connected (1Ti 5:8).
II. THE WORK HE TOOK IN HAND. To press upon his household
1. Single-hearted service of God. “Put away the strange gods.” Sincerity lies at the root of all real renovation. Hitherto the semi-idolatry of teraphim seems to have been tacitly allowed. Jacob’s fondness for Rachel may have kept him from forbidding it. Hence a divided service. Putting away does not refer only to formal worship. It is putting away service of the god of this world: covetousness (Col 3:5), worldly aims (Joh 5:44), gratification of self (Luk 12:19; Luk 14:11), traditional maxims of conduct and judgment (Mar 3:21; 1Pe 4:4). It is seeking first the kingdom of God, and resting in him (Psa 37:5).
2. “Be clean.” No toleration of evil (Mat 5:48). Christians are to be a holy people (1Pe 2:9). This is much more than a mere upright and honorable life. The Levitical rules, strict and minute as they were, faintly shadowed the extent of the law of righteousness. See the Sermon on the Mount. Vast difference between an upright life and a holy life. The one is a following of rules, the other a walk with God.
3. “Change your garments.” Under the law this a necessary part of purification. Contrast the garments, Psa 109:18 and Isa 61:10. The explanation, Zec 3:4. In New Testament language, put on Christ. The root is atonement, the covering of sins (Psa 32:1), the forgiveness of the sinful (Rom 3:26). No real renovation without this changecasting away self-righteousness, and clinging to the work of Christ (Jer 23:6; Rom 10:4). Many have said trust in free grace points to sin. God’s word from end to end declares it is the only way of holiness.M.
HOMILIES BY F. HASTINGS
Gen 35:2
Jacob’s preparation for acceptable worship.
“Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be ye clean, and change your garments: and let us arise, and go up to Bethel.” “When thou vowest a vow, defer not to pay it,” says Ecclesiastes (Gen 5:4); but Jacob had deferred. He made a vow at Bethel, and he seems afterwards to have ignored it. If he thought of it, a number of things had been ever ready to present themselves as excuses for delay. His faithful services given constantly to Laban, his efforts to make good his position in the land, and then to avert the anger of Esau, had apparently absorbed so much of his attention that he had forgotten his vows. These solemn promises had been made at a very critical period of his life, and God had not forgotten them. He reminds Jacob of them in a very emphatic manner. Jacob had failed to see in the circumstances in which he was placed with respect to the people among whom he dwelt that there was a hint of neglected duty. God permitted Jacob to be made uncomfortable that he might be made considerate. The way in which his sons had treated the Shechemites had brought him into great danger. He and all his were likely to be cut off by these enraged inhabitants of the land. He is reminded of the danger in which he was once placed from the vengeance of Esau. The similarity of the circumstances forcibly and very naturally turn his thoughts to the One who alone can be his defense. Thus circumstances and Divine communications impel to the performance of duty. How merciful is God in his treatment of souls! How he leads the wanderer back to duty! Jacob, when about to strike his tents and remove to Bethel, wishes that his sons and servants should go up with him, and that they should go up in the right spirit. He therefore says to them, “Put away the strange gods,” &c.
I. NEGLECTED DUTY IS A HINDRANCE TO APPROPRIATE AND ACCEPTABLE WORSHIP. That Jacob should have been obliged to give such an injunction to his household shows that he had not sufficiently kept before his sons and servants the duty they owed to God. He had allowed himself to strive for worldly success until they might have even imagined that he was no better than the rest of them or their neighbors; but deep down in the heart of this man was a reverence for God and a desire to do his will. His neglect to carefully instruct his sons had borne bitter fruit. Had he instilled into his sons ideas more in accordance with the character of the God he served, they would not have taken such mean methods as are mentioned of revenging themselves on those they had come to dislike. His neglect necessitates the sudden and difficult effort now put forth to induce his sons to seek with him to serve God. He feels that he cannot rightly worship God unless his children and household are with him in spirit. He wishes to foster in them a belief in his own sincerity. To have one in a family looking on indifferently or sneeringly is death to successful worship. Jacob’s neglect had led to carelessness by his sons of the Divine service. He could not himself enter heartily on the service until he had discharged, in a measure, his duty as guide and instructor to his family.
II. ANOTHER HINDRANCE IS THE ATTACHMENT TO OBJECTS WRONGLY HELD IN REVERENCE. The sons of Jacob had admitted false gods into their affections. Idolatry was rife among them. Even his wife Rachel had so much faith in her father’s idols that she stole them when she left home. The sons caught the spirit of the mother, and indulged in the worship of strange gods. Perhaps they worshipped secretly the gods which Rachel cherished, or they may have given adoration to the idols they found among the spoils of the Shechemites. They may have had little images which they carried about with them, as many superstitious Christians carry the crucifix. Amulets and charms they seem to have worn on their hands and in their ears, all indicating superstition, false worship, and wrong ideas. God is spoken of in the Bible as “jealous.” This is with respect to worship given to representations of gods having no existence. The jealousy is right, because it would be an evil thing for man himself to think there were many gods, or to select his own god. When, in after ages, the descendants of these sons of Jacob yielded to the sin of worshipping other gods, ten of the tribes were swept away, and have never been rediscovered. Indeed the stream was tainted in source, and “grew no purer as it rolled along.” When Achan brought the Babylonish garment into the camp of Israel, the chosen of God could not stand before their enemies, but when it was removed they were again victorious. So strange gods must be removed from our homes and from our hearts, or we can never be successful in the conflict against sin, or in the acceptability of the worship we offer. It is for each Christian to search his soul, and to see whether there is any desire, habit, or practice which in the least militates against the worship of God. Many who were incorporated with Jacob’s household were Syrians, who brought their evil practices with them. When any enter God’s Church they must leave behind them the practices of the world; nor possessions nor potation must be the gods then worshipped, “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
III. THE HARBOURING OF ANY SPECIAL SIN WILL BE A SURE HINDRANCE. The sons of Jacob had not only outward false objects of reverence, but inward evil propensities. They were treacherous, cruel, lustful, envious, murderous. See how they treated the Shechemites, and in after years their own brother Joseph. What scandalizing, jealousy, and even opposition, are found in some homes! How hard it is to alienate sinful habits from the heart and the home I how hard to get the right tone for devout service in the home I Certain habits of temper, ridicule, sarcasm will chill and check all worship. Jacob urged his sons to be “clean,“pure,“to change their garments.” They had need to do the latter, for they had been spotted with the blood of the men they had murdered. Jacob meant that they were to put on the garments kept for the worship of God. Rebekah had garments by her in which Esau as eldest son worshipped God, and which she put on Jacob. It is probable that it was the practice under the patriarchal dispensation to perform certain ceremonial ablutions prior to entering on the solemn worship. “Cleaniness is next to godliness.”
It leads to it. The need of purity in the worship or God is thus indicated by ablutions and change of garments. But how easily we may have the outward without the inward. We need cleansing in the holy fountain opened by Christ, and to be clothed by his righteousness.
IV. A great hindrance to successful worship is HAVING LOW IDEAS OF THE DIGNITY OF THE ACT, AND THE MAJESTY AND HOLINESS OF HIM WHOM WE WORSHIP. God must be made to appear great to us. He is “high and lifted up.” He made not only these frames of ours, but this vast universe. He is worshipped by worlds of intelligent spirits, and has been worshipped from the depths of eternity. He is holy and full of majesty. Shall we be indifferent as to the duty or the mode of worship? What a marvel that we should be permitted to have fellowship with our Creator I If we have it, it must be in the way and place he appoints. For Jacob it was at Bethel, for the Jews at Jerusalem, for Christians at the cross. To Jacob and the Jews it was by annual sacrifices, to us it is by the offering of Christ “once for all.”H.
Gen 35:1. And God said, &c. After the unpleasing transaction in the former chapter, it was peculiarly gracious in the Almighty, to reveal himself to Jacob, to enjoin his removal from a place which could not but be disagreeable to him, and to dissipate the fears from which his mind could not well be free, by reminding him of his protection, as engaged to him at that Beth-el, to which he commands him now to remove. See ch. Gen 28:15. To go up and go down, in Scripture, frequently signify no more than to repair to. Beth-el was about twenty miles southward from Shechem, where Jacob now was. It has appeared extraordinary to some, that Jacob so long delayed to go up to Beth-el and perform his vow made, ch. Gen 28:20, &c. Upon which occasion the Rabbins, as usual, have invented many strange stories: but as we cannot possibly enter into all the circumstances of his case, so neither can we judge of the reason of his delay. It is evident, that God was not offended with him, by the present appearance to him; and therefore we conclude certainly, that Jacob was no way blameable in the omission: he readily obeyed the Divine command, when given; and possibly, as his conduct appears to have been under the Divine direction, he might wait for that command, before he presumed to go to Beth-el.
4. The departure to Bethel. Gen 35:1-8.And God said to Jacob.The warning to depart comes from Elohim, and hence Knobel and Delitzsch regard the section in Genesis 35 as Elohistic, though Knobel thinks the Jehovist has made additions. Without regard to this, we can easily see, that God, who is to hold the Canaanites under his fear, so that they shall not take revenge on the house of Jacob, must be called Elohim. Although Jacob had suffered nearly ten years to elapse since his return from Mesopotamia, without fulfilling the vow he had made (Gen 28:20) at Bethel, when he fled from Esau (Keil), we are not, therefore, to infer that he had been regardless of his duty during these ten years. For a perfect security against Esau was a part of that which was to complete his happy return; but there arose a necessity between Peniel and Succoth, that he must not only have security for himself and his family, against the persecutions of Esau; but against his officious importunity, before he could go beyond Shechem with his whole train. Hence his sojourn at Succoth and Shechem. But when he is now reminded of a duty, too slowly fulfilled, the motive is found not merely in the vow which he has to fulfil, but in the circumstances occasioned by his sons, which make his longer stay at Shechem unsafe, to which we must, doubtless, add, that in the mean-while the relations and distinctions between his house and that of Esau, were more securely and permanently established. Have not the sons, who formerly were easily infatuated to render homage to their stately uncle, now manifested in an extreme way their Israelitish consciousness? The recollection (Gen 31:30) proves that Jacob cherished the consciousness of his duty. He seems, indeed, to have gone too far in his precautionary tardiness. In seeking to entirely avoid Esau, he is entangled with the Shechemites. The call and warning alsoMake an altar at Bethelinforms him that the time for his complete return home has now come.Up to Bethel.Bethel lay in the mountain region.Put away the strange gods.The shock that Jacob had experienced by the rape of Dinah, the crime of his sons, the imperilled existence of his family, and the divine warning immediately following, strengthens his sense of the holiness of God, and of the sinfulness in himself and his household, and he enjoins, therefore, an act of repentance, before he can enter upon the act of thanksgiving. He has, moreover, to confess, in reference to his house, the sins of a refined idolatry, the sins of his sons at Shechem, and his own sins of omission. His love for Rachel had, doubtless, led him weakly to tolerate her teraphim until now. But now he has grown strong and decided even in respect to Rachel. The fanatical Israelitish zeal of his sons had also a better element, which may have quickened his monotheistic feeling. Since the majority of Jacobs servants came from the circle and influence of the Nahorites, whose image-worship was viewed by the stricter Israelitish thought as idolatry (Exodus 20; Jos 24:2), there were probably to be found in Jacobs house other things, besides the teraphim of Rachel, which were regarded as the objects of religious veneration. But the purification was necessary, not merely because they were now to remove to Bethel, the place of the outward revelation of Jehovah (Knobel), but because the spirit of Jehovah utters stronger demands in the conscience of Jacob, and because the approaching thanksgiving must be sanctified by a foregoing repentance. [There is good ground for the conjecture that there was a special reason for the charge now, since in the spoil of the city there would be images of gold and silver.A.G.]And be clean.The acts take place in the following order: 1. The putting away of the strange gods; 2. A symbolical purification, completed, with out any doubt, through religious washings (Exo 29:4; and similar passages); and 3. The change of garments. In some cases (Exo 19:20) a mere washing of the garments was held to be sufficient, here the injunction is more strict, since the pollution has been of longer duration. In Knobels view they were to put on their best garments, but they would scarcely go on their mountain journey in such array. The changed garments express the state of complete purification, even externally.Unto God who answered me.He will thus fulfil his vow, and hold a thanksgiving feast with them.And all their ear-rings.They followed the injunction of Jacob so strictly, that they not only gave up the religious images, but also their amulets (chains), for the ear-rings were especially so used (see Winer: Real Wrterbuch, Amulets).And Jacob hid them.As stripped and dead human images they are buried as the dead (Isa 2:20).Under the oak (Terebinth).Knobel: In the Terebinth grove at Shechem, i.e., under one of its trees (comp. Gen 12:6; Jdg 6:11). According to Gen 12:7, and other passages, it was a grove. We must, therefore, read here , as in Jos 24:26, by the same author, to whom belongs also Exo 32:2, or assume that there were both kinds of trees in the grove.And the terror of God was upon.The genuine repentance in the house of Jacob was followed by the blessing of divine protection against the bloody revenge with which he was threatened from those who dwelled near Shechem. God himself, as the protecting God of Jacob, laid this terror upon them, which may have been introduced on the one hand, through the outrage of Shechem (Knobel); and on the other, through the fearful power of Jacobs sons, their holy zeal, and that of their God.Luz, which is in the land of Canaan.The words appear to be added, in order to fix the fact, that Jacob had now accomplished his prosperous return. [The name Luz, almond tree, still recurs, as the almond tree is still flourishing. Murphy.A. G.]And all the people.The number of Jacobs servants, both in women and children, may have been considerably increased through the sudden overthrow of Shechem. Although Jacob would have restored all, as some have conjectured, the heads of the families to whom this restitution could be made were wanting.That is Bethel.There is no contradiction, as Knobel thinks, between this passage and Gen 28:19, which is to be explained upon the assumption of an Elohistic account, but as (Gen 35:15) a confirmation of the new name which Jacob gave the city. Luz is so called by the Canaanites now, as it was before, although a solitary wanderer had named the place, where he spent the night, more than twenty years before, Bethel.El-Bethel. He names the altar itself, as he had also the altar at Shechem (Gen 33:20) and still further the place surrounding the altar, and thus declared its consecration as a sanctuary. El, too, is here in the genitive, and to be read of God; the place is not called God of Bethel, but of the God of Bethel. He thus evidently connects this consecration with the earlier revelation of God received at Bethel.1Then Deborah died.The nurse of Rebekah had gone with her to Hebron, but how came she here? Delitzsch conjectures that Rebekah had sent her, according to the promise (Gen 27:45), or to her daughter-in-law and grandchildren, for their care; but we have ventured the suggestion that Jacob took her with him upon his return from a visit to Hebron. She found her peculiar home in Jacobs house, and with his children after the death of Rebekah. For other views see Knobel, who naturally prefers to find a difficulty even here. It is a well-known method of exaggerating all the blanks in the Bible into diversities and contradictions.Allonbachuth.Oak of weeping. Delitzsch conjectures that perhaps Jdg 4:5; 1Sa 16:3, refer to the same tree as a monument, a conjecture which, however, the locality itself refutes.And God appeared unto Jacob.The distinction between God spake and God appeared is analogous to the distinction in the mode of revelation (Genesis 12 Gen 35:1; Gen 35:7). He now appears to him, Keil says, by day in visible form: for the darkness of that former time of anguish has now given way to the clear light of salvation. The representation is incorrect, and is based upon the assumption, that the night revelations are confined to times of trouble.Again.Now, at his return when the vow has been paid, as before in his migration, when the vow was occasioned and made. But now Jehovah appears to him as his God, according to his vow, then shall the Lord be my God. [When he came out of Padanaram.This explains the clause (Gen 35:6), which is in the land of Canaan. Bethel was the last point in the laud of Canaan that was noticed in his flight from Esau. His arrival at this point indicates that he has now returned to the land of Canaan. Murphy, p. 427.A. G.]And blessed him.So also Abraham was blessed repeatedly.Thy name is Jacob?We read the phrase according to its connection with Gen 32:27, as a question. Then Jacob answered to the question what is thy name? Jacob. Here God resumes the thread again, thou art Jacob? But if any one is not willing to read the words as a question, it still marks a progress. The name Israel was given to him at Peniel, here it is sealed to him. Hence it is here connected with the Messianic promise. [Murphy suggests also that the repetition of the name here implies a decline in his spiritual life between Peniel and Bethel.A. G.]I am God Almighty.This self-applied title of God has the same significance here as it had in the revelation of God for Abraham (Gen 17:1); there he revealed himself as the miracle-working God, because he had promised Abraham a son; here, however, because he promises to make from Jacobs family a community [assembly.A. G.] of nations. [The kahal is significant as it refers to the ultimate complete fulfilment of the promise in the true spiritual Israel.A. G.]2 Knobel sees here only an Elohistic statement of the fact which has already appeared of the new naming of Jacob, which, too, he regards as a mere poetic fiction. According to this supposition, Israel here cannot be warrior of God, but, perhaps, prince with God. Even Delitzsch wavers between the assumption of an Elohistic redaction or revision, and the apprehension and recognition of new elements, which, of course, favor the idea of a new fact. To these new elements belong the libation, the drink-offering (probably of wine), poured upon the stone anointed with oil, Jacobs own reference to this revelation of God at Bethel (Gen 48:3), and the circumstance that Hos 12:5, can only refer to this revelation. Under a closer observation of the development of Jacobs faith, there cannot be any question as to the confounding the theophany at Peniel with a second theophany at Bethel. It must be observed, too, that henceforth the patriarch is sometimes called Jacob, and sometimes Israel. [This is the first mention of the drink-offering in the Bible.A. G.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. We view Jacobs settlement at Succoth: a. In the light of a building of booths and houses for refreshment, after a twenty years servitude, and the toils and soul-conflicts connected with his journeyings (comp. the station Elim, Exo 15:27, where Israel first rested); b. As a station where he might regain his health, so that he could come to Shechem well and in peace; c. As a station where he could tarry for a time on account of Esaus importunity (comp. Exegetical notes).
2. Jacobs places of abode in Canaan, in their principal stations, are the same with those of his grandfather Abraham. He settles down in the vicinity of Shechem, as formerly Abraham had done in the oak groves of Moreh (Gen 12:6). Then he removed to Bethel, just as Abraham had gone into the same vicinity (Gen 12:8), and after his wandering to Egypt returned here again to Bethel. At last he comes to Hebron, which had been consecrated by Abraham, as the seat of the patriachal residence.
3. For the history of Shechem in the history of the kingdom of God (see Bible Dict.) It is: a. A capital of the Hivites, and as such the scene of the brutal heathenish iniquity, in relation to the religious and moral dignity of Israel; b. The birth-place of Jewish fanaticism in the sons of Jacob; c. A chief city of Ephraim, and an Israelitish priestly city; d. The capital of the kingdom of Israel for some time; e. The principal seat of the Samaritan nationality and cultus. The acquisition of a parcel of land at Shechem by Jacob, forms a counterpart to the purchase of Abraham at Hebron. But there is an evident progress here, since he made the purchase for his own settlement during life, while Abraham barely gained a burial place. The memory of Canaan by Israel and the later conquest (comp. Gen 48:22), is closely connected with this possession. In Jacobs life, too, the desire to exchange the wandering nomadic life for a more fixed abode, becomes more apparent than in the life of Isaac. [Robinsons History of Shechem is full and accurate. Wordsworths remark here, after enumerating the important events clustering around this place from Abraham to Christ, is suggestive. Thus the history of Shechem, combining so many associations, shows the uniformity of the divine plan, extending through many centuries, for the salvatian of the world by the promised seed of Abraham, in whom all nations are blessed; and for the outpouring of the spirit on the Israel of God, who are descended from the true Jacob; and for their union in the sanctuary of the Christian church; and for the union of all nations in one household in Christ, Luk 1:68.A. G.]
4. Dinahs history, a warning history for the daughters of Israel, and a foundation of the Old Testament limitation of the freedom of the female sex. 7. This Shechemite carnage of blind and Jewish fanaticism, is reflected in a most remarkable way, as to all its several parts, in the most infamous crime of Christian fanaticism, the Parisian St. Bartholomew. [The narrative of these events at Shechem shows how impartial the sacred writer is, bringing out into prominence whatever traits of excellence there were in the characters of Shechem and Hamor, while he does not conceal the cunning, falsehood, and cruelty of the sons of Jacob. Nor should we fail to observe the connection of this narrative with the later exclusion of Simeon and Levi from the rights of the first-born, to which they would naturally have acceded after the exclusion of Reuben; and with their future location in the land of Canaan. The history furnishes one of the clearest proofs of the genuineness and unity of Genesis.A. G.] 11. As Jacob intends holding a feast of praise and thanksgiving at Bethel, he enjoins upon his household first a feast of purification, i. e., a fast-day. This preparation rests upon a fundamental law of the inner spiritual life. We must first humble ourselves for our own deeds, and renounce all known evil practices, if we would celebrate with joyful praise and thanksgiving, with pure eyes and lips, the gracious deeds of God. The approach of such a feast is a foretaste of blessedness, and hence the conscience of the pious, warned by its approach, is quickened and made more tender, and they feel more deeply the necessity for a previous purification by repentance. In the Mosaic law, therefore, the purification precedes the sacrifices; the solemnities of the great day of atonement went before the joyful feast of tabernacles. Hence the Christian prepares himself for the holy Supper through a confession of his sins, and of his faith, and a vow of reformation. The grandest form in which this order presents itself is in the connection between Good-Friday and Easter, both in reference to the facts commemorated (the atonement and the new life in Christ) and in reference to the import of the solemnities. The Advent-season affords a similar time for preparation for the Christmas festival (comp. Mat 5:23).
12. Viewed in its outward aspect, the purification of Jacobs house was a rigid purification from religious image-worship, and the means of superstition, which the now awakened and enlightened conscience of Jacob saw to be nothing but idolatry. But these works of superstition and idolatry are closely connected with the fanaticism for which Jacobs house must also repent. The common band or tie of idolatry and fanaticism is the mingling of the religious state and disposition with mere carnal thoughts or sentiments. There is, indeed, a fanaticism of iconoclasm, but then it is the same carnal thought, which regards the external aspect of religion as religion itself, and through this extreme view falls into an idolatrous fear of images, as if they were actual hostile powers. The marks of a sound and healthy treatment of images idolatrously venerated, are clearly seen in this history: 1. A cheerful putting away of the images at the warning word of God; but no threats or violence against the possessors of the images; 2. a seemly removal, as in the burial of the dead body. Whatever has been the object of worship should be buried tenderly, unless it was used directly for evil and cruel purposes. The sacred washings follow the removal of the images, the prelude to the religious washings of the Jews, and the first preliminary token of baptism. The washing was a symbol of the purifying from sin and guilt by repentance; and as such was connected with the change of garments, the new garments symbolizing the new disposition, as with the baptismal robes. 15. The solemn, reverent burial of Deborah, and the oak of weeping dedicated to her memory, are a proof that old and faithful servants were esteemed in the house of Jacob, as they were in Abrahams household. As they had taken a deep interest and part in the family spirit and concerns, so they were treated in life and death as members of the family. The aged Deborah is the counterpart to the aged Eliezer. The fact that we find her here dying in the family of Jacob, opens to us a glance into the warm, faithful attachment of this friend of Rebekah, and at the same time enables us to conclude with the highest certainty that Rebekah was now dead. Deborah would not have parted from Rebekah while she was living. Delitzsch: We may regard the heathen traditions, that the nurse of Dionysius (, ) lies buried in Scythopolis (Plin. H. N. ch. v. 15), and that the grave of Silenos is found in the land of the Hebrews (Pausan. Eliaca, cap. 24), with which F. D. Michaelis connects the passage, as the mere distorted echoes of this narrative.
16. We may regard the new and closing revelation and promise which Jacob received at Bethel after his thanksgiving feast, as the confirmation and sealing of his faith, and thus it forms a parallel to the confirmation and sealing of the faith of Abraham upon Moriah (Gen 22:15). But it is to be observed here that Jacob is first sealed after having purified his faith from any share in the guilt of fanaticism. And the same thing precisely may be said of the sealing of Abraham, after he had freed himself from the fanatical prejudice that Jehovah could in a religious sense literally demand the sacrifice of a human life, i. e., the literal killing, he became certain of his life of faith, of the promise of God, and of his future. Thus here the flame of Israel is completely purified from the smoke. But here, again, it lies in the very law of the inward life, that God cannot seal the faith from which the impure elements have not been purged. Otherwise fanaticism, too, would be confirmed and sanctioned. Hence the assurance of faith will always waver and fluctuate, even to its disappearance in any one, in the measure in which he combines impure and carnal elements with his faith, and then holds it more and more as a confidence of a higher grade. Enthusiastic moments, mighty human acts of boldness, party earnestness and temerity, will not compensate for the profound, heavenly assurance of faith, an established life of faith, which is the gift of the Holy Spirit. True it is, that the precondition of sealing is justification, the heart experience of the peace of God, of reconciliation by faith; but this gift of God the Christian must keep pure by steadfastness in the Lord, even in the midst of temptation, which is often a temptation to fanaticism (see the Epistle of James), and then he is confirmed. In our estimate of the stages of confirmation, it is not at all strange that Jacob should have the name of Israel, first given to him at Peniel, here confirmed to him. Henceforth he is more frequently called Israel, for the new life in him has become a new nature, the prominent and ruling feature of his being.
17. The renewed Messianic promise assured to Jacob (Gen 35:11).
18. From the fact that Jacob erected a stone pillar at Bethel, on which he poured a drink-offering, and then oil, Knobel conjectures, without the least ground, that the Elohist here introduces the sacrifice in this form, and knows nothing of an altar and of animal sacrifices (p. 274). But it is evident that this pillar was taken from the altar before mentioned (Gen 35:7), and that this drink-offering must therefore be distinguished from the sacrifice upon that altar. As in the Wrestling of Jacob, the distinction between the outward and inward aspects of the right of the first-born, and thus also of the priesthood, first comes into view, so here, also, we have the distinction between the peculiar sacrifice in the strict sense and the thank-offering. The stone designates (Gen 28:20) the ideal house of God, and in this significance must be distinguished from the altar. Through the thank-offering Jacob consecrates the enjoyment of his prosperity to the Lord; through the oil he raises the stone, as well as his thanksgiving, to a lasting, sacred remembrance. [Kurtz remarks here: The thirty years journey from Bethel to Bethel is now completed. The former residence at Bethel stands to the present somewhat as the beginning to the end, the prophecy to the fulfilment; for, the unfolding of the purpose of salvation, so far as that could be done in the life of Jacob, has now reached its acme and relative completion. There the Lord appeared to him in a dream, here in his waking state, and the dream is the prophetic type of the waking reality. There God promised to protect and bless him, and bring him back to this landa promise now fulfilled. There Jacob made his vow, here he pays it. There God consecrates him to be the bearer of salvation, and makes the threefold promise of the blessing of salvation. So far as the promise could be fulfilled in Jacob, it is now fulfilled; the land of promise is open before him, he has already obtained possession in part, and the promised seed reaches its first stage of completeness in the last son of Rachel, giving the significant number twelve, and the idea of salvation attains its development, since Jacob has become Israel. But this fulfilment is only preliminary and relative, and in its turn becomes a prophecy of the still future fulfilment. Hence God renews the blessing, showing that the fulfilment lies in the future still; hence God renews his new name Israel, which defines his peculiar position to salvation and his relation to God, showing that Jacob has not yet fully become Israel; the promise and the name are correlatesthe one will be realized when the other is fulfilled. Hence, too, Jacob renews the name Bethel, in which the peculiarity of the relation of God to Jacob is indicated, his dwelling in and among the seed of Jacob, and the renewing of this name proclaims his consciousness that God would still become in a far higher measure, El-beth-el.A. G.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
See the Doctrinal and Ethical remarks. Jacobs settlement at Shechem: 1. The departure thither from Succoth; 2. the settlement itself: 3. the new departure to Bethel.The settlement itself: 1. How promising! happy return. Prosperous acquisition of the parcel of land. Peaceful relations with the Shechemites. Religious toleration. 2. How seriously endangered (through Jacobs carelessness. He does not return early enough to Bethel to fulfil his vow. Probably he even considers the altar at Shechem a substitute. His love for Rachel makes him tolerant to her teraphim, and consequently to the teraphim of his house generally. His polygamy is perhaps the occasion of his treating the children with special indulgence). 3. How fearfully disturbed! Dinahs levity and dishonor. Importunity of the Shechemites; the carnage of his sons. The existence of his house endangered. 4. The happy conclusion caused by Jacobs repentance and Gods protection.The first great sorrow prepared for the patriarch by his children.Dinahs conduct.The dangerous proposals of friendship by the Shechemites.The brothers, Simeon and Levi. Their right. Their wrong.Fanaticism in its first biblical form, and its historic manifestations.Its contagious power. All, or at least the majority, of Jacobs sons, are swept along by its influence.Jacobs repentance, or the feast of purification of his house.How the union of repentance and faith is reflected in the sacred institutions. In both sacraments, in the celebration of the Lords Supper, in the connection of sacred festivals, especially in the connection between Good-Friday and Easter.The thanksgiving at Bethel.Here, too, the feast of joy is followed by deep mourning and funeral obsequies.Deborah: 1. We know very little of her; and yet, 2. we know very much of her.The greatness of true and unselfish love in the kingdom of God.The nobility of free service.Jacobs confirmationconfirmed as Israel.The renewed promise.
First Section. The settlement at Succoth. Gen 33:17. Starke: He, no doubt, visited his father during this interval.Gerlach: (On some accounts we believe that Succoth was situated on the right side of Jordan, in the valley of Succoth, in which lay the city of Beth-Shean. Succoth are literally huts made of boughs, here folds made of boughs of trees and bushes.)
Second Section. The settlement at Shechem. Gen 33:18-20. Starke: (Shechem, Quesita. The Septuagint transl., lambs; Chald., pearls. Others understand money. Epiph., de pond. et mons., asserts that Abraham introduced the art of coining money in Canaan). Schrder: Von Raumer considers Shalem as the more ancient name of Shechem. Robinson regards it as a proper name, and finds it now in the village of Shalem, some distance east from Shechem.
Third Section. Dinah. Gen 34:1-31. Starke: Dinahs walk: without doubt, taken from motives of curiosity.Contrary to all his expectations (for a peaceful, quiet time of worship, etc.), Jacobs heart is most keenly mortified by Dinahs disgrace, and the carnage committed by Simeon and Levi.He who wishes to shun sin, must avoid also occasions of sin.Curiosity is a great fault in the female sex, and has caused many a one to fall.
Schrder: (Val. Herb.) A gadding girl, and a lad who has never gone beyond the precincts of home, are both good for nothing (Tit 2:5). a. The rape. Starke: (2Sa 13:12) By force (2Sa 13:12-14). (Judging from Dinahs levity, it was not without her consent.)Cramer: Rape a sin against the sixth and seventh commandments.What a disgrace, that great and mighty lords, instead of being an example to their subjects in chastity and honor, should surpass them in a dissolute and godless deportment.Gerlach: Gen 35:7. Fool and folly are terms used frequently in the Old Testament to denote the perpetration of the greatest crimes. The connection of the thought is this, that godlessness and vice are the greatest folly, etc.Schrder: Josephus says, Dinah went to a fair or festival at Shechem. The person that committed the rape was the most distinguished (Gen 35:19) son (the crown-prince, so to speak) of the ruling sovereign.The sons of Jacob, for the first time, transfer the spiritual name of their father to the house of Jacob, etc. They are conscious, therefore, of the sacredness of their families. The sharp antithesis between Israel and Canaan enters into their consciousness (Baumgarten). b. The proposal of marriage. Starke: Although it is just and proper to strive to restore fallen virgins to honor by asking their parents or friends to give them in marriage, and thus secure their legal position and rights, yet it is putting the cart before the horse.Little children bring light cares, grown children heavy cares. (God afterwards prohibited (Deu 7:3) them to enter into any friendly relations with the heathen nations.) c. The fanatical revenge of Jacobs sons. Starke: Take care that you do not indulge in wrath and feelings of revenge.Hall: Smiling malace is generally fatal.Even the most bloody machinations are frequently gilded with religion.Freiberger Bibel: Hamor, the ruling prince, is a sad example of an unfaithful and interested magistracy, who, under the pretence of the common welfare, pursues his own advantage and interests, while he tries to deceive his subjects.The Shechemites, therefore, did not adopt the Jewish religion from motives of pure love or a proper regard for it, but from self-interest and love of gain.Cramer: It is no childs play, to treat religion in a thoughtless and careless way, and to change from one form to another.One violent son may bring destruction upon a whole city and country.Hall: The aspect of external things constrains many more to a profession of religion, than conscience (Joh 6:26). But how will it be with those who do not use the sacraments from proper motives?Strictures upon the apology for this deed in the book of Judith, and by others.Cramer: God sometimes punishes one folly by another.Hall: To make the punishment more severe than the sin, is no less unjust than to injure.What Shechem perpetrated alone, is charged upon all the citizens in common, because it seems that they were pleased with it.Lange: This was a preliminary judgment of God upon the Shechemites, thus to testify what the Canaanites in future had to expect from Jacobs descendants.Osiander: When magistrates sin, their subjects are generally punished with them. They evidently do not present circumcision as an entirely new divine service, as an initiation into the covenant with the God of Israel, but only as an external custom.It is remarkable here, how adroitly Hamor and Shechem represent to the people as pertaining to the common advantage, what was only for their personal interest.We here meet the wild Eastern vindictiveness in all its force. Moreover, the carnal heathen view, that all the people share in the act of the prince.Schrder: We have here the same sad mixture of flesh and spirit which we have seen at the beginning, in Jacob.Taube: Sins of the world and sins of the saints in their connection, d. Jacobs judgment upon this crime. Starke: (Jacob, no doubt, sent back all the captives with their cattle.)(It seems that, while not altogether like Eli, he did not have his sons under a strict discipline, since his family was so large.)For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God (Jam 1:20).Gerlach: How miraculously God protected this poor, despised (?) company from mingling with the heathen on the one hand, and from persecution on the other.Schrder: Judging from this test, what would have become of Jacobs descendants, if divine grace had left them to themselves in such a way (Calvin)? It was not due to themselves, certainly, that they were not entirely estranged from the kingdom of God, etc.
Fourth Section. The departure to Bethel. Gen 35:1-8. Starke: Because the true church was in Jacobs house, God would not permit it to be wholly destroyed, as Jacob, perhaps, conjectured.Change your garments.Which are yet sprinkled with the blood of the Shechemites.Osiander: Legitimate vows, when it is in our power to keep them, must be fulfilled (Deu 23:21).Cramer: The Christian Church may err, and easily be led to superstition; pious bishops, however, are to recognize these errors, and to do away with them. They are to purify churches, houses, and servants, and point them to the word of God. Repentance and conversion of the soul is the proper purification of sins.Bibl. Tub.: Is our worship to please God, then our hearts must be cleansed, and the strange gods, our wicked lusts, must be eradicated.The proper reformation of a church consists, not only in the extirpation of idolatry and false doctrines, but also in the reformation of the wrong courses of life (Neh 10:29).
Gen 35:8. All faithful servants, both males and females, are to be well cared for when they become sick or feeble, and to be decently buried after their death.Cramer: Christ is the pillar set up, both in the Old and New Testament; he is anointed with the oil of gladness, and with him only we find the true Bethel, where God speaks with us.Gerlach: Gen 35:1. His worship of God connects itself with this critical point in his history. As in the Old Test., The God of peace and of comfort, etc., is frequently mentioned, so also the faith of the patriarch clings to God in his peculiar personal revelations. It is the God who revealed himself at Bethel. (Still the name, El-Bethel, given with the first revelation at Bethel, includes the whole journey of Jacob until his return to Bethel.)Schrder: Jehovah has accomplished what he has said.We can only approach the house of God in faith, when we have first penitentially put away from our houses all strange gods. (Michaelis finds here the first and oldest trace of the baptism of proselytes.) I consider that Deborah, a wise and pious matron, was esteemed, so to speak, by the servants as a grandmother, who served and consoled Jacob (Luther).Taube: The house of the patriarch Jacob as a mirror of Christian family life.
Fifth Section. The sealing of the covenant between God and the patriarch at Bethel. Gen 35:9-15. Starke: As God appears to Abraham ten times, so he appears to Jacob six times (Gen 28:12; Gen 31:11; Gen 31:13; Gen 32:1-2; Gen 32:24; Gen 35:1; the present passage; and Gen 46:2).Schrder: Now that Jacob has become Israel in its fullest sense, the renewal of the promise connected with the conferring of the name has a far greater signification than before (Hengstenberg).
Gen 35:13. God descends into us, whenever he gives us a token of his presence. Here, therefore, we have a designation of the end of the vision (Calvin).For the symbolical signification of oil, see Bhr.As Israel, as patriarchal ancestor, the foundation-stone of the spiritual temple, he lays the first (?) stone to the building which his descendants are to complete. (Drechsler: So much is certain, that the first idea of a definite house of God is connected with the Bethel of Jacob.)
Footnotes:
[1][The verb , appeared, is here pluralone of the few cases in which Elohim takes the plural verb.A. G.]
[2][Murphy says, from this time the multiplication of Israel is rapid. In twenty-five years after this time he goes down into Egypt with seventy souls, and two hundred and ten years after that Israel goes out of Egypt numbering about one million eight hundred thousand. A nation and a congregation of nations, such as were then known in the world, had at the last date come of him, and kings were to follow in due time.A. G.]
[3][Among the continental churches confirmation is regarded in much the same light as we regard the open reception of the baptized members of the church, to their first communion; when they are said to assume for themselves the vows which were made for them in their baptism.A. G.]
CONTENTS
In the opening of this Chapter, Jacob’s history seems to brighten in the renewal of divine visits to him. But, in the progress of the Chapter, we have the sad news of death in his family. Such is the mixed state of the happiest pilgrimage. The Patriarch by the LORD’S direction, removes from Shechem to Bethel. Arriving there, he builds an altar unto the LORD: Deborah, his mother’s nurse, dies in Bethel, and is buried there: GOD again visits Jacob, and renews the assurance of his favor: Jacob sets up a pillar in token of it: he prosecutes his journey: by the way new calamities befall him, for his beloved Rachel dies in child-bed of Benjamin: he perpetuates her memory by erecting a pillar: still pursuing his rout towards Isaac his father’s house afresh instance of grief occurs; for Reuben his eldest son, commits incest with his father’s concubine. Jacob’s sons are mentioned: he arrives at his father Isaac’s, at Mamre. Isaac dies in a good old age, and is buried by the joint affection of Jacob and Esau.
Gen 35:2
St. John of the Cross says: ‘When the patriarch Jacob wished to go up to the Mount of Bethel in order to build there an altar to God on which he should offer sacrifice, he first gave three commands to his household.’ He applies these three commands to the spiritual life of the Christian. The strange gods are the ‘outside affections and attachments’. ‘Use clean means to get rid of the worldly appetites still left in the soul.’ And the third thing we must have in order to reach the high mountain is a change of garments. Through the means of the former two works God will change our garments from old to new, putting in the soul a new understanding of God in God, the old understanding of man being left behind and a new love for God in God implanted. He will empty the will of all its old human desires and tastes and will put within the soul a new knowledge and an abysmal delight, all other knowledge, all old imaginations, having been cast aside. Thus He will cause to cease all that belongs to the old man, which is the clothing of the natural being, and will clothe the soul in new and supernatural garments according to all its powers.
Obras, vol. i. p. 21.
Reference XXXV. 8. J. W. Bergen, Servants of Scripture, p. 12.
The Birth of Benjamin
Gen 35:18-19
I. Of all that we read in the book of Genesis of the faith of the patriarchs, there are few examples that shine forth more strongly than this of Jacob in the name that he gave his son; being able to look beyond the present sorrow to the power of God that was to be revealed. But for that faith, no doubt he might well have been content to have left the mother’s name unchanged. But he knew not only from whom the sorrow came, but whereto he had promised that all sorrows should lead; in Jacob’s seed all families of the earth were to be blessed; and as each of his sons were born, even to this last, he would rejoice as feeling that the blessing came nearer and was multiplied. Thus it was that Jacob’s faith was rewarded by the power of the right hand of the Most High revealed above all memories of sorrow.
II. Yet the sorrow itself is not without a Gospel lesson; indeed the lesson of the sorrow contributes to and bears part in the triumph. Benjamin was born and Rachel died, not at home, but on a journey; not even in such a home as Jacob had, when, stranger and pilgrim though he was, he pitched his tent, and built an altar, and digged a well, and bought a piece of ground with money of the sons of the people of the land. From that home they were driven; it was this flight most likely that brought on the mother’s hard labour; so that we may say the sorrow wherein Benjamin was born came from his brethren’s sin, from the folly wrought in Israel and the corruption that is in the world through lust. And even so it was when Bethlehem saw the birth of another Son of sorrow and of power, that sorrow was in Him part of this saving work of love. It became Him who was to be known as a Man of Sorrows to come as a Child of Sorrows; but He was not only born in sorrow Himself, He was a Son of His mother’s sorrow too. Her loneliness teaches us scarcely less than this; for whereas He had a work to do that we cannot share in, her work was altogether the same as ours, so that her example comes the more closely home to us. For her Son to be homeless was a part of the suffering He undertook for our sake, and by its merit avails for our profit; but she was only one of ourselves, a believer as we are or ought to be; and therefore if she was a wanderer with Him and suffered with Him, we are taught that we must suffer with Him before we can reign with Him.
III. But not only sorrow generally is a discipline to faith and a means for growth in holiness; this special trouble of the wanderer and the homeless is one which it specially befits us that we should learn to know and feel. For however perfect happiness God may have given us on earth, this world or any place in it is not our real home after all. One day we must leave it, and we must have learned beforehand to find a home wherever He is who loves us, if our departure is to be with joy, and according to the old bridal blessing, ‘From home to home’.
W. H. Simcox, The Cessation of Prophecy, p. 11.
References. XXXV. 29. F. W. Robertson, Notes on Genesis, p. 126. XXXV. F. W. Robertson, Notes on Genesis, p. 121. XXXVI. 24. Expositor (2nd Series), vol. i. p. 852.
XXIX
JACOB, JOSEPH, AND OTHERS
Genesis 35-41
This will be a running comment commencing at the thirty-fifth chapter and extending through the forty-first. Our last discussion showed the great disturbance of mind on Jacob’s part at the cruelty of Simeon and Levi in destroying the Shechemites. At this time God told Jacob to leave that place and go to Bethel. In removing, Jacob determined to purify his household from idols; if he was to have the enmity of the people, he was determined not to have the disfavor of God. So be commanded all his household to put away their strange gods and to change their garments. They also gave up the rings in their ears and noses. It is not fashionable with us now to wear rings that way, but many do. After this purification God protected them by causing a fear to fall upon the inhabitants of the land, or else Jacob’s crowd would have been annihilated on account of what Simeon and Levi bad done.
At Bethel he builds an altar and worships God, and God reappears to him and gives him a renewed assurance of his protection. He then leaves Bethel for what is now called Bethlehem, or Ephrath. At that place occurred the death of Rachel in giving birth to Benjamin. She was not buried in the cave of Machpelah, like the rest of the family, but for hundreds of years her tomb was standing and visible; they show it to you now, but not with certainty may you accept the tradition. In Gen 35:8 , we find an account of the death of Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse. That is the only hint as to the death of Rebekah. We infer from the fact that the old nurse had come to live with Jacob that Rebekah was dead. I may have an examination question on that point. The rest of the chapter is devoted to the names of Jacob’s sons by his several wives, which I will bring out in an examination question. The chapter closes with the death of Isaac. Jacob comes to Mamre, or Hebron, now the head of the tribe. Esau and Jacob unite to bury their father. The thirty-sixth chapter gives a genealogy of the descendants of Esau. Nothing is particular in that except the generations of Seir, father of the Horites. I will give this examination question: Why in the generations of Esau, are the generations of the Horites included? The answer is that Esau’s people moved to the country occupied by the Horites and intermarried with them. You will note that the Horites, or cave dwellers, are not prehistoric men.
The thirty-seventh chapter is devoted to the youth of Joseph, a very particular section. We find here the development of the murderous envy and hate of Joseph’s brethren toward him. An examination question will be: State what caused the envy and hatred of Joseph’s brethren toward him. The answer is: Joseph brought an evil report concerning the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, and they counted that tattling. If he had been one of the sons at work, and had reported on the others, that would have been a tell-tale business. If one in college should be appointed as a representative of the faculty, he could make a report without being justly amenable to the charge of tattling. Joseph was sent by his father to make a report. Next, Israel loved Joseph above all his other sons. I think the circumstances make it certain that he loved him justly. He was the oldest son of the only woman Jacob ever loved. He was intensely lovable, more so than any of the other boys. It is a fact, however, that there never was a case where a parent loved one child more than the others that it did not cause ill will in the family. The third reason is given here: “And he made him a full length garment.” King James Version, “a coat of many colours.” When a parent distinguishes between his children in dress he is sure to bring on a row. There Jacob made a mistake. Fourth, Joseph dreamed a dream and told it to his brothers, and they hated him yet the more. “I dreamed that we were binding sheaves, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright, and your sheaves stood around and bowed down to my sheaf.” If that dream originated with Joseph it shows that he was already imagining superiority over his brethren. But if it did not originate with Joseph, which it did not, as it came from God it showed a lack of wisdom in Joseph to tell the other boys. The dream was literally fulfilled in afterlife, and so must have been from God. He dreamed another dream: “Behold, I dreamed yet again, and behold the sun and moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.” The sun is papa, and the moon is mamma, and the stars are the eleven brothers, the whole family bowed down. He ought never to have told that dream to those boys. He told it to his father also. To show how quickly his father understood it, he said, “Shall we indeed, thy mother and thy father and thy brethren, bow down to thee?” His brothers envied him because his father kept that saying. He knew that meant something for his boy, and he was proud of the glory the boy would attain. Here are five things, and envy can get very fat on five things.
I once delivered an address on that subject before the Wake Forest College, entitled the “Ambitious Dreams of Youth.” There do come into bright minds forecasts of future greatness, great elation and swelling of the heart in thinking about it, that cannot be doubted. Sometimes these ambitious dreams do not come from God but from the heart of the student. I told those Wake Forest boys of a young fellow out in the mountains. When he started off to school a dream ran through his mind: “I will go to Wake Forest and make the brightest record ever made in that school. I will get through the four years’ course in three. I will get up my recitations so that the faculty will be talking about the most brilliant student in the institution. I will get the class honors. When I shall have delivered the valedictory and go home, all along the way people will say, ‘There is the boy who delivered the valedictory address.’ When I get home the family and all the servants will come out in a double row, and a band will play, ‘See the conquering hero come.’ ” Then I turned to the president and said, “Mr. President, what are you going to do with these ambitious boys who see the other boys bow down and their parents bowing down before them? Those boys think they have the world in a sling.” But one thing ‘is sure, no one ever became really great who did not aspire to be great. There is an honest ambition to excel, but where the faculty of imagination is wanting and it takes that to be a dreamer that man can be successful in a matter-of-fact way, but he certainly can never be successful as an artist, sculptor, painter, or as an orator or statesman. There is a creative power in the imagination. Woe to the one who expects to be great and has it not. It is characteristic of the Spirit’s day, as foretold by Joel and expounded by Peter, “Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” Sometimes men who have not the Spirit, and who find it easier to win in fancy than in fact, indulge in air castles which need to be ridiculed. There is a story in the old “Blue Back Speller” of a maiden who, walking alone with a pail of milk upon her head, fell into the following train of reflections: “The money for which I shall sell this milk will enable me to increase my stock of eggs to three hundred. These eggs, allowing for what may prove addle, and what may be destroyed by vermin, will produce at least two hundred and fifty chickens. The chickens will be fit to carry to market about Christmas, when poultry always brings a good price; so that by May Day I cannot fail of having enough money to purchase a new gown. Green! , let me consider, yes, green becomes my complexion best, and green it shall be. In this dress I will go to the fair, where all the young fellows will strive to have me for a partner; but I shall perhaps refuse every one of them, and, with an air of disdain, toss from them.” Transported with this triumphant thought she could not forbear acting with her head what thus passed in her imagination, when down came the pail of milk, and with it all her imaginary happiness. Dr. Wayland, one of the greatest educators in the United States, has a lecture on the “Evils of the Imagination,” that every schoolboy ought to read. Even barefoot boys, fishing in the creek, will weave stories of companies of which they are captains, and they will kill 1,000 buffaloes and 1,500 Indians. When I was canvassing for the Education Commission in Northeast Texas, I had to go about eleven miles out into the country. A lad of about twelve asked the privilege of taking me. I wondered why, but when we got out of town he turned around and said, “Dr. Carroll, I asked the privilege of taking you to this place because I wanted to talk to you. I heard your address on education, and do you know, I am going to be governor of Texas someday?” I smiled and said, “Tell me about it,” and he unfolded himself. That boy had already drawn out his own horoscope and filled out all the details of his future. He was brilliant. He had stood at the head of his classes. Instead of rebuking him I simply cautioned him and at the same time encouraged him because he had this record. He did not tell lies. He was never absent from his classes. He was never guilty of what you call schoolboy follies. He was intense in his application, and up to that time he had accomplished all that he had ever undertaken. So it would not surprise me if that boy yet becomes governor. I am waiting to see, however. One of the most instructive parts of the Bible is this that relates to the early life of Joseph and his premonitions of future greatness. Not long ago I read an account of a brilliant girl about thirteen years old. Her parents, uncles, and aunts were all trying to restrain her from following a certain line of education. She met it all by saying, “It is in me to do that. I know I can win on it. I dream about it. It fills my vision. I am irresistibly drawn to it.” And she did win on it, a country girl that became famous before the great audiences in European capitals.
This envy that had five roots, after awhile will come to a head when opportunity presents itself. A great many people carry envy and hate in their hearts and it eats like a cancer and burns like a hidden fire and no opportunity ever comes to gratify it, and the world knows nothing about it. “Gray’s Elegy” tells, in referring to the lowly graves, about “some mute, inglorious Milton” that never had a chance to follow the promptings of his muse. Not only that, but the lowly graves hold many a heart which had burned with hatred and envy and petulance that never had an opportunity to express itself in “Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country’s blood.” They say that everything comes to him who waits, and so this crowd waited, and here is their chance. Joseph’s brethren left Hebron, and went to Shechem, where they had massacred the Shechemites. They were looking for territory to pasture their immense herds. The father tells Joseph to go and see if it is well with the brothers and their flocks. It is a long way from home. When the boys see him coming they say, “Behold the dreamer cometh; let us slay him and cast him into a pit.” There were ten brothers in the meeting; eight were of one mind, but two had dissenting views. Reuben, the oldest, said, “Let us not kill him. Let us cast him into the pit.” The record says that Reuben intended to carry him back to Jacob. So he stands guiltless. The other one is Judah. We find when they bind him and strip off his coat that he pleads with them, ten great strong men, binding a boy, their own brother, and he weeping. Later they saw a caravan coming called Ishmaelites in one place and Midianites in another. Midian was a descendant of Esau, whose territory bordered on Ishmael’s, and the two tribes intermingled. Now Judah said, “Let us not kill him, but sell him to this caravan to take to Egypt.” In a speech I once delivered in the chapel of Baylor University, I told of a proposition about selling a man that would scorch the paper it was written on. The high court of state plotted it, the leading preacher instigated it, and the man they proposed to sell was one of the most illustrious on the roll of fame in the United States. So they sold Joseph. Then they took his coat and dipped it in the blood of a kid, and carried it to the father to make the impression that Joseph bad been torn to pieces by wild beasts. That was the heaviest stroke that Jacob ever received. He rent his garments, put on sackcloth, mourned many days and refused to be comforted. “I am going down to my son mourning to the underworld.” We will leave him there and look at one or two other matters.
The thirty-eighth chapter is devoted entirely to some rather scaly incidents in the life of Judah. The chapter is of such a character that it forbids discussion in a public address. Read it and gather your own lessons. It commences with Judah’s sin in marrying a Canaanite woman. Two of the sons born of this marriage God killed for their wickedness. This wife became an ancestress of our Lord. He derives his descent from four women not Jewesses. Rahab, the harlot; Tamar, the Canaanite; Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, whom David took; Ruth, the Moabitess.
The next three chapters give an account of Joseph in Egypt. When the caravan reached Egypt they sold him to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh. Potiphar finds his trustworthiness, purity and truthfulness and attention to business, and promotes this slave to the head of the house. When sold into slavery the brave heart ought not to despair. But the beauty of his person, great personality, evident kindly manhood, attracted Potiphar’s wife, and she fell in love with him, as some married women do. Joseph refused to Join her in this unlawful love. Whereupon, as “love unrequited and scorned turns to hate,” she accused him of the very offense which he refused to consider. So Potiphar puts him in prison. Now, though a prisoner, this man begins to work his way to the front. He is faithful to every duty. Finally he is put at the head of all the criminals in the jail. How can you put down a good man, true to God and himself? This position brings him into contact with other dreams besides his own. There are two that the birds snatched the bread of Pharaoh’s table out of fellow prisoners, the chief baker and butler of Pharaoh. Both are troubled. God sent those dreams. For a man to dream the basket on his head is a very singular thing. Joseph interpreted that to mean that he would gain his liberty but that Pharaoh would put him to death. It happened just that way. The butler dreamed about a cluster of grapes, well formed, sweet flavored, and luscious, and that he squeezed it into a goblet and handed the new wine to Pharaoh. Joseph tells him that means that he shall be restored and promoted to his old place, and says, “When you are promoted, remember me.” The butler promised well enough, but forgot. It is easy to forget the unfortunate. But after awhile God sends more dreams. This time Pharaoh has a double dream. He dreams that he sees seven stalks of grain come up in the Nile Valley, full eared and heavy headed. Right after them come up seven thin) shrivelled, parched stalks and they devour the others. He dreamed he saw seven fat beef cattle, and seven lean, ill favored, gaunt, starved specimens that ate the fat ones up. Nobody could tell Pharaoh what the dream meant. But finally the butler remembered Joseph and said, “When I was in prison there was a Hebrew lad who told us our dreams and they came out just like he said.” Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and we see him step out of the prison to stand before the monarch to explain dreams, as Daniel did later. He says each dream means the same thing, that there were going to be seven years of great plenty in which the earth would be burdened with its crops. It reminds me of what a man on the Brazos River said. Leaving out part of his language, which was very emphatic, I quote the other: “I tell you, I will have to build a wall around my field and call it a crib: there is so much corn in it.” He did make eighty bushels to the acre, and showed me a number of stalks with three full cars, standing only a foot apart and twenty feet high. Joseph said, “These seven years will be followed by seven years of drought and famine in which nothing will be made. God sent me here to provide. You ought to husband the resources of these fruitful years so that they can be spread out over the famine years.” Pharaoh was wonderfully impressed, and instantly promoted Joseph to the position of prime minister and made him next to himself. Just exactly as Joseph predicted, the thing happened. Great storage places, perfect reservoirs for holding wheat, and treasure houses were built. At the end of the first year people wanted bread to eat. Under advice of Pharaoh Joseph sold to them, taking their money, jewels, stock, land, then themselves. At the end of the seven years Pharaoh had the whole country, and Egypt was the granary of the world. “And all countries come into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn.”
That is the history of Joseph up to the time we come in touch with Jacob again.
QUESTIONS 1. Where did God tell Jacob to go from Shechem?
2. What important step did he take before going, and why?
3. How did God intervene to save Jacob from the inhabitants of the land?
4. What events happened at Bethel?
5. When did Rebekah die and what is the evidence?
6. Where did Jacob go from Bethel and what the events by the way?
7. Name the sons of Jacob by each of his wives and handmaids.
8. Where were they born?
9. Where does Jacob go from Ephrath, or Bethlehem, and what important event occurred there?
10. To what is the thirty-sixth chapter devoted, and why the genealogy of the Horites in this connection?
11. Whose is the most flawless character in history i Ana.: Joseph’s.
12. As a child, what could he say of his father and mother?
13. State in order the several causes or occasions of the hatred of his brothers.
14. What mistake did Joseph make in this?
15. What is the importance of dreams of greatness? Illustrate.
16. What is the difference between dreams of true greatness and building air castles? Illustrate.
17. What is the nature of ungratified envy and hate?
18. Cite passages from “Gray’s Elegy” to illustrate this point.
19. What was the culmination of the hatred of Joseph’s brothers? Can you find a parallel to this in the New Testament?
20. How was Reuben’s attitude toward the hostility against Joseph distinguished from that of his brothers?
21. How was Judah’s?
22. Who took Joseph out of the pit and sold him? (Gen 37:27-28 .)
23. Explain the confusion of the names of the Midianites and the Ishmaelites.
24. Compare the dejection of Jacob with that of Elijah, and show wherein both were mistaken.
25. To what is the thirty-eighth chapter devoted?
26. What was Judah’s beginning in this downward course of sin?
27. What four Gentile women became ancestress of our Lord?
28. Who became Joseph’s master in Egypt, what of his promotion and misfortune in this house?
29. How did he get out of prison and what six dreams touched his life?
30. Who was the author of those dreams?
31. To what position was he promoted in the kingdom?
32. What of Egypt at the close of the seven years of famine?
Gen 35:1 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.
Ver. l. Arise, go up to Bethel. ] This is not the first time that God tells him of that vow, and calls for performance. See Gen 31:13 . It is with us, as with children – Eaten bread is soon forgotten: deliverances, commonly, are but nine days’ wonderment at most; and it is ten to one, that any leper returns to give praise to God. If anything arouse and raise up our hearts to thankful remembrance of former mercy, it must be the sense of some present misery, as here. Jacob was in a great strait and fright: his sons had troubled him; the country was ready to rise upon him, and root him out: God also was justly displeased with him for his forgotten vow; yet chides him not, now that he was in heaviness; but takes his opportunity, for we are best when at worst, and gently minds him of what was his duty, and would be for his safety. Numa is said to have put so much confidence in his gods, that when he was sacrificing and news came that the enemy was at hand, he laughed, and said, At ego rein divinam facio. a Those Philistines were even ambitious of destruction, and ran to meet their ruin, that gathered themselves against Israel, while they were sacrificing and serving the Lord in their meet at Mizpeh. 1Sa 7:7 The Church, in her worship, is “terrible as an army with banners”; Son 6:10 “a cup of trembling to all the people round about”; “a burdensome stone for all people”; “a torch of fire in a sheaf.” Zec 12:2-3 ; Zec 12:6 He is a mad man that will meddle with her while she is upon good terms with Christ, her Champion. Isa 37:22 Balaam knew this, and therefore gave that villanous counsel. All Germany was in arms against that handful of Hussites in Bohemia, yet could not suppress them. b Geneva, a small people, surrounded with enemies, and barred from aid of neighbours, yet faithful with God, hath been hitherto strangely upheld. At the siege of Mountabone in France, the people of God, using daily humiliation, as their service would permit, did sing a Psalm after, and immediately before, their sallying forth. With which practice the enemy coming acquainted, ever, upon the singing of the Psalm, upon which they expected a sally, they would so quake and tremble, crying, They come, they come, as though the wrath of God had been breaking out upon them. c
a E – Plut
b Germani nondum, viso hoste, Danico terrore perculsi diffugerunt. – Pareus.
c Spec. Belli Sacri, 282.
Genesis
A FORGOTTEN VOW
Gen 35:1 Thirty years at least had passed since Jacob’s vow; ten or twenty since his return. He is in no haste to fulfil it, but has settled down at Shechem and bought land there, and seems to have forgotten all about Bethel.
1. The lesson of possible negligence .
b We are often more resolved to make sacrifices in the beginning of our Christian course than afterwards.
Many a brilliant morning is followed by cloudy day.
Youth is often full of enthusiasms which after-days forget.
2. The reasons for the negligence .
3. The essentials to communion and service .
4. The reward of sacrifice and of duty discharged .
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Gen 35:1-4
1Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments; 3and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem.
Gen 35:1 “Then God said to Jacob, ‘Arise, go up to Bethel'” Jacob’s initial encounter with YHWH was at this place, cf. Gen 28:18-22; Gen 35:14. YHWH calls Himself “the God of Bethel” and tells Jacob to return to Canaan in Gen 31:13.
The “go up” VERB (BDB 748, KB 828, Qal IMPERATIVE) can be understood in two ways.
1. Bethel was to the south, but was higher topologically than Shechem.
2. The VERB is often used of going to the temple (i.e., a holy site). Bethel may have represented an intimacy with God.
“make an altar” The term “altar” (BDB 258) means a place of slaughter. The Patriarchs made many altars.
1. Noah on the Mount of Ararat, Gen 8:20
2. Abraham
a. at Shechem, Gen 12:7
b. at Bethel, Gen 12:8
c. at Hebron, Gen 13:18
d. at Moriah, Gen 22:9
3. Isaac at Beersheba, Gen 26:25
4. Jacob
a. at Shechem, Gen 33:20
b. at Bethel, Gen 35:7
Obviously, sacrifice predates the Mosaic covenant.
Gen 35:2 “the foreign gods which are among you” The term “gods” (little “g” PLURAL) is exactly the same as the term Elohim (capital “God”) in Gen 35:1. Context must determine the translation of this term. See Special Topic: Names for Deity .
This verse is interesting in that it shows the spiritual preparation necessary for renewing the covenant promises. The foreign gods may refer to (1) the teraphim of Gen 31:19; Gen 31:30; (2) other gods brought from Haran by members of his household; or (3) gods taken from Shechem made of precious metal (economic value), crafted artfully (ascetic value). This is similar to the covenant renewal of Jos 24:14; Jos 24:23 (cf. 1Sa 7:3).
It is interesting that the spiritual preparation (the VERB “purify” [BDB 372, KB 369] is a Hiphil IMPERATIVE; this was not an option; this is the only use of this VERB in Genesis, but it becomes common in Leviticus), and was symbolized by bathing and a change of garments (cf. Exo 19:10; Num 8:7; Num 8:21; Num 19:19). Therefore, this outward, physical symbol was meant to reflect an inner spiritual preparation of all of Jacob’s extended family. The stain of the slaughter of Shechem was heavy on them.
Gen 35:3 “let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God” Jacob is returning to the scene of his initial personal encounter with God (cf. Gen 28:18-22). At this point in his relationship with YHWH one wonders if he is a monotheist (one and only one God) or a henotheist (only one God for me and my family).
Gen 35:4 “the foreign gods” This could refer to “the household gods” (teraphim, cf. Gen 31:19; Gen 31:30; Gen 31:34; Jdg 17:5; 1Sa 19:13; Hos 3:4, see Special Topic: Teraphim ), which denoted ancestral worship. It is surely possible that Jacob’s extended family (i.e., servants, cf. Gen 35:6 b) were polytheists and had brought symbols or representations of the gods with them.
“the rings which they had in their ears” Apparently these were some type of magical charms which were related to idolatry (cf. Hos 2:13).
NASB, NKJV,
NRSVhid”
TEV, NJB,
JPSOA, REB”bury”
The VERB (BDB 380, KB 377, Qal IMPERFECT) can mean “hide,” “conceal,” or “bury” (cf. Job 40:13). Who was he hiding them from? This was a gesture of a clean break with the past religious practices of his new extended family from Haran.
“under the oak” “Oak” is a translation from the Septuagint (cf. Peshitta; see note in UBS, Fauna and Flora of the Bible, p. 154-155). The Hebrew has terebinth (BDB 18). Trees seem to have had a very important place in the OT, often associated with holy sites (cf. Gen 12:6; Gen 13:18; Gen 14:13; Gen 18:1; Deu 11:30; Jos 24:26; Jdg 9:6; Jdg 9:37).
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
Jacob. See notes on Gen 32:28; Gen 43:8; Gen 45:26, Gen 45:28.
Beth-el. House of GOD. Hebrew. El. App-4 (Gen 28:19).
Chapter 35
And so God said to Jacob, Arise, and go up to Bethel ( Gen 35:1 ), Now Jacob is afraid. Hey, the kings are going to get together. They’re going to attack me and wipe me out. And so “God is saying to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel,” and dwell there: and make an altar unto God, God that appeared to thee when you were fleeing from the face of Esau your brother. So Jacob said to his household, to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, be clean, change your garments ( Gen 35:1-2 ): And so Jacob institutes now a sort of a religious reform in the family. Put away the strange gods. We’re going to have to really just go back in a renewal of our dedication unto God and a renewal of ourselves unto God. Jacob is afraid. He has been in the land now for many years, he’s come back, just settled. And it’s amazing how in times of prosperity we can sort of let spiritual things slide. And things can creep in and other interests that become idols in our hearts. And it begins to take away from our devotion and our commitment to God. And we find ourselves taken up in this delight or in this endeavor. And all of these things that come in and sort of rob that place of God within our lives. And so here is a tragedy. Once again it brings them back to a renewing of a commitment of, “Come on, put away your idols, your images, your strange gods; let’s change our garments. We’re going to go to Bethel. Go back to the place where God met me. We’re going to go back to that place and meet with God once more”. And how many times God calls us back to that place of our first consciousness? You remember the message of Jesus to the church of Ephesus where He said, “Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and do your first work over” ( Rev 2:4-5 ). The Lord said, “You’ve lost your first love”. It was a call back to the first love, back to that first consciousness of God. Back to that thrill and the joy, that place where you first met God. And God is calling him back now to that place where he first had a real consciousness of God’s presence in his life. And it’s a call now from God to come back to Bethel, very beautiful call indeed. Let us arise, let us go 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. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under an oak which was by Shechem. 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. So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, to Bethel, and the people that were with him. And he built there an altar, and called the place The God of Bethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother ( Gen 35:3-7 ). So coming back, builds now an altar, and recommits himself. Worships God and calls the place “The God of Bethel.” Now here Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died ( Gen 35:8 ), So Rebekah was the mother of Jacob and when Rebekah died, Jacob probably took her servant, her handmaid and said, “Hey, you come live with us”. And so Deborah had come to live in Jacob’s household. And being an older woman, probably was sort of a guide and all to a lot of the younger women and to the young women servants and so forth. And so she was with Jacob at this point; she died. and they buried her beneath an oak there at Bethel: and the name of the place was called Allonbachuth ( Gen 35:8 ). Which actually means the oak of weeping. So evidently, she had really endeared herself to the whole group and though she was an older woman, an elderly woman at this point, yet there is just a lot of weeping over her death. And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and he blessed him. 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 ( Gen 35:9-10 ). And so God confirmed the change of character again from Jacob to Israel. 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; and the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. And God went up from him in the place where he had talked with him. 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 on it, and poured oil thereon. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel ( Gen 35:11-15 ). So a second time God appeared unto Jacob here in the area of Bethel. Renewed the covenant, renewed the promise. And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was just a little way, they came to Ephrath ( Gen 35:16 ): Now Ephrath is the area of near Bethlehem. Actually, it is the area of Bethlehem. and there Rachel travailed, for she was in a hard labour. And it came to pass, that the midwife said unto her, Don’t be afraid; you’re going to have this son also. And so as her soul was departing, (for she died) she called the name of her son Benoni ( Gen 35:16-18 ): Now she was of course quite a bit older by now. And she died in childbirth with her second son Benoni, which means the son of sorrow. but Jacob graciously changed his name to Benjamin ( Gen 35:18 ). “Son of my right hand,” lest the boy would bear forever the name “Son of sorrow” and all, and be reminded of his mother’s death in childbirth. They called him the “Son of my right hand.” Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave ( Gen 35:19-20 ): Now at this point, you probably have a little commentary by Moses because he was the one that assembled these records and wrote these first books. And so Moses adds a little commentary here. that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day ( Gen 35:20 ). So years later, some four hundred years after this, the pillar was still there that Jacob had erected. And so Moses makes mention of the fact it’s the pillar that is still there to this day. And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar. 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 ( Gen 35:21-22 ): So here Reuben now goes in. He’s the oldest son. He’s not married. He probably, you know, had a thing going and, of course, Bilhah is quite a bit older than Reuben so she’s not totally innocent in this thing. They probably had sort of a relationship going with each other and they started having intercourse with each other. Jacob found out about it and it’s interesting Jacob sort of passes over it. Doesn’t really say any heavy thing here that Jacob did about it. In fact, it just goes on to name the sons of Jacob now and those that were born from each of the mothers. But again, later on when Jacob is addressing his sons at that time of his death and the blessings, Reuben is passed over because he’s unstable as water. He went to his father’s bed. So Jacob brings that as the disqualifying character of Reuben’s life that disqualified him from the birthright and the blessing. So the sons of Leah; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun: The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin: The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali: The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, that were born to him while he was in Padanaram ( Gen 35:23-26 ). Of course with the exception of Benjamin which was born there in the land. Jacob came to Isaac his father unto Mamre ( Gen 35:27 ), Now Isaac was still alive. He lived to be one hundred and eighty years old. unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac journeyed, sojourned. And the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years. And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and being gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: his sons Esau and Jacob buried him ( Gen 35:27-29 ). So he was an invalid for over fifty years, blind and so forth. It’s a sad way to end your life. “
God never abandons His children to the forces of evil circumstances resulting from their own folly. The fourth direct communication to Jacob was that which called him back to Beth-el. Again the evidence of his faith in God is found in the fact that his response was immediate. Moreover, its genuineness is evidenced by his destruction of the foreign gods, the quick movement to Beth-el, and the immediate erection there of an altar.
This obedience was followed immediately by the fifth divine communication; only the name Israel was again pronounced. It would seem almost as though Jacob had not entered into the experience of the blessing won by the Jabbok until now. In that night the vision had come to him, and his crippling was evidence of the reality of the divine action. All this, however, had not been translated into victory in the details of his life.
How often this is so. In some great crisis of revelation a larger life is seen, its laws appreciated, and its claims intellectually yielded to. Yet it is not wrought out into the details of life, and so oftentimes its greatest value is gained only through some subsequent experience of failure.
In this fifth of God’s direct appearances to Jacob, God not only again declared the new name of the man, but gave him His own name with a new significance. It was the name El-Shaddai, which He had first used to Abraham on the occasion when his name was changed from Abram to Abraham. Its supreme value is its declaration of the all-sufficiency of God.
In this chapter we have also the account of the sorrows following on this experience: the death of Rachel, the sin of Reuben, the death of Isaac. All which things played their part in the final making of the man.
Jacob Blessed at Bethel
Gen 35:1-15
Thirty years before Jacob was at Bethel. Life was young then. He had only his staff. The future was unshaped and unknown. It was on the occasion of his first night from home; and he made many vows. How much had happened since then! Marriage, prosperity, children! But he had drifted down the stream, and had traveled into the far country from God. It was well that he should get back to Bethel, and consider the whole story of his life, as you may trace a river from source to mouth from an overlooking hill. The divine summons is always bidding us be clean and change our garments, and be rid of idols. There God gave him the great new name of Israel; and took to himself the reassuring name of El-Shaddai. It was as though, as the Almighty, he pledged himself to realize the highest and best. Let us take heart! God will make us fruitful, will give us the land, and will ward off the results of our misdeeds, Gen 35:5.
For Review Questions on Genesis see the e-Sword Book Comments for Genesis.
Gen 35:8
The name given to the old oak-tree speaks of mourning, of very thoughtful and sorrowful, if not of very bitter tears; of kindly remembrances of old days and faithful duties; of the utter blotting out of every recollection but such as are kindly, sad, and hopeful. Deborah was only an old servant,-one who had served the family so long, so faithfully, that she had grown one of it,-prized in her active life, cared for in her failing age, wept over at the last with this memorable weeping. All the realities, the uttermost commonplaces of human life and history, and the passing on of time, are infinitely touching when really brought home to us. The wearied-out old frame laid in the last sleep, the hopeful young days 125 years ago, the busy, helpful life of work and worry, you see them all. There are practical suggestions here. (1) There could not have been this near and warm relation, but that the relation had lasted long. (2) We ought not to have mere money relations with those who serve us. (3) Those who serve may see from this how honourable is their calling, if they abide in it with God.
A. K. H. B., The Graver Thoughts of a Country Parson, 3rd series, p. 45.
Reference: Gen 35:18.-Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 68.
Gen 35:28-29
The lives of Abraham and Jacob are as attractive as the life of Isaac is apparently unattractive. Isaac’s character had few-salient features. It had no great faults, no striking virtues; it is the quietest, smoothest, most silent character in the Old Testament. It is owing to this that there are so few remarkable events in the life of Isaac, for the remarkableness of events is created by the character that meets them. It seems to be a law that all national, social and personal life should advance by alternate contractions and expansions. There are few instances where a great father has had a son who equalled him in greatness. The old power more often reappears in Jacob than in Isaac. The spirit of Abraham’s energy passed over his son to his son’s son. The circumstances that moulded the character of Isaac were these. (1) He was an only son. (2) His parents were both very old. An atmosphere of antique quiet hung about his life. (3) These two old hearts lived for him alone.
I. Take the excellences of his character first. (1) His submissive self-surrender on Mount Gerizim, which shadowed forth the perfect sacrifice of Christ. (2) His tender constancy, seen in his mourning for his mother, and in the fact that he alone of the patriarchs represented to the Jewish nation the ideal of true marriage. (3) His piety. It was as natural to him as to a woman to trust and love: not strongly, but constantly, sincerely. His trust became the habit of his soul. His days were knit each to each by natural piety.
II. Look next at the faults of Isaac’s character. (1) He was slow, indifferent, inactive. We find this exemplified in the story of the wells (Gen 26:18-22). (2) The same weakness, ending in selfishness, appears in the history of Isaac’s lie to Abimelech. (3) He showed his weakness in the division between Jacob and Esau. He took no pains to harmonise them. The curse of favouritism prevailed in his tent. (4) He dropped into a querulous old age, and became a lover of savoury meat. But our last glimpse of him is happy. He saw the sons of Jacob at Hebron, and felt that God’s promise was fulfilled.
S. A. Brooke, Sermons, p. 333.
References: Gen 35:29.-F. W. Robertson, Notes on Genesis, p. 126. Gen 35-Ibid., p. 121; R. S. Candlish, Book of Genesis, vol. ii., p. 103; M. Dods, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, p. 119. Gen 36:24.-Expositor, 2nd series, vol. vi., p. 352.
CHAPTER 35 Jacob at Bethel and Three Deaths
1. The divine commandment (Gen 35:1)
2. The defilement put away (Gen 35:2-4)
3. The journey to Bethel and the altar (Gen 35:5-7)
4. Deborah, Rebekahs nurse, dies (Gen 35:8)
5. God appears to Jacob (Gen 35:9-15)
6. Benoni-Benjamin and Rachels death (Gen 35:16-20)
7. The twelve sons of Jacob (Gen 35:21-26)
8. Isaacs death (Gen 35:27-29)
The Lord did not leave Jacob in Shechem amidst the evil and corrupting influences. The Lord now reminded him of what had happened long ago and of the unfulfilled vow he had made when he had his dream-vision. And he responded. His house, however, was first cleansed from the defilement; the strange gods among them, most likely teraphim. or household gods, had to be put away. After that was done he gave the order to go to Bethel to make an altar there unto God. They gave up their gods and earrings; the latter must have been in the shape of figures representing idols. And after this cleansing they became a mighty host, the terror of God fell upon the cities through which they journeyed. The altar is built and the place called El Bethel (God of the House of God). Rebekahs nurse died. After Gen 49:31 Rebekah is no longer mentioned; not even her death. This corresponds with that which she typifies, the church. Jacob as we learned foreshadows the history of the earthly people of God and as that is related no more mention of Rebekah is made. Then God met him again and Jacob becomes Israel in reality.
Rachel gives birth to another son at Ephrath and dies there. The one born has a double name. Benoni, which means son of sorrow; Benjamin, which is the son of the right hand. Here we have another type of the Lord Jesus Christ, His humiliation and exaltation. Bethlehem is here mentioned for the first time in the Bible.
After the names of the twelve sons of Jacob are given and Reubens evil deed is recorded we hear of the death of Isaac. He died 180 years old and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. We now add a little diagram, which gives the family tree of the patriarchs down to the end of this book.
God said: Gen 22:14, Deu 32:36, Psa 46:1, Psa 91:15
Bethel: Gen 35:7, Gen 12:8, Gen 13:3, Gen 13:4, Gen 28:10-22, Gen 31:3, Gen 31:13, Psa 47:4, Ecc 5:4-6, Hos 12:4, Nah 1:15
when thou: Gen 16:8, Gen 27:41-45, Exo 2:15
Reciprocal: Gen 8:20 – builded Gen 26:25 – builded Gen 28:13 – the Lord stood Gen 28:17 – the house Gen 28:19 – the name Gen 28:22 – God’s Gen 35:9 – General Lev 22:21 – to accomplish Deu 23:21 – General 1Sa 10:3 – Bethel 1Ki 12:29 – Bethel Psa 56:12 – Thy
Spiritual Renewal at Bethel
After such violent, vengeful acts, God called Jacob’s to worship again at Bethel. Before Jacob would go, he made everyone give up their idols (compare Gen 31:19 ). He also required those with him to purify themselves, perhaps with ceremonial washings, and change clothing, likely to symbolize the solemn nature of the occasion.
Remember, Jacob made a solemn promise to give God a tenth of all his goods if God would keep him safe. Since the promise was made at Bethel, God called him there to worship and fulfill the promise ( Gen 28:10-22 ). As they journeyed, God kept them safe. The people whose land they passed through were afraid of them because of God and did not exact the revenge Jacob had feared they would. Jacob built an altar at the same place he had worshipped while on his way out of Canaan. He called the place “El Bethel,” or “house of God.” God renewed the promise at that time ( Gen 35:1-15 ).
Gen 35:1. God said, Arise, go up to Beth-el This was a word in season to comfort his disquieted mind, and direct him to a safer place. Make there an altar Consider and pay thy vows there, made in the time of thy distress. Jacob had said in the day of his distress, If I come again in peace, this stone shall be Gods house, Gen 28:22. God had performed his part, and given Jacob more than he then desired, namely, bread to eat, and raiment to put on; but it seems, if he had not forgotten his vow, he had at least deferred the performance of it, waiting, probably, for a fit time for that purpose; or an admonition from God concerning the proper season of paying it. And dwell there That is, he was not only to go himself, but to take his family with him, that they might join with him in his devotions.
Gen 35:1. And God said. This is the fifth vision in which the Lord appeared to Jacob; it marks a special providence over his safety, by removing him from the vicinity of Shechem to a peaceful dwelling.
Gen 35:2. Be clean and change your garments. Let your exterior cleanliness by water, be an emblem of your greater purity of heart. In this sanctifying manner did Jacob admit the female captives of Shechem into the Hebrew church: and so is baptism a figure of purity to the christian church.
Gen 35:4. Hid them. Having first no doubt defaced the images of the idols, or the superstitious figures with which they were engraved. Jacob did not dare to meet his God at Bethel, till he had left every vestige of Shechems idols behind.
Gen 35:7. El-beth-el, the God of Gods house. He added something to the name, because God now added to him new mercies.
Gen 35:8. Almon-bachuth, the oak of weeping. Deborah is supposed to have been about a hundred years of age. She had been an eminent servant, and for her great services was ultimately considered and lamented as one of the family.
Gen 35:22. Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, who was the dotal maid of Rachel. It was customary among the oriental patriarchs to take the dotal maid, if the princess proved barren, or when she had done bearing. Their pleas for so doing were unfounded in nature, and often fraught with mischief; now, by the law of nature and of nations, they are altogether inadmissible. The crime was great, and though Jacob dissembled his horror of the deed for the time, fearing greater evils, he being old, Bilhah young, and Reuben ferocious; yet he cursed him in a limited sense on his deathbed, by a privation of the birthright, and loss of the regal sceptre. Levi became the priest, and the sceptre was awarded to Judah. Gen 49:4. 1Ch 5:1-2. One crime may undo a man for life, and degrade his children for ages to come. The three places of scripture in which this sad case is named preclude all palliations. It was a crime revolting to all moral feeling, and destitute of secular advantages.
REFLECTIONS.
Poor Jacob, in his fears, being warned of God, fled to Bethel, where the Lord had first revealed his glory, and confirmed to him the covenant made with his fathers. He had found Bethel a place of comfort when he fled from Esau, and he now hastes to the same favourite spot when hearing that the Canaanites would revenge the massacre. How inviting is the place, how sacred is the house where God has blessed his word, and revealed his comforts to the soul. Let our feet never forget the way thither, especially in the day of trouble.
Jacob, before he fled from Shechem, purged his house of idols, and reformed the idolatrous captives of their superstition. Let us learn from it, never to appear before the Lord in our sins; he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. All new servants should in like manner be made acquainted with the rules of a righteous mans house, that no liar, no swearer, no wicked person may abide in his presence.
This done, the Lord appeared the sixth time to his servant, in his angelical presence, and once more repeated and enlarged his covenant. He shed terror on his enemies that they durst not pursue him; and wherever Jacob consecrated an altar, he had some new mark of Gods special presence and regard. Hence we see, that heaven never remits its care, nor forgets its promises. And God is the same still: wherever the good man goes, there he meets his God; wherever he prays, there he receives an answer of peace.
But scarcely were these fears allayed, than Jacobs ancient sorrows had cause to flow afresh for the loss of Rachel, his beloved wife. During her barrenness she had been impatient and discontented, and said in the anguish of her soul, Give me children, or else I die. God heard her prayers, for she would not be denied. He gave her Joseph, and next Benjamin, whom she bare, and then expired. We should learn hence, entire submission to the divine good pleasure, in all our temporal concerns, because the crosses attendant on indulgence may be heavier than the pains of privation. She died however in sight of Bethel, and happy is that man, that woman, however suddenly seized and arrested with death, who die with a fair prospect of Gods altar, and Gods house.
But as the waves beat against the rock, and repeat their furious strokes, so in life one trouble succeeds another. Jacob had scarcely buried Rachel, before a worse calamity happened by Reuben, than the burial of this firstborn: nor was it Reubens only crime. He dishonoured his father, and fixed a blot on his own character, which could never be wiped away. Let all young men pray for purity of thought, and form the most sacred habits of chastity, that they may have through life the glory of a spotless character.
Isaac though deprived for many years of sight, yet exceeded his father and all his children in age; happy fruit of early piety, strict temperance, and a regular life. More happy still in living so long a monument of Gods fidelity to his covenant and promise. Happy also Jacob and Esau, whose friendship was more lasting than their enmity, to deposit the remains of so venerable a sire in the sepulchre of his fathers. Happy, thrice happy to imitate his virtues, and follow him to glory. And it is no small comfort, that the scriptures lose not sight of Esau, as a man faithful in friendship, and venerant to his father. The promise of the Seed of the Messiah being fixed in Jacobs line, did not cut off Esau from salvation, on repentance for his sins, any more than the promise being fixed in Judah, cut off his eleven brothers. Jacob seems to have wished Joseph to be heir of the promise, but God, whose right alone it was to give, fixed it in Judahs line.
Genesis 35
“And God said unto Jacob. Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there.” This confirms the principle on which we have been dwelling. When there is failure or declension, the Lord calls the soul back to Himself. “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen; and repent and do the first works.” (Rev. 2: 5) This is the divine principle of restoration. The soul must be recalled to the very highest point; it must be brought back to the divine standard. The Lord does not say, ‘remember where you are;’ no; but ‘remember the lofty position from whence you have fallen.’ Thus only can one learn how far he has declined, and how he is to retrace his steps.
Now, it is when thus recalled to God’s high and holy standard, that one is really led to see the sad evil of one’s fallen condition. What a fearful amount of moral evil had gathered round Jacob’s family, unjudged by Him, until his soul was roused by the call to “go up to Bethel.” Shechem was not the place in which to detect all this evil. The atmosphere of that place was too much impregnated with impure elements to admit of the soul’s discerning, with any degree of clearness and precision, the true character of evil. But the moment the call to Bethel fell on Jacob’s ear, “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, 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.” The very mention of “the house of God” struck a chord in the soul of the patriarch; it carried him, in the twinkling of an eye, over the history of twenty eventful years. It was at Bethel he had learnt what God was, and not at Shechem; hence he must get back to Bethel again, and erect an altar upon a totally different base, and under a totally different name, from his altar at Shechem. This latter was connected with a mass of uncleanness and idolatry.
Jacob could speak of “El-elohe-Israel,” while surrounded by a quantity of things utterly incompatible with the holiness of the house of God. It is important to be clear in reference to this point. Nothing can keep the soul in a path of consistent, intelligent separation from evil save the sense of what “the house of God” is, and what becomes that house. If I merely look at God, in reference to myself, I shall not have a clear, full, divine sense of all that flows out of a due recognition of God’s relation to His house. Some there are who deem it a matter of no importance how they are mixed up with impure materials in the worship of God, provided they themselves are true and upright in heart, In other words, they think they can worship God at Shechem; and that an altar, named “El-elohe Israel,” is just as elevated, just as much according to God, as an altar named “El Bethel.” This is evidently a mistake. The spiritually minded reader will at once detect the vast moral difference between Jacob’s condition at Shechem, and his condition at Bethel; and the same difference is observable between the two altars. Our ideas, in reference to the worship of God, must, of necessity, be affected by our spiritual condition; and the worship which we present will be low and contracted, or elevated and comprehensive, just in proportion as we enter into the apprehension of His character and relationship.
Now, the name of our altar, and the character of our worship, express the same ides. El-Bethel worship is, higher than El-elohe-Israel worship, for this simple reason, that it conveys a higher idea of God. It gives me a more elevated thought of God to speak of Him as the God of His house, than as the God of a solitary individual truth, there is beautiful grace expressed in the title, “God, the God of Israel;” and the soul must ever feel happy in looking at the character of God, so graciously connecting Himself with every separate stone of His house, and every separate member of the body. Each stone in the building of God is a “lively stones’ as connected with the “living stone,” having communion with the living God,” by the power of “the Spirit of life.” But while all this is blessedly true, God is the God of His house; and when we are enabled,: by an enlarged spiritual intelligence, to view Him as such, we enjoy a higher character of worship than that which flows from merely apprehending what He is to ourselves individually.
But there is another thing to be remarked in Jacob’s recall to Bethel. He is told to make an altar “unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.” He is thus reminded of “the day of his distress.” It is often well to have our minds led in this way to the point in our history in which we found ourselves brought down to the lowest step of the ladder. Thus Saul is brought back to the time when he was “little in his own eyes.” This is the true starting point with all of us. “When thou wast little in thine own eyes,” is a point of which we often need to be reminded. It is then that the heart really leans on God. Afterwards we begin to fancy ourselves to be something, and the Lord is obliged to teach us afresh our own nothingness. When first one enters upon a path of service or testimony, what a sense there is of personal weakness and incapacity! and as a consequence, what leanings upon God! what earnest, fervent appeals to Him for help and strength. Afterwards we begin to think that, from being so long at the work, we can get on by ourselves, at least there is not the same sense of weakness, or the same simple dependence upon God; and then our ministry becomes a poor, meagre, flippant, wordy thing, without unction or power – a thing flowing, not from the exhaustless tide of the Spirit, but from our own wretched minds.
From ver. 9-15, God repeats His promise to Jacob, and confirms the new name of “prince,” instead of “supplanter;” and Jacob again calls the name of the place” Bethel.” At verse 18 we have an interesting example of the difference between the judgement of faith and the judgement of nature The latter looks at things through the hazy mist with which it Is surrounded; the former looks at them in the light of the presence and counsels of God. “And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died,) that she called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin.” Nature called him, “the son of my sorrow;” but faith “the son of the right hand.” Thus is it ever. The difference between the thoughts of nature must ever be wide indeed, and we should earnestly desire that our souls should be governed by the latter, and not by the former.
Gen 35:1-15. Jacob Goes to Bethel, where Elohim Appears to him as El Shaddai and Gives him the Name Israel.This section is mainly from E and P. To P belong Gen 35:6 a, Gen 35:9-13, Gen 35:15, the rest to E, though some assign Gen 35:14 to J. Gen 35:5 is the close of the Dinah story; the neighbouring cities were restrained by Divinely sent terror from avenging the fate of Shechem. Gen 35:1-4, Gen 35:6 b, Gen 35:7 relate how Jacob returns at Gods bidding to erect an altar at Bethel. He commands (2) due preparations to be made by the surrender of all strange gods, purifications of the person, and change of clothes, that the impurities attaching to both may be removed. The reason for the change of garments is that clothes contract an uncleanness, when worn in ordinary life, which unfits them for use in religious ceremonies. They who draw near to God must be ritually clean, and lay aside all the contamination of the world that renders them ceremonially unclean. It was possible to wear special clothes as in the present case (cf. Gen 27:15, 2Ki 10:22), or to perform the rites divested of clothing altogether, as we find among the Arabs. Washing the clothes also removes uncleanness (Exo 19:10). It is an attenuated form of cleansing as going barefoot (Exo 3:5, Jos 5:15) is of ritual nakedness. Conversely, clothes used in religious rites contract a holiness which renders them unfit for ordinary use. and capable of infecting with holiness those with whom the wearer is brought in contact. This might presumably be removed by washing; but it was sometimes more convenient to reserve special garments for religious use (Eze 42:14; Eze 44:19*). Along with the gods, earrings, regarded not as ornaments but as amulets, are given up and buried under the terebinth near Shechem (Gen 12:6, Jos 24:23-27). The company then proceeds to Bethel, where Jacob builds an altar, and names the place El-beth-el. According to Gen 35:14 he sets up a stone obelisk, pours a libation on it, and anoints it with oil. Since E has already a similar story as to the origin of the massebah at Bethel (Gen 28:18) it is natural to infer that Gen 35:14 belongs to J. But J does not recognise the standing stone; perhaps Gen 35:14 was originally the continuation of Gen 35:8, the libation being offered to the dead. Gen 35:8 contains a strange statement, since we have no indication how Jacobs mothers nurse could have been with Jacobs company; moreover, Deborah must have been very old, even if we disregard the chronology of P, which would make her over 150. There may be some confusion with Deborah the prophetess (Jdg 4:5*). The statement is inserted here, because it relates to the same locality. As to Ps narrative, Gunkel suggests that Gen 35:9 f. refers to a theophany after Jacobs return, not necessarily at Bethel, containing Ps account of the origin of the name Israel, while Gen 35:6 a, Gen 35:11 f., Gen 35:13 a, Gen 35:15 give Ps account of the same incident as that recorded in Gen 28:10-22, and are, therefore, out of place here. Gen 35:11 would be much more appropriate when Jacob had no children, than when his family was complete.
BETHEL AT LAST
Jacob knew he could not remain at Shechem, though it took a humiliating experience in his own house to drive him away from there. God speaks to him in no uncertain terms. He is to arise and go to Bethel to dwell, and to make an altar there to the living God who had appeared to him before at that place when he was fleeing from Esau. Had he not found out by now that in his seeking the blessing of his own house he had only incurred trouble and sorrow? It is time therefore that he should give God’s house and God’s interests the first place. Though we ought to learn this lesson early in our Christian life, it seems that we only learn it through painful experience.
When God speaks in this way to Jacob, then Jacob’s conscience also speaks. Jacob had allowed room in his own house for idols, but when he thinks of God’s house, he knows that God will allow nothing of this kind there. Therefore he tells his household to get rid of these, to be clean and to change their garments (v.2). There must be no idolatry, no uncleanness and no unsuited clothing in the house of God. These were negatives that must not be ignored, for he adds what was significantly positive, “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” (v.3). He fully acknowledges how faithful God had been in keeping His promise, though as to his own vow to God on that occasion he is totally silent. It has taken him some time to learn that God is truly more faithful than Jacob was. But though we may be believers, we far too often fail in this matter too: we forget to give credit to God for being absolutely dependable in every detail of His ways with us, and we think too highly of our own faithfulness.
Jacob’s household gives up their strange gods, which must have included the teraphim that Rachel had stolen from her father, for it is said, “all their strange gods.” We are not told when Jacob learned of these, but at least he knew it now Added to this were their earrings; and all where hidden under the oak tree near Shechem (v.4). This is typical of burying our idols beneath the cross of Christ. We too often merely decorate our ears instead of using them for their intended purpose, hearing the word of God.
Obeying God, they journey to Bethel. Of course other cities in the area of Shechem would know of the destruction caused by Jacob’s sons, but only the restraining hand of God, implanting fear in their hearts, kept them from pursuing Jacob’s company (v.5).
They arrive at Bethel, which we are reminded was before called Luz, which means “separation,” because we must realize that the house of God has a place separated from the world and from all that has any suggestion of man’s work. Here Jacob builds an altar, call it “El-Bethel” (v.7). At Shalem he called his altar “El-Elohe-Israel,” which is “God, the God of Israel.” How much less selfish and more objective is this name now, “God of the house of God.” We never have any proper focus in our lives until we come to this point, to realize that God’s house and its interests are to claim the first place. Today of course we know that the house of God is “the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1Ti 3:15). Do we have that vital, primary interest in and concern for the entire body of Christ, the church?
There is a striking dispensational picture here also, brought back to God’s place for them after long years of wandering. For this reason we are told in verse 8 that Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under an oak. Rebekah had been a type of the church, the bride of Isaac, type of Christ. Dispensationally therefore the death of Deborah tells us that “the times of the Gentiles” are finished: the nursing of a heavenly hope comes to an end, for Israel’s earthly hope has finally been achieved.
Here at Bethel God appears again to Jacob to bless him, reaffirming that though His servant’s name was Jacob (which was not to be forgotten), yet that he was to be called Israel. It was in God’s place for him that this name was to have its full significance, for it speaks of the dignity to which God had elevated him by grace, “a prince with God.” Though his name had been changed before (ch.32:28), he had still only been spoken of as Jacob until coming to Bethel. In fact, even after this he is sometimes called Israel, but more often Jacob.
In this case God tells Jacob, not that He is the God of Abraham and Isaac, as He did in chapter 28:13, but “God Almighty” (v.11). He had shown His sovereign might in keeping His promise to greatly bless Jacob and bring Him back to the land. Now that power is to be manifested also in His multiplying the descendants of Jacob, making him into a nation and a company of nations, decreeing also that Kings would come from Jacob. His promise in chapter 28:13-15 had been absolute, with no conditions attached: this promise similarly is unconditional, but adds what is said of “a nation and a company of nations” and kings.
But though Jacob had been absent from the land for many years, yet as to this God reaffirms His promise that the land is to be given to Jacob and his descendants (v.12). This does not change in spite of the various occasions when the nation has been scattered away from their land and other people have taken temporary possession. God’s covenant cannot fail.
The Lord’s appearing to Jacob on this occasion is evidently a picture of the revelation of the Lord Jesus to Israel in order to establish His kingdom after the tribulation. He will speak peace to His people and greatly comfort their hearts. Then after establishing peace on earth, He will return on High, as is pictured in verse 13, “God went up from him in the place where He talked with him.” This occasion is directly spoken of in Psa 47:5 : “God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.”
Then Jacob sets up his third pillar, which is his second at Bethel. His first had been one of confidence in the flesh (ch.28:18-22); his second was the pillar of broken confidence (ch.31:45), signifying the untrustworthiness of the flesh. This third is the pillar of confidence in God. For this time he makes no vow, but pours a drink offering and oil on the pillar, significant of his unfeigned appreciation of the faithfulness and grace of God. He names the place “Bethel” again. He had named the place before, but his naming it the second time no doubt indicates that the significance of this name has become vital and real to him. He has learned to love the habitation of God’s house.
THE DEATH OF RACHEL
Since Jacob had reached Bethel, this becomes a starting point of a journey of a different kind, just as the path of a believer today becomes different when he comes to rightly appreciate the truth of the house of God. There are trials still, but looked at now from a viewpoint of calm submission, rather than fleshly scheming as to how to meet them. Jacob journeys (v.16), and when near to Ephrath (meaning “fruitfulness”), Rachel travailed in giving birth. It was a particularly hard birth, but the midwife sought to comfort her by the assurance that she was bearing a second son, as she had been confident she would (ch.30:24).
She called his name Ben-oni, meaning “son of my sorrow,” but in doing so she was taken away in death. Jacob however gave him a totally different name, Benjamin, meaning “son of my right hand.”
In this history there is vitally important instruction for us. Rachel had been the foremost desire of Jacob’s eyes, her name meaning “sheep.” We have seen that this is typical of what a believer often considers most important, a desired state of soul that is fully submissive and attractive, that will tend to make a believer satisfied with himself. Jacob struggled along these lines for years, but such an object has no power in it to enable Jacob to reach it. His eyes were in the wrong direction. After coming to God’s house he must realize that God, not Jacob’s spiritual experience, is the only Object in whom there is both satisfaction and power. Therefore, Rachel dies, that is typically, Jacob gives up his strong desires; but Rachel is replaced by Benjamin, a type of Christ as “the Man of God’s right hand.” Only when the Lord Jesus, exalted now at the right hand of God, becomes the true Object of our hearts, do we give up the useless ambition to improve ourselves morally and spiritually.
Yet when we cease struggling to achieve high spiritual goals in a state of lovely submission, and instead become unfeigned admirers of Christ, it is then that, without struggling, our hearts are brought spontaneously to submit gladly to His sovereign will. What we sought to achieve by the energy of our own wills, is found only in our turning from such self-occupation, judging ourselves and seeing all beauty and perfection in the Lord Jesus. What rest this brings! and what joy!
“And Jacob set a pillar on her grave, which is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.” Gen 35:20. All of this is the lesson of Gal 2:20. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Rachel died and was buried “on the way to Ephrath” (v.19). Her burial was a necessary step on the way to Jacob’s reaching a state of fruitfulness, of which Ephrath speaks. This is called Bethlehem, “the house of bread.” Now Jacob sets up his fourth pillar on Rachel’s grave. We have seen that his third pillar was that of simple confidence in God alone. The fourth rightly follows, being the pillar of the burial of earthly ambition or desire. Jacob’s four pillars are therefore seen to be important milestones in God’s dealings with him. Because God’s house, God’s interests, find the first place in his life, then he is content to bury all that he was or sought “in the flesh.”
He journeys further, still with his tent, but called Israel, toward Edar, meaning “a flock” (v.21). The character of the church as the house of God is seen in Bethel, and this emphasizes God’s own presence as dwelling with his people. The flock, on the other hand, speaks of the church as a dependent company, constantly in need of care (Act 20:28). When once we have learned the sweetness of God’s presence in His house, then in practical, daily character we are fitted to have part with the saints in seeking their encouragement by shepherding and feeding them.
In this area the sad sin of Reuben is recorded in violating his father’s concubine. As to this we are told only, “Israel heard of it.” He makes no angry response, for he has learned to submit himself to God, though we know from chapter 49:3-4 that he felt it keenly. Reuben was, as Jacob says, “the beginning of my strength.” Now he is to witness in his firstborn the unstable, untrustworthy character of the flesh, just as it surfaced in Jacob himself, though in a different way.
We are then told the names of the sons of Jacob (vs.22-26) — not called Israel in this case, for his son are to be known simply as of the same sin-infected stock as their father. In spite of this inherited sinful nature, God had ordained them the twelve tribes of the nation Israel were to come from these twelve men. They were not chosen because they were any better than others, but only as a sample of all mankind, an object lesson to teach us all, not only what is our actual sinful condition, but our need of a Saviour. No doubt each one of these brothers pictures a distinct feature of the ruin of mankind, and also of God’s grace in providing salvation, as chapter 49:2-27 indicates.
The delay has been long, but at last Jacob returns to his father at this time. Isaac’s eyes had become dim long before, at which time Rebekah seemed strong and energetic, but he outlived her. Esau was not near him either, and we have no idea how he was cared for in his old age.
Many years intervene after this before Isaac died at the age of 180 years. Jacob and Esau were 120 years of age at this time, for they were born when Isaac was 60 (ch.25:16). Ten years after Isaac’s death Jacob was presented before Pharoah at age 130 (ch.47:9). But Joseph had been sold into Egypt at age 17 and was exalted as Ruler over Egypt 13 years later at age 30 (ch.37:1; ch.41:46). Following this there were seven years of plenty in Egypt and some years of famine. It seems therefore that Isaac must have died at about the time that Joseph was exalted in Egypt.
Esau and Jacob were both present for Isaac’s funeral. Therefore Jacob must have sent word to Esau at the time, so that Esau could come. Nothing is said of whether Jacob was embarrassed to meet Esau again after having deceived him when agreeing to go to Esau home (ch.33:12-17). But at least it is good that the brother met face to face again. The wisdom of God arranges matters of this kind.
35:1 And {a} 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.
(a) God is ever at hand to comfort his people in their troubles.
Jacob’s renewed consecration to Yahweh 35:1-8
About 10 years had passed since Jacob had returned from Paddan-aram, and he had not yet returned to Bethel to fulfill his vow there (Gen 28:20-22). He should have headed there immediately rather than settling near Shechem. His negligence evidently was due in part to the continuing presence of the idols that Rachel and probably others had brought from Haran. Perhaps their allegiance to these gods restrained Jacob’s total commitment to Yahweh (cf. 1Ki 11:3-4).
God appeared to Jacob (the fourth time) and commanded him to fulfill his vow (Gen 35:1). This revelation encouraged Jacob to stop procrastinating. This is the first and only time God commanded a patriarch to build an altar. The command constituted a test of Jacob’s obedience similar to Abraham’s test when God instructed him to offer up "a burnt offering" on Mt. Moriah (Gen 22:2). In preparation for his trip to Bethel Jacob purged his household of idolatry by literally burying Rachel’s idols along with other objects associated with the worship of these gods. He also purified himself from the defilement of the blood his family had shed in Shechem (ch. 34).
"It is significant that Jacob called God the one ’who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone’ (Gen 35:3). That epithet serves as a fitting summary of the picture of God that has emerged from the Jacob narratives. Jacob was in constant distress; yet in each instance God remained faithful to his promise and delivered him." [Note: Sailhamer, "Genesis," p. 217.]
The oak referred to here (Gen 35:4) seems to have been the oak of Moreh (lit. "teacher") where God had appeared to Abraham shortly after he had entered the land (Gen 12:6).
"At the same spot, possibly prompted by Jacob’s example, Joshua was one day to issue a very similar call to Israel (Jos 24:23 ff.)." [Note: Kidner, p. 175.]
God blessed Jacob for his commitment, expressed in his burying the idols and earrings (perhaps taken from the Shechemites), by placing the fear of Jacob’s family in the hearts of the Canaanites whom they passed on their way to Bethel (Gen 35:5-8; cf. Pro 16:7). Perhaps God used the memory of Simeon and Levi’s fierce treatment of the Shechemites to accomplish this.
"Throughout his life Jacob has had to contend with his own fears-fear of God (Gen 28:17), fear of Laban (Gen 31:31), fear of Esau (Gen 32:8; Gen 32:12 [Eng. 7, 11]). Nobody had been in fear of him. Angry, yes; fearful, no." [Note: Hamilton, The Book . . . Chapters 18-50, p. 377.]
Jacob faithfully fulfilled his vow to God at Luz, which he renamed Bethel (house of God, Gen 35:15). He named the place of his altar El-Bethel (God of Bethel, Gen 35:7) in memory of God’s first revelation to him there. This is the first revival recorded in the Bible.
Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse (cf. Gen 24:59), must have been an important member of Jacob’s household to merit this notation by the writer. She may have left Beersheba with Jacob or may have joined him later after the death of Rebekah. The reference to Deborah is probably a way of reminding the reader of Rebekah and alluding to her death in a veiled manner. [Note: Gary A. Rendsburg, "Notes on Genesis XXXV," Vetus Testamentum 34:3 (July 1984):361-65.] This may have been appropriate in view of Rebekah’s deception of Isaac (ch. 27). [Note: Waltke, Genesis, p. 473.]
JACOBS RETURN
Gen 35:1-29
“As for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way.”- Gen 48:7
The words of the Wrestler at the brook Jabbok, “Let me go, for the day breaketh,” express the truth that spiritual things will not submit themselves to sensible tests. When we seek to let the full daylight, by which we discern other objects, stream upon them, they elude our grasp. When we fancy we are on the verge of having our doubts for ever scattered, and our suppositions changed into certainties, the very approach of clear knowledge and demonstration seems to drive those sensitive spiritual presences into darkness. As Pascal remarked, and remarked as the mouthpiece of all souls that have earnestly sought for God, the world only gives us indications of the presence of a God Who conceals Himself. It is, indeed, one of the most mysterious characteristics of our life in this world that the great Existence which originates and embraces all other Beings should Himself be so silent and concealed: that there should be need of subtle arguments to prove His existence, and that no argument ever conceived has been found sufficiently cogent to convince all men. One is always tempted to say, how easy to end all doubt, how easy for God so to reveal Himself as to make unbelief impossible, and give to all men the glad consciousness that they have a God.
The reason of this “reserve” of God must lie in the nature of things. The greatest forces in nature are silent and unobtrusive and incomprehensible. Without the law of gravitation the universe would rush into ruin, but who has ever seen this force? Its effects are everywhere visible, but itself is shrouded in darkness and cannot be comprehended. So much more must the Infinite Spirit remain unseen and baffling all comprehension. “No man hath seen God at any time” must ever remain true. To ask for Gods name, therefore, as Jacob did, is a mistake. For almost every one supposes that when he knows the name of a thing he knows also its nature. The giving of a name, therefore, tends to discourage enquiry, and to beget an unfounded satisfaction as if, when we know what a thing is called, we know what it is. The craving, therefore, which we all feel in common with Jacob-to have all mystery swept from between us and God, and to see Him face to face, so that we may know Him as we know our friends-is a craving which cannot be satisfied. You cannot ever know God as He is. Your mind cannot comprehend a Being who is pure Spirit, inhabiting no body, present with you here but present also hundreds of millions of miles away, related to time and to space and to matter in ways utterly impossible for you to comprehend.
What is possible, God has done. He has made Himself known in Christ. We are assured, on testimony that stands every kind of test, that in Him, if nowhere else, we find God. And yet even by Christ this same law of reserve if not concealment was observed. Not only did He forbid men and devils to proclaim who He was but when men, weary of their own doubts and debatings, impatiently challenged him, “If thou be the Christ tell us plainly,” He declined to do so. For really men must grow to the knowledge of Him. Even a human face cannot be known by once or twice seeing it; the practised artist often misses the expression best loved by the intimate friend, or by the relative whose own nature interprets to him the face in which he sees himself reflected. Much more can the child of God only attain to the knowledge of his Fathers face by first of all being a child of God, and then by gradually growing up into His likeness.
But though Gods operation is in darkness the results of it are in the light. “As Jacob passed over Peniel, the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.” As Jacobs company halted when they missed him, and as many anxious eyes were turned back into the darkness, they were unable still to see him; and even when the darkness began to scatter, and they saw dimly and far off a human figure, the sharpest eyes among them declare it cannot be Jacob, for the gait and walk, which alone they can judge by at that distance and in that light, are not his. But when at last the first ray of sunlight streams on him from over the hills of Gilead, all doubt is at an end; it is Jacob, but halting on his thigh. And he himself finds it is not a strain which the walking of a few paces will ease, nor a night cramp which will pass off, nor a mere dream which would vanish in broad day, but a real permanent lameness which he must explain to his company. Has he missed a step on the bank in the darkness, or stumbled or slipped on the slippery stones of the ford? It is a far more real thing to him than any such accident. So, however others may discredit the results of a work on the soul which they have not seen-however they may say of the first and most obvious results, “This is but a sickness of soul which the rising sun will dispel; a feigned peculiarity of walk which will be forgotten in the bustle of the days work”-it is not so, but every contact with real life makes it more obvious that when God touches a man the result is real. And as Jacobs household and children in all generations counted that sinew which shrank sacred, and would not eat of it, so surely should we be reverential towards Gods work in the soul of our neighbour, and respect even those peculiarities which are often the most obvious first-fruits of conversion, and which make it difficult for us to walk in the same comfort with these persons, and keep step with them as easily as once we did. A reluctance to live like other good people, an inability to share their innocent amusements, a distaste for the very duties of this life, a harsh or reserved bearing towards unconverted persons, an awkwardness in speaking of their religious experience, as well as an awkwardness in applying it to the ordinary circumstances of their life, -these and many other of the results of Gods work on the soul should not be rudely dealt with, but respected; for though not in themselves either seemly or beneficial, they are evidence of Gods touch.
After this contest with the angel, the meeting of Jacob with Esau has no separate significance. Jacob succeeds with his brother because already he has prevailed with God. He is on a satisfactory footing now with the Sovereign who alone can bestow the land and judge betwixt him and his brother. Jacob can no longer suppose that the chief obstacle to his advance is the resentment of Esau. He has felt and submitted to a stronger hand than Esaus. Such schooling we all need: and get, if we will take it. Like Jacob, we have to make our way to our end through numberless human interferences and worldly obstacles. Some of these we have to flee from, as Jacob from Laban; others we must meet and overcome, as our Esaus. Our own sin or mistake has put us under the power of some whose influence is disastrous; others, though we are not under their power at all, yet, consciously or unconsciously to themselves, continually cross our path and thwart us, keep us back and prevent us from effecting what we desire, and from shaping things about us according to our own ideas. And there will, from time to time, be present to our minds obvious ways in which we could defeat the opposition of these persons, and by which we fancy we could triumph over them. And what we are here taught is, that we need look for no triumph, and it is a pity for us if we win a triumph over any human opposition, however purely secular and unchristian, without first having prevailed with God in the matter. He comes in between us and all men and things, and, laying His hand on us, arrests us from further progress till we have to the very bottom and in every part adjusted the affair with Him-and then, standing right with Him, we can very easily, or at least we can, get right with all things. And it should be a suggestive and fruitful thought to the most of us that, in all cases in which we sin against our brother, God presents Himself as the champion of the wronged party. One day or other we must meet not the strongest putting of all those. cases in which we have erred as the offended party could himself put them, but we must meet them as put by the Eternal Advocate of justice and right, who saw our spirit, our merely selfish calculating, our base motive, our impure desire, our unrighteous deed. Gladly would Jacob have met the mightiest of Esaus host in place of this invincible opponent, and it is this same Mighty One, this same watchful guardian of right Who threw Himself in Jacobs way, Who has His eye on us, Who has tracked us through all our years, and Who will certainly one time appear in our path-as the champion of every one we have wronged, of every one whose soul we have put in jeopardy, of every one to whom we have not done what God intended we should do, of every one whom we have attempted merely to make use of; and in stating their case and showing us what justice and duty would have required of us, He will make us feel, what we cannot feel till He Himself convinces us, that, in all our dealings with men, wherein we have wronged them we have wronged Him.
The narrative now prepares to leave Jacob and make room for Joseph. It brings him back to Bethel, thereby completing the history of his triumph over the difficulties with which his life had been so thickly studded. The interest and much of the significance of a mans life come to an end when position and success are achieved. The remaining notices of Jacobs experience are of a sorrowful kind; he lives under a cloud until at the close the sun shines out again. We have seen him in his youth making experiments in life; in his prime founding a family and winning his way by slow and painful steps to his own place in the world; and now he enters on the last stage of his life. a stage in which signs of breaking up appear almost as soon as he attains his aim and place in life.
After all that had happened to Jacob, we should have expected him to make for Bethel as rapidly as his unwieldy company could be moved forwards. But the pastures that had charmed the eye of his grandfather captivated Jacob as well. He bought land at Shechem, and appeared willing to settle there. The vows which he had uttered with such fervour when his future was precarious are apparently quite forgotten, or more probably neglected, now that danger seems past. To go to Bethel involved the abandonment of admirable pastures, and the introduction of new religious views and habits into his family life. A man who has large possessions, difficult and precarious relations to sustain with the world, and a household unmanageable from its size, and from the variety of dispositions included in it, requires great independence and determination to carry out domestic reform on religious grounds. Even a slight change in our habits is often delayed because we are shy of exposing to observation fresh and deep convictions on religious subjects. Besides, we forget oar fears and our vows when the time of hardship passes away; and that which, as young men, we considered almost hopeless, we at length accept as our right, and omit all remembrance and gratitude. A spiritual experience that is separated from your present by twenty years of active life, by a foreign residence, by marriage, by the growing up of a family around you, by other and fresher spiritual experiences, is apt to be very indistinctly remembered. The obligations you then felt and owned have been overlaid and buried in the lapse of years. And so it comes that a low tone is introduced into your life, and your homes cease to be model homes.
Out of this condition Jacob was roughly awakened. Sinning by unfaithfulness and softness towards his family, he is, according to the usual law, punished by family disaster of the most painful kind. The conduct of Simeon and Levi was apparently due quite as much to family pride and religious fanaticism as to brotherly love or any high moral view. In them first we see how the true religion, when held by coarse and ungodly men, becomes the root of all evil. We see the first instance of that fanaticism which so often made the Jews a curse rather than a blessing to other nations. Indeed, it is but an instance of the injustice, cruelty, and violence that at all times result where men suppose that they themselves are raised to quite peculiar privileges and to a position superior to their fellows, without recognising also that this position is held by the grace of a holy God and for the good of their fellows.
Jacob is now compelled to make a virtue of necessity. He flees to Bethel to escape the vengeance of the Shechemites. To such serious calamities do men expose themselves by arguing with conscience and by refusing to live up to their engagements. How can men be saved from living merely for sheep-feeding and cattle-breeding and trade and enjoyment? how can they be saved from gradually expelling from their character all principle and all high sentiment that conflicts with immediate advantage and present pleasure, save by such irresistible blows as here compelled Jacob to shift his camp? He has spiritual perception enough left to see what is meant. The order is at once issued: “Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: 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.” Thus frankly does he acknowledge his error, and repair, so far as he can, the evil he has done. Thus decidedly does he press Gods command on those whom he had hitherto encouraged or connived at. Even from his favourite Rachel he takes her gods and buries them. The fierce Simeon and Levi, proud of the blood with which they had washed out their sisters stain, are ordered to cleanse their garments and show some seemly sorrow, if they can.
If years go by without any such incident occurring in our life as drives us to a recognition of our moral laxity and deterioration, and to a frank and humble return to a closer walk with God, we had need to strive to awaken ourselves and ascertain whether we are living up to old vows and are really animated by thoroughly worthy motives. It was-when Jacob came back to the very spot where he had lain on the open hillside, and pointed out to his wives and children the stone he had set up to mark the spot, that he felt humbled as he cast his eye over the flocks and tents he now owned. And if you can, like Jacob, go back to spots in your life which were very woful and perplexed, years even when all continued dreary, dark, and hopeless, when friendlessness and poverty, bereavement or disease, laid their chilling, crushing hands upon you, times when you could not see what possible good there was for you in the world; and if now all this is solved, and your condition is in the most striking contrast to what you can remember, it becomes you to make acknowledgment to God such as you may have made to your friends, such acknowledgment as makes it plain that you are touched by His kindness. The acknowledgment Jacob made was sensible and honest. He put away the gods which had divided the worship of his family. In our life there is probably that which constantly tends to usurp an undue place in our regard; something which gives us more pleasure than the thought of God, or from which we really expect a more palpable benefit than we expect from God, and which, therefore, we cultivate with far greater assiduity. How easily, if we really wish to be on a clear footing with God, can we discover what things should be cast revengefully from us, buried and stamped upon and numbered with the things of the past. Are there not in your life any objects for the sake of which you sacrifice that nearness to God, and that sure hold of Him you once enjoyed? Are you not conscious of any pursuits, or hopes, or pleasures, or employments which practically have the effect of making you indifferent to spiritual advancement, and which make you shy of Bethel-shy of all that sets clear before you your indebtedness to God, and your own past vows and resolves?
“But,” continues the narrative, “but Deborah, Rebekahs nurse, died”: that is, although Jacob and his house were now living in the fear of God, that did not exempt them from the ordinary distresses of family life. And among these, one that falls on us with a chastening and mild sadness all its own, occurs when there passes from the family one of its oldest members, and one who has by the delicate tact of love gained influence over all, and has by the common consent become the arbiter and mediator, the confidant and counsellor of the family. They, indeed, are the true salt of the earth whose own peace is so deep and abiding, and whose purity is so thorough and energetic, that into their ear we can disburden the troubled heart or the guilty conscience, as the wildest brook disturbs not and the most polluted fouls not the settled depths of the all-cleansing ocean. Such must Deborah have been, for the oak under which she was buried was afterwards known as “the oak of weeping.” Specially must Jacob himself have mourned the death of her whose face was the oldest in his remembrance, and with whom his mother and his happy early days were associated. Very dear to Jacob, as to most men, were those who had been connected with and could tell him of his parents, and remind him of his early years. Deborah, . by treating him still as a little boy, perhaps the only one who now called him by the pet name of childhood, gave him the pleasantest relief from the cares of manhood and the obsequious deportment of the other members of his household towards him. So that when she went a great blank was made to him: no longer was the wise and happy old face seen in her tent door to greet him of an evening; no longer could he take refuge in the peacefulness of her old age from the troubles of his lot: she being gone, a whole generation was gone, and a new stage of life was entered on.
But a heavier blow, the heaviest that death could inflict, soon fell upon him. She who had been as Gods gift and smile to him since ever he had left Bethel at the first is taken from him now that he is restored to Gods house. The number of his sons is completed, and the mother is removed. Suddenly and unexpectedly the blow fell, as they were journeying and fearing no ill. Notwithstanding the confident and cheering, though ambiguous, assurances of those about her, she had that clear knowledge of her own state which, without contradicting, simply put aside such assurances, and, as her soul was departing, feebly named her son Benoni, Son of my sorrow. She felt keenly what was, to a nature like hers, the very anguish of disappointment. She was never to feel the little creature stirring in her arms with personal human life, nor see him growing up to manhood as the son of his fathers right hand. It was this sad death of Rachels which made her the typical mother in Israel. It was not an unclouded, merely prosperous life which could fitly have foreshadowed the lives of those by whom the promised seed was to come; and least of all of the virgin to whom it was said, “A sword shall pierce through thine own soul also.” It was the wait of Rachel that poetical minds among the Jews heard from time to time mourning their national disasters -Rachel weeping for her children, when by captivity they were separated from their mother country, or when by the sword of Herod, the mothers of Bethlehem were bereaved of their babes. But it was also observed that that which brought this anguish on the mothers of Bethlehem was the birth there of the last Son of Israel, the blossom of this long-growing plant, suddenly born after a long and barren period, the son of Israels right hand.
Still another death is registered in this chapter. It took place twelve years after Joseph went into Egypt, but is set down here for convenience. Esau and Jacob are, for the last time, brought together over their dead father-and for the last time, as they see that family likeness which comes out so strikingly in the face of the dead. do they feel drawn with brotherly affection to greet one another as sons of one father. In the dead Isaac too, they find an object of veneration more impressive than they had found in the living father: the infirmities of age are exchanged for the mystery and majesty of death; the man has passed out of reach of pity, of contempt: the shrill, uncontrolled treble is no longer heard, there are no weak, plaintive movements, no childishness; but a solemn, august silence, a silence that seems to bid on-lookers be still and refrain from disturbing the first communings of the departed spirit with things unseen.
The tenderness of these two brothers towards one another and towards their father was probably quickened by remorse when they met at his deathbed. They could not, perhaps, think that they had hastened his end by causing him anxieties which age has not strength to throw off; but they could not miss the reflection that the life now closed and finally sealed up might have been a much brighter life had they acted the part of dutiful, loving sons. Scarcely can one of our number pass from among us without leaving in our minds some self-reproach that we were not more kindly towards him, and that now he is beyond our kindness; that our opportunity for being brotherly towards him is forever gone. And when we have very manifestly erred in this respect, perhaps there are among all the stings of a guilty conscience few more bitterly piercing than this. Many a son who has stood unmoved by the tears of a living mother-his mother by whom he lives, who has cherished him as her own soul, who has forgiven and forgiven and forgiven him, who has toiled and prayed, and watched for him-though he has hardened himself against her looks of imploring love and turned carelessly from her entreaties and burst through all the fond cords and snares by which she has sought to keep him, has yet broken down before the calm, unsolicitous, resting face of the dead. Hitherto he has not listened to her pleadings, and now she pleads no more. Hitherto she has heard no word of pure love from him, and now she hears no more. Hitherto he has done nothing for her of all that a son may do, and now there is nothing he can do. All the goodness of her life gathers up and stands out at once, and the time for gratitude is past. He sees suddenly, as by the withdrawal of a veil, all that that worn body has passed through for him, and all the goodness these features have expressed, and now they can never light up with joyful acceptance of his love and duty. Such grief as this finds its one alleviation in the knowledge that we may follow those who have gone before us; that we may yet make reparation. And when we think how many we have let pass without those frank, human, kindly offices we might have rendered, the knowledge that we also shall be gathered to our people comes in as very cheering. It is a grateful thought that there is a place where we shall be able to live rightly, where selfishness will not intrude and spoil all, but will leave us free to be to our neighbour all that we ought to be and all that we would be.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
5. The collision between the sons of Jacob and Shechem, the son of Hamor, is a vivid picture of the collisions between the youthful forms of political despotism and hierarchal pride. Shechem acts as an insolent worldly prince, Jacobs sons as young fanatical priests, luring him to destruction.
6. After Jacob became Israel, the just consciousness of his theocratic dignity appears manifestly in his sons, under the deformity of fanatical zeal. We may view this narrative as the history of the origin, and first original form of Jewish and Christian fanaticism. We notice first that fanaticism does not originate in and for itself, but clings to religious and moral ideas as a monstrous and misshapen outgrowth, since it changes the spiritual into a carnal motive. The sons of Jacob were right in feeling that they were deeply injured in the religious and moral idea and dignity of Israel, by Shechems deed. But still they are already wrong in their judgment of Shechems act; since there is surely a difference between the brutal lust of Ammon, who after his sin pours his hatred upon her whom he had dishonored, and Shechem, who passionately loves and would marry the dishonored maiden, and is ready to pay any sum as an atonement; a distinction which the sons of Jacob mistook, just as those of the clergy do at this day who throw all branches of the seventh commandment into one common category and as of the same heinous dye. Then we observe that Jacobs sons justly shun a mixture with the Shechemites, although in this case they were willing to be circumcised for worldly and selfish ends. But there is a clear distinction between such a wholesale, mass conversion, from improper motives, which would have corrupted and oppressed the house of Israel, and the transition of Shechem to the sons of Israel, or the establishment of some neutral position for Dinah. But leaving this out of view, if we should prefer to maintain (what Jacob certainly did not maintain) that an example of revenge must be made, to intimidate the heathen, and to warn the future Israel against the Canaanites, still the fanatical zeal in the conduct of Jacobs sons passed over into fanaticism strictly so called, which developed itself from the root of spiritual pride, according to its three world-historical characteristics. The first was cunning, the lie, and enticing deception. Thus the Huguenots were enticed into Paris on the night of St. Bartholomew. The second was the murderous attack and carnage. How often has this form shown itself in the history of fanaticism! This pretended sacred murder and carnage draws the third characteristic sign in its train: rapine and pillage. The possessions of the heretics, according to the laws of the middle ages, fell to the executioner of the pretended justice; and the history of the crusades against the heretics testifies to similar horrors and devastation. Jacob, therefore, justly declares his condemnation of the iniquity of the brothers, Simeon and Levi, not only at once, but upon his death-bed (Genesis 49), and it marks the assurance of the apocryphal standpoint, when the book Judith, for the purpose of palliating the crime of Judith, glorifies in a poetical strain the like fanatical act of Simeon (Genesis 9). Judith, indeed, in the trait of cunning, appears as the daughter in spirit of her ancestor Simeon. We must not fail to distinguish here in our history, in this first vivid picture of fanaticism, the nobler point of departure, the theocratic motive, from the terrible counterfeit and deformity. In this relation there seems to have been a difference between the brothers, Simeon and Levi. While the former appears to have played a chief part in the history of Joseph also (Gen 42:24, and my article, Simeon, in Herzogs Real Encyclopedia), and in the division of Canaan was dispersed among his brethren, the purified Levi came afterwards to be the representative of pure zeal in Israel (Exo 32:28; Deu 33:8) and the administrator of the priesthood, i. e., the theocratic priestly first-born, by the side of Judah the theocratic political first-born. A living faith and a faithful zeal rarely develop themselves as a matter of fact without a mixture of fanaticism; the flame gradually purifies itself from the smoke. In all actual individual cases, it is a question whether the flame overcomes the smoke, or the smoke the flame. In the life of Christ, the Old-Testament covenant faithfulness and truth burns pure and bright, entirely free from smoke; in the history of the old Judaism, on the contrary, a dangerous mixture of fire and smoke steams over the land. And so in the development of individual believers we see how some purify themselves to the purest Christian humanity, while others, ever sinking more and more into the pride, cunning, uncharitableness and injustice of fanaticism, are completely ruined. Delitzsch: The greatest aggravation of their sin was that they degraded the sacred sign of the covenant into the common means of their malice. And yet it was a noble germ which exploded so wickedly.
8. Jacob felt that, as the Israel of God, he was made offensive even to the moral sense of the surrounding heathen, through the pretended holy deed of his sons; so far so that they had endangered the very foundation of the theocracy, the kingdom of God, the old-covenant church. Fanaticism always produces the same results; either to discredit Christianity in the moral estimate of the world, and imperil its very existence by its unreasonable zeal, or to expose it to the most severe persecutions.
9. The direction of Jacob to Bethel, by the command of God, is a proof that in divine providence the true community of believers must separate itself from the condition into which fanaticism has placed it. By this emigration Israel hazards the possession at Shechem which he had just acquired.
10. Divine providence knows perfectly how to unite in one very different aims, as this narrative very clearly shows. They are then, indeed, subordinated to the one chief end. The chief end here which the providence of God has in view in the journey of Jacob from Shechem to Bethel, is the duty of Jacob to fulfil the vow he had made at Bethel. But with this the object of his removing from Shechem and of his concealed flight is closely connected. So also the purpose of purifying his house from the guilt of fanaticism, and the idolatrous image-worship. At the same time it is thus intimated that both these objects would have been secured already, if Jacob had been more in earnest in the fulfilment of his vow.
13. The religious earnestness with which Israel departed from Shechem set the deed of the sons of Jacob in a different light before the surrounding Canaanites. They saw in the march of Israel a host with whom the holiness and power of God was in covenant, and were restrained from pursuing them by a holy terror of God. The terror of God here indicates the fact, that the small surrounding nations received an impression from the religious and moral earnestness of the sons of Israel, far deeper and more controlling than the thirst for revenge. A like religious and moral working of fear went afterwards before the nation of Israel when it entered Canaan, and we may even view the present march of Jacob as foreshadowing that later march and conquest. But the same terror of God has at various times protected and saved the people of God, both during the old and new covenants.
14. The fulfilment of a pious vow in the life of the believer, corresponds, as the human well-doing, to the fulfilment of the divine promise. It stands in the same relation as the human prayer and amen to the word of God. The vow of baptism and confirmation3 is fulfilled in the pious Christian life, upon the ground of the grace and truth with which God fulfils his promises. Jacobs vow refers to a special promise of God, at his entrance upon a difficult and dangerous journey, and hence the fulfilment of the vow was the glorification of the gracious leading of God, and of the truth and faithfulness of God to his word. It was a high point in the life of Israel, from which, while holding the feast, he looked back over his whole past history, but more especially over his long journey and wanderings. But for this very reason the feast was consecrated also to an outlook into the future. For the further history of Bethel, see Bible Dictionaries.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary