Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 35:2
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:
2. strange gods ] The images of the gods of foreigners, i.e. of another family, tribe, or nation. Rachel had carried away, from Haran, the household gods of her father’s family. Cf. Gen 31:19; Gen 31:30; Gen 31:32-35. The presence of the gods of the foreigner was displeasing in the sight of the God of Israel. Cf. Jos 24:23, “Now therefore put away the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the Lord, the God of Israel”; words which were also spoken at Shechem.
purify yourselves ] Cf. Exo 19:10; Lev 15:5. Purification was effected by ceremonial washings.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 35:2-4
Put away the strange gods that are among you
The putting away of idols
I.
MANY CHRISTIANS ARE SUFFERING FROM SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. They hardly realize it, it has crept on them so quietly; but they have drifted far away from their Bethel and Penuel. Gray hairs are on a man before he knows. Summer fruit is beginning to rot within long before its surface is pitted with specks. The leafs connection with the branch is severed, even when it looks green. The devil is too shrewd to make Judases at a stroke; he wins us from the side of Christ by hair-breadths.
II. IDOLS ARE THE INEVITABLE SYMPTOM OF INCIPIENT DECAY. Go at autumn into the woods and see how the members of the fungus tribes are scattered plentifully throughout the unfrequented glades. All through the long scorching summer days their germs were present in the soil; but they were kept from germinating by the dryness of the air and the heat of the sun. However, there is now nothing to prevent it; nay, the dank damp of decay is the very food of their life. Where the shade is deepest and the soil most impregnated with the products of corruption, they love to pitch their tents. Wherever, therefore, you find these fungus growths, you may be sure that there is corruption and decay. Similarly, whenever there has set in upon the spiritual life the autumn of decay, you will be sure to find a fungus–growth of idols–the sorrowful symptoms that the bright summer time has passed, or is passing away from the soul.
III. THESE IDOLS MUST BE SURRENDERED BEFORE THERE CAN BE VICTORY OR PEACE. The reason for Jacobs flight before those alien tribes was, of course, the censurable and merciless action of his sons; but above and beyond this lay the fact that Jacob had been giving some measure of countenance to the existence of idolatry in the camp. I always find in Christian experience that failure and defeat indicate the presence of some idol somewhere and the need of more complete consecration to God. It may be a hidden idol; and it may be hidden by the Rachel of your heart, lovely and beloved: but if it be there it will be the certain cause of disappointment. You say that you do not find yourself able to overcome besetting sin; that you are tripped up before you look to Christ; that you are sometimes hot as juniper-coals, and then cold as ice; you talk about your experiences as if Christ had failed–no such thing! Get down on your knees, search out the idols, ransack all the camel baggage in spite of all that Rachel may say, bring out the accursed things, and bury them. (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)
Buried idols
Jacob did not break or burn the idols, but hid them. Jacobs besetting sin was double-dealing, and it appears to us the text is another example of the patriarchs special failing. He was not altogether weaned from his idols, he had a lingering regard for them; he did not, even yet, yield himself fully to Jehovah. Let us show–
I. How WE MAY STILL BE GUILTY OF THE EQUIVOCAL CONDUCT RECORDED IN THE TEXT.
1. We are thus guilty when we retain privately those evil practices we have renounced in public. Iniquity is iniquity to God, whether done in the eye of the sun or wrought in thickest darkness; whether coarse or refined; whether called by its true name or wrapped in glozing gilded speech. Burke tells of that sensibility of principle, that chastity of honour which ennobled whatever it touched, and under which vice itself lost half its evil by losing all its grossness. This is rhetoric. When vice is divested of all grossness it has not lost a particle of its evil in the judgment of heaven; the secret idol, the idol skilfully veiled or richly adorned by taste, is equally hateful to God with the open and gross idolatries of inferior civilization.
2. We are thus guilty when we practise partially the evils we have renounced as a whole. In the days of the English Reformation, the reformers finding the coloured windows in the churches to be objects of reverence to the people, ordered them to be broken and replaced by plain glass. But where the authorities had a love for the beautiful they contented themselves by taking out a few panes here and there–a saints head, a martyrs nimbus, an angels wing, and having thus mutilated the figures, trusted they would do no harm. Somewhat after this fashion are men apt to renounce the world and sin. We deal delicately with things, habits, associations, pursuits, pleasures, employments, which ought to be utterly sacrificed, and sacrificed for ever.
3. We are thus guilty when we retain mentally what we have renounced in action. It is possible that the idols of life which have no longer any concrete existence may find asylum in the heart and brain, and be most steadily worshipped there. This is true–
(1) When the evil renounced in the life is not also renounced in the will.
(2) When the evil renounced in our life is cherished in our imagination we are victims of the patriarchs fallacy. It has been said: It is possible to lead a life of imagination quite distinct from the active life. This is quite true. Our life may be as blameless on the practical side as it is stained on the mental side.
(3) When the evil renounced in our life is cherished in affection we similarly err. We profess renunciation of the world–of its pomps and vanities; yet do we sympathize with the merely secular side of life. How intoxicated we are by a little prosperity! How depressed by a little adversity! The world has still a place in our heart; we are not altogether rid of the great idol.
II. We must feel the importance of COMPLETE CONSECRATION TO GOD. This secret clinging to sin is a source of weakness, unhappiness, and peril. The apostle writes to the Romans, ye are dead to sin. How completely this idea cuts us off from the world of evil! how utterly it separates us from all godlessness and wickedness! We once heard a converted Persian relate that when he was converted to Christianity his angry kindred considered him a dead man, and celebrated his funeral obsequies accordingly. They were not far wrong. When one is converted to Christ he has absolutely renounced sin, the world may justly count him dead, and all the vices follow his bier. (W. L. Watkinson.)
A needed reformation
No sooner is Jacob admonished to go to Bethel, than he feels the necessity of a reformation, and gives command for it. This proves that he knew of the corrupt practices of his family, and had too long connived at them. We are glad however to find him resolved at last to put them away. A constant attendance on Gods ordinances is dwelling as it were in Bethel; and it is by this that we detect ourselves of evils which we should otherwise go on in without thought or concern. It is coming to the light, which will manifest our deeds, whether they be wrought in God or not. Wicked men may reconcile the most sacred religious duties with the indulgence of secret sins; but good men cannot do so. They must wash their hands in innocency, and so compass Gods altar. Jacob not only commands his household to put away their idols, but endeavours to impress upon them his own sentiments. Let us arise, saith he, 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. He is decided for himself, and uses all means to persuade his family to unite with him. His intimating that God bad heretofore answered him in the day of his distress, might be designed not only to show them the propriety of what he was about to do, but to excite a hope that God might disperse the cloud which now hung over them on account of the late impure and bloody transaction. (A. Fuller.)
Lessons
1. Grace keeps hearts close in obedience unto Gods call.
2. It is the duty of conscience in all governors of families and others to enjoin all with them to obey Gods call. It is no violence.
3. It is rulers duty in order to reconcile God, so much as they may, to bring souls to repentance.
4. The first part of repentance is to depart from evil.
5. Governors are bound to turn all under them from outward evils which they may prevent.
6. Images and relics of idolatry may not be suffered in the families of Jacobs children.
7. Repentance requireth not only negative but positive cleanness.
8. Typical repentance in outward washings was in the Church before the law was written.
9. Real endowment with righteousness unto Gods likeness was intended by it (Gen 35:2).
10. It is Jacobs work to rouse his family to move towards God (so good rulers will do) when he himself is roused by Him.
11. Not only preparation but motion must be in penitents to Gods house.
12. Repentance is then complete when men are brought fully home to God.
13. God is reached unto when His true worship is entertained by men.
14. God may and doth use some eminent minister to set up His worship, that others might know 2:15. God is known to Jacob and his seed to be a God answering prayer.
16. All good providences to Jacob are mercies truly to his family.
17. Mercies of God to our fathers while we enjoy them bind us to own and worship the same God (Gen 2:3). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. When rulers obey Gods call, He maketh subjects obey theirs.
2. Where God overpowers, souls freely and fully part with their desired jewels of vanity and superstition.
3. Good rulers will execute as well as enjoin sentence against false gods.
4. In bringing false worshippers to God, it is good to bury the monuments of their sin out of sight.
5. Jacob-rulers will not be content but in the destruction of all means of false worship.
6. Monuments of idolatry must die at Shechem, and not live at Bethel (Gen 35:4). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. Put away the strange gods] elohey hannechar, the gods of the foreigners, which were among them. Jacob’s servants were all Syrians, and no doubt were addicted less or more to idolatry and superstition. These gods might belong to them, or, as some have conjectured, they were the teraphim which Rachel stole; but these have already been supposed to be astrological tables, or something of this kind, called by Laban his gods, because by them he supposed he could predict future events, and that they referred to certain astral and planetary intelligences, by whose influences sublunary things were regulated. But it is more natural to suppose that these gods found now in Jacob’s family were images of silver, gold, or curious workmanship, which were found among the spoils of the city of Shechem. Lest these should become incitements to idolatry, Jacob orders them to be put away.
Be clean, and change your garments] Personal or outward purification, as emblematical of the sanctification of the soul, has been in use among all the true worshippers of God from the beginning of the world. In many cases the law of Moses more solemnly enjoined rites and ceremonies which had been in use from the earliest ages. “A Hindoo considers those clothes defiled in which he has been employed in business, and always changes them before eating and worship.” – WARD.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The strange gods, the idols, which are so called here, and Deu 31:16; 32:12; Jos 24:20, because they were the gods of strange and foreign nations, such as all were accounted who were not Israelites.
Quest. How came these to be and to continue so long in Jacob’s house.
Answ. Either,
1. By Rachel’s means, who brought them from her father’s house, which haply was not discovered till this time. Or,
2. By Leah, and by Jacob’s two concubines, who might possibly bring such with them. Or,
3. By the means of Jacob’s Gentile servants, who might secretly worship such gods; or having taken them from the She-chemites, they might keep them for their precious matter, as gold and silver, though not for religious use. Like a good man, and a good master of a family, he takes care not only for himself, but for all his family, to keep them from the exercise of a false religion, and to engage them as far as he can in the profession and practice of the true. Compare Gen 18:19 Jos 24:15.
Be clean; cleanse yourselves by outward and ritual washing, as Exo 19:10,14, which even then was in use; and especially by purging your hearts as well as hands from these idols, which I perceive, to my sorrow, some of you have still retained; and from your late detestable cruelty; that you may be fit to approach to that God who hath now summoned me and you to make a solemn appearance before him.
Change your garments, either by putting on new garments, as 2Sa 12:20, or by washing the old ones, as Exo 19:10; Lev 15:13. And these, as well as other ceremonial institutions and practices, were professions of their repentance; which consists in putting off the old man, and putting on the new, Eph 4:22.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. Then Jacob said unto hishousehold . . . Put away the strange gods that are among youHebrew,“gods of the stranger,” of foreign nations. Jacob hadbrought, in his service, a number of Mesopotamian retainers, who wereaddicted to superstitious practices; and there is some reason to fearthat the same high testimony as to the religious superintendence ofhis household could not have been borne of him as was done of Abraham(Ge 18:19). He might have beentoo negligent hitherto in winking at these evils in his servants; or,perhaps, it was not till his arrival in Canaan, that he had learnt,for the first time, that one nearer and dearer to him was secretlyinfected with the same corruption (Ge31:34). Be that as it may, he resolved on an immediate andthorough reformation of his household; and in commanding them to putaway the strange gods, he added,
be clean, and change yourgarmentsas if some defilement, from contact with idolatry,should still remain about them. In the law of Moses, many ceremonialpurifications were ordained and observed by persons who hadcontracted certain defilements, and without the observance of which,they were reckoned unclean and unfit to join in the social worship ofGod. These bodily purifications were purely figurative; and assacrifices were offered before the law, so also were externalpurifications, as appears from the words of Jacob; hence it wouldseem that types and symbols were used from the fall of man,representing and teaching the two great doctrines of revealedtruthnamely, the atonement of Christ and the sanctification of ournature.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then Jacob said unto his household,…. His wives and children;
and to all that [were] with him; his menservants and maidservants, and such as remained with him of the captives of Shechem, who might choose to continue with him:
put away the strange gods that [are] among you; meaning not the teraphim or images of Laban’s, which Rachel had stolen from him; for it can hardly be thought that these should be retained so many years in Jacob’s family, and used in an idolatrous manner; but rather such as might be among the Canaanitish servants that had been lately taken into Jacob’s service, or that were among the captives of Shechem, or taken along with the spoil of that city; and so the Targum of Jonathan calls them the idols of the people, which they brought from the idols’ temple at Shechem; and the words may be rendered, “the gods of the strangers” s, that is, of the Shechemites, who were Heathens and aliens, strangers to the true God, the knowledge and worship of him:
and be clean; either by abstaining from their wives, as some interpret it, from Ex 19:10; or rather by washing their bodies, as Aben Ezra gives the sense of it; their hands were full of the blood of the Shechemites, and needed to be washed and purified, as the Targum of Jonathan has it, from the pollutions of the slain, before they went to Bethel, the house of God; and these outward ablutions and purifications were significative of inward cleansing by the grace of God, and of outward reformation of life and manners; see Isa 1:15;
and change your garments: which might be stained with blood, and therefore not fit to appear in before God, or were old and worn out, or sordid apparel: changing and washing of garments were also emblems of renewing of the mind, and cleansing of the soul, and of the change of heart and life, as well as of pleasure, delight, and cheerfulness in appearing before God.
s “deos alenigenarum”, Pagninus; “alienigenae”, Montanus, Schmidt; “alieni populi”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2. Then Jacob said unto his household. The prompt obedience of Jacob is here described. For when he heard the voice of God, he neither doubted nor disputed with himself respecting what was necessary to be done: but, as he was commanded, he quickly prepared himself for his journey. But to show that he obeyed God, he not only collected his goods, but also purified his house from idols. For if we desire that God should be propitious to us, all hindrances are to be removed, which in any way separate him from us. Hence also we perceive to what point the theft of Rachel tended. For, (as we have said,) she neither wished to draw her father away from superstition, but rather followed him in his fault; nor did she keep this poison to herself, but spread it through the whole family. Thus was that sacred house infected with the worst contagion. Whence also it appears, how great is the propensity of mankind to impious and vicious worship; since the domestics of Jacob, to whom the pure religion had been handed down, thus eagerly laid hold on the idols offered to them. And Jacob was not entirely ignorant of the evil: but it is probable that he was so far under the influence of his wife, that, by connivance, he silently cherished this plague of his family. And truly, in one word, he convicts and condemns both himself and the rest, by calling idols “strange gods.” For whence arose the distinction here made, unless from his knowing that he ought to be devoted to one God only? For there is a tacit comparison between the God of Abraham and all other gods which the world had wickedly invented for itself: not because it was in the power of Abraham to determine who should be the true God: but because God had manifested himself to Abraham, he also wished to assume His name. Jacob therefore confesses his own negligence, in having admitted to his house idols, against which the door had been closed by God. For wherever the knowledge of the true God shines, it is necessary to drive far away whatever men fabricate to themselves which is contrary to the true knowledge of him. But whereas Jacob had been lulled to sleep either by the blandishments of his wife, or had neglected to do his duty, through the carelessness of the flesh, he is now aroused by the fear of danger, to become more earnest in the pure worship of God. If this happened to the holy patriarch, how much more ought carnal security to be dreaded by us, in the season of prosperity? If, however, at any time such torpor and neglect shall have stolen upon us, may the paternal chastisement of God excite and stimulate us diligently to purge ourselves from whatever faults we, by our negligence, may have contracted. The infinite goodness of God is here conspicuous; seeing that he still deigned to regard the house of Jacob, though polluted with idols, as his sanctuary. For although Jacob mingled with idolaters, and even his wife, — a patroness of idolatry, — slept in his bosom, his sacrifices were always acceptable to God. Yet this great benignity of God in granting pardon, neither lessens the fault of the holy man, nor ought to be used by us as an occasion for negligence. For though Jacob did not approve of these superstitions, yet it was not owing to him that the pure worship of God was not gradually subverted. For the corruption which originated with Rachel was now beginning to spread more widely. And the example of all ages teaches the same thing. For scarcely ever does the truth of God so prevail among men, however strenuously pious teachers may labor in maintaining it, but that some superstitions will remain among the common people. If dissimulation be added to them, the mischief soon creeps onward, until it takes possession of the whole body. By being thus cherished, the mass of superstitions which at this day pervades the Papacy, has gained its influence. Wherefore we must boldly resist those beginnings of evil, lest the true religion should be injured by the sloth and silence of the pastors.
And be clean, and change your garments. This is an exhortation to the external profession of penitence. For Jacob wishes that his domestics, who before had polluted themselves, should testify their renewed purification by a change of garments. With the same design and end, the people, after they had made the golden calves, were commanded by Moses to put off their ornaments. Only in that instance a different method was observed; namely, that the people having laid aside their ornaments, simply confessed their guilt by mournful and mean apparel: but in the house of Jacob the garments were changed, in order that they who had been defiled might come forth as new men: yet the end (as I have said) was the same, that by this external rite, idolaters might learn how great was the atrocity of their wickedness. For although, repentance is an inward virtue, and has its seat in the heart, yet this ceremony was by no means superfluous; for we know how little disposed men are to be displeased with themselves on account of their sins, unless they are pierced with many goads. Again, the glory of God is also concerned in this, that men should not only inwardly reflect upon their guilt, but at the same time openly declare it. This then is the sum; although God had given no express command concerning the purifying of his house, yet because he had commanded an altar to be raised, Jacob, in order that he might yield pure obedience to God, took care that all impediments should be removed; and he did this when necessity compelled him to seek help from God.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) Strange gods.Besides Rachels teraphim, many, probably, of the persons acquired by Jacob at Haran were idolaters, and had brought their gods with them. Besides these, the numerous men and women who formed thetafs of the Shechemites were certainly worshippers of false deities. The object, then, of this reformation was not merely to raise Jacobs own family to a higher spiritual state, but also to initiate the many heathen belonging to their households into the true religion. Outward rites of purification and changes of garment were to accompany the religious teaching given, because of their symbolical value; and we can well believe that much deep and earnest religious feeling would be evoked by the solemnities which accompanied this drawing near of the whole tribe to God. This reformation is also interesting as being the first of a long series of such acts constantly recurring in the history of Israel; and especially it is parallel to the sanctification of the people at Sinai. There, also, there was the initiation not merely of the lineal Israel, but also of the mixed multitude, into the true religionfor Jacobs family had then grown into a nation; and there, also, symbolical washings were enjoined (Exo. 19:10-14). These subsequently were still practised under the Law, and grew into the baptism by which we are now admitted into the Church of Christ.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. Jacob said unto his household And not to his own immediate family of wives, concubines, and children only; but to all that were with him; servants and helpers of every class and grade . The voice of God inspired him to sudden and resolute action in stopping at once the tampering with idolatry, which had gone too far in his house . Three things he now commands:
Put away the strange gods The teraphim, which Rachel had superstitiously stolen and carried with her from her father’s house, (Gen 31:19,) and similar images and charms in possession of other members of the household . Among the spoils of Shechem may also have been idolatrous images .
Be clean Rather, cleanse yourselves . This was doubtless to be done by ceremonial ablutions, but of what particular form we have no means of knowing.
Change your garments This would be another and marked token of their assuming a new and higher mode of religious life and action. Observe, there were priestly rites, and ceremonial purifications previous to the Mosaic legislation.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, “Put away the strange gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your clothing. And let us rise and go to Bethel, and I will make there an altar to God who answered me in the day of my distress and was with me in the way in which I went.”
Jacob is aware of the solemnity of this moment. He is travelling back to where he had seen Heaven and earth meet, where he had made a solemn covenant with God, a place he could never forget. And this causes him to take a new look at the family tribe. The distinction between ‘his household’ and ‘those who were with him’ is interesting. His household, which would be those with whom he left Paddan-aram, would include his servants and retainers and would be quite large, but clearly others have joined up with them resulting in an even larger group, including the remnants of Shechem.
But this solemn moment must be prepared for. All is not well. Many are secretly worshipping strange gods, superstition is rife, loyalty to Yahweh is in abeyance. These strange gods may indeed include the teraphim stolen by Rachel which she may have begun to worship, although she may well have been doing so only in secret without Jacob’s knowledge. But they cannot go to that sacred place with these abominations (the name later given to idols). There can be no idols in Beth-el. There must be a new dedication.
So they are to put away these gods (it is not enough to stop heeding them, they must be got rid of). Then they are to ritually purify themselves, including changing their clothes, in preparation for the journey to Bethel. We have no hint of the method of ritual purification but it may well have included ritual washing and a period of abstinence from sexual activity, removing the ‘earthiness’ so that they can be fit to approach Bethel and God. The washing is to remove ‘earthiness’. The re-clothing suggests a presentation of themselves before God having rid themselves of the past (such semi-nomadic men did not regularly wash or change their clothing. Indeed the passion for cleanliness is a modern virtue). All would be aware that this was a life-changing moment.
As they did, it is good for us too to take time to re-examine our lives and rid ourselves of those things that have begun to hinder our walk with God. Then we too may have deeper experience of God.
The final purpose is to go to Bethel, where the God Who has continually watched over him had appeared to him, as they would all know, and to build an altar where he had erected the pillar. Shechem no longer holds a welcome for them so that a new sanctuary is required. And Jacob recognises that this is a call to return back to what Yahweh had intended for him from birth as previously confirmed at Bethel.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 35:2. Put away the strange gods Heb. the gods of the strangers] i.e.. of the Shechemites, or others, who had joined themselves to his family; from which, being resolved to make a total reform, and to establish the worship of Jehovah only, Jacob orders every object of false worship to be removed, every idol and every thing dedicated to idolatry, Gen 35:4.
Be clean, and change your garments, &c. Be clean, by washing yourselves with water, emblem of the internal purification of the soul, Heb 10:22 and change your garments, in token of your putting off all unholy affections, and being clothed with the becoming ornaments of the soul. Hence it is very evident, that the rite of purification was in use before the law of Moses. See Exo 19:14. It was practised among the AEgyptians, according to Herodotus, lib. i. c. 37 and has been used as a symbolical rite among almost all nations. See Le Clerc on the place.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
And! think it more than probable also, that the LORD in tender mercy, had visited the Patriarch with afflictions to call his vows to remembrance. Rev 3:19 . It should seem by this address of Jacob to his household that he considered his visitations in this light: Isa 1:16-18 . How sweetly the apostle converts such puttings away, into a gospel sense! 1Pe 3:21-22 . But, Reader! is it not strange that Jacob, the highly favoured, highly blessed Jacob, should suffer strange gods in his family? Alas! what is man in his greatest attainments! Precious Redeemer, how increasingly dear becomes the recollection of thy salvation at every renewed instance we feel in ourselves, or are called upon to behold in others, of human corruption!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 35:2 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:
Ver. 2. Then Jacob said unto his household. ] So Gideon began his reformation at his father’s house. David also would walk wisely in the midst of his house; and this he calls “a perfect way,” a sign of sincerity. Psa 101:2 This Psalm Bishop Ridley read over often to his family, hiring them to learn it by heart; and taking care that they might be a spectacle to all others of virtue and honesty.
Put away the strange gods.
Be clean, and change your garments.
a O , ’ . – Plut. Heathens had their caena pura before their solemn sacrifices. – Godw., Antiq.
Put away. Purification necessary in going up to Beth-el = the house of God.
strange gods. Doubtless part of the spoils taken from the houses of the Shechemites. Compare Gen 35:4, and See Gen 34:28, Gen 34:29.
be clean. First occurance. Here and always used of ceremonial cleansing
unto his: Gen 18:19, Jos 24:15, Psa 101:2-7
strange: Gen 31:19, Gen 31:34, Exo 20:3, Exo 20:4, Exo 23:13, Deu 5:7, Deu 6:14, Deu 7:25, Deu 11:28, Deu 32:16, Jos 23:7, Jos 24:2, Jos 24:20, Jos 24:23, Jdg 10:16, Rth 1:15, 1Sa 7:3, 2Sa 7:23, 2Ki 17:29, 1Ch 16:26, Jer 5:7, Jer 16:20, Dan 5:4, Act 19:26, 1Co 10:7, 2Co 6:15-17, Gal 4:8
clean: Gen 35:22, Gen 34:2, Gen 34:24, Gen 34:25, Exo 19:10, Exo 19:14, Lev 15:5, Lev 17:16, Num 31:24, 2Ki 5:10, 2Ki 5:12, 2Ki 5:13, Job 1:5, Psa 51:2, Psa 51:7, Ecc 5:1, Isa 1:16, Isa 52:11, Jer 13:27, Eze 18:31, Eze 20:7, Eze 36:25, Joh 13:10, Joh 13:11, 2Co 7:1, Heb 10:22, Jam 4:8, 1Pe 2:1, 1Pe 2:2, Jud 1:23
Reciprocal: Num 8:7 – wash their Num 11:18 – Sanctify Num 31:20 – raiment Jos 24:14 – put Jdg 6:25 – Take thy father’s 2Ch 35:6 – sanctify Neh 12:30 – themselves Psa 116:1 – because Isa 44:13 – that it may Jer 4:1 – put away Joh 11:55 – to purify Act 15:20 – from pollutions
Gen 35:2. Put away the strange gods that are among you This is evidently a mistranslation; the Hebrew means, not the strange gods that are among you, but the gods of the stranger that is among you, alluding probably to the captive Shechemite women, who now made a part of his household, or to other Gentiles who had joined themselves to his family, and who might secretly worship idols. Thus, like a good man, and a good master of a family, he takes care not only for himself, but for all his family, to keep them from the exercise of a false religion, and to engage them, as far as he could, in the profession and practice of the true. And be clean Cleanse yourselves by outward and ritual washing, (compare Exo 19:10-14,) which even then was in use, and was considered as an emblem of cleansing the soul, by repentance, from all those impure lusts and vile affections, whereby a man becomes polluted in the sight of God. This, no doubt, Jacob had chiefly in view; namely, that they should cleanse their hands from blood, and from their late detestable cruelty, and purify their hearts from those evil dispositions which had given birth to such abominable wickedness, that they might be fit to approach God in his worship. And change your garments In token of your changing your minds and manners.
35:2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that [were] with him, Put away the strange gods that [are] among you, and be {b} clean, and change your garments:
(b) That by this outward act they should show their inward repentance.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes