Genesischapter 35

29 verses · ASV

This chapter sends 313 cross-references outward and receives 275 — heaviest partner: Genesis.

Chapter summary

Back to Bethel. God tells Jacob to return to the place of the ladder, and he puts away the strange gods in his household and buries them under the oak at Shechem. At Bethel he builds an altar and names the place El-bethel. God appears again; Jacob's new name is confirmed; the Abrahamic promise is renewed. Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, dies and is buried under an oak — ‘the oak of weeping’. Rachel dies in childbirth near Ephrath; Benjamin (Benoni) is born. Reuben's sin with Bilhah defiles his birthright. Isaac dies at 180, and Esau and Jacob bury him. Three deaths and a new birth close the chapter.

Drafted from Matthew Henry, Calvin, Gill, Clarke, JFB, and Barnes.

Context

Law · Moses — see the Genesis overview for the book's full setting.

1 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth-el, 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 Rebekah’s 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.