Genesis 35:Journey end of Jacob and Isaac
The account in Genesis 35 recounts some of the important events in the life of Jacob.
Jacob's return to Bethel:
God wakes Jacob from his sleep and asks him to go to Bethel, settle there, and build an altar to God, who appeared to him when he fled from his brother Esau (Gen 35: 1). (Detail Read: Gen 28: 10-22).
Genesis 35:1 CSB: God said to Jacob, “Get up! Go to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
Bethal (House of God) was a holy place and those polluted by war and idolatry had to purify themselves before proceeding Then they set out, and remarkably no one attacked them for a terror inspired by God had fallen on the Canaanites (Ex 23:27).
Exodus 23:27 CSB: “I will cause the people ahead of you to feel terror and will throw into confusion all the nations you come to. I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you in retreat.
Yet again the promise ‘I am with you and will watch over you had been fulfilled (Gen 28:15).
Genesis 28:15 CSB: Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
We can relate this promise to Abrahams three-days pilgrimage to Mt.Moriah where God crowed them with richest statement of the promise he had ever experienced (Gen 22: 15-18) so was Jacob's pilgrimage to Bethal.
Genesis 22:15-18 CSB: [15] Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven [16] and said, “By myself I have sworn,” this is the Lord’s declaration: “Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son, [17] I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the city gates of their enemies. [18] And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed my command.”
The promise given here (Gen 35: 11-12) - sums up and exceeds all those previously made to him: He would be a father of nations, kings would be descended from him and his descendants would inherit the land promised to his father and grandfather. Only the promise of God's presence with him is not repeated, for that had been fulfilled by his safe arrival in Bethal.
Genesis 35:11-12 CSB: [11] God also said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed an assembly of nations, will come from you, and kings will descend from you. , [12] I will give to you the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac. And I will give the land to your future descendants.”
As God was faithful to Jacob so was he to God, he built an altar for God who appeared to him as God watched over him when he fled from his brother. In the same way, if we allow God to work in our lives and would allow God to take control of our lives surely he will use us in a great way for his glory.
Rachel's Death:
Spiritual elation was followed, however by domestic tragedy. Rachel, Jacob's favourite wife died giving birth to her longed-for second son and named him Benjamin (Gen 35:24).
Genesis 35:24 CSB: Rachel’s sons were Joseph and Benjamin.
So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is - Bethlehem). Jacob set up a marker on her grave; it is the marker at Rachel's grave still today.
Jacob's Sons:
Jacob's (now Israel) eldest son Reuben went and slept with Bilhah (Bilhah was Rachel’s handmaid), (Gen 35: 21-22) perhaps in an attempt to prevent her from replacing Rachel as Jacob's favourite wife and to claim leadership of the family.
Genesis 35:21-22 CSB: [21] Israel set out again and pitched his tent beyond the Tower of Eder. [22] While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons.
Such an act of incest warranted the death penalty according to (Lv 20:11, Lv 18:8).
Leviticus 20:11 CSB: If a man sleeps with his father’s wife, he has violated the intimacy that belongs to his father. , Both of them must be put to death; their death is their own fault.
Leviticus 18:8 CSB: You are not to have sex with your father’s wife; she is your father’s family.
Jacob did not comment on it until later (Gen 49: 3-4). There is no doubt that the incident further undermined relations between Leah’s sons and their father. Their mutual antagonism was very evident in Genesis 34 and was to ruin Jacob's closing years related in Genesis 37. But as the short list of all Jacob's sons reminds us, they were all born in fulfilment of God's promise. Jacob's failure to accept them did not affect their status.
Genesis 49:3-4 CSB: [3] Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength and the firstfruits of my virility, excelling in prominence, excelling in power. [4] Turbulent as water, you will not excel, because you got into your father’s bed and you defiled it #— #he got into my bed.
Issac’s Death:
At least the hostility between Jacob and Esau appears to have been laid to rest as they joined together to inter their father in the family grave at Machpelah (Gen 49:31)
Genesis 49:31 CSB: Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there, Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried there, and I buried Leah there.
Note:
Genesis 35 reminds us of the significant new name given to Jacob in Gen 32:28
Genesis 35:16 - (a) Still some distance from Ephrath should be translated ‘about two hours’ distance from Ephrath.
Genesis 35:16 CSB: They set out from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult.
For example: about 7 miles (11km) North of Ephrath, the distance in Bethlehem is located (Mi 5:2).
Micah 5:2 CSB: Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah; one will come from you to be ruler over Israel for me. His origin is from antiquity, from ancient times.
(b) This suggests Rachel was buried north of Jerusalem, somewhere near Ramah (Jer 31:15) not a relatively modern tomb which bears her name near Bethlehem.
Jeremiah 31:15 CSB: This is what the Lord says: A voice was heard in Ramah, a lament with bitter weeping — Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children because they are no more.
Genesis 35:21- Migdal Eder was perhaps near the pools of Solomon, 3 miles (5 km) southwest of Bethlehem.
Genesis 35:21 CSB: Israel set out again and pitched his tent beyond the Tower of Eder.