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GOD CONFIRMS THE COVENANT WITH JACOB

Chapter 35

Bethel was the place where God told Jacob that the promises made to Abraham and Isaac would pass on to him and his progeny (Chapter 28:10-19). After the sad episode in Shechem, God commanded that he return to that place, some 24 km south of where he was, and make an altar to Him.

It seems surprising that his family and those with him had idols (foreign gods). The idols were not used so much for worship as to give good luck: they were a kind of amulets or talismans, just as today people carry on themselves various types of medallions, pendants, necklaces, etc., through superstition.

Jacob decided that his home was not the place for idols, since he and his own were under the protection of the promises of God. He therefore ordered that they all got rid of them and purified themselves and changed their garments before proceeding to Bethel (House of God). This is a good example for us: we must throw away everything that may be interfering  between us and our God and Saviour, purifying ourselves from all sin that pollute us, confess and ask forgiveness for sins committed, and change clothes, sanctifying our lives (2 Corinthians 7:1, Hebrews 10:22, James 4:8, 1 Peter 2:1, 2).

Then he ordered all to arise and go with him to Bethel, where he would make an altar to God who had answered him in his anguish and accompanied him in the way he went.

So they gave Jacob all their idols and earrings (earrings represent an original word meaning “enchantments”, thus involving amulets for protection against witchcraft, evil eye, etc. hanging from the neck or ears of people of both sexes). Jacob hid them, burying them under the terebinth tree which was at Shechem: centuries later, we read about “coming from the Diviners' Terebinth Tree" (Judges 9:37), which could be this same tree, perhaps because Jacob buried the foreign idols and rings there, so that they might never again be used.

God prevented the Canaanites from pursuing the family of Jacob by bringing His terror upon the cities around them. Arriving at the place he had called Bethel, Jacob built an altar calling the place El-Bethel (the God of Bethel) because it was there that God has appeared to him when he was fleeing from his brother Esau.

Deborah (bee) died and was also buried there under the terebinth tree. She was the nurse of Rebekah and had accompanied her when she went to meet her fiancé Isaac (Chapter 24:59). As Deborah was with Jacob when she died, it is assumed that Rebekah had already died (although the Bible does not tell us when).

Jacob found his mother no more, perhaps for her greater sadness still, for she may have thought that he would only be gone for a few days. Deborah apparently took the news of the death of Rebekah to Jacob and became part of his group. So the terebinth tree under which she was buried was named Allon Bachuth (Terebinth of weeping).

God reminded Jacob of his new name Israel (he struggles with God), a tribute to his desire to stay close to God through the hardships and privations that had passed.

Many think that the life of the believer should be a bed of roses, without difficulty, and when troubles arise, they will move away disappointed. But on the contrary, the believer's life is a journey through a turbulent sea, and he wins through the power of God. The painful problems and difficulties are inevitable, but consist of opportunities for spiritual growth and improvement of our character, approaching that of Christ.

God blessed Jacob and again renewed his promises concerning his progeny and the possession of the land. Then He went up from him in that place - it wasn't a dream, and it reminds us of the similar way in which the disciples saw Christ rise from the Earth after His resurrection.

Jacob then:

1. Erected a pillar of stone: a primitive monument used in antiquity to mark a memorable event, to be remembered through the years.

2. Shed a libation on it: an offering in the form of an alcoholic beverage, usually wine (Numbers 15:5,7), which helped to burn the Holocaust. It was always poured, never drunk, and can be considered a figure of Christ (Psalm 22:14, Isaiah 53:12). This is the first time that it appears in the Bible. The Apostle Paul refers to this libation when he says that he rejoices and congratulates believers in Philippi, “even if he was being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of their faith” (Philippians 2:17), referring to his possible martyrdom.

3. Poured oil on it: olive oil of the highest quality and purity was used. It was very costly, and was the way to show how the object anointed was precious. Jacob was manifesting the greatest respect to the place where he met with God.

Leaving Bethel, they proceeded to the South and, shortly before reachingEphrath (fruitful), Rachel with great difficulty gave birth to her second child. She did not survive the childbirth, but before dying she gave him the name Ben-Oni (son of my affliction). But Jacob preferred to call him Benjamin (son of the right hand). He thus becomes a type of two aspects of Christ: Ben-Oni as He was the sufferer and a sword pierced through the soul of his mother (Luke 2: 35), but also Benjamin (who gave rise to a tribe of warriors (chapter 49:27) firmly attached to the royal tribe of Judah (chapter 49:8-12; 1 Kings 12:9)), because Christ is the great Son of God.

Ephrath was the old name of Bethlehem (House of bread), showing the two names together in Micah 5:2, and Rachel was buried near there. Jacob set a pillar on her grave, and the tomb is still there today, now a tourist attraction.

Between Bethlehem and Hebron, his final destination, there was a watchtower for shepherds, called the Tower of Eder, beyond which Israel pitched his tent and dwelt in that land for some time. This new pause brought more hassle to Jacob, the adultery committed by his eldest son, Reuben, son of his first wife Leah, with the servant of his deceased wife Rachel, Bila, who had given Jacob two children at the request of Rachel: Dan and Naphtali. Jacob knew of the case, and Reuben was punished by losing his right of primogeniture, which went to Joseph, the eldest son of Rachel (Chapter 49: 4.22-26).

The remainder of this chapter concludes this narrative about the children of Isaac with a recapitulation of the names of the children of Jacob and their mothers, the arrival of Jacob to his destination by his father Isaac at Hebron, and the death of Isaac at the advanced age of one hundred and eighty years.

Isaac was buried by his sons Esau and Jacob (both now one hundred and twenty years old).

 

R David Jones

 

 

1 Then God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother."
2 And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments.
3 Then 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 in the way which I have gone."
4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree which was by Shechem.
5 And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.
6 So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.
7 And he built an altar there and called the place El Bethel, because there God appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother.
8 Now Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the terebinth tree. So the name of it was called Allon Bachuth.
9 Then God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Padan Aram, and blessed him.
10 And God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name." So He called his name Israel.
11 Also God said to him: "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.
12 The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land."
13 Then God went up from him in the place where He talked with him.
14 So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it.
15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. And when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel labored in childbirth, and she had hard labor.
17 Now it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said to her, "Do not fear; you will have this son also."
18 And so it was, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-Oni; but his father called him Benjamin.
19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).
20 And Jacob set a pillar on her grave, which is the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day.
21 Then Israel journeyed and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.
22 And it happened, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine; and Israel heard about it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:
23 the sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun;
24 the sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin;
25 the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant, were Dan and Naphtali;
26 and the sons of Zilpah, Leah's maidservant, were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Padan Aram.
27 Then Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kirjath Arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had dwelt.
28 Now the days of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years.
29 So Isaac breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Genesis chapter 35