Genesis 35

Chapter context

What is happening in Genesis 35?

creationfallcovenantpromise

Genesis 35 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as the family line through Isaac and Jacob. Genesis opens the whole Bible with creation, fall, flood, Babel, and the long patriarchal story that carries the reader from Eden to Egypt. Read this chapter with the wider themes of creation, fall, and covenant in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

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. 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 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. 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. 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. ⁷ And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother. ⁸ But Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allonbachuth. ⁹ And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, 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 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 talked with him. ¹⁴ 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 thereon, and he poured oil thereon. ¹⁵ And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel. ¹⁶ And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. ¹⁷ And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. ¹⁸ And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin. ¹⁹ And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. ²⁰ And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day. ²¹ And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar. ²² 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: ²³ The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun: ²⁴ The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin: ²⁵ And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali: ²⁶ And the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padanaram. ²⁷ And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. ²⁸ And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years. ²⁹ And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Study helps

Glossary

Bethel Place v. 1, 3, 6-9, 15-16: House of God. (1. ) A place in Central Palestine, about 10 miles north of Jerusalem, at the head of the pass of Michmash and Ai. It was originally the royal Canaanite city of Luz ( Gen. 28:19 ). Modern identification: Beitin.
Shechem Place v. 4: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Tell Balatah.
Canaan Place v. 6: Biblical region. Modern identification: Canaan.
Luz Place v. 6: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Beitin.
El-bethel Place v. 7: Biblical altar. Modern identification: Beitin.
Allon-bacuth Place v. 8: Biblical tree. Modern identification: Beitin.
Deborah Person v. 8: A bee. (1. ) Rebekah’s nurse. She accompanied her mistress when she left her father’s house in Padan-aram to become the wife of Isaac ( Gen. 24:59 ).
Paddan-aram Place v. 9, 26: A plain, occurring only in Gen. 48:7 , where it designates Padan-aram. Modern identification: Harran.
Abraham Person v. 12, 27: Father of a multitude, son of Terah, named ( Gen. 11:27 ) before his older brothers Nahor and Haran, because he was the heir of the promises.
Isaac Person v. 12, 27-29: Laughter. (1) Israel, or the kingdom of the ten tribes ( Amos 7:9 , 16). (2. ) The only son of Abraham by Sarah. He was the longest lived of the three patriarchs ( Gen. 21:1-3 ).
Ephrath Place v. 16, 19: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Bethlehem.
Rachel Person v. 16, 19, 24: Ewe, “the daughter”, “the somewhat petulant, peevish, and self-willed though beautiful younger daughter” of Laban, and one of Jacob’s wives ( Gen. 29:6 , 28).
Benjamin Person v. 18, 24: Son of my right hand. (1. ) The younger son of Jacob by Rachel ( Gen. 35:18 ). His birth took place at Ephrath, on the road between Bethel and Bethlehem, at a short distance from the latter place.
Bethlehem Place v. 19: House of bread. (1. ) A city in the “hill country” of Judah. It was originally called Ephrath ( Gen. 35:16 , 19; 48:7; Ruth 4:11 ). It was also called Beth-lehem Ephratah ( Micah 5:2 ), Beth-lehem-judah. Modern identification: Bethlehem.
Eder Place v. 21: Flock. (1. ) A city in the south of Judah, on the border of Idumea ( Josh. 15:21 ). (2. ) The second of the three sons of Mushi, of the family of Merari, appointed to the Levitical office ( 1 Chr. 23:23 ; 24:30 ). Modern identification: Khirbet es Siyar el Ghanam.
Reuben Person v. 22-23: Behold a son!, the eldest son of Jacob and Leah ( Gen. 29:32 ). His sinful conduct, referred to in Gen. 35:22 , brought down upon him his dying father’s malediction (48:4).
Leah Person v. 23: Weary, the eldest daughter of Laban, and sister of Rachel ( Gen. 29:16 ). Jacob took her to wife through a deceit of her father ( Gen. 29:23 ). She was “tender-eyed” (17).
Levi Person v. 23: Adhesion. (1. ) The third son of Jacob by Leah. The origin of the name is found in Leah’s words ( Gen. 29:34 ).
Simeon Person v. 23: Hearing. (1. ) The second son of Jacob by Leah ( Gen. 29:33 ). He was associated with Levi in the terrible act of vengeance against Hamor and the Shechemites (34:25, 26).
Zebulun Person v. 23: Dwelling, the sixth and youngest son of Jacob and Leah ( Gen. 30:20 ). Little is known of his personal history. He had three sons (46:14).
Naphtali Person v. 25: My wrestling, the fifth son of Jacob. His mother was Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid ( Gen. 30:8 ). When Jacob went down into Egypt, Naphtali had four sons ( Gen. 46:24 ). Little is known of him as an individual.
Gad Person v. 26: Fortune; luck. (1. ) Jacob’s seventh son, by Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid, and the brother of Asher ( Gen. 30:11-13 ; 46:16 , 18). In the Authorized Version of 30:11 the words, “A troop cometh: and she called,” etc.
Zilpah Person v. 26: Drooping, Leah’s handmaid, and the mother of Gad and Asher ( Gen. 30:9-13 ).
City People v. 27: The earliest mention of city-building is that of Enoch, which was built by Cain ( Gen. 4:17 ). After the confusion of tongues, the descendants of Nimrod founded several cities (10:10-12).
Hebron Place v. 27: A community; alliance. (1. ) A city in the south end of the valley of Eshcol, about midway between Jerusalem and Beersheba, from which it is distant about 20 miles in a straight line. Modern identification: Tel Rumeida.
Mamre Place v. 27: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Ramat el Khalil.