Genesis 35

Moving from Genesis 34 to Genesis 35 is like going from a desert to a garden or from an emergency room to a wedding reception. The atmosphere in Genesis 35 is one of faith and obedience, and the emphasis is on cleansing and renewal. God is mentioned ten times in chapter 35, and He used His name El Shaddai, which means “God Almighty, the all-sufficient One.” Best of all, in chapter 35 you see God’s pilgrims making progress and arriving at the place of God’s appointment.

However, Jacob’s new step of faith didn’t prevent him from experiencing new problems and trials. During this period of renewal, Jacob buried both his father and his favorite wife, and to add burden to bereavement, his firstborn son committed a terrible sin. Being a victorious Christian doesn’t mean escaping the difficulties of life and enjoying only carefree days. Rather, it means walking with God by faith, knowing that He is with us, and trusting Him to help us for our good and His glory no matter what difficulties He permits to come our way. The maturing Christian doesn’t pray, “How can I get out of this?” but “What can I get out of this?”

Let’s note the new things that came into Jacob’s life.

The good news of the gospel is that we don’t have to stay the way we are. No matter how many times we’ve failed the Lord, we can go home again if we truly repent and obey. It happened to Abraham (13:1–4), Isaac (26:17), David (2 Sam. 12), Jonah (Jonah 3:1–3), and Peter (John 21:15–19), and now it’s happening to Jacob.

God spoke to Jacob (v. 1). For several years, Jacob had lingered thirty miles away from Bethel and had paid dearly for his disobedience. But now the Lord spoke to him and told him to move to Bethel and settle down there. Jacob already knew that Bethel was God’s appointed place for him and his family (31:113), but he had been slow to obey. “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works” (Rev. 2: nkjv).

Jacob had built an altar on the property he had bought near Shechem and had called it “God the God of Israel” (Gen. 33:20). But God wasn’t pleased with this altar because He wanted him worshipping back at Bethel, “the house of God.” The Lord reminded Jacob of his desperate situation over twenty years ago and how He had delivered him and blessed him. At Bethel, Jacob had made some vows to the Lord, and now it was time to fulfill them.

Many of the problems in the Christian life and in local churches result from incomplete obedience. We know what the Lord wants us to do, we start to do it, and then we stop. When we don’t continue to obey God and accomplish His will, even what we’ve done starts to die. What Jesus said to the church in Sardis, He says to us, “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect [having been fulfilled] before God” (Rev. 3: nkjv).

Jacob instructed his household (vv. 2–4). It’s refreshing to see Jacob take command of the situation and boldly bear witness to what God said to him and what God did for him. These instructions applied not only to Jacob’s wives and children but also to the servants he had employed in Padan Aram. Since Jacob owned great flocks and herds, he must have needed many men to help care for them.

Jacob called for a time of cleansing for everybody, and the first thing they had to do was get rid of their idols. Rachel had stolen her father’s household idols (31:19, 34–35), and Jacob knew that other false gods were hidden in the camp. Worshipping the gods of the pagan nations was always a temptation to the Israelites. Moses had to warn them about idolatry before they entered the land (Deut. 7), and Joshua had to challenge the Israelites to abandon their idols after they had conquered the land (Josh. 24:14, 23–24). Even Samuel faced this problem in his day (1 Sam. 7:2–4), and the prophets often rebuked the nation for building the high places where they served false gods.

The second instruction was “purify yourselves and change your clothes” (Gen. 35:2). Most people today are accustomed to indoor plumbing, fragrant soap, and ample wardrobes, so we forget that the ancient nomadic people in Bible lands had none of these conveniences. For that matter, our modern hygienic practices and facilities were totally unknown even in Western civilization during most of its history. What we call necessities would have been considered luxuries by our ancestors.

But in Scripture, washing the body and changing clothes symbolize making a new beginning. Like dirt, sin is defiling and must be washed away (Ps. 51:2, 7; Isa. 1:16; 2 Cor. 7:1; 1 John 1:9). Our old garments typify the old life with its failures (Isa. 64:6), but God in His mercy gives us “new garments” so we can make a fresh beginning (Gen. 3:21; Isa. 61:10; Zech. 3:11–5; Luke 15:22; Rev. 3:18). Before God gave the law at Mount Sinai, He ordered the people to wash and change clothes, for they were about to enter into a solemn covenant with God (Ex. 19:9–15).

All the people obeyed Jacob’s commands and gave him their idols and the jewelry that were identified with pagan gods (see also Ex. 32:3; Judg. 8:24–27; Hos. 2:13). Jacob buried all of it under “the oak at Shechem” (Gen. 35:4), which was apparently a wellknown tree and might have been the one referred to in 12:6.

God protected Jacob and his household (v. 5). After the murderous assault on the Shechemites by Simeon and Levi, Jacob was afraid the people of the land would attack him (34:30), but God kept His promise (28:15) and cared for Jacob and his people as they moved toward Bethel (Ps. 105:7–15). This same “terror of God” went before Israel as they journeyed to Canaan, and prepared the way for their conquest of the land (Ex. 15:14–16; Deut. 2:24–25; Josh. 2:8–14). When God’s people are doing God’s will in God’s way, they can depend on God’s provision and protection (Isa. 41:10, 14; 44:2, 8; 43:1–5). When we fear God, we need fear no one else.

Jacob worshipped God (vv. 6–8). God had promised to bring Jacob safely back to Bethel (28:15), and He kept His promise, as He always does (Josh. 21:45; 23:14; 1 Kings 8:56). Jacob kept his part of the agreement by building an altar and leading his household in worshipping the Lord. Once again, Jacob gave a new name to an old place. “Luz” he had renamed “Bethel, the house of God” (28:19); and now “Bethel” he expanded to become “the God of Bethel.” It wasn’t the place that was important but the God of the place and what He had done for Jacob.

The Jewish people considered many places to be special because of what God had done for them there, places like Bethel, Mount Sinai, Jerusalem, the Jordan River, and Gilgal. Perhaps all of us have places that are especially meaningful to us because of spiritual experiences we had there, but a “holy site” must never take the place of the Holy God. To visit a special location and try to recapture old blessings is to live in the past. Let’s ask God for new blessings and a new revelation of Himself!

We don’t know when Rebekah’s maid Deborah (24:59) became a part of Jacob’s household, but her presence in the camp suggests that Jacob’s mother was now dead. Deborah had stayed with Isaac until Jacob drew near to Hebron, and then she went to be with the boy she had helped to raise years before. Was she the one who broke the news to Jacob that Rebekah was dead? Jacob’s tender treatment of this elderly servant is an example for all of us to follow.

God appeared to Jacob (vv. 9–15). In his first Bethel experience, Jacob had seen God and the angels in a dream (28:12), but now the Lord appeared to him in some special way and blessed him. God reaffirmed Jacob’s new name “Israel” and His own name “God Almighty” (El-Shaddai; 17:1; 28:3; 43:14; 48:3; 49:25). He also reaffirmed the promises concerning the multiplying of Jacob’s descendants and their possessing the land, assuring Jacob that nations and kings would be among his descendants. At that time, Jacob had only eleven sons, but God would give him one more son and abundantly bless all of them and increase their number.

As he had done years before at Bethel, Jacob set up a pillar and dedicated it to the Lord (28:18). He not only poured oil on the pillar, but he also poured out a drink offering of wine. The drink offering was a supplement to the regular sacrifices and was poured out on the altar as the sacrifice was burning (Ex. 29:40–41; Num. 6:17; 15:5–10, 24; 29:22–38). It was a symbol of dedication, the worshipper’s life poured out for the Lord (2 Sam. 23:16; Phil. 2:17).

Jacob’s restoration was now complete. He was back in the place of God’s choosing; he had offered himself and his sacrifices to the Lord; the Lord had spoken to him; and the covenant promises had been reaffirmed. He had come from the house of Laban to the house of God, and though he still had much to learn about his walk with the Lord, Jacob was starting to be “Israel” and live like a prince instead of a pauper.

Now we move from the voice of God to a baby’s cry and a mother’s last words.

Birth (vv. 16–17). When Jacob’s beloved Rachel learned that she was pregnant, it must have given both of them great joy. She had borne Jacob only one son, Joseph (“adding”); and in naming him, she had expressed her desire for another son (30:22–24). God answered her prayers and gave her a boy. Jacob now had twelve sons, the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Death (vv. 18a, 19). Rachel had said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die” (30:1). Now she would bear that second son, but in so doing would lay down her own life for the life of the child. We shouldn’t interpret her death as a judgment from God either because of her rash statement or because she stole her father’s idols. Life is a mosaic of lights and shadows, joys and sorrows, and the same baby that brought Rachel and her husband joy also brought tears.

Faith (v. 18b). Ben-oni means “son of my sorrow” or “son of my trouble,” not a very favorable name for a man to carry through life, reminding him that his birth had helped cause his mother’s death. Sorrow would overshadow his every birthday. But Jacob was always ready to rename something, so he called his new son Benjamin, which means “son of my right hand,” that is, a son to be honored. The first king of Israel came from the tribe of Benjamin (1 Sam. 9) and the apostle Paul was also a Benjamite (Phil. 3:5).

Love (v. 20). More than twenty years before, Jacob had set up a pillar at Bethel to commemorate his meeting with God. Now he set up a pillar to memorialize his beloved wife Rachel. It was located “on the way to Ephrath,” another name for Bethlehem. (Ephrath means “fruitful,” and “Bethlehem” means “house of bread.”) Tradition places Rachel’s tomb about a mile north of Bethlehem, on the road to Jerusalem, but Jeremiah said it was near Ramah, five miles north of Jerusalem (Jer. 31:15).

Were it not for the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the town would be remembered primarily for the death of Rachel. Because He came, we have “tiding of great joy” instead of tears of sorrow. Matthew connected Jeremiah’s reference to Rachel with Herod’s murder of the innocent children in Bethlehem (Matt. 2:18). The birth of Jesus brought joy (“Benjamin”) and also sorrow (Ben-oni).

The death of a dear wife is at least a normal human experience with no guilt attached, but what Reuben did was abnormal and stained with guilt and shame.

Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn and therefore the oldest of his sons (29:31–32); he was most likely in his twenties. The childhood episode with the mandrakes may or may not indicate anything about his nature (30:14–15). Bilhah was Rachel’s maid and had borne Jacob two sons, Dan and Naphtali (vv. 1–8). Perhaps the recent death of Rachel left Bilhah desiring to be back with Jacob again, and this was Reuben’s opportunity to act. Since the text doesn’t indicate that Reuben raped his father’s wife, we assume she cooperated in the deed.

But Reuben’s sin involved much more than the satisfying of a lustful appetite. For a son to take a father’s wife in this manner was a declaration that he was now the head of the family. When Abner took King Saul’s concubine, Saul’s son and heir Ishbosheth protested because it meant Abner was usurping the crown (2 Sam. 3:6–11). When David succeeded Saul as king, he was given Saul’s wives as his own (1 Sam. 12:8). Rebellious Absalom declared himself ruler by taking his father’s concubines (2 Sam. 16:20–23), and Adonijah’s request to have Abishag as his wife was the same as challenging Solomon’s rights to the throne (1 Kings 2:13–25).

It would appear, then, that Reuben’s purpose was to take over the leadership of the family, which made his deed only that much more vile. Like the younger son in our Lord’s parable, Reuben couldn’t wait to get his inheritance (Luke 15:11–24). He had to have it now.

Jacob did nothing immediately, but surely his heart was broken by what his son had done. Reuben showed some character in protecting Joseph from death, but he wasn’t able to save him from slavery (Gen. 37:20–30). Though Reuben was the firstborn, his brothers didn’t seem to respect his leadership. In his old age, Jacob exposed Reuben’s sin and deprived him of the rights of the firstborn, giving them to Joseph (48:1–14; 49:3–4; 1 Chron. 5:1–2).

Those who teach that our dedication to the Lord automatically protects us from troubles and tears need to read this chapter carefully. Certainly God had forgiven Jacob, and certainly Jacob was walking with the Lord in faith and obedience. Nevertheless, he still had his share of trials. If we obey the Lord only for what we get out of it, and not because He is worthy of our love and obedience, then our hearts and motives are wrong. We become the kind of people Satan accused Job of being (Job 1:6—2:10).

More than twenty years before, Isaac thought he was going to die (24:1–4), but death didn’t come until he was one hundred and eighty years old. He lived the longest of all the patriarchs and yet less is recorded about his life than about his father, his sons, and his grandson Joseph.

We trust that Isaac and Jacob experienced a complete reconciliation and that the old patriarch died “full of years” as did his father (25:8). Esau came from Mount Seir to pay his respects to his father and to assist Isaac in burying him in the cave of Machpelah (49:29–32). Esau was a man of the world and not a child of the covenant, but he was still Isaac’s son and Jacob’s brother, and he had every right to be there. Death is a human experience that brings human pain to our hearts, and caring for the dead is a responsibility for all the family—believers and unbelievers.

But Isaac’s death changed Jacob’s status: He was now the head of the family and the heir of the covenant blessings. He not only acquired Isaac’s great wealth, but he also inherited all that was involved in the Abrahamic covenant. His God would be known as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

There’s quite a contrast between the record of Jacob’s family in 35:23–26, listing four wives and twelve sons, and the long list of people who belonged to Esau, recorded in chapter 36.

There are six lists of names, including sons (vv. 1–14, 20–28), chiefs (vv. 15–19, 29–30, 40–43), and kings (vv. 31–39); and there appears to be duplication. (Compare vv. 10–14 with 15–19, and 20–28 with 29–30.) Esau had his share of material blessings, but Jacob possessed the covenant blessings from the Lord.

Genesis 36 is a long chapter containing many names, but it’s the end of the story as far as Esau is concerned! The Edomites are named in the Old Testament only because they’re a part of the story of Israel. “Esau” and “Edom,” the avowed enemies of the Jews, are mentioned over two hundred times in the Bible, but “Jacob” and “Israel” are found over two thousand times! Esau’s son Eliphaz was the father of Amalek, and the Amalekites were also Israel’s enemies (Ex. 17:8–16; Num. 14:39–45; Deut. 25:1719; 1 Sam. 15).

Genesis 37 takes up the story, not of Esau, but of Jacob! “These are the generations of Jacob” (v. 2) is the tenth occasion for a “generation” statement in Genesis, and it introduces the story of Jacob’s favorite son, Joseph. With all their weaknesses and faults, the sons of Jacob will carry on the work of God on earth and fulfill the covenant promises God made to Abraham.