> [[genesis-34|← Previous]] | [[genesis-00|TOC]] | [[genesis-36|Next →]] --- # Genesis, Chapter 35 **Bethel Revisited.** 1 God said to Jacob: Go up now to Bethel. Settle there and build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau. ^genesis-35-1 2 So Jacob told his household and all who were with him: “Get rid of the foreign gods among you; then purify yourselves and change your clothes. ^genesis-35-2 3 Let us now go up to Bethel so that I might build an altar there to the God who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” ^genesis-35-3 4 They gave Jacob all the foreign gods in their possession and also the rings they had in their ears and Jacob buried them under the oak that is near Shechem. ^genesis-35-4 5 Then, as they set out, a great terror fell upon the surrounding towns, so that no one pursued the sons of Jacob. ^genesis-35-5 6 Thus Jacob and all the people who were with him arrived in Luz (now Bethel) in the land of Canaan. ^genesis-35-6 7 There he built an altar and called the place El-Bethel, for it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother. ^genesis-35-7 8 Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died. She was buried under the oak below Bethel, and so it was named Allon-bacuth. ^genesis-35-8 9 On Jacob’s arrival from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. ^genesis-35-9 10 God said to him: ^genesis-35-10 Your name is Jacob. You will no longer be named Jacob, but Israel will be your name. So he was named Israel. 11 Then God said to him: I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed an assembly of nations, will stem from you, and kings will issue from your loins. ^genesis-35-11 12 The land I gave to [[abraham|Abraham]] and Isaac I will give to you; and to your descendants after you I will give the land. ^genesis-35-12 13 Then God departed from him. ^genesis-35-13 14 In the place where God had spoken with him, Jacob set up a sacred pillar, a stone pillar, and upon it he made a libation and poured out oil. ^genesis-35-14 15 Jacob named the place where God spoke to him Bethel. ^genesis-35-15 **Jacob’s Family.** 16 Then they departed from Bethel; but while they still had some distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel went into labor and suffered great distress. ^genesis-35-16 17 When her labor was most intense, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for now you have another son.” ^genesis-35-17 18 With her last breath—for she was at the point of death—she named him Ben-oni; but his father named him Benjamin. ^genesis-35-18 19 Thus Rachel died; and she was buried on the road to Ephrath (now Bethlehem). ^genesis-35-19 20 Jacob set up a sacred pillar on her grave, and the same pillar marks Rachel’s grave to this day. ^genesis-35-20 21 Israel moved on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal-eder. ^genesis-35-21 22 While Israel was encamped in that region, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine. When Israel heard of it, he was greatly offended. ^genesis-35-22 The sons of Jacob were now twelve. 23 The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun; ^genesis-35-23 24 the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin; ^genesis-35-24 25 the sons of Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali; ^genesis-35-25 26 the sons of Leah’s maidservant Zilpah: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. ^genesis-35-26 27 Jacob went home to his father Isaac at Mamre, in Kiriath-arba (now Hebron), where [[abraham|Abraham]] and Isaac had resided. ^genesis-35-27 28 The length of Isaac’s life was one hundred and eighty years; ^genesis-35-28 29 then he breathed his last. He died as an old man and was gathered to his people. After a full life, his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. ^genesis-35-29 \* (35:1] – [7) Jacob returns to Bethel and founds the sanctuary, an event that forms a “bookend” to the first visit to Bethel in [28:10] – [22]. To enter the Lord’s sanctuary, one must purify oneself and get rid of all signs of allegiance to other gods ([Jos 24:23]; [Jgs 10:16]). Jacob also seems to initiate the custom of making a pilgrimage to Bethel (see [Ps 122:1] and [Is 2:3], [5]). \* (35:2) Foreign gods: divine images, including those of household deities (see note on [31:19]), that Jacob’s people brought with them from Paddan-aram. \* (35:4) Rings…their ears: the earrings may have belonged to the gods because earrings were often placed on statues. \* (35:7) El-Bethel: probably to be translated “the god of Bethel.” This is one of several titles of God in Genesis that begin with *El* (= God), e.g., *El Olam* ([21:33]), *El Elyon* ([14:18]), *El* the God of Israel ([33:20]), *El Roi* ([16:13]), and *El Shaddai*. Most of these (except *El Shaddai*) are tied to specific Israelite shrines. \* (35:8) Allon-bacuth: the Hebrew name means “oak of weeping.” \* (35:18) Ben-oni: means either “son of my vigor” or, more likely in the context, “son of affliction.” Benjamin: “son of the right hand,” meaning a son who is his father’s help and support. \* (35:19) Bethlehem: the gloss comes from a later tradition that identified the site with Bethlehem, also called Ephrath or Ephratha ([Jos 15:59]; [Ru 4:11]; [Mi 5:1]). But Rachel’s grave was actually near Ramah ([Jer 31:15]), a few miles north of Jerusalem, in the territory of Benjamin ([1 Sm 10:2]). \* (35:22) The genealogy in vv. [23] – [29] is prefaced by a notice about Reuben’s sleeping with Bilhah, his father’s concubine. Such an act is a serious challenge to the authority of the father (cf. [2 Sm 3:7] and [16:21]). In his final testament in chap. [49], Jacob cites this act of Reuben as the reason for Reuben’s loss of the authority he had as firstborn son ([49:4]). Reuben’s act is one more instance of strife in the family and of discord between father and son. \* (35:24] – [26) Benjamin is here said to have been born in Paddan-aram, apparently because all twelve sons of Jacob are considered as a unit. a. (35:1) [Gn 28:12] – [13]. b. (35:6) [Gn 28:19]; [Jos 18:13]; [Jgs 1:22] – [23]. c. (35:7) [Gn 28:12] – [13]. d. (35:10) [[1-kings-18|1 Kgs 18]]:31; [[2-kings-17|2 Kgs 17]]:34. e. (35:12) [Ex 32:13]; [Heb 11:9]. f. (35:14) [Gn 28:18]; [31:45]. g. (35:19) [Gn 48:7]; [1 Sm 10:2]; [Mi 5:1]. h. (35:22) [Gn 49:4]; [1 Chr 5:1].. --- ## Navigation [[genesis-04|[← Previous]]] · [[genesis-06|[Next →]]] --- _New American Bible, revised edition_ (2010, 1991, 1986, 1970) Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. > [[genesis-34|← Previous]] | [[genesis-00|TOC]] | [[genesis-36|Next →]]