Free Bible Commentary
“Genesis 35:1-8”
Categories: Genesis“Then God said to Jacob, ‘Arise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.’ So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments; and 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 wherever I have gone.’ So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem. As they journeyed, there was a great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. He built an altar there, and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled from his brother. Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; it was named Allon-bacuth.”
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“Arise, go up to Bethel and live there…” (verse 1) The Lord Himself encouraged and commanded Jacob to pick himself up and “go up to Bethel.” “The phrasing indicates both the character of the trek—a pilgrimage—and the nature of the locale—about 1,000 feet…higher than Shechem… Jacob is seized with panic after his sons’ massacre of the Shechemites, and he fears reprisals from the neighboring peoples, who may well have been bound to Shechem by treaty obligations. God’s intervention transforms ignominious flight into a dignified pilgrimage to Bethel.” (Nahum Sarna) Sarna also observed that when the Lord commanded Jacob to “make an alter” at Bethel, he “is reminded that he has not yet fulfilled the vow made at Bethel (28:20-22).”
“‘Put away the foreign gods which are among you…” (verse 2) “The idols are probably household gods found among the spoils of Shechem or carried by the captives. The phrase may also include the terafim that Rachel stole, as mentioned in 31:19.” (Nahum Sarna) “And purify yourselves and change your garments.” Jacob commanded all the members of his household to perform ceremonial washings to purify themselves physically and spiritually, and to change their garments thus prompting and signifying a change in their defiled hearts and minds for the better. These measures were made in preparation for making the pilgrimage to arrive formally into the presence of God. They also served as visible means of renouncing those lifeless idols and purifying themselves from the contact made with the dead bodies strewn about the city of Shechem.
“And 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 wherever I have gone.” (verse 3) Jacob’s life abounded with distressing moments, but he was no doubt referring to the dread and anxiety that overtook him when he was forced to flee from Esau’s murderous intentions after he stole his father’s blessing by deceit. Since the time that the Lord appeared to him in a dream at Bethel, He had been with the patriarch in all his stressful situations wherever he had gone and had delivered him through. “May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high! May He grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your counsel!” (Psalm 20:1, 4)
“So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem.” (verse 4) “Earrings seem to have been worn not so much for ornament as for superstitious purposes, being regarded as talismans or amulets. Hence it was from their earrings that Aaron made the golden calf (Exodus 32:2-4).” (Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers) “It is noteworthy that Joshua, under the same ‘oak’ of Shechem (Joshua 24:26), testified against the primitive worship of strange gods; cf. Joshua 24:2; Joshua 24:14; Joshua 24:23.” (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) “Behind Jacob’s…interment of the idols intact under the tree may be an intention to neutralize veneration of the terebinth. This cultic object…could not henceforth be used by a monotheist.” (Nahum Sarna)
“As they journeyed, there was a great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.” (verse 5) Jacob’s great terror was that, “the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and my men being few in number, they will gather together against me and attack me and I will be destroyed, I and my household.” (Genesis 34:30) But the Lord was not about to let that happen. God had promised Jacob: “Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (Genesis 28:14-15)
“He built an altar there, and called the place El-bethel…” (verse 7) “Literally, ‘the God of Bethel,’ that is, the One whose associations with Jacob were repeatedly bound up with Bethel.” (Nahum Sarna) “Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; it was named Allon-bacuth.” (verse 8) “Three deaths are recorded in this chapter. The account of the passing of Deborah is puzzling since the demise of a woman is reported only in exceptional cases in the Torah; even the deaths of the matriarchs Rebekah and Leah are passed over in silence… The presumption seems unavoidable that traditions about Deborah…were widely known to the reader and narrator alike in biblical times… One such must have related to her association with a site south of Bethel where there was a prominent tree known as Allon-bacuth. This name was popularly interpreted to mean ‘the oak of weeping’… There may be a deeper purpose as well. With the purging of idolatry and the arrival at Bethel, the contacts with Mesopotamia, maintained by each of the patriarchs, are finally and decisively severed.” (Nahum Sarna)
Please read Genesis 35:9-16 for tomorrow.
Have a blessed day!
-Louie Taylor
