Jacob Part 22: Jacob Returns to Bethel

Jacob Returns to Bethel

We are wrapping things up. And interestingly, that is how all of these sections start to feel, like we're wrapping up unresolved threads from earlier in the story in really interesting ways. 

third and final section makes up most of what we call Genesis 35 and 36. And the first verse of chapter 37 is actually the last sentence of the Yaaqov story, and we'll see why.

So he's already come back into the land, passed by some angels on the way in. And he made some booths and tents and he bought some land. But he's gonna be called to go back to the place where he met God on his way out, which was Bethel, where he built the little pillar. So he's gonna be called back to that place.

And then as he journeys on from there, his most precious wife, the wife whom he loves the most, is going to die in childbirth. And then his dad is gonna die. And then a friend of his mom's who's been with them all along, you didn't know it, but you find out she dies too. It's all these tragic deaths from his former life.

It's as if, even though he's gonna live for a long time, all of the people that shaped who he is in this whole story all start dying.

And then the last part of the Yaaqov story is your favorite part of the Bible and mine, just a really long genealogy of Esau and his descendants. So those are the three parts.

Genesis 35:1–8 CSB

1 God said to Jacob, “Get up! Go to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his family and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3 We must get up and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me everywhere I have gone.” 4 Then they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and their earrings, and Jacob hid them under the oak near Shechem. 5 When they set out, a terror from God came over the cities around them, and they did not pursue Jacob’s sons. 6 So Jacob and all who were with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7 Jacob built an altar there and called the place El-bethel because it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother. 8 Deborah, the one who had nursed and raised Rebekah, died and was buried under the oak south of Bethel. So Jacob named it Allon-bacuth.

"And Elohim said to Yaaqov, 'Get up and go to Bethel and dwell there and make there an altar to the El who became seen to you. You know, back when you were fleeing from the face of your brother Esau.' And Yaaqov said to his house and to everyone who was with him, 'All right, y'all, let's get rid of any foreign elohim who you might have around here, like, hiding under your camel saddles in your tents, for example. Let's purify ourselves. Let's all change our clothes. We are all gonna go up to meet God at the house.

And I will build an altar up there at the place of the house of God, to that El who answered me in my day of distress, the El who has been with me on the road that I've walked.' So they handed over to Yaaqov all the foreign elohim in their hands.  and also the gold rings in their noses." If you tuck that one away, you'll, you have to wait a long time. Do you remember what the golden calf was made out of?

A bunch of gold, but then specifically it's, gold rings, nose rings.

But not these nose rings. These foreign idol statues and gold rings, he hid them underneath the tree, the oak tree. The foreign elohim that stand for spiritual beings at the tree.

"And they journeyed on. And the terror of Elohim was upon the cities that were around them, and so they didn't chase after the sons of Yaaqov.

And Yaaqov went to Luz." The word "luz" means almond tree, but it was also the name of the place where he had the dream of the staircase that's also called Bethel, which is what happens next. "Yaaqov went to Luz, in the land of Canaan. Hey, dear reader, this is Bethel. He and all the people with him. And guess what he did? He built an altar there and he called the place El of Bethel because Elohim was revealed to him there when he fled before the face of his brother.

And Devorah, the nursemaid of Rivqah died.

And she was buried underneath Bethel, underneath the oak tree. And so he called its name 'Oak Tree of Weeping,' or Allon-bacuth." And that's the story.

So in terms of the design of this little section here, you've got a call to go to Bethel, you have this command to get rid of the foreign gods. And so that's what they do, and he hides them under an oak tree.

Then, in the matching part below, they go to Bethel. And the real Elohim is revealed to him. And then this notice about this person who hasn't been mentioned since Genesis 24 before Yaaqov was born. All of a sudden, Devorah, this female slave of Rivqah is brought up only to tell you that she dies, and she too is buried underneath a different tree.

And then those are a sandwich around the travel in the middle, which is a fascinating, maybe even disturbing thing to think about.

How God protects them on the journey.

 What was Jacob's fear at the end of the last chapter? They were gonna come after him. Almost like Cain, he's afraid. Yes. Whoever finds me will kill me. Yeah. Yeah. And nobody chased after Yaaqov and this whole crew. Why? The terror of Elohim was upon them.

Which I presume means somehow people were scared when they saw his camp going by, and they were like, "Yeah, we don't touch those people, don't touch." Now, it could be 'cause they're like, "Yeah, they're murderers."

It's an oddly worded phrase, of like the terror of, a terror of God. Is it like a terror of God-like proportions, you know? Or is it that God is protecting them? It's ambiguous.

What's interesting is the ambiguity of the phrase "terror of Elohim." Does it mean that Elohim sent the terror? Or does it mean a terror of Elohim-like proportions? And it could mean either one.

It doesn't happen often, but sometimes you can put a noun and then say "of Elohim," and what it means is divinely proportioned, huge.

It's like an extreme way of saying huge.

In the book of Jonah, Nineveh is called "a city great of Elohim." You're like, I'm pretty sure Nineveh's not on God's, like, favorite list, you know?

But it's of, it's huge. Which is why it should take Jonah three days and three nights. But instead he just gets one day in, and then he's finished his preaching tour. 

so the point is that I think it's an intentionally ambiguous phrase to describe the terror that everybody has of Jacob's family now. And whether it's divine protection or whether it's a divinely sized fear, and both could make sense. And you know, maybe you could even say both could be intended. 'Cause haven't we seen this where what Jacob is conniving and deceiving to do, he attributes to himself, but he also will attribute it to God. And in one sense, ultimately it is God's purpose. But that doesn't mean he willed the conniving and the treachery.

Removing foreign Elohim.

So Elohim is a plural Hebrew noun, "spiritual beings." And then that plural, Elohim, can refer to the singular God of Israel as the Elohim or Yahweh Elohim. Even though it's a plural noun, it can refer to the singular God of Israel. In this case, it's like that plural 'cause, actual foreign gods.

And referring to the statues that represent the foreign gods, 'cause you can put them under a tree.

So let's notice the parallelism.

We're burying a Mesopotamian nursemaid under the tree, and we're also burying foreign gods under the tree. Somehow we're meant to meditate on that.

Maybe she worshiped Foreign Gods.

Think of where did they all, where did they both come from? Like where did they get foreign Elohim from? We know where Rakhel got them from, she stole them from her dad who lives in Mesopotamia.

Where did Devorah come from?

From the same place. 

In the story of Genesis 24, Avraham's old, he wants Isaac to find a nice Jewish girl and marry in the family. So he sends his servant to go to the house of his brother, Bethuel, who just happens to have a son there named Lavan. And they meet Lavan's sister, Rebekah, Rivqah. And as they're going, they send them out with joy. And Rivqah is given as a gift, a parting gift, a female servant to go with her. And she's brought up here at the end of Genesis 24. Yaaqov returns to the same exact place.

And that's what's being referred to here. In other words, the foreign elohim came from the house of Lavan, but Devorah also came from the house of Lavan. It's as if we are shedding, we're beginning to shed all of the, anything associated with the pagan prehistory of our family in Mesopotamia.

But now with the life of Avraham and now with the life of Yaaqov, we are coming back to the land, and that is being left in the past. 

There's no notice of the death of Rivqah. She's the only patriarch or matriarch whose death goes unmentioned in Genesis. And remember what she said, "May your curse be upon me." One of the blessings is to have a great name. One of the curses is for your name to be lost to memory forever.

And she's never mentioned again. Her servant is mentioned but Rivqah herself is never mentioned again.

Jacob was alone at Bethel when he met God.

Now, the whole thing is he's taking everybody to go meet God. The whole family is gonna go meet Yahweh Elohim. This is the Elohim that has been with me. You remember what he said? "If you bring me back here in peace, you will be my Elohim." So like, this is the moment of the dedication of Yaaqov's family to Elohim, Yahweh Elohim. So like, who's got any statues left? Just get rid of them.

Change your clothes. We're leaving our Mesopotamian identity behind and we're gonna, we are the people of Yahweh now.

So it seems like he's making good on his vow. 

Genesis 35:9–15 CSB

9 God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan-aram, and he blessed him. 10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; you will no longer be named Jacob, but your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel. 11 God also said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed an assembly of nations, will come from you, and kings will descend from you. 12 I will give to you the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac. And I will give the land to your future descendants.” 13 Then God withdrew from him at the place where he had spoken to him. 14 Jacob set up a marker at the place where he had spoken to him—a stone marker. He poured a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

"So Elohim became seen, or visible, to Yaaqov again when he came from Paddan-aram, and he blessed him.

And Elohim said to him, 'Your name is Yaaqov.'" Yeah, I know that. I'll never forget that night. So "'Your name is Yaaqov. Not anymore will your name be called Yaaqov, rather Yisrael will be your name.' And he called his name Yisrael."

So remember, the Hebrew verb "sarah" can mean wrestle. It's also the same letters as the word "to rule." And that's the root of Sarah's name Queen. 

So just watch what happens. "Elohim said to him, 'I am El Shaddai. Be fruitful and multiply.'" The flood.

The flood part of the melody, it was over with the distorted flood in Genesis 34. So when you start the flood over again, you start a re-creation. So we're back to an Eden moment here, leaving foreign Gods at the tree, embracing the blessing of being fruitful and multiplying.

"'Be fruitful and multiply. A nation, not just one nation, a whole assembly of nations is going to come from you. And not just that, rulers, Yisrael, rulers will come from your loins. And the land that I gave to Avraham and Yitskhaq I'll give to you and your seed after you, I will give the land.' Elohim went up from him from where he spoke with him, and Yaaqov stood up a standing stone," a high rock.

He makes a little symbolic mountain. Yeah? Of the high rock at the place. "He doused a drink offering over it," right? Saturates it with wine. "Saturates it with oil. And he called the name of the place where Elohim spoke with him, Bethel."

So this is almost certainly now a wordplay on the other potential meaning of Yisrael, which is rules. El is the ruler.

And interestingly, what he's told for the first time is not just a bunch of nations, kings. Rulers will come. So you have the blessing, be fruitful and multiply, ruling in the land.

And that land is marked by abundant wine, abundant oil, an altar, and a little symbolic mountain in the form of standing, do you get it? This is the Eden beat of the story. 

it's his re-creation upon his return from his long exile.

So these are the first two notes of his reentry back into the land. You leave behind the Mesopotamian versions of ourselves, and you, we embrace the new humanity versions of ourselves. So how many? We had Adam and Eve, then we had Noah and his wife, then we had Avraham and Sarah, we had Yitskhaq and Rivqah, and now we've got Yaaqov and his motley crew. So this is humanity 5.0.

when God says, "Go back to Bethel and remove," oh, actually all God says is "Go back to Bethel."

It's Yaaqov's idea.

To, "Guys, this is the God who was faithful to me, so it's time for me to pay my vows." And he does it. These long deceptive speeches or weird persuasion techniques, arn’t there 

The narrative doesn't give us any clues or hints that somehow he's manipulating the situation. God said, go up there. He says, all right, let's purify ourselves from our past. And it's a new humanity. 

And when God comes to him, he doesn't seem angry. And he appoints him as the future of a royal seed that will rule in this land and be a source of blessing to the nations.

El Shaddai

So most of our English translations will either translate or sometimes transliterate El Shaddai. Transliterate just means spell it with English letters. So many of our English translations will say "God Almighty," that's the most standard English rendering of El Shaddai. 

Hebrew is a living language still today, modern Hebrew.

The Hebrew language was reinvented with the birth of the modern state of Israel in the '40s. And while forms of Hebrew had been preserved all along, it wasn't a large, a very large group's normal spoken language. It was kind of like the way Latin functions in many Catholic Christian traditions today. Nobody talks it anymore, but it's the religious language. And it was the language of the Latin translation of the Bible. 

And so it's the Hebrew Bible.

So what's interesting is classical Hebrew is a window of the shape of the Hebrew language from a pretty particular window in Israel's history. And if you go back before that window, there was Proto-Hebrew. That's like what Moses and Abraham would've actually spoke. And it's really different than the Hebrew of the Hebrew Bible. It's like a way earlier version. And then Hebrew kept developing after the Hebrew Bible. And languages change, and you can track change, and it's super interesting. 

So the Hebrew Bible is cast in a type of Hebrew that you can track the window from the period of after the exile and then a type of Hebrew that would've been around from like the Kingdom period.  So it has all these interesting implications of, like, the dating of sources and how all that works. So that's a whole other class. 

But there are still a lot of ancient Hebrew words that we don't for sure know what they mean in that, from that form. And so there are traditions about what they might mean, but it's a surprise. It was a surprise to me when I started learning Hebrew to start looking up things in Hebrew dictionaries and to read the entry and to say like, "Yeah, we're not sure." Because you're like, "What do you mean we're not sure? Like, people have been studying this for millennia."

and usually it's kind of nerdy and little stuff like that. So why am I bringing any of this up?

It's because the word "Shaddai" is one of these types of words. 

"Name of a deity.

It doesn't occur anywhere else in ancient Near Eastern literature."

"For renderings in older translations, so in the Second Temple period, Jewish scholars who spoke Greek, when they translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek, they translated it as 'the heavenly,' 'God of the heavens.' Or some of them translated as 'the God who is worthy.' Though what most used was 'God Pantokrator,' the one who holds everything, or the one who is almighty, holding everything.

There are some instances of Shaddai outside the Old Testament, some of them are clear. some ways that maybe this word might have some Egyptian references.

Other instances are less clear, even questionable." So they go through all, maybe Arabic. Maybe it's an Arabic word, the name of a deity.

"Despite several attempted and suggested explanations of the etymology, Shaddai has still not been completely clarified." Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament | HALOT

And what's fascinating is that though it's passed into English through like pop Christian songs and something like this and worship songs. And I just always think it's so funny, but like, we really don't know what it means, but I'll sing it anyway.

Anointing

So dousing. So when you build, this is about the standing stone, the anointing of the pillar. So Eden as an image of the cosmic mountain where there's abundant water with the never-ending river, the trees, the gardens.

So there's lots of ways you can depict it. We've seen so many Eden images accumulate. But the idea of anointing, pouring wine over, wine's really precious. That you would give up wine and pour it over a tall rock. That you would take oil, it's very precious. So wine and oil are Eden images, 'cause they're both, oil comes from olives, olive trees, and wine comes from the fruit of the vine, they're garden plants that produce this precious liquid. And to pour it over is this symbol of saturating with abundance, like rain. And so you can anoint an Eden symbol, which is what the high rock is, these standing pillars. Or you can anoint an image of God, like the high priest gets anointed or like the kings from the line of David get anointed, which is an image of them being an image of God.

So it's an Eden image, saturation with precious liquid.

Jesus being the anointed one, another symbol of abundance

He goes through the waters, into the waters, and then the Spirit comes down from above. And in the Hebrew Bible, the most common image or metaphor for spirit is water. So it's like he's being saturated with the rain of Heaven in his baptism. Which is his inauguration and his priestly ordination all in one. 

all of these things are being activated when you talk about a new Adam going into a new Eden with the blessing, with the hope of royalty, dedicating an altar and a little symbolic with wine and oil and there you go. That's how biblical symbolism works. 

So as soon as we have this scene of life and hope as we come back into the land, things are gonna pivot pretty quick. But we're following the melody. We expect something to go wrong, don't you?

Yaaqov's Name Changed, Again

Yaaqov's named was already changed to “Yisrael” by God back in the wrestling match in Genesis 32:23-33. Why does it need to be "changed" again?

If we compare this narrative to the wrestling match story, a number of differences stand out.

The wrestling match depicted Yaaqov alone, at night, by the Jabbok stream. Now Yaaqov is accompanied by all of his family (makes this very explicit), and together they appear before God at Bethel.Gen. 35:6 

At the Jabbok, Yaaqov was wrestling with God. Here at Bethel, Yaaqov and his family assemble for worship and for a declaration that “El Shaddai” is their. Elohim

At the Jabbok, Yaaqov was blessed. Here at Bethel, Yaaqov is given a blessing that kings and a “multitude of nations” and will come from him. He stands with a sizable crew of family around him (the sons’ names are listed in). Gen. 35:22b-26

Also, recall that the name Yisraelis capable of two different meanings in Hebrew. (ישראל) 

Meaning 1: “He Wrestles With El” — This meaning is activated in the Jabbok story.

Meaning 2: “El Rules” — This meaning seems to be activated in the Bethel story because directly afterward Yaaqov is told, for the first time, that “kings will come from your loins.” In other words, the royal rule of El over creation (recall, humans ruling as an image of God) will now be channeled through the seed of Yisrael. Gen. 1:26-28

The Death of Rachel and Isaac

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