Genesis 35

Genesis 34-50: Jacob and Egypt The Context

When Jacob learned of what his sons had done in Shechem, he said to them, “You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land … and since I am few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and kill me” (

Genesis 35:1–29 (NASB95)

1Then 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.” 

courson’s commentary

Bethel—previously called Luz until the night Jacob had an encounter with God Genesis 28:13-15—was the place where Jacob was saved. Now the Lord says, “Go back to the place you met Me.” How I appreciate our Lord—because that’s what He says to you and me.

We tend to think God is mad at us, is angry with us, has had enough of us. But our brother Paul would come on the scene and say, “Where sin abounds, grace abounds more” (Romans 5:20, italics added). Jacob and his clan are neck-deep in sin. And yet God says, “Rise up. Let’s get going again.”

2So 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; 

3and 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.” 

4So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which they had and the rings which were in their ears,

Courson’s Application Commentary, Old Testament Volume 1 (Genesis–Job) Genesis 35:2–4 (a)

Evidently, Jacob’s family had added pagan gods and trinkets to the idols Rachel had stolen from her father. Here, Jacob says, “We’re going to Bethel. We’re going to the house of God. So give me all of those earrings and bracelets and stuff you picked up from the heathens.”

Notice God didn’t say to Jacob, “If you deal with the pagan gods in your family, then I might give you a second chance.” No, God said, “Rise and let us go to Bethel.”

Perhaps it was because Jacob was so amazed by this that he said, “It’s time to clean up—not so God will call us, but because He has called us.”

That’s what grace does. When I realize how kind and good and benevolent and merciful God is to me day after day after day, it causes me to want to put away my trinkets and toys that are not of Him. Too often, we think, I’ve got to get my life cleaned up and maybe then I can hear God’s voice; maybe then He’ll lead me again. No. God is ready to lead us today right where we are—and because of that we say, “Lord, You’re so good. I don’t want the things of the world any more.”

and Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem. 

Courson’s Application Commentary, Old Testament Volume 1 (Genesis–Job) Genesis 35:4 (b)

The tree in Scripture, of course, speaks of the Cross. In other words, the picture is that Jacob left his sin at Calvary. When Jesus died on the Cross, not only was the penalty of sin paid for completely, but power over sin was provided fully. This is an amazing and potent truth. You can leave here tonight and say, “Lord, truly You are good in allowing me to go to Bethel once more. I’m tired of my sin, and I want to make my way free and unencumbered of the junk which entangles me.”

But, practically, how does this happen? You reckon the old man dead. You say, “Lord, on the basis of Your Word, I no longer have to do that, go there, be involved with the other—not because of positive thinking, but because of what You did on Calvary’s tree.” Just as by faith you receive forgiveness, so too by faith you gain victory.

Thus, I can truly say to that Double Quarter Pounder with cheese, “I no longer have to submit to the demand you are placing on me. I reckon the old man dead to that sin.” And I truly, honestly, absolutely, unequivocally can turn away from that Quarter Pounder and walk free—if I choose to! If you haven’t spent time in

5As they journeyed, there was a great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 

what caused the neighboring cities to be afraid of Jacob and family?

5. THE TERROR OF GOD: A supernaturally induced fear of Israel rendered the surrounding city-states unwilling and powerless to intervene and made Jacob’s fear of their retaliation rather inconsequential.

6So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. 

7He built an altar there, and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled from his brother.

Genesis 34-50: Jacob and Egypt Keys to the Text

7. BUILT AN ALTAR THERE: Jacob reconfirmed his allegiance to God through this act of worship. God, in turn, reaffirmed His commitment to Jacob by reappearing to him, repeating the change of his name, and rehearsing the Abrahamic promises

Courson’s Application Commentary, Old Testament Volume 1 (Genesis–Job) Genesis 35:6, 7

Jacob has his problems indeed. Jacob has all kinds of baggage without question. But through it all, he’s growing because when he comes to Bethel the second time, he no longer calls it Bethel, “the house of God,” but El-Bethel or, “The God of the House of God.” This shows monumental maturity, for Jacob understands that it’s not the house of God that is important, but the God who dwells therein. So, too, it’s not worship that’s important, but the God whom we worship. It’s not the Bible that’s important, but the God of the Bible. You see, the Word is not an end in itself. The goal of Bible study is not to try and gain more intellectual or theological understanding. It’s much more than that. The Word of God is simply a door I go through many times a day to meet the God of the Word.

“That’s obvious,” you say.

Not really. A lot of people initially delight in church or Bible study or worship. But eventually they lose interest in church and Bible study and worship because those things are not God.

8Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; it was named Allon-bacuth. 

Allon-bachuth means “the oak of weeping.” As Jacob enters the Promised Land, he re-connects with Deborah, the woman who raised him, his nanny. Rid of his idols, Jacob is back at Bethel with a deeper understanding. But when Deborah dies, he weeps.

9Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. 

10God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; You shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name.” Thus He called him Israel. 

God speaks to Jacob again,….the promise. What He gave was still in place. Changed from “Heel-Snatcher” to “Governed by God,” from “Con Man” to “Israel,” Jacob was reminded that Yaweh gave him a personal name.

11God also said to him, “I am God Almighty; Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from you. 

11. KINGS SHALL COME FROM YOUR BODY: God’s words, included here for the first time since His promises at Abraham’s circumcision (see Genesis 17:6, 16), served as a reminder of future royalty.

12“The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you.”

what abraham or Isaac could take, went to Jacob to develop with his crazy family!! 

13Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him.  This to me is a classic dramatic exit>>>

13. WENT UP: The presence of God was there in some visible form.

14Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. 

Courson’s Application Commentary, Old Testament Volume 1 (Genesis–Job) Genesis 35:14 (c)

The oil speaks of the work of the Holy Spirit. What did the Good Samaritan pour into the wounds of the man who was beaten up? Wine and oil (

15So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel. 

16Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and she suffered severe labor. 

16. EPHRATH: A more ancient name for Bethlehem.

Courson’s Application Commentary, Old Testament Volume 1 (Genesis–Job) Genesis 35:14 (c)

The oil speaks of the work of the Holy Spirit. What did the Good Samaritan pour into the wounds of the man who was beaten up? Wine and oil (

17When she was in severe labor the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for now you have another son.” 

18It came about as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. 

Genesis 34-50: Jacob and Egypt Keys to the Text

18. BEN-ONI … BENJAMIN: Rachel appropriately named her newborn “son of my sorrow,” but the grieving father named him “son of my right hand,” thus assigning him a place of honor in the home.

MY TWELVE SONS: The birth of Benjamin in Canaan furnishes reason to review the sons born outside of Canaan, with only one sad note preceding it.

19So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). 

20Jacob set up a pillar over her grave; that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day. 

21Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 

22It came about while Israel was dwelling in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now there were twelve sons of Jacob— 

22. REUBEN WENT AND LAY WITH BILHAH: Reuben was Jacob’s oldest son, born through Leah, and Bilhah was Rachel’s maidservant. This grievous sin cost Reuben his birthright and his status as firstborn.

23the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun; 

23. LEVI: The descendants of Levi would eventually become the only men eligible for the priesthood in Israel. JUDAH: David would be a descendant of Judah—and ultimately so would Jesus Himself. (We will look more closely at Judah in the next study.)

24the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin; 

24. BENJAMIN: Jacob was more than one hundred years old when Benjamin, his last son, was born to Rachel.

25and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali; 

26and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. 

26. PADAN ARAM: This region was many days to the northeast of where Isaac was living. It is also where Abraham was living when God called him to journey to Canaan.

27Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre of Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. 

27. MAMRE: This location was important in Abraham’s life—such as when he met God face-to-face and interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah.

28Now the days of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years. 

29Isaac breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, an old man of ripe age; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

29. HIS SONS ESAU AND JACOB: Isaac’s funeral brought his two sons together, as Abraham’s funeral had done for Isaac and Ishmael (see Genesis 25:9).