Genesis 35, 36 - Back to Bethel
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Headlines - Jerry & Tim
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Alright, good to be back here to study God’s Word, in the book of Genesis. Last week we covered a lot of ground and at least 20 years of life. From the very emotional meeting with Esau to his journey to Succoth, where he lingered on the border of the promised land to finally crossing over the Jordan and settling in Shechem.
Of course, It was in Shechem where Dinah went out to see the other young people of the land and ended up getting raped by Hamor’s son, Shechem. The whole affair turned ugly as Simeon and Levi murdered all the men of the city after deceiving them into getting circumcised.
We talked about how it seemed that Jacob had sort of disappeared having abrogated his leadership of the family and left it to his teenage sons.
So we left Jacob in a bad way, feeling like a pariah in the land, and seeming to need a restart in his relationship with God.
So let’s stand as we read the first verses of Gen 35.
1 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.”
2 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;
3 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.”
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.
5 As they journeyed, there was a great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.
6 So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.
7 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.
8 Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; it was named Allon-bacuth.
So we start tonight with God giving direct revelation to Jacob to get out of Shechem, and go back to where he had started, Bethel. The place where God first met him some 40 or 50 years previously.
For almost all believers there comes times when we become lost or wandering. When we are not close to the Lord, nor are we hearing His voice. Times when we seldom pray or read the Word. Jacob is at one of these times.
Just like God commanded Jacob to do, so it is with us. We must get back to the first things, Those things like fellowship, reading the Word, and prayer, add to those the places and people, God used to bring us into relationship in the first place.
In the Letter to the Ephesian church in Revelation Jesus admonishes the church there;
4 ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
5 ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.
Notice first that Jesus never leaves us, it was the Ephesians, you and I if you will, who leave Him. Second the wandering away occurs by degrees never all at once.
To the Ephesians Jesus gives the remedy, remember, repent, and return to the first things. 1. Remember what you were doing and how it felt when you first met the Lord, 2. Repent or stop doing what has made you wander, 3. Return to doing those first things.
It really quit simple, when you meet someone who has wandered away ask them if they have been in fellowship, ask if they have read the Word or even prayed.
So back to Jacob, notice in verse 2 that the family had been involved with idolatry. When Jacob the leader of the family stopped following the Lord carefully his family turned away as well. How important our role is as parents and grandparents know that your children and grandchildren are watching and doing what you do.
Notice in verse 8 that Rebekah’s nurse, Deborah, died. She would have been very old at this time. There is no mention of Rebekah’s death accept that she was buried in the cave at Machpelah with Abraham and Sarah. So most believe that when Jacob returned to the land that Rebekah was already dead and that at that point Deborah came to live with Jacob and his family. He would have have known Deborah his whole life, she having come with Rebekah from her family in Haran.
The name Allon-bacuth means Oak of Weeping.
We move on;
9 Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him.
10 God 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.
11 God 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.
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.”
13 Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him.
It is amazing that when we do what God commands blessing follows.
13 ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
Jacob needed Gods presence and he sought for YHWH with all his heart and YHWH made Himself available.
9 Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him.
The word Hebrew word raw-aw or “appeared” means made Himself visible, or able to be perceived. One of my great desires is that we might have such an experience here. That we would be seeking His presence and that He would show up, or appear. Years ago we would have afterglows and God would make Himself known through the gifts and I believe He still wants to and is able to do that.
Now, God begins to speak to Jacob, first very personally;
10 God 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.
Your name was heal catcher/deceiver but no longer. Now you are a prince with God even Governed by God.
Jesus is able to do that for us, instantly change who we have been to what he created us to be.
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
And then in verse 11 &12 he restates the promises given to Abraham and Isaac of the land belonging to them and that nations would come forth from him.
We move forward;
Genesis 35:14–20 (NASB95)
14 Jacob 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.
15 So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel.
16 Then 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.
17 When she was in severe labor the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for now you have another son.”
18 It came about as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.
The name Ben-oni means son of my sorrow, Benjamin - means son of my right hand or my strength. I am sure Benjamin was happy that his name was changed by Jacob.
19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).
20 Jacob set up a pillar over her grave; that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.
This sad day of Rachel's death is remembered in Jer 31 and quoted in Matthew 2 prophetically.
15 Thus says the Lord,
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
Lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
She refuses to be comforted for her children,
Because they are no more.”
This was pointed out by Matthew as speaking of the Hebrew babies killed by Herod.
The chapter ends on another down note.
Genesis 35:21–29 (NASB95)
21 Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.
22 It 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.
We are not given many other details about this unfortunate event but it is not described as rape. Reuben would have been about 30 and Bilhah significantly older. Some scholars suggest that this may have been some sort of power play on the part of Bilhah. In any event this was important to Jacob as Reuben lost his birthright, being the oldest over this event.
3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn;
My might and the beginning of my strength,
Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.
4 “Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence,
Because you went up to your father’s bed;
Then you defiled it—he went up to my couch.
Now there were twelve sons of Jacob—
23 the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun;
24 the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin;
25 and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali;
26 and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.
27 Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre of Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned.
28 Now the days of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years.
29 Isaac 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.
So we remember that many years earlier Isaac thought he would did not have long to live and sought to bless Esau with the blessing when he was 135 or so. Little did he realize he would live another 45 years.
Let’s move on to Chapter 36 where we will learn about Esau’s life and descendents. Another brief look at a branch of the family before getting back to the main story of Jacob and Joseph.
Genesis 36 (NASB95)
1 Now these are the records of the generations of Esau (that is, Edom).
2 Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite;
3 also Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth.
4 Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, and Basemath bore Reuel,
5 and Oholibamah bore Jeush and Jalam and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.
6 Then Esau took his wives and his sons and his daughters and all his household, and his livestock and all his cattle and all his goods which he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to another land away from his brother Jacob.
7 For their property had become too great for them to live together, and the land where they sojourned could not sustain them because of their livestock.
8 So Esau lived in the hill country of Seir; Esau is Edom.
Now I have a personal belief that every word in the Bible has been placed there by the Holy Spirit for a reason and that it is up to us to figure that out. So as we read this record that each name was a person just like you and me and is important to God.
9 These then are the records of the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir.
10 These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Esau’s wife Adah, Reuel the son of Esau’s wife Basemath.
11 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho and Gatam and Kenaz.
12 Timna was a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These are the sons of Esau’s wife Adah.
13 These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath and Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. These were the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath.
14 These were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon: she bore to Esau, Jeush and Jalam and Korah.
15 These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau, are chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz,
16 chief Korah, chief Gatam, chief Amalek. These are the chiefs descended from Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah.
17 These are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah. These are the chiefs descended from Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath.
18 These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, chief Korah. These are the chiefs descended from Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.
19 These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs.
20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan and Shobal and Zibeon and Anah,
21 and Dishon and Ezer and Dishan. These are the chiefs descended from the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom.
22 The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan’s sister was Timna.
23 These are the sons of Shobal: Alvan and Manahath and Ebal, Shepho and Onam.
24 These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah—he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness when he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon.
25 These are the children of Anah: Dishon, and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.
26 These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan and Eshban and Ithran and Cheran.
27 These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan and Zaavan and Akan.
28 These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.
29 These are the chiefs descended from the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah,
30 chief Dishon, chief Ezer, chief Dishan. These are the chiefs descended from the Horites, according to their various chiefs in the land of Seir.
31 Now these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the sons of Israel.
Note: Israel would not have a King for hundreds of years in the future. Some see these names as an insertion by Moses.
32 Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah.
33 Then Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah became king in his place.
34 Then Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites became king in his place.
35 Then Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the field of Moab, became king in his place; and the name of his city was Avith.
36 Then Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah became king in his place.
37 Then Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates River became king in his place.
38 Then Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor became king in his place.
39 Then Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar became king in his place; and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab.
40 Now these are the names of the chiefs descended from Esau, according to their families and their localities, by their names: chief Timna, chief Alvah, chief Jetheth,
41 chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon,
42 chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar,
43 chief Magdiel, chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of the Edomites), according to their habitations in the land of their possession.
So next week we begin the study of Joseph’s life. One of my favorite narratives in the entire Bible.
Prayer