Chapter 35
God tells Jacob to go to Bethel and build an altar to him. Jacob tells his family group to give him all the foreign gods that they have, purify themselves, and put on nice clothes. But he doesn't destroy those foreign gods. He hides them under a terebinth tree near Shechem.
2024 - Note that God speaks to Jacob directly here. So the idea of the angels, or the men who were angels in disguise delivering messages instead of God delivering them directly, is not the case every time. At least not yet.
2024 - This:
10 And God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name." So he called his name Israel. [Gen 35:10 ESV]. Jacob's name had already been changed at the end of the wrestling match in Chapter 9. Why did it have to be done again? MSB says that this was a return to Bethel, and that Jacob repeats the things he'd done there the first time, as he fled from Esau. He meets God - though the last time they wrestled - God repeats the new name, God repeats the Abrahamic promises...
But is that what this is? Or is this God saying what the angel only had said before. This is God affirming that what that angel said is in fact from Him directly?
11 And God 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 from your own body. 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you." [Gen 35:11-12 ESV]
The promises made to Abraham are renewed to Jacob. I don't know why. It is also difficult to understand Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. Neither was a peach, but Jacob seems to take two-faced to a whole new level.
Jacob journeys to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. Rachel goes into labor on the way. Hard labor. She dies just after she gives birth, naming her son Ben-oni, but Jacob calls him Benjamin. So Rachel who was barren, ends up with two sons, Joseph and Benjamin, and they also are Jacob's favorites. It was always Rachel that he loved so her children were his favorites. They continue on and set up camp in Eder.
2025 - This verse: 18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. [Gen 35:18 ESV]. Our souls leave our bodies when we die. Hard to interpret this any other way...except that in context, it is not about what happens when we die, it is about the death of Rachel. So don't read too awfully much into it.
How old would Rachel have been here? Still young enough to have a son...but perhaps past the age of safety. Especially in that day and age.
2025 - Neither Deborah, Rebekah's maid, nor Rachel, is buried in the family crypt at Mamre that Abraham had purchased. That was a big deal having that land, but Jacob doesn't seem to make any effort to get the mothers of his sons to Mamre.
While there, Reuben has sex with Bilhah, his father's concubine. What a great bunch of people! Jacob, now called Israel, finds out. We are not told that he does anything at all about it. (Until later. He does do something about it though.)
Isaac dies at the age of 180. He breathed his last and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. Jacob and Esau bury him.
2025 - So Isaac was still alive when Jacob returned. How long had he been back in the land of Canaan and just now goes to see his father? Isaac had favored Esau, and Jacob had deceived them both. He probably didn't feel all that welcome in Isaac's tent. Hurts like these run deep and last a very long time.