Genesis 35

Genesis 35:1

It all begins with God An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on the Book of Genesis www.easyenglish.info Marie Wetherill and Keith Simons This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 35 Jacob goes home and Isaac dies v1 God said to Jacob, ‘Get up. Go to Bethel and live there. When you ran away from your brother Esau, you saw God. Now make an *altar there for God’s honour.’

v2 So Jacob said this to his *household and to everyone with him: ‘Throw away the foreign gods that you have. Wash yourselves and change your clothes. v3 Let us get up. We will go up to Bethel. There I will make an *altar for God’s honour. God listened to me when I was in trouble. He has been with me wherever I have gone.’ v4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had. They also gave their ear-rings to him. Jacob hid the ear-rings under the *oak tree near Shechem. v5 Then Jacob set out on his journey with all those people. God made the people in the cities along the way very afraid. So they did not chase Jacob and his sons.

v6 Jacob came to Luz. (That is, Bethel.) It is in the country called Canaan. He came with all the people that were with him. v7 Jacob built an *altar there. Jacob had seen God there when he ran away from his brother. So he called the place El-Bethel.

v8 Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died. People buried her below Bethel under an *oak tree. They called the place Allon-Bacuth.

v9 After Jacob had come back from Paddan-Aram, God appeared in front of him again. God *blessed him. v10 And God said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob. But it will not be Jacob any longer. Your name will be Israel.’ So Jacob’s name became Israel.

v11 God also said, ‘I am God *Almighty. Have a large family. Have many *descendants. A nation will come from you. And a group of nations will come from you. Kings will be in your family. v12 I promised a country to Abraham and Isaac. I will give that same country to you. And I will give it to your *descendants after you.’ v13 Then God went up from Jacob. God left the place where he had spoken to Jacob.

v14 Jacob put up a column of stone where God had spoken to him. Jacob poured out an *offering to God on it. He poured oil on it. v15 Jacob called that place Bethel, because God had spoken to him there.

v16 Then Jacob and those with him left Bethel. They were still not near Ephrath. Rachel had bad pains because she would soon have a baby. v17 She was suffering in her pain. The nurse who was helping at the birth spoke to her. She said, ‘Do not be afraid. Now you will have another son.’ v18 Rachel did not stay alive. As she was dying, she called her son Benoni. But his father called him Benjamin.

v19 So Rachel died. And Jacob buried her on the way to Ephrath. (That is, Bethlehem.) v20 Jacob put up a column on her grave. That column on Rachel’s grave was still there when the writer wrote this down.

v21 Israel continued his journey. He put up his tent beyond the *tower called Eder. v22 Israel lived there for a while. Reuben went in to Bilhah. Bilhah was a slave, but she was also his father’s wife. Reuben had sex with her. And Israel heard about it.

Jacob had 12 sons.

v23 The sons of Leah were Reuben, (Jacob’s oldest son), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun. v24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin. v25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, were Dan and Naphtali. v26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid, were Gad and Asher. Those were Jacob’s sons. They were born for him in Paddan-Aram.

v27 Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre. (It is also called Kiriath-Arba or Hebron.) That is where Abraham and Isaac had lived. v28 Now Isaac was 180 years old. v29 Isaac breathed his last breath. He died and he went to be with his people. He was very old. Isaac’s sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Jacob did not feel safe now near the town called Shechem. His sons, Simeon and Levi, had been angry, so they killed many men there. And Jacob was afraid that the relatives of those men might attack his family. God told Jacob to take his family to Bethel.

It seems that Jacob was pleased to take his family to Bethel. God first spoke to Jacob at Bethel. Jacob could teach his family about God during the journey. He explained to them how he met the real God. He told them that they should not keep their *idols (images of false gods). And he told his family that they were going to a holy place. So, they had to prepare themselves.

At Bethel, God repeated his promises to Jacob. And Jacob rebuilt the *altar that he made there.

Soon afterwards, Jacob’s last son, called Benjamin, was born. But Benjamin’s mother, Rachel, died at the birth.

A terrible event happened afterwards. It was the custom in Canaan that the oldest son should have sex with his father’s wives. Then, that son would become the leader of the family. (See 2 Samuel 16:21-22.) Jacob knew that this action was very wicked. And he hoped that his own sons had learned about God. But Jacob could not control his sons. They were adults now. So, they were responsible for their own behaviour.

Reuben, who was Jacob’s first son, had sex with Bilhah. Bilhah was Jacob’s *concubine. She had been Rachel’s maid. Jacob heard about Reuben’s behaviour. So, Jacob decided that Reuben must not receive the *birthright. And Reuben did not receive a *blessing from Jacob (Genesis 49:3-4).

Simeon and Levi were the oldest sons after Reuben. But Jacob would not give them the *birthright because of their cruelty. So instead, Jacob chose Joseph (Genesis 37:3; 1 Chronicles 5:1-2). Notes on the verses Verse 1 God was gently reminding Jacob that he (God) had been *faithful. He had taken care of Jacob. Now Jacob needed to *worship God at Bethel. Jacob had promised to do that.

Verses 2-4 People in Jacob’s *household still had *idols. That seems strange. However, they threw the *idols away when Jacob asked them to. They also threw away ear-rings. We think that the ear-rings had some connection with *idols. So those that wore the ear-rings served the *idols. The ear-rings were evidence of that. It is also strange that Jacob buried those things under a tree. He did not destroy them. Usually, before people *worshipped God in a special way, they washed themselves. They put on clean clothes. They did those things to respect God. It made the people remember that God is perfect. So, they must prepare themselves to *worship him.

Verse 5 Jacob’s sons had done an evil thing to the men in Shechem (chapter 34). So Jacob was afraid of the people that lived near.

Verse 7 El-Bethel means ‘God of Bethel’. That is, God who appeared at Bethel. Bethel means ‘the house of God’. Bethel was the place where Jacob decided to serve God (Genesis 28:19-22).

Verse 8 Deborah was very old. The writer speaks about her death. They buried her ‘below Bethel’. Some people think that it means ‘near Bethel’. Or perhaps they buried her at the actual spot where God first appeared to Jacob (Genesis 28:11-19).

The wives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all had maids (also called nurses). And all these maids became *concubines, except for Deborah. Deborah was a loyal servant. And it seems that the whole family loved her.

Verse 9 Perhaps the writer was saying again what had happened earlier. (Look at verse 1.) When something was repeated in the Bible, it was very important.

Verses 10-13 God repeated his promises to Jacob. Jacob’s *descendants would become a great nation. And God would give to them the country called Canaan.

Verses 14-15 This was the way that they *worshipped God. It made the column special for them.

This was the same place where God spoke to Jacob during a dream. (See Genesis 28:10-22.) At that time, Jacob put up a stone column. But it was now 20 years later. At last, Jacob was able to return to that place. Perhaps his column had fallen down and Jacob rebuilt it.

Verses 16-18 Rachel had the second son that she wanted (Genesis 30:24). But she did not stay alive after the birth. Benoni means ‘son of my sorrow’. (That means ‘the son that I got when I was sad’. ‘Sorrow’ means sad feelings.)

Benjamin means ‘son of my right hand’. A man would place his right hand on his oldest son when he *blessed that son. (See Genesis 48:13-19.) So, people associated the right hand with the *blessing. So, the name ‘Benjamin’ meant that God would *bless him.

Verses 19-20 Bethlehem became a very important town. King David came from Bethlehem, so Bethlehem became a royal town. And Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

Verse 22 What Reuben did was very serious. Such actions in a family were very bad. Reuben was probably trying to become the head of the family instead of Jacob. Reuben wanted to show his authority. Jacob heard. And he decided that Joseph would receive the *birthright instead of Reuben.

Verses 23-26 Nearly all Jacob’s sons were born in Paddan-Aram. Benjamin was not born there. But the writer added Benjamin’s name (in verse 24) so that this list of Jacob’s sons was complete.

Verses 27-29 Jacob and Esau met together again. They buried their father Isaac together.

Isaac lived much longer than anyone had expected. Isaac was a man with a calm attitude. He did not like arguments. He would have been pleased that Jacob and Esau met together for his funeral. Their arguments had ended. And they were friendly again.

© 2006, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

May 2006

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var w1 = new Array;w1[0]=’<b%3Ealtar</b%3E ~ a table that people made out of stone or metal. People burned gifts to God (sacrifices) on it.