El Shaddai, Genesis 35, Day 35, Feb 4th, Read Through the Bible Project

Genesis 35

ESV notes–Transformed by the experiences at Bethel and Peniel, Jacob now begins to assume the mantle of his father as the one through whom the divine promises to Abraham will be continued.

Jacob Returns to Bethel

¹ Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”
Jacob had settled at Shechem without any direction from God, and disaster followed–from which God preserved him. Now God gives him specific directions to go to Bethel where he had had his first experience of God.
He fulfils the promise he had earlier made to God at Bethel, and acknowledges that God has been faithful to him.

² So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. ³Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.”

ESV–The present tense answers suggests that God has consistently responded to Jacob in every time of trouble.

⁴ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. ⁵ Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.

An act of consecration. They get rid of their idols and reconsecrated themselves. And God protects Jacob and his family on their way to Bethel, despite the execrable actions of his sons.

⁶ Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. ⁷ There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

⁸ Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak outside Bethel. So it was named Allon Bakuth.

⁹ After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. ¹⁰ God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel.

¹¹ And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants. ¹² The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.” ¹³ Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him.

God identifies himself to Jacob here as El-Shaddai (God Almighty). His words echo the original benediction pronounced on mankind in the beginning, and renewed after the flood.

¹⁴ Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. ¹⁵ Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel.

The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac

¹⁶ Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. ¹⁷ And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, “Don’t despair, for you have another son.” ¹⁸ As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin.
Rachel in sadness and bitterness calls Benjamin son of my trouble. Jacob however changes his name to son of my right hand.

¹⁹ So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰ Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb.

²¹ Israel moved on again and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. ²² While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it.

His sons acted deceitfully towards him as he had acted deceitfully towards his father.

Jacob had twelve sons:

²³ The sons of Leah:
Reuben the firstborn of Jacob,
Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun.

²⁴ The sons of Rachel:
Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵ The sons of Rachel’s servant Bilhah:
Dan and Naphtali.

²⁶ The sons of Leah’s servant Zilpah:
Gad and Asher.

These were the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.

²⁷ Jacob came home to his father Isaac in Mamre, near Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. ²⁸ Isaac lived a hundred and eighty years. ²⁹ Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.