Genesis 35:1

And God said unto Jacob,.... When he was in great distress, on account of the slaughter of the Shechemites by his sons, not knowing what step to take, or course to steer for the safety of him and his

And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.

GENESIS CHAPTER 35 God commands Jacob to dwell at Beth-el, and build an altar there, . He commands his family to purge themselves from idols, and go to Beth-el, ,3. They obey, . He and they go thither, none pursuing them; the reason thereof, ,6. There he builds an altar, . The death and burial of Rebekah’ s nurse, . God appears to Jacob, confirms his name of Israel, renews the promises, . For which he sets up a pillar, pours oil thereon, and calls the place Beth-el, ,15. Going thence Rachel dies in labour of Benjamin, and is buried there, . Reuben commits incest in his father’ s house, . Jacob’ s sons’ names, . Jacob visits his father Isaac, . His age, death, and burial, ,29. This was a word in season to comfort his disquieted mind, and convey him to a safer place. Understand, and pay thy vows there made in the time of thy distress, but not yet paid; whether it was Jacob’ s error to forget and neglect his former vows and promises; or whether he waited for a fit time, or an admonition from God concerning the season of paying them.

Genesis 35:1 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.Ver. l. Arise, go up to Bethel.] This is not the first time that God tells him of that vow, and calls for performance. See Genesis 31:13. It is with us, as with children - Eaten bread is soon forgotten: deliverances, commonly, are but nine days’ wonderment at most; and it is ten to one, that any leper returns to give praise to God. If anything arouse and raise up our hearts to thankful remembrance of former mercy, it must be the sense of some present misery, as here. Jacob was in a great strait and fright: his sons had troubled him; the country was ready to rise upon him, and root him out: God also was justly displeased with him for his forgotten vow; yet chides him not, now that he was in heaviness; but takes his opportunity, for we are best when at worst, and gently minds him of what was his duty, and would be for his safety. Numa is said to have put so much confidence in his gods, that when he was sacrificing and news came that the enemy was at hand, he laughed, and said, At ego rein divinam facio. Those Philistines were even ambitious of destruction, and ran to meet their ruin, that gathered themselves against Israel, while they were sacrificing and serving the Lord in their meet at Mizpeh. The Church, in her worship, is "terrible as an army with banners"; "a cup of trembling to all the people round about"; "a burdensome stone for all people"; "a torch of fire in a sheaf." He is a mad man that will meddle with her while she is upon good terms with Christ, her Champion. Balaam knew this, and therefore gave that villanous counsel. All Germany was in arms against that handful of Hussites in Bohemia, yet could not suppress them. Geneva, a small people, surrounded with enemies, and barred from aid of neighbours, yet faithful with God, hath been hitherto strangely upheld. At the siege of Mountabone in France, the people of God, using daily humiliation, as their service would permit, did sing a Psalm after, and immediately before, their sallying forth. With which practice the enemy coming acquainted, ever, upon the singing of the Psalm, upon which they expected a sally, they would so quake and tremble, crying, They come, they come, as though the wrath of God had been breaking out upon them. Eγωδεηυω - Plut Germani nondum, viso hoste, Danico terrore perculsi diffugerunt. - Pareus. Spec. Belli Sacri, 282.

XXXV. JACOB RETURNS TO BETH-EL AND HEBRON.—DEATH OF ISAAC.(1) Arise, go up to Beth-el.—The position of Jacob at Shechem had become dangerous; for though the first result of the high-handed proceeding of Simeon and Levi was to strike the natives with terror (Genesis 35:5), yet reprisals might follow if they had time to learn the comparatively small number of Jacob’s followers. It was necessary, therefore, to remove; but besides this, Beth-el was the goal of the patriarch’s jonrneyings. He had made a solemn vow there on his journey to Padanaram, and though forty-two years had elapsed, it had not been forgotten (see Genesis 31:13); and the Divine command to go thither Was the outward authorisation of what his own conscience dictated. On this account we cannot believe that he had remained long at Shechem. Nomads are singularly leisurely in their movements. There is nothing of the rush and hurry of city life in their doings or purposes. They are capable of a great effort occasionally, but then relapse into their usual slowness. And so, when Jacob found good pasture and plenty of room for his cattle at Shechem, he remained there for awhile; but he did not abandon his purpose of going first to Beth-el, and finally to Hebron.

CHAPTER XXXV Jacob is commanded of God to go to Beth-el, and to build an altar there, 1. His exhortation to his family to put away all strange gods, c., 2, 3. They deliver them all up, and Jacob hides them in the earth, 4. They commence their journey, 5 come to Luz, 6; build there the altar El-beth-el, 7. Burial place of Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, 8. God appears again unto Jacob, 9. Blesses him and renews the promises, 10-13. To commemorate this manifestation of God, Jacob sets up a pillar, and calls the place Beth-el, 14, 15. They journey to Ephrath, where Rachel, after hard labour, is delivered of Benjamin, and dies, 16-19. Jacob sets up a pillar on her grave, 20. They journey to Edar, 21. While at this place, Reuben defiles his father's bed, 22. Account of the children of Jacob, according to the mothers, 23-26. Jacob comes to Mamre to his father Isaac, who was probably then in the one hundred and fifty-eighth year of his age, 27. Isaac dies, and is buried by his sons Esau and Jacob, 29. NOTES ON CHAP. XXXV Verse 1. Arise, go up to Beth-el] The transaction that had lately taken place rendered it unsafe for Jacob to dwell any longer at the city of Shechem; and it seems that while he was reflecting on the horrible act of Simeon and Levi, and not knowing what to do, God graciously appeared to him, and commanded him to go up to Beth-el, build an altar there, and thus perform the vow he had made, Genesis 28:20; Genesis 28:22.

1. go up to Beth-el] From Shechem to Bethel is an ascent of 1000 feet. Bethel Isaiah 2890 feet above the sea. LXX εἰςτὸντόπονΒαιθήλ = “unto the place Bethel,” cf. Genesis 12:6-8, Genesis 13:4, Genesis 28:11. an altar] Jacob is commanded to worship at Bethel in fulfilment of his vow, Genesis 28:22.

- The Death of Isaac 8. דברה deborâh, Deborah, “bee.” בּכוּת אלּון 'alôn-bākût, Allon-bakuth, “oak of weeping.” 16.

1. God said — Probably in a dream or vision of the night. Go up to Beth-el — Though southward from Shechem, and on a lower range, its importance led to speaking of it as a going up.