Genesis 35

God calls Jacob back to Bethel, and Jacob leads his household to put away idols and return to worship. God renews his new name, Israel, and the promises given to Abraham. The chapter also records sorrows: the deaths of Deborah, Rachel and Isaac, and Reuben’s sin.

Genesis 35:1

After the shameful events at Shechem, God tells Jacob to go back to Bethel, where he first met God as a runaway. God asks him to settle there and worship. It is a call to return to where his faith began.

BSA: Arise (“rise up, stand”): God’s word is a summons to get up and move, leaving a place of compromise behind.

See also: Genesis 28:10-22.

Genesis 35:2

Before meeting God, Jacob cleans up his own household. The foreign gods must go. Washing and fresh clothes were outward signs of an inward turning. Jacob does not hide that idols had crept into his camp.

BSA: Purify (“cleanse, make holy”): The washing was meant to match a cleansing of the heart, not just the body. foreign (“strange, pagan”): These gods belonged to other peoples and had no place among those who served the Lord.

See also: Joshua 24:23.

Genesis 35:3

Jacob testifies to God’s faithfulness. God answered him in his trouble and stayed with him on every road. Remembering this makes him want to worship. He invites everyone to go along and share the journey.

BSA: answered (“responded to my prayer, heard my cry”): Jacob knows God listens and replies to people in trouble.

See also: Psalm 50:15.

Genesis 35:4

The household hands over its idols and earrings, which were likely charms or linked to pagan worship. Jacob buries them under the oak near Shechem. The false gods are put out of sight and out of use.

BSA: buried (“hid, concealed”): The idols were taken out of use and put away from the family for good.

Genesis 35:5

Jacob had good reason to fear revenge after what his sons did at Shechem. But God sends a holy fear upon the nearby cities, and no one chases them. God protects the family even though they have failed.

BSA: terror (“fear, dread”): God himself, not Jacob’s strength, kept the family safe.

See also: Genesis 34:30.

Genesis 35:6-7

Jacob arrives at Bethel, the old Luz, and builds an altar. He names the place for God himself, “El-bethel,” meaning God of the house of God. His focus is on the God who met him there, not just the spot.

BSA: revealed (“uncovered, made known”): God took the first step and made himself known to Jacob.

See also: Genesis 28:19.

Genesis 35:8

Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, dies and is buried under an oak. She must have joined Jacob’s household at some point, and her burial is marked with grief: Allon-bachuth means “oak of weeping.” Faithful service is remembered.

BSA: nurse (“one who suckles, gives milk, and cares for”): She had cared for Rebekah and was valued like family.

Genesis 35:9-10

God appears to Jacob again, blesses him, and confirms the new name Israel, first given at the Jabbok. Jacob, “supplanter,” is now marked by God’s own naming. Israel is usually taken to mean one who strives with God.

BSA: Israel (“prince with God, having God’s nature”): The name points to a new identity given by God, not earned by Jacob’s schemes.

Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל (Yisra’el, H3478) — “he strives with God.” The Hebrew name joins a word for striving with the word for God. It recalls Jacob’s wrestling night and turns his struggle into a title of blessing.

See also: Genesis 32:28.

Genesis 35:11-12

God introduces himself as God Almighty and repeats the promises: many descendants, kings, and the land given to Abraham and Isaac. Jacob receives the same covenant, so he stands in the line of promise.

BSA: Almighty (“Shadday, the all-powerful One”): God’s power is the guarantee that the promise will be kept. Be fruitful (“produce abundantly, like a tree bearing fruit”): The picture is of life that grows and spreads under God’s blessing.

Hebrew: שַׁדַּי (El Shaddai, H7706) — “God Almighty.” This is the name God used with Abraham when promising a son beyond natural hope. It stresses that he can fulfill what people cannot.

See also: Genesis 17:1-8.

Genesis 35:13-15

When God finishes speaking, he departs. Jacob answers with worship: he sets up a stone, pours out a drink offering and anoints it with oil. He names the place Bethel again, marking where God spoke.

BSA: anointed (“poured, consecrated”): Oil set the stone apart as dedicated to God.

See also: Genesis 28:18-19.

Genesis 35:16-17

Near Ephrath, Rachel goes into hard labor. The midwife comforts her with the news that another son is coming. Joy and danger are close together here, and Rachel, who once cried for more sons, receives another.

BSA: labor (“travail, childbirth pains”): The word shows how severe and dangerous the birth was.

See also: Genesis 30:24.

Genesis 35:18-20

Rachel dies as she names her son Ben-oni, “son of my sorrow.” Jacob renames him Benjamin, “son of the right hand,” a name of honor and strength. He marks her grave with a pillar near Bethlehem. Grief and hope meet in one family.

BSA: Ben-oni (“son of my sorrow, son of pain”): Rachel’s name for him expresses her suffering at the moment of death. Benjamin (“son of the right hand, son of my right hand”): Jacob turns the sorrowful name into one of favor and strength.

See also: Jeremiah 31:15; Matthew 2:16-18.

Genesis 35:21

Jacob, now called Israel, moves on and pitches his tent beyond the Tower of Eder, a shepherds’ watchtower. The family keeps living as travelers in a land promised but not yet possessed.

BSA: tent (“nomad’s home, tabernacle”): A tent shows that Jacob is still a pilgrim, not yet a landowner.

See also: Hebrews 11:9.

Genesis 35:22

Reuben, the firstborn, sleeps with his father’s concubine Bilhah. It is a grave sin against both Jacob and the family. The text says only that Israel heard of it. The consequences for Reuben come later, when his birthright is lost.

BSA: concubine (“secondary wife, female servant”): Bilhah belonged to Jacob’s household, so Reuben’s act was a betrayal of his father.

See also: Genesis 49:3-4.

Genesis 35:22-26

The twelve sons are listed by their mothers: Leah, Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah. These men become the twelve tribes of Israel. The list stands as a quiet reminder that God’s promise was already taking shape in this imperfect family.

BSA: twelve (“a full count”): Twelve marks a complete people, ready to become a nation.

Genesis 35:27

Jacob finally reaches his father Isaac at Mamre, near Hebron, after many years away. It is the land where Abraham and Isaac lived as foreigners. Jacob comes home to the place of the promises.

BSA: stayed (“sojourned, lived as foreigners”): Even in the promised land, Abraham and Isaac lived as guests.

Genesis 35:28-29

Isaac dies at 180, old and full of years. Esau and Jacob together bury him, which suggests the brothers were at peace. The chapter ends with a life complete and a family reunited at the graveside.

BSA: gathered (“collected, brought together”): It suggests that death joins a person to those who went before. full of years (“satisfied with days, having lived a long life”): Isaac’s life ended content, not cut short.

See also: Genesis 25:8-9.