1Gott sprach zu Jaakob: Mache dich auf, steige nach Bet-El hinan und verweile dort, und errichte dort eine Schlachtstatt der Gottheit, die von dir sich sehen ließ, als du vor Essaw deinem Bruder entwichst. 2Jaakob sprach zu seinem Haus und zu allen, die bei ihm waren: Beseitigt die Götter der Fremde, die in eurer Mitte sind! reinigt euch! wechselt eure Gewänder! 3aufmachen wollen wir uns und hinansteigen nach Bet-El, dort will ich eine Schlachtstatt errichten der Gottheit, die mir erwiderte am Tag meiner Drangsal, die bei mir gewesen ist auf dem Weg, den ich ging. 4Sie gaben Jaakob alle Götter der Fremde, die in ihrer Hand, dazu die Weihringe, die in ihren Ohren waren, und Jaakob verscharrte sie unter der Gotteiche, die bei Sichem ist. 5Dann brachen sie auf. Und eine Gottesscheu lag auf den Städten, die rings um sie waren, daß sie nicht nachsetzten Jaakobs Söhnen. 6Jaakob kam nach Lus im Land Kanaan, das ist Bet-El, er und alles Volk, das bei ihm war. 7Er baute dort eine Schlachtstatt und rief dem Ort zu: Gottheit von Bet-El! Denn dort hatten sich die Gottmächte ihm offenbart, als er vor seinem Bruder entwich. 8Debora, die Amme Ribkas, starb, sie wurde begraben unterhalb von Bet-El, unter der Steineiche, und die nannte man Steineiche des Weinens. 9Gott ließ von Jaakob sich noch einmal sehen, als er aus der Aramäerflur gekommen war, und segnete ihn. 10Gott sprach zu ihm: Jaakob ist dein Name, Jaakob werde nicht fürder dein Name gerufen, sondern Jissrael soll dein Name sein. Und er rief seinen Namen: Jissrael! 11Gott sprach zu ihm: Ich bin der Gewaltige Gott. Fruchte und mehre dich! Stamm, Versammlung von Stämmen soll aus dir werden, Könige fahren von deinen Lenden aus. 12Das Land, das ich Abraham und Jizchak gab, dir gebe ich es, deinem Samen nach dir gebe ich das Land. 13Gott stieg auf, hinauf von ihm, an dem Ort, wo er mit ihm geredet hatte. 14Jaakob erstellte ein Standmal an dem Ort, wo er mit ihm geredet hatte, ein Standmal von Stein, er goß einen Guß darauf und schüttete Öl darauf. 15Jaakob rief den Namen des Ortes, wo Gott mit ihm geredet hatte: Bet-El, Haus der Gottheit! 16Sie brachen auf von Bet-El. Als es nur noch eine Strecke Lands war, nach Efrat zu kommen, gebar Rachel, und es fiel sie hart an über ihrem Gebären. 17Es geschah, wie es ihr so hart wurde zu gebären, die Geburtshelferin sprach zu ihr: Fürchte dich nimmer, gewiß, auch dieser wird dir ein Sohn! 18Es geschah, wie ihr Odem ausfuhr, denn sie war im Sterben: sie rief seinen Namen: Benoni, Sohn meines Unheils. Aber sein Vater rief ihm: Binjamin, Sohn der rechten Hand. 19Rachel starb. Sie wurde begraben auf dem Weg nach Efrat, das ist Betlehem. 20Jaakob stellte ein Standmal auf ihr Grab, das ist Rachels Grabmal bis heut. 21Jissrael brach auf und spannte sein Zelt über Herdenturm hinaus. 22Es geschah, als Jissrael in jenem Lande wohnte: Ruben ging hin und lag Bilha, dem Kebsweib seines Vaters, bei. Jissrael hörte davon - Zwölf also waren der Söhne Jaakobs, 23Die Söhne Leas: Ruben, Jaakobs Erstling, Schimon, Lewi und Jehuda, Jissachar und Sbulun. 24Die Söhne Rachels: Jossef und Binjamin. 25Die Söhne Bilhas, der Magd Rachels: Dan und Naftali. 26Die Söhne Silpas, der Magd Leas: Gad und Ascher. Diese sind die Söhne Jaakobs, die ihm in der Aramäerflur geboren wurden. 27Jaakob kam zu Jizchak seinem Vater nach Mamre, der Burg Arbas, das ist Hebron, wo gegastet hatte Abraham und Jizchak. 28Als der Tage Jizchaks hundert Jahre und achtzig Jahre waren, da verschied Jizchak. 29Er starb und wurde zu seinen Volkleuten eingeholt, alt, an Tagen satt. Ihn begruben Essaw und Jaakob seine Söhne.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 REMOVAL TO BETHEL. (
Gen 35:1-
Gen 35:15)
God said unto Jacob, Arise, &c.--This command was given seasonably in point of time and tenderly in respect of language. The disgraceful and perilous events that had recently taken place in the patriarch's family must have produced in him a strong desire to remove without delay from the vicinity of Shechem. Borne down by an overwhelming sense of the criminality of his two sons--of the offense they had given to God and the dishonor they had brought on the true faith; distracted, too, with anxiety about the probable consequences which their outrage might bring upon himself and family, should the Canaanite people combine to extirpate such a band of robbers and murderers; he must have felt this call as affording a great relief to his afflicted feelings. At the same time it conveyed a tender rebuke.
go up to Beth-el--Beth-el was about thirty miles south of Shechem and was an ascent from a low to a highland country. There, he would not only be released from the painful associations of the latter place but be established on a spot that would revive the most delightful and sublime recollections. The pleasure of revisiting it, however, was not altogether unalloyed.
make there an altar unto God, that appeared--It too frequently happens that early impressions are effaced through lapse of time, that promises made in seasons of distress, are forgotten; or, if remembered on the return of health and prosperity, there is not the same alacrity and sense of obligation felt to fulfil them. Jacob was lying under that charge. He had fallen into spiritual indolence. It was now eight or ten years since his return to Canaan. He had effected a comfortable settlement and had acknowledged the divine mercies, by which that return and settlement had been signally distinguished (compare
Gen 33:19). But for some unrecorded reason, his early vow at Beth-el [
Gen 28:20-
Gen 28:22], in a great crisis of his life, remained unperformed. The Lord appeared now to remind him of his neglected duty, in terms, however, so mild, as awakened less the memory of his fault, than of the kindness of his heavenly Guardian; and how much Jacob felt the touching nature of the appeal to that memorable scene at Beth-el, appears in the immediate preparations he made to arise and go up thither (
Ps 66:13).
2 Then Jacob said unto his household . . . Put away the strange gods that are among you--Hebrew, "gods of the stranger," of foreign nations. Jacob had brought, in his service, a number of Mesopotamian retainers, who were addicted to superstitious practices; and there is some reason to fear that the same high testimony as to the religious superintendence of his household could not have been borne of him as was done of Abraham (
Gen 18:19). He might have been too negligent hitherto in winking at these evils in his servants; or, perhaps, it was not till his arrival in Canaan, that he had learnt, for the first time, that one nearer and dearer to him was secretly infected with the same corruption (
Gen 31:34). Be that as it may, he resolved on an immediate and thorough reformation of his household; and in commanding them to put away the strange gods, he added,
be clean, and change your garments--as if some defilement, from contact with idolatry, should still remain about them. In the law of Moses, many ceremonial purifications were ordained and observed by persons who had contracted certain defilements, and without the observance of which, they were reckoned unclean and unfit to join in the social worship of God. These bodily purifications were purely figurative; and as sacrifices were offered before the law, so also were external purifications, as appears from the words of Jacob; hence it would seem that types and symbols were used from the fall of man, representing and teaching the two great doctrines of revealed truth--namely, the atonement of Christ and the sanctification of our nature.
4 they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods . . . and earrings--Strange gods, the "seraphim" (compare
Gen 31:30), as well, perhaps, as other idols acquired among the Shechemite spoil--earrings of various forms, sizes, and materials, which are universally worn in the East, and, then as now, connected with incantation and idolatry (compare
Hos 2:13). The decided tone which Jacob now assumed was the probable cause of the alacrity with which those favorite objects of superstition were surrendered.
Jacob hid them under the oak--or terebinth--a towering tree, which, like all others of the kind, was a striking object in the scenery of Palestine; and beneath which, at Shechem, the patriarch had pitched his tent. He hid the images and amulets, delivered to him by his Mesopotamian dependents, at the root of this tree. The oak being deemed a consecrated tree, to bury them at its root was to deposit them in a place where no bold hand would venture to disturb the ground; and hence it was called from this circumstance--"the plain of Meonenim"--that is, "the oak of enchantments" (
Judg 9:37); and from the great stone which Joshua set up--"the oak of the pillar" (
Judg 9:6).
5 the terror of God was upon the cities--There was every reason to apprehend that a storm of indignation would burst from all quarters upon Jacob's family, and that the Canaanite tribes would have formed one united plan of revenge. But a supernatural panic seized them; and thus, for the sake of the "heir of the promise," the protecting shield of Providence was specially held over his family.
6 So Jacob came to Luz . . . that is, Beth-el--It is probable that this place was unoccupied ground when Jacob first went to it; and that after that period [CALVIN], the Canaanites built a town, to which they gave the name of Luz [
Gen 28:19], from the profusion of almond trees that grew around. The name of Beth-el, which would, of course, be confined to Jacob and his family, did not supersede the original one, till long after. It is now identified with the modern Beitin and lies on the western slope of the mountain on which Abraham built his altar (
Gen 12:8).
7 El-Beth-el--that is, "the God of Beth-el."
8 Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died--This event seems to have taken place before the solemnities were commenced. Deborah (Hebrew, a "bee"), supposing her to have been fifty years on coming to Canaan, had attained the great age of a hundred eighty. When she was removed from Isaac's household to Jacob's, is unknown. But it probably was on his return from Mesopotamia; and she would have been of invaluable service to his young family. Old nurses, like her, were not only honored, but loved as mothers; and, accordingly, her death was the occasion of great lamentation. She was buried under the oak--hence called "the terebinth of tears" (compare
1Kgs 13:14). God was pleased to make a new appearance to him after the solemn rites of devotion were over. By this manifestation of His presence, God testified His acceptance of Jacob's sacrifice and renewed the promise of the blessings guaranteed to Abraham and Isaac [
Gen 35:11-
Gen 35:12]; and the patriarch observed the ceremony with which he had formerly consecrated the place, comprising a sacramental cup, along with the oil that he poured on the pillar, and reimposing the memorable name [
Gen 35:14]. The whole scene was in accordance with the character of the patriarchal dispensation, in which the great truths of religion were exhibited to the senses, and "the world's grey fathers" taught in a manner suited to the weakness of an infantile condition.
13 God went up from him--The presence of God was indicated in some visible form and His acceptance of the sacrifice shown by the miraculous descent of fire from heaven, consuming it on the altar.
16 BIRTH OF BENJAMIN--DEATH OF RACHEL, &c. (
Gen 35:16-
Gen 35:27)
And they journeyed from Beth-el--There can be no doubt that much enjoyment was experienced at Beth-el, and that in the religious observances solemnized, as well as in the vivid recollections of the glorious vision seen there, the affections of the patriarch were powerfully animated and that he left the place a better and more devoted servant of God. When the solemnities were over, Jacob, with his family, pursued a route directly southward, and they reached Ephrath, when they were plunged into mourning by the death of Rachel, who sank in childbirth, leaving a posthumous son [
Gen 35:18]. A very affecting death, considering how ardently the mind of Rachel had been set on offspring (compare
Gen 30:1).
18 She called his name Ben-oni--The dying mother gave this name to her child, significant of her circumstances; but Jacob changed his name into Benjamin. This is thought by some to have been originally Benjamin, "a son of days," that is, of old age. But with its present ending it means "son of the right hand," that is, particularly dear and precious.
19 Ephrath, which is Beth-lehem--The one, the old name; the other, the later name, signifying "house of bread."
20 and Jacob set a pillar on her grave . . . unto this day--The spot still marked out as the grave of Rachel exactly agrees with the Scriptural record, being about a mile from Beth-lehem. Anciently it was surmounted by a pyramid of stones, but the present tomb is a Mohammedan erection.
26 Sons of Jacob . . . born to him in Padan-aram--It is a common practice of the sacred historian to say of a company or body of men that which, though true of the majority, may not be applicable to every individual. (See
Matt 19:28;
John 20:24;
Heb 11:13). Here is an example, for Benjamin was born in Canaan [
Gen 35:16-
Gen 35:18].
29 DEATH OF ISAAC. (
Gen 35:28-
Gen 35:29)
Isaac gave up the ghost--The death of this venerable patriarch is here recorded by anticipation for it did not take place till fifteen years after Joseph's disappearance. Feeble and blind though he was, he lived to a very advanced age; and it is a pleasing evidence of the permanent reconciliation between Esau and Jacob that they met at Mamre to perform the funeral rites of their common father.