@Ge 35:1-15. REMOVAL TO BETHEL.
1. 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
@Ge 33:19). But for some unrecorded reason, his early vow at Beth-el
[@Ge 28:20-22], 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 (@Ge 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 (@Ge 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 @Ge 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 @Ho 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" (@Jud 9:37); and from
the great stone which Joshua set up--"the oak of the pillar"
(@Jud 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 [@Ge 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 (@Ge 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 @1Ki 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 [@Ge 35:11,12]; 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 [@Ge 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.
@Ge 35:16-27. BIRTH OF BENJAMIN--DEATH OF RACHEL, &c.
16. 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 [@Ge 35:18]. A very affecting death, considering how ardently the mind of Rachel had been set on offspring (compare @Ge 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 @Mt 19:28 Joh 20:24 Heb 11:13). Here is an example, for Benjamin was born in Canaan [@Ge 35:16-18].
@Ge 35:28,29. DEATH OF ISAAC.
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.