Genesis 35

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Arise, go up' (qum aleh) — two imperatives in rapid sequence. Qum ('arise') signals urgency and decisive action; aleh ('go up') reflects the higher elevation of Bethel relative to Shechem. The combination conveys a divine summons: God is moving Jacob away from Shechem after the violence of chapter 34. The verb aleh also carries theological overtones — one 'goes up' to holy places.
2. 'Bethel' (Beit-El, 'house of God') — God calls Jacob back to the place of his original theophany (28:10-22), where Jacob vowed that if God brought him safely home, the LORD would be his God. Decades have passed. The vow remains unfulfilled. God's command is simultaneously a rescue from Shechem and a call to fulfill long-deferred worship.
3. 'The God who appeared to you when you fled' — God identifies himself by the specific encounter at Bethel. The phrase 'when you fled from the face of Esau your brother' recalls Jacob's fear and vulnerability. The God who met the fugitive now summons the patriarch.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Foreign gods' (elohei hannekhar) — the presence of foreign gods in Jacob's household is startling. These may include the teraphim Rachel stole from Laban (31:19), objects acquired from the Shechemites after the massacre (ch. 34), or idols carried by servants and concubines. Jacob's command reveals that syncretism had taken root in his own family — the very household of the covenant heir harbors pagan images.
2. 'Purify yourselves and change your garments' (vehittaharu vehachalifu simloteikhem) — Jacob prescribes a ritual of purification: inner cleansing ('purify yourselves') and outward transformation ('change your garments'). Changing garments symbolizes a change of identity and status. This is proto-liturgical preparation — before approaching God at Bethel, the household must undergo a separation from contamination. The pattern anticipates later priestly purification requirements.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'The God who answered me in the day of my distress' (ha'El ha'oneh oti beyom tsarati) — Jacob defines God not by abstract attributes but by personal experience: God answered him when he was in trouble. The 'day of distress' encompasses his flight from Esau, his years under Laban, and perhaps the recent crisis at Shechem. Jacob's theology is biographical — God is known through what he has done.
2. 'Has been with me on the way that I have walked' (vayyehi immadi baderekh asher halakhti) — this echoes God's original promise at Bethel: 'I am with you and will keep you wherever you go' (28:15). Jacob now testifies to the fulfillment of that promise across decades of wandering. The 'way' (derekh) is both literal journey and metaphorical life-path.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'The rings that were in their ears' (hannesamim asher be'ozneihem) — earrings in the ancient Near East were not merely decorative; they often served as amulets or bore images of deities. Their surrender alongside the foreign gods indicates their cultic significance. The household surrenders both the idols and their associated talismans.
2. 'Jacob buried them' (vayyitmon otam) — the verb taman means 'to hide, bury, conceal.' Jacob does not destroy the objects but buries them, rendering them inaccessible. The oak (elah) at Shechem may be the same tree mentioned in connection with Abraham's first altar in the land (12:6). There is irony in this location: Shechem, site of the recent violence, becomes the burial ground for false worship. Jacob leaves both the massacre and the idols behind as he departs for Bethel.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'A terror from God' (chittat Elohim) — a supernatural dread that paralyzes potential enemies. After the massacre at Shechem, Jacob feared retaliation from neighboring peoples (34:30). Instead, God intervenes with a divinely imposed terror that prevents pursuit. The phrase chittat Elohim occurs also in 1 Samuel 14:15 and Job 6:4. This is not natural fear but a God-sent panic — the same kind of intervention that will later protect Israel in the wilderness (Exodus 23:27).
2. The verse answers Jacob's anxious complaint of 34:30 ('you have made me odious to the inhabitants of the land'). God provides protection precisely when Jacob's family is most vulnerable, as they travel in the open between Shechem and Bethel.

Translator Notes

1. 'Luz, that is Bethel' — the narrator provides the older Canaanite name (Luz) alongside the name Jacob gave it (Bethel, 28:19). This editorial note anchors the site geographically for readers who may know it by either name. The identification pattern 'X, that is Y' appears frequently in Genesis to connect ancient place names with later designations.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'El-Bethel' (El Beit-El, 'God of the house of God') — Jacob names the altar not simply Bethel but El-Bethel, emphasizing the deity who dwells at the site. The name shifts focus from the place to the God of the place.
2. 'God had revealed himself' (niglu elav ha'Elohim) — the verb niglu is the niphal plural of galah ('to uncover, reveal'). The plural form with the singular subject 'God' (ha'Elohim) is grammatically unusual. Some scholars see this as reflecting the plural form of Elohim; others view it as a plural of majesty. The verb galah in the niphal indicates divine self-disclosure — God actively chose to make himself known to the fleeing Jacob.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Deborah, Rebekah's nurse' (Devorah meineqet Rivqah) — Deborah appears without prior introduction in the Jacob narrative. She is last mentioned as accompanying the young Rebekah from Mesopotamia (24:59). Her presence in Jacob's household implies she joined him at some point — perhaps sent by Rebekah. That she is identified by her relationship to Rebekah (Jacob's mother) suggests Rebekah herself may already be dead, a death the narrative never records.
2. 'Allon-Bacuth' (Allon Bakhut, 'oak of weeping') — the name memorializes communal mourning. The weeping for a nurse seems disproportionate unless Deborah represents the last living link to Rebekah and the family left behind. Her death severs the last thread connecting Jacob to his mother, whom he never saw again after fleeing to Haran. The grief may be for Rebekah as much as for Deborah.

Translator Notes

1. 'God appeared to Jacob again' (vayyera Elohim el-Ya'aqov od) — the word 'again' (od) links this theophany to the earlier appearance at Bethel (28:13-15). The same God, the same place, a different Jacob. The fugitive who slept on a stone has become a patriarch with twelve sons, vast wealth, and a new name. The return to Bethel completes a narrative arc spanning chapters 28-35.
2. 'After he came from Paddan-Aram' — this temporal notice may refer to the broader journey from Mesopotamia rather than to an immediate arrival, since Jacob has been in Canaan for some time (chapters 33-34). The phrase serves to frame the entire Paddan-Aram sojourn as background for this climactic theophany.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The name change from Jacob to Israel was first declared at Peniel by the mysterious wrestler (32:28). Here God formally confirms it. The repetition is not redundant — the nighttime struggle at the Jabbok yielded the name through contest; at Bethel, God ratifies it through blessing. The two scenes complement each other: Peniel was earned through striving, Bethel is bestowed through grace.
2. 'Your name is Jacob' — God begins by stating Jacob's current identity before declaring the new one. The contrast is deliberate: Ya'aqov ('heel-grabber, supplanter') gives way to Yisra'el ('he strives with God' or 'God strives'). The old name embodies human scheming; the new name embodies divine encounter.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'El Shaddai' — God identifies himself by the name associated with the patriarchal covenant, the same title used with Abraham (17:1). The exact meaning of Shaddai remains debated: 'Almighty' (traditional), 'God of the mountain,' or 'the Sufficient One.' The rendering preserves the Hebrew title rather than translating it, since no single English word captures its range. The self-identification establishes continuity: the God who covenanted with Abraham now extends the same promises to Jacob/Israel.
2. 'Be fruitful and multiply' (pereh ureveh) — this command echoes the primordial blessing of creation (1:28) and the post-flood blessing to Noah (9:1). Its application to Jacob/Israel positions the covenant people within the creational mandate. The nation that will emerge is not a political accident but a fulfillment of the divine order embedded in creation itself.
3. 'Kings shall come forth from your body' (umelakhim mechalatsekha yetse'u) — the promise of royal descendants, first given to Abraham (17:6) and Sarah (17:16), is now transferred to Jacob. The word chalatsayim ('loins, body') emphasizes physical descent. This promise finds fulfillment in the Davidic monarchy and, in Christian reading, in the Messiah.

Translator Notes

1. The land promise, first given to Abraham (12:7; 13:15; 15:18) and confirmed to Isaac (26:3), is now extended to Jacob. The threefold chain — Abraham, Isaac, Jacob — establishes the full patriarchal succession of the covenant. The emphatic repetition ('to you I will give it, and to your offspring after you I will give the land') stresses both the immediate and perpetual nature of the grant.
2. 'Your offspring after you' (ulezar'akha acharekha) — the promise extends beyond Jacob to all future generations. The word zera ('seed, offspring') is collective, encompassing all descendants.

Translator Notes

1. 'God went up from him' (vayya'al me'alav Elohim) — the verb alah ('to go up, ascend') implies a visible departure, perhaps a vertical ascent. The language suggests a real, localized divine presence that arrived and now departs. This is not metaphorical communication but theophanic encounter — God was present in a manner that allowed for a visible departure. The same verb describes God's departure from Abraham in 17:22.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Pillar' (matstsevah) — a standing stone marker, as Jacob had erected after his first Bethel vision (28:18). This second pillar completes the symmetry: the first marked the initial vision, the second marks the confirmed covenant. Standing stones served as witnesses and memorials throughout the ancient Near East.
2. 'Drink offering' (nesekh) — this is the first mention of a drink offering (libation) in Scripture. The term will later become standard in Israelite sacrificial vocabulary (Numbers 15:5-10). Jacob's act is proto-liturgical: he pours out liquid (probably wine) as an offering to God. Combined with the oil (recalling 28:18), this constitutes a complete consecration of the sacred site.
3. 'Poured oil on it' (vayyitsoq aleha shamen) — oil anointing consecrates the pillar as sacred, setting it apart for God. Jacob did the same at his first visit to Bethel (28:18). The repetition of the act across decades signals faithfulness and fulfillment.

Translator Notes

1. Jacob re-names the place Bethel, confirming the name he first gave it in 28:19. The repetition is not redundant: it ratifies the earlier naming and establishes Bethel as the definitive name for this sacred site. The place has now been consecrated twice — once by a fleeing young man, once by a returning patriarch. The vow of 28:20-22 has been fulfilled.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Some distance' (kivrat ha'arets) — the exact meaning of kivrah is uncertain. It appears only here and in 48:7 and 2 Kings 5:19. Most interpreters take it as a measure of distance, perhaps a few miles. The vagueness heightens the pathos: Rachel goes into labor on the open road, not yet at their destination, with no shelter at hand.
2. 'Her labor was difficult' (vatteqash belidtah) — the verb qashah means 'to be hard, difficult, severe.' Rachel's first pregnancy was marked by years of barrenness and desperate prayer (30:1, 22-24). Her second pregnancy ends in fatal complications. The woman who cried 'Give me sons or I die' (30:1) will indeed die in the act of giving birth.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Do not be afraid' (al-tir'i) — the midwife's words of comfort take on tragic irony: the news that should bring joy arrives as Rachel is dying. The phrase 'this one also' (gam-zeh) recalls Rachel's naming of Joseph: 'May the LORD add to me another son' (30:24). Her prayer is answered — she receives another son — but the cost is her life.
2. 'The midwife' (hameyalledet) — the presence of a midwife on the road suggests that Jacob's traveling household included women skilled in birthing. The midwife's role — encouraging the dying mother with news of a son — echoes the midwives of Exodus 1:15-21 who will later preserve Israelite sons.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'As her soul was departing' (betse't nafshah) — the nephesh ('soul, life-breath') leaves the body at death. The phrase presents death as the departure of the animating life-force, a concept consistent with Genesis 2:7 where God breathes the neshamah (breath of life) into the first human. Rachel's nephesh goes out; her son's life begins. The juxtaposition is devastating.
2. 'Ben-Oni' — Rachel's dying name for her son. The meaning is debated: it can mean 'son of my sorrow' (oni from 'aven, meaning grief, trouble) or 'son of my vigor/strength' (oni from 'on, meaning vitality, vigor — as in 49:3 where Reuben is called 'the beginning of my strength'). If the latter, Rachel names her son with her last burst of strength. Both meanings may be operative: the child is born from sorrow and from the final expenditure of Rachel's vital force.
3. 'Benjamin' (Binyamin) — Jacob renames the child. Ben-yamin means 'son of the right hand,' with the right hand symbolizing strength, favor, and honor. Alternatively, yamin can mean 'south,' making the name 'son of the south' — reflecting his birth in the southern part of the land, unlike his brothers who were born in the north (Paddan-Aram). Jacob refuses to let the child carry a name of grief. He replaces sorrow with honor.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Rachel died' (vatamot Rachel) — the stark simplicity of the statement carries enormous weight. Rachel, the beloved wife for whom Jacob labored fourteen years, dies on the open road giving birth to her second son. She is not buried in the family tomb at Machpelah (ch. 23) but beside the road. The woman who was central to Jacob's story — his love, his labor, his longing — is laid to rest far from the ancestral burial ground.
2. 'Ephrath, that is Bethlehem' — the editorial note identifies the ancient name Ephrath with the later town of Bethlehem. Rachel's tomb on the road to Bethlehem becomes a landmark in Israelite memory. Jeremiah will invoke Rachel weeping at Ramah for her exiled children (Jeremiah 31:15), and Matthew applies this image to the slaughter of innocents (Matthew 2:18). Rachel's grave marks a site of perpetual mourning in Israel's consciousness.

Translator Notes

1. 'Jacob set up a pillar' (vayyatstsev Ya'aqov matstsevah) — this is Jacob's third pillar at Bethel or its vicinity (28:18; 35:14; now 35:20). But unlike the previous two, which marked divine encounters, this one marks death. The pillar over Rachel's grave serves as a permanent memorial — the narrator confirms its endurance 'to this day' (ad hayyom), indicating the monument was still standing when this text was composed.
2. 'To this day' (ad hayyom) — an editorial marker indicating that the author writes at a later time when Rachel's tomb pillar remains a known landmark. This phrase appears throughout Genesis to bridge the patriarchal past and the narrator's present (e.g., 19:38; 22:14; 26:33; 32:32).

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Israel journeyed' — the narrator uses the covenant name 'Israel' rather than 'Jacob,' perhaps signaling the patriarch's new identity in this phase of the story. The name shift often correlates with Jacob acting in his role as patriarch and covenant bearer.
2. 'Migdal-Eder' (Migdal Eder, 'tower of the flock') — a watchtower used by shepherds to guard their flocks, located between Bethlehem and Hebron. The name evokes the pastoral life of the patriarchs. Micah 4:8 will later use 'tower of the flock' as a title for Jerusalem/Zion. The brief geographical note transitions the narrative from Rachel's death to the next disturbing episode.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine' (vayyishkav et-Bilhah pilegesh aviv) — this shocking act receives no narrative elaboration. In the ancient Near East, taking a father's concubine was an assertion of authority over the household — a political act as much as a sexual one (cf. Absalom with David's concubines, 2 Samuel 16:22). Reuben, as firstborn, may be claiming patriarchal authority. Alternatively, some scholars suggest he acts to prevent Bilhah (Rachel's handmaid) from replacing Rachel in Jacob's bed after Rachel's death, thus protecting his mother Leah's status.
2. 'And Israel heard of it' (vayyishma Yisra'el) — the sentence breaks off with devastating abruptness. In the Masoretic text, a paragraph break (setumah or petuchah) falls mid-verse after 'Israel heard.' The silence is deafening: no recorded response, no punishment, no confrontation. Jacob's silence may reflect paralysis, grief, or calculated restraint. He will address Reuben's act only on his deathbed (49:3-4), stripping him of the firstborn's preeminence.
3. The abrupt transition to 'the sons of Jacob were twelve' shifts from scandal to genealogical record, as if the narrator deliberately closes the door on the incident and moves to the official family register.

Translator Notes

1. Leah's sons are listed first because Reuben is Jacob's firstborn (bekhor). The six sons of Leah constitute half the tribal heads of Israel. The list follows birth order. Despite Jacob's preference for Rachel, Leah's sons dominate the tribal structure — Judah will carry the royal line, Levi the priestly line.

Translator Notes

1. Rachel bore only two sons, the fewest of any of Jacob's wives, yet her sons hold outsized narrative significance. Joseph will dominate Genesis 37-50; Benjamin will become the tribe of Israel's first king (Saul). The brevity of this entry — just two names — contrasts with the lengthy narrative devoted to Rachel's story.

Translator Notes

1. Bilhah is identified as Rachel's shifchah ('female servant, handmaid'). Her sons Dan and Naphtali were born through the surrogate arrangement of 30:3-8. Though born to a servant, they are counted among Jacob's twelve sons without distinction in this official list.

Translator Notes

1. 'These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-Aram' — the summary note is technically imprecise: Benjamin was born in Canaan, not in Paddan-Aram (v. 16-18). The statement likely refers to the preceding list as a group associated with the Paddan-Aram period, with Benjamin included by anticipation since his mother was a wife from that era. Alternatively, the phrase may apply only to the immediately preceding sons of Zilpah, or the narrator may use 'Paddan-Aram' loosely to mean 'during Jacob's sojourn abroad and return.'
2. The complete list of twelve sons — six from Leah, two from Rachel, two from Bilhah, two from Zilpah — establishes the tribal structure of Israel. The number twelve will become constitutive of Israel's identity as a people.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Mamre, Kiriath-Arba, that is Hebron' — three names for the same location, layering historical periods: Mamre (the Amorite ally of Abraham, 14:13), Kiriath-Arba (the older Canaanite name, 'city of four' or 'city of Arba'), and Hebron (the name that endured). The site is associated with Abraham's altar (13:18) and the cave of Machpelah (ch. 23).
2. 'Where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned' (asher gar sham) — the verb gur ('to sojourn, reside as a foreigner') reminds the reader that even in the promised land, the patriarchs remained resident aliens. Jacob now joins the chain of sojourners at the ancestral home.

Translator Notes

1. Isaac's lifespan of 180 years places him between Abraham (175 years, 25:7) and Jacob (147 years, 47:28). The declining lifespans across generations continue the pattern established after the flood. Isaac's life receives the least narrative attention of the three patriarchs — he is often a passive figure — yet he lives the longest.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Breathed his last' (vayyigva) — the verb gava describes the expiration of breath, the final exhalation. It is used for Abraham's death (25:8) and will be used for Jacob's (49:33). The threefold death formula — 'breathed his last, died, and was gathered to his people' — is reserved for the patriarchs, investing their deaths with solemn dignity.
2. 'Old and full of days' (zaqen useva yamim) — the phrase echoes Abraham's death notice (25:8: 'old and full of years'). It signifies a life completed, not cut short — a death that comes at the right time after a full measure of living.
3. 'Esau and Jacob buried him' — the two brothers, long estranged, come together to bury their father, exactly as Ishmael and Isaac had together buried Abraham (25:9). The parallel is deliberate: in each generation, the excluded son and the chosen son unite in filial duty. The order 'Esau and Jacob' (not Jacob and Esau) may reflect Esau's status as the elder, or his geographic proximity to Hebron (he is in Seir, closer than wherever Jacob was). The burial scene suggests at least functional reconciliation — the brothers can share this sacred duty even if their paths will now diverge permanently.