Genesis 35

Sunday Morning Bible Study

August 5, 2007

Introduction

Four expectant fathers were in a hospital waiting room while their wives were in labor. The nurse arrived and announced to the first man, “Congratulations sir! You’re the father of twins.” “What a coincidence!” the man said with some obvious pride. “I work for the Minnesota Twins baseball team.” The nurse returned in a little while and turned to the second man, “You, sir, are the father of triplets.” “Wow! That’s really an incredible coincidence,” he answered. “I work for 3M. My buddies will never let me live this one down.” An hour later, while the other two men were passing cigars around, the nurse came back. This time she turned to the third man, who had been very quiet in the corner. She announced that his wife had just given birth to quadruplets. Stunned, he barely could reply. “Don’t tell me, another coincidence?” asked the nurse. After finally regaining his composure, he said, “I don’t believe it. I work for the Four Seasons Hotel.” After hearing this, everybody’s attention turned to the fourth guy, who had just fainted, flat out on the floor. The nurse rushed to his side and after some time, he slowly gained consciousness. When he was finally able to speak, you could hear him whispering the same phrase over and over again: “I should have never taken that job at 7-Up. I should have never taken that job at 7-Up. I should have never taken that job at 7-Up...”

As I was working on Genesis 35, I began to notice these strange kinds of coincidences. Lots of things will happen in twos:

Jacob goes to Bethel for the second time.

There will be two terebinth trees.

There will be two pillars.

Jacob gets a second name for the second time.

Rachel gives birth to her second son.

The baby son gets two names.

Two important women die.

Genesis 35

:1-8 Back to Bethel

:1 Then God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother."

Jacob has been living in Shechem. It was in Shechem that his daughter was raped and his sons retaliated by wiping out the city. He’s on the run. Bethel is about 20 miles south.

Bethel was where Jacob had his first encounter with God. Jacob dreamed that he saw a ladder between heaven and earth with the angels going up and down on the ladder. God spoke to Jacob and promised to protect him and bless him. (Gen. 28:12-15)

(Gen 28:12-15 NKJV) Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. {13} And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: "I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. {14} "Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. {15} "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you."

Jesus told Nathanael that He was that ladder between heaven and earth (John 1:51).

The Bible indicates that mankind has a tough time getting to God because of our sin. Our sin creates a huge gulf between us and God, a chasm too large to get across.

Jesus has bridged that chasm by dying on the cross. He paid for our sins by dying in our place. He has bridged the gap between us and God.

I see Bethel as a huge reminder of Jesus, the bridge to God.

:2 And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments.

When Jacob left uncle Laban, Rachel stole her father’s “household idols” (teraphim).

:3 "Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone."

:4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree which was by Shechem.

earrings – nexem – ring; nose ring (woman’s ornament); earring (ornament of men or women); for some reason their rings must have had a tie to a foreign god.

Terebinth trees were often used as landmarks because of their longevity. They were useful in making turpentine and tanning leather. This particular one is found in three other passages (Gen. 12:6; Judg. 9:6; 9:37).

terebinth – ‘elah – terebinth. What’s with the Terebinth tree???

These trees had an unusual appearance and were known for their longevity. This made them important as landmarks (Josh. 19:33; Judg. 4:11)

The tree had some practical value. It was used in making turpentine which is not only a great paint thinner, but when mixed with animal fat makes a medicine like Vick’s Vapo-rub, it is also a treatment for lice. The fruit was sometimes used in baking bread. The resins found in it were also used for tanning leather.

This particular terebinth tree was quite famous.

It was mentioned with Abraham’s first stop in Canaan (Gen. 12:6)

(Gen 12:6 NKJV) Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.

Gideon’s son Abimelech will be made king at the terebinth tree in Shechem (Judg. 9:6).

Later, during a battle of Abimelech’s, the tree outside Shechem was called the “Diviner’s Terebinth Tree” (Judg. 9:37).

David’s son Absalom was killed when his hair got caught in a terebinth tree (2Sam. 18:9).

Isaiah seems to hint that some sort of idolatry took place at times with terebinth trees (Is. 1:29)

:5 And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

Jacob was worried that the inhabitants of the land would all band together and attack his family. Instead, the people are all terrified and avoid Jacob’s family. It appears that God is taking care of Jacob’s family.

:6 So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.

:7 And he built an altar there and called the place El Bethel, because there God appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother.

El Bethel (sounds Spanish, doesn’t it?) – “God of the House of God”

Lesson

Come back to Jesus

You could make a case that Jacob’s life and family were falling apart. His daughter Dinah has been raped. His sons are now mass murderers. He can’t run to uncle Laban. And I’m not sure he’s ready to ask his brother Esau for help.

God tells him to go back to Bethel. Go back to the place where there was a ladder to God – come back to Jesus. Bring the family. And that’s what Jacob does.

Jacob realizes that going back to God meant some changes needed to happen. He’s met God and so he has a sense of God’s holiness and realized that there were some things that had crept into the family that needed to go.

(Gen 35:2 NKJV) And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments.

For Jacob’s family the changes involved:

1. Foreign gods – the kinds of things that tend to become more important in your life than God Himself. What are the things that get in the way of your relationship with God? What are the things that you obsess about?

When you come back to God, you need to leave the other “gods” behind.

2. Personal cleansing – Jacob may have meant that they needed to take a bath, but the idea speaks more of dealing with the issues inside your heart. For us today, we know just how this is done:

Confess your sins to God:

(1 John 1:9 NKJV) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Wash your minds with God’s Word:

(Eph 5:26 NKJV) …cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,

3. Changing clothes – your outer appearance needs to change. Change should always start on the inside, but if the outside never changes, then I doubt the inside has changed. I’m not sure I’d limit this to the kinds of clothes, but the kind of life you live, the life that others see.

(Mat 5:16 NKJV) "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

What kind of changes should I be making?

I know there might be some churches who would be glad to give you a list of the things you need to change. And there are definitely some things in the Scripture that God doesn’t kid around about like…

Don’t get drunk (Eph. 5:18)

(Eph 5:18 NKJV) And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,

Flee sexual immorality (1Cor. 6:18)

(1 Cor 6:18 NKJV) Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.

Pay your taxes (Rom. 13:7)

(Rom 13:7 NKJV) Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

But there are also plenty of things that I can’t tell you about, things that God will be speaking to your heart about.

I won’t tell you what movies to watch. I won’t tell you what music to listen to. I won’t tell you what kind of clothes to wear.

But I do have this suggestion –

Would you watch, listen, or wear what you do in God’s presence? In front of your wife or husband? Would you do it in front of me?

:8 Now Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the terebinth tree. So the name of it was called Allon Bachuth.

Allon Bachuth – “terebinth of weeping” – this would be a place of sorrow for Jacob’s family. This is the second “T” tree in the chapter.

Deborah – D@bowrah – “bee”

If you are paying attention, this verse seems kind of out of place. Who is Deborah and why is she mentioned?

She was a nurse to Rebekah, Jacob’s mother! She was part of the group that accompanied Rebekah when she left home to marry Isaac:

(Gen 24:59 NKJV) So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men.

That event took place about 120 years earlier. If Deborah is Rebekah’s nurse, she would have been something close to 30 years old when she accompanied Rebekah, making her at least 150 years old when she died.

Keep in mind that Jacob is about 100 years old at this time. Jacob was born 20 years after his mother came to live with his father Isaac (Gen. 25:26).

Why was she with Jacob? She either had accompanied Jacob when he went back to Syria to find his own wife, or she reunited with Jacob after he’s been back in the land.

She was a treasured part of the family. She gets mentioned in the family history.

:9-15 God appears at Bethel

:9 Then God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Padan Aram, and blessed him.

God appeared to Jacob like He did the first time when he was running away from home.

:10 And God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name." So He called his name Israel.

God had changed the name of Jacob’s grandfather as well.

(Gen 17:5 NKJV) "No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.

Abram – “exalted father” / Abraham – “father of a multitude”

Jacob had already been renamed Israel when he wrestled with the mysterious “angel” over ten years earlier:

(Gen 32:28 NKJV) And He said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed."

Jacob – Ya‘aqob – “heel catcher” or “trickster”

Israel – Yisra’el – “Governed by God”, “He prevails with God”

This is now the second time Jacob is told about this second name.

Why does God reiterate the name change?

Some teachers make a point that every time Jacob is called “Jacob”, that there’s a hint at his old fleshly nature being at work, while every time the name “Israel” is used, he’s more spiritual. I would challenge you to search the rest of Genesis for the names of Israel and Jacob and see if this is true. So far, I personally have a hard time seeing any difference between the usage of the two words.

What I do see is a change after this verse in how the name Israel is used.

Before this verse (and after the angel gives him the name), the name “Israel” is only used a couple of times (Gen. 32:32; 33:20; 34:7), and it’s not used to describe the man personally.

After this verse, the name “Israel” starts to be used interchangeably as Jacob’s own second name. The name isn’t just used to describe the nation or the family, but the actual man himself.

Lesson

A changed life

The name means both “prevailing with God” and “governed by God”. It implies a deep relationship between this man and God. He is not just someone who has read about God in the newspaper, Jacob has actually met God and God has changed him. He prevailed over God in his prayers about meeting his brother Esau – Jacob was worried that Esau was going to wipe him and his family out. God prevailed over Jacob because God touched him and crippled him, reminding Jacob of who is really the one in control. Jacob is nothing without God.

Jacob has been touched by God, but now God is inviting Jacob into a daily relationship with Him where it’s not just “I met God one day”. God wants Jacob to relate to him on a daily basis, to carry this encounter in his name, in how people refer to Jacob as the one who has influence with God as well as the one who is learning to be governed by God.

Have you made that step in your relationship with God?

I grew up in a Christian home, but I didn’t really understand the gospel until I was in eighth grade. That’s when I came to know that Jesus died for me and that I could actually know God personally. I asked Jesus into my heart and He forgave my sins and gave me eternal life.

But it wasn’t until I was a sophomore in high school that it began to dawn on me that God wanted more of my life than just coming to church on Sundays and occasionally reading a little in my Bible. The big change came when a girl friend invited me to a prayer meeting at Melodyland and I experienced what we call the “baptism of the Holy Spirit”. Yes, I spoke in tongues. But it’s not about speaking in tongues, it’s about surrendering your entire life to God. It’s not keeping God in a little box you pull out on Sundays. It’s learning to walk with Him more and more through your entire week.

Jesus told us how to receive this power of the Holy Spirit:

(John 7:37-39 NKJV) …"If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. {38} "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." {39} But this He spoke concerning the Spirit…

You have to desire this work of God in your life. You have to be “thirsty” for it. You need to come to Jesus – He’s the one you need to be asking for it. You need to drink, receive, and simply believe that He has filled you once you ask.

:11 Also God said to him: "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.

God Almighty – El Shadday – almighty, most powerful; some say this comes from the word for “destruction” (shadad), others see this related for the word “mountain” picturing God as the overpowering One standing on a mountain, others see this as coming from the word for “breast” (shad), that God is the supplier and nourisher of our lives. The scholars who translated the OT into Greek did something interesting with this word. Rather than just translate it, they made it personal, “YOUR God” (sou) or at times “MY God” (mou). I like that.

:12 "The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land."

God reiterates His promises to Jacob.

:13 Then God went up from him in the place where He talked with him.

:14 So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it.

pillar – matstsebeth – pillar, mastaba, stump

The word is found 31 times in the Old Testament and in all but four verses it seems to have to do with the worship of either God or some idol. Three of the exception verses are when Jacob set up a “pillar” as a witness between he and Laban, a sort of border between them (Gen. 31). The fourth is when Jacob sets up a “pillar” on Rachel’s grave (35:20).

Jacob did something just like he’s doing now the last time he met God at Bethel:

(Gen 28:18 NKJV) Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it.

drink offering – he poured wine on the pillar

:15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel.

Beth-el – “House of God”

Notice the name used – “Jacob”

:16-20 Rachel Dies

:16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. And when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel labored in childbirth, and she had hard labor.

Ephrath is about 15 miles south of Bethel.

There are no emergency rooms to go to. Childbirth in ancient times was a dangerous thing. Many women died in childbirth.

I think this is what Paul was referring to when he wrote this odd little instruction to Timothy:

(1 Tim 2:15 NKJV) Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.

Paul wasn’t saying that a woman is saved when she has children. He’s encouraging the women who are pregnant not to be afraid. If they continue to trust in the Lord they will be saved, even if they die during childbirth.

:17 Now it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said to her, "Do not fear; you will have this son also."

The midwife was able to see that the baby was a boy, and she was trying to encourage Rachel with this news.

When Rachel had her first son about fifteen years earlier, she named him Joseph which meant

(Gen 30:24 NKJV) …"The LORD shall add to me another son."

:18 And so it was, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-Oni; but his father called him Benjamin.

Ben-Oni – “son of my sorrow” / Benjamin – “son of the right hand”

Jacob does not want his son growing up reminded that he caused his mother’s death.

:19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

Ephrath – “place of fruitfulness” / Bethlehem – “house of bread”

This is the first time Bethlehem is mentioned. It won’t be the last.

It will be the birthplace of King David. It will be the birthplace of the Messiah:

(Micah 5:2 NKJV) "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting."

:20 And Jacob set a pillar on her grave, which is the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day.

pillar – matstsebeth – pillar, mastaba, stump

:21-22 Reuben’s sin

:21 Then Israel journeyed and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

Note again the name. “Jacob” (vs.20). This verse is “Israel”.

tower of Eder – a shepherd’s watchtower located between Bethlehem and Hebron. Bethlehem is fourteen miles north of Hebron, this is somewhere in between.

:22 And it happened, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine; and Israel heard about it.

:22b – 26 Twelve Sons

We have a listing of Jacob’s twelve sons.

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:

:23 the sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun;

:24 the sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin;

:25 the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant, were Dan and Naphtali;

:26 and the sons of Zilpah, Leah's maidservant, were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Padan Aram.

:27-29 Isaac Dies

:27 Then Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kirjath Arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had dwelt.

Jacob has now moved a total of about fifty miles south from the beginning of the chapter at Shechem to the end here in Hebron.

:28 Now the days of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years.

Trivia buffs: This makes Jacob 120 years old when his father dies (Gen. 25:26). If you jump forward, you will find that this event takes place twelve years after Joseph is sold as a slave into Egypt. Isaac dies the year before Joseph is exalted in Egypt.

How? If Joseph was 30 years old when he was exalted in Egypt (41:46), and Jacob was 130 years old after Joseph had been ruling for nine years (45:11; 47:9), making Joseph 39 years old when Jacob was 130, that would make Jacob 91 years old when Joseph was born. That means that if Joseph was 17 when he was sold into Egypt, Jacob was 108 at the time.

:29 So Isaac breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

gathered to his people – Isaac was buried at the cave of Machpelah which Abraham purchased from the Hittites (Gen. 23).

Back to 35:22 And it happened, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine; and Israel heard about it.

Reuben sleeps with one of his father’s wives, the concubine Bilhah. We only are given a single sentence of this event, but it will have implications for Reuben’s future.

When Jacob is giving out prophetic blessings to his sons at the end of his life, this incident comes up:

(Gen 49:3-4 NKJV) "Reuben, you are my firstborn, My might and the beginning of my strength, The excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. {4} Unstable as water, you shall not excel, Because you went up to your father's bed; Then you defiled it; He went up to my couch.

Reuben was the firstborn son, the one who should have gotten the “birthright”, a double portion of the inheritance. But we will see in history that the “birthright” will go to Joseph, not to Reuben. What Jacob says here is not a way of getting payback for what Reuben did to hurt Jacob, it’s a prophetic word that points out a principle.

Jacob saw that Reuben would “not excel” because of his lack of sexual self-control.

Lesson

Excellence is limited by self-control

This lesson isn’t always learned too quickly. Some of us might have above-average looks or intelligence and think that we can just skate through life. But when you get out of your little fishpond into the big ocean of life, you will find that you can’t get by with skating. It takes self-control.

Samson was a man with great potential. He had great physical strength, but he was brought down by his lack of self-control.

In a department store a young husband was minding the baby while his wife was making a purchase. The infant was wailing, but the father seemed quite unperturbed as he quietly said, “Easy now, Albert,” he murmured, “keep your temper.” A woman passing by remarked, “I must congratulate you! You seem to know just how to speak to a baby.” “Baby nothing!” came the reply. “MY name is Albert!”

Some of us tell ourselves that we just can’t control ourselves.

But if you’ll pay attention to yourself, you’ll realize that you can very much control yourself in the things you want to.

Some of us don’t have any problem getting ourselves to eat. I seem to always find a way to eat, whether I need to or not.

When that movie comes out that you’ve been waiting to see, is it difficult to get yourself to go see it?

It’s about motivation – I saw a short video this week where people were asked about how often they share their faith. The people interviewed talked about how hard it was to witness. Then they were asked if they would share their faith with a stranger if they were paid a hundred dollars. The people all responded with, “Sure I’d do it!”

Wouldn’t it be amazing to think what would happen if we were as driven by our love for the Lord as we were by our love to make money?

Whether it’s your job or your ministry, you can’t just get by with winging it week to week. We need to learn disciplines of self-control and diligence.

Paul wrote:

(1 Cor 9:24-27 NKJV) Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. {25} And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. {26} Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. {27} But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

The ones who win the prize tend to be the ones who have learned to be “temperate” or “self-controlled”. Over the long haul, excellence in life doesn’t come from taking shortcuts, it comes from learning self control.