G
E N E S I S
CHAP. XXXV.
In this chapter we have three communions and
three funerals. I. Three communions between God and Jacob. 1. God ordered
Jacob to Beth-el; and, in obedience to that order, he purged his house of
idols, and prepared for that journey, ver. 1-5. 2. Jacob built an altar at
Beth-el, to the honour of God that had appeared to him, and in performance of
his vow, ver. 6, 7. 3. God appeared to him again, and confirmed the change of
his name and covenant with him (ver. 9-13), of which appearance Jacob made a
grateful acknowledgment, ver. 14, 15. II. Three funerals. 1. Deborah's, ver.
8. 2. Rachel's, ver. 16-20. 3. Isaac's, ver. 27-29. Here is also Reuben's
incest (ver. 22), and an account of Jacob's sons, ver. 23-26.
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Jacob Summoned to Bethel; Jacob's Journeys towards Bethel.
B. C. 1732
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1 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up
to Beth-el, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared
unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. 2
Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him,
Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change
your garments: 3 And let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I
will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress,
and was with me in the way which I went. 4 And they gave unto
Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their
earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak
which was by Shechem. 5 And they journeyed: and the terror
of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not
pursue after the sons of Jacob.
Here, I. God
reminds Jacob of his vow at Beth-el, and sends him thither to perform it, v.
1. Jacob had said in the day of his distress, If I come again in peace,
this stone shall be God's house, ch. xxviii. 22. God had performed
his part of the bargain, and had given Jacob more than bread to eat and
raiment to put on--he had got an estate, and had become two bands; but, it
should seem, he had forgotten his vow, or at least had too long deferred the
performance of it. Seven or eight years it was now since he came to Canaan; he
had purchased ground there, and had built an altar in remembrance of God's
last appearance to him when he called him Israel (ch. xxxiii.
19, 20); but still Beth-el is forgotten. Note, Time is apt to wear out the
sense of mercies and the impressions made upon us by them; it should not be
so, but so it is. God had exercised Jacob with a very sore affliction in his
family (ch. xxxiv.), to see if this would bring his vow to his
remembrance, and put him upon the performance of it, but it had not this
effect; therefore God comes himself and puts him in mind of it: Arise, go
to Beth-el. Note, 1. As many as God loves he will remind of neglected
duties, one way or other, by conscience or by providences. 2. When we have
vowed a vow to God, it is best not to defer the payment of it (Eccles. v. 4),
yet better late than never. God bade him go to Beth-el and dwell there, that
is, not only go himself, but take his family with him, that they might join
with him in his devotions. Note, In Beth-el, the house of God, we should
desire to dwell, Ps. xxvii. 4. That should be our home, not our inn. God
reminds him not expressly of his vow, but of the occasion of it: When thou
fleddest from the face of Esau. Note, The remembrance of former
afflictions should bring to mind the workings of our souls under them, Ps.
lxvi. 13, 14.
II. Jacob
commands his household to prepare for this solemnity; not only for the journey
and remove, but for the religious services that were to be performed, v.
2, 3. Note, 1. Before solemn ordinances, there must be solemn preparation. Wash
you, make you clean, and then come, and let us reason together, Isa.
i. 16-18. 2. Masters of families should use their authority for the promoting
of religion in their families. Not only we, but our houses also, should serve
the Lord, Josh. xxiv. 15. Observe the commands he gives his household, like
Abraham, ch. xviii. 19. (1.) They must put away the strange gods.
Strange gods in Jacob's family! Strange things indeed! Could such a family,
that was taught the good knowledge of the Lord, admit them? Could such a
master, to whom God had appeared twice, and oftener, connive at them?
Doubtless this was his infirmity. Note, Those that are good themselves cannot
always have those about them so good as they should be. In those families
where there is a face of religion, and an altar to God, yet many times there
is much amiss, and more strange gods than one would suspect. In Jacob's
family, Rachel had her teraphim, which, it is to be feared, she
secretly made some superstitious use of. The captives of Shechem brought their
gods along with them, and perhaps Jacob's sons took some with the plunder.
However they came by them, now they must put them away. (2.) They must
be clean, and change their garments; they must observe a due decorum,
and make the best appearance they could. Simeon and Levi had their hands full
of blood, it concerned them particularly to wash, and to put off their
garments that were so stained. These were but ceremonies, signifying the
purification and change of the heart. What are clean clothes, and new clothes,
without a clean heart, and a new heart? Dr. Lightfoot, by their being
clean, or washing themselves, understands Jacob's admission of the
proselytes of Shechem and Syria into his religion by baptism, because
circumcision had become odious. 3. They must go with him to Beth-el, v.
3. Note, Masters of families, when they go up to the house of God, should
bring their families with them.
III. His family
surrendered all they had that was idolatrous or superstitious, v. 4.
Perhaps, if Jacob had called for them sooner, they would sooner have parted
with them, being convicted by their own consciences of the vanity of them.
Note, Sometimes attempts for reformation succeed better than one could have
expected, and people are not so obstinate against them as we feared. Jacob's
servants, and even the retainers of his family, gave him all the strange gods,
and the ear-rings they wore, either as charms or to the honour of their gods;
they parted with all. Note, Reformation is not sincere if it be not universal.
We hope they parted with them cheerfully, and without reluctance, as Ephraim
did, when he said, What have I to do any more with idols? (Hos. xiv.
8), or that people that said to their idols, Get you hence, Isa. xxx.
22. Jacob took care to bury their images, we may suppose
in some place unknown to them, that they might not afterwards find them and
return to them. Note, We must be wholly separated from our sins, as we are
from those that are dead and buried out of our sight, cast them to the
moles and the bats, Isa. ii. 20.
IV. He removes
without molestation from Shechem to Bethel, v. 5. The terror of God
was upon the cities. Though the Canaanites were much exasperated against
the sons of Jacob for their barbarous usage of the Shechemites, yet they were
so restrained by a divine power that they could not take this fair
opportunity, which now offered itself, when they were upon their march, to
avenge their neighbours' quarrel. Note, The way of duty is the way of safety.
While there was sin in Jacob's house, he was afraid of his neighbours; but now
that the strange gods were put away, and they were all going together to
Bethel, his neighbours were afraid of him. When we are about God's work, we
are under special protection. God is with us, while we are with him; and, if
he be for us, who can be against us? See Exod. xxxiv. 24, No man shall
desire thy land, when thou goest up to appear before the Lord. God governs
the world more by secret terrors on men's minds than we are aware of.
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Jacob's
Arrival at Bethel.
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B. C. 1732.
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6 So Jacob came to Luz, which is
in the land of Canaan, that is, Beth-el, he and all the people that were
with him. 7 And he built there an altar, and called the place
El-Beth-el: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of
his brother. 8 But Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was
buried beneath Beth-el under an oak: and the name of it was called
Allon-bachuth. 9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came
out of Padan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said unto him, Thy
name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel
shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel. 11 And God said
unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a
company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy
loins; 12 And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I
will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. 13
And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him. 14
And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a
pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil
thereon. 15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake
with him, Beth-el.
Jacob and his
retinue having safely arrived at Beth-el, we are here told what passed there.
I. There he built
an altar (v. 7), and no doubt offered sacrifice upon it, perhaps the
tenth of his cattle, according to his vow, I will give the tenth unto thee.
With these sacrifices he joined praises for former mercies, particularly that
which the sight of the place brought afresh to his remembrance; and he added
prayers for the continuance of God's favour to him and his family. And he
called the place (that is, the altar) El-beth-el, the God of Bethel.
As, when he made a thankful acknowledgment of the honour God had lately done
him in calling him Israel, he worshipped God by the name of El-elohe
Israel; so, now that he was making a grateful recognition of God's former
favour to him at Bethel, he worships God by the name of El-beth-el, the God
of Beth-el, because there God appeared to him. Note, The comfort which the
saints have in holy ordinances is not so much from Bethel, the house of
God, as from El-beth-el, the God of the house. The ordinances are
but empty things if we do not meet with God in them.
II. There he
buried Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, v. 8. We have reason to think that
Jacob, after he came to Canaan, while his family dwelt near Shechem, went
himself (it is likely, often) to visit his father Isaac at Hebron. Rebekah
probably was dead, but her old nurse (of whom mention is made ch. xxiv.
59) survived her, and Jacob took her to his family, to be a companion to his
wives, her country-women, and an instructor to his children; while they were
at Bethel, she died, and died lamented, so much lamented that the oak under
which she was buried was called Allon-bachuth, the oak of weeping.
Note, 1. Old servants in a family, that have in their time been faithful and
useful, ought to be respected. Honour was done to this nurse, at her death, by
Jacob's family, though she was not related to them, and though she was aged.
Former services, in such a case, must be remembered. 2. We do not know where
death may meet us; perhaps at Beth-el, the house of God. Therefore let us be
always ready. 3. Family-afflictions may come even when family-reformation and
religion are on foot. Therefore rejoice with trembling.
III. There God
appeared to him (v. 9), to own his altar, to answer to the name by
which he had called him, The God of Beth-el (v. 7), and to
comfort him under his affliction, v. 8. Note, God will appear to those
in a way of grace that attend on him in a way of duty. Here, 1. He confirmed
the change of his name, v. 10. It was done before by the angel that
wrestled with him (ch. xxxii. 28), and here it was ratified by the
divine Majesty, or Shechinah, that appeared to him. There it was to
encourage him against the fear of Esau, here against the fear of the
Canaanites. Who can be too hard for Israel, a prince with God? It is below
those who are thus dignified to droop and despond. 2. He renewed and ratified
the covenant with him, by the name El-shaddai. I am God Almighty, God
all-sufficient (v. 11), able to make good the promise in due time,
and to support thee and provide for thee in the mean time. Two things are
promised him which we have met with often before:-- (1.) That he should be the
father of a great nation, great in number--a company of nations shall be of
thee (every tribe of Israel was a nation, and all the twelve a company of
nations), great in honour and power--kings shall come out of thy loins.
(2.) That he should be the master of a good land (v. 12), described by
the grantees, Abraham and Isaac, to whom it was promised, not by the
occupants, the Canaanites in whose possession it now was. The land that was
given to Abraham and Isaac is here entailed on Jacob and his seed. He shall
not have children without an estate, which is often the case of the poor, nor
an estate without children, which is often the grief of the rich; but both.
These two promises had a spiritual signification, of which we may suppose
Jacob himself had some notion, though not so clear and distinct as we now
have; for, without doubt, Christ is the promised seed, and heaven is the
promised land; the former is the foundation, and the latter the top-stone, of
all God's favours. 3. He then went up from him, or from over him, in
some visible display of glory, which had hovered over him while he talked with
him, v. 13. Note, The sweetest communions the saints have with God in
this world are short and transient, and soon have an end. Our vision of God in
heaven will be everlasting; there we shall be ever with the Lord; it is not so
here.
IV. There Jacob
erected a memorial of this, v. 14. 1. He set up a pillar. When he was
going to Padan-aram, he set up for a pillar that stone on which he had laid
his head. This was agreeable enough to his low condition and his hasty flight;
but now he took time to erect one more stately, more distinguishable and
durable, probably placing that stone in it. In token of his intending it for a
sacred memorial of his communion with God, he poured oil and the other
ingredients of a drink-offering upon it. His vow was, This stone shall be
God's house, that is, shall be set up for his honour, as houses to the
praise of their builders; and here he performs it, transferring it to God by
anointing it. 2. He confirmed the name he had formerly given to the place (v.
15), Beth-el, the house of God. Yet this very place afterwards lost the
honour of its name, and became Beth-aven, a house of iniquity; for here
it was that Jeroboam set up one of his calves. It is impossible for the best
man to entail upon a place so much as the profession and form of religion.
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Death of Rachel.
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B. C. 1732.
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16 And they journeyed from Beth-el; and
there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she
had hard labour. 17 And it came to pass, when she was in hard
labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son
also. 18 And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for
she died) that she called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him
Benjamin. 19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath,
which is Beth-lehem. 20 And Jacob set a pillar upon her
grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.
We have here the
story of the death of Rachel, the beloved wife of Jacob. 1. She fell in
travail by the way, not able to reach to Bethlehem, the next town, though they
were near it; so suddenly does pain sometimes come upon a woman in travail,
which she cannot escape, or put off. We may suppose Jacob had soon a tent up,
convenient enough for her reception. 2. Her pains were violent. She had hard
labour, harder than usual: this was the effect of sin, ch. iii. 16.
Note, Human life begins with sorrow, and the roses of its joy are surrounded
with thorns. 3. The midwife encouraged her, v. 17. No doubt she had her
midwife with her, ready at hand, yet that would not secure her. Rachel had
said, when she bore Joseph, God shall add another son, which now the
midwife remembers, and tells her her words were made good. Yet this did not
avail to keep up her spirits; unless God command away fear, no one else can.
He only says as one having authority, Fear not. We are apt, in extreme
perils, to comfort ourselves and our friends with the hopes of a temporal
deliverance, in which we may be disappointed; we had better found our comforts
on that which cannot fail us, the hope of eternal life. 4. Her travail was to
the life of the child, but to her own death. Note, Though the pains and perils
of childbearing were introduced by sin, yet they have sometimes been fatal to
very holy women, who, though not saved in childbearing, are saved through it
with an everlasting salvation. Rachel had passionately said, Give me
children, or else I die; and now that she had children (for this was her
second) she died. Her dying is here called the departing of her soul.
Note, The death of the body is but the departure of the soul to the world of
spirits. 5. Her dying lips called her new-born son Ben-oni, The son of my
sorrow. And many a son, not born in such hard labour, yet proves the son
of his parent's sorrow, and the heaviness of her that
bore him. Children are enough the sorrow of their poor mothers in the
breeding, bearing, and nursing of them; they should therefore, when they grow
up, study to be their joy, and so, if possible, to make them some amends. But
Jacob, because he would not renew the sorrowful remembrance of the mother's
death every time he called his son by his name, changed his name, and called
him Benjamin, The son of my right hand; that is, "very dear to me,
set on my right hand for a blessing, the support of my age, like the staff in
my right hand." 6. Jacob buried her near the place where she died. As she
died in child-bed, it was convenient to bury her quickly; and therefore he did
not bring her to the burying-place of his family. If the soul be at rest after
death, it matters little where the body lies. In the place where the tree
falls, there let it be. No mention is made of the mourning that was at her
death, because that might easily be taken for granted. Jacob, no doubt, was a
true mourner. Note, Great afflictions sometimes befal us immediately after
great comforts. Lest Jacob should be lifted up with the visions of the
Almighty with which he was honoured, this was sent as a thorn in the flesh to
humble him. Those that enjoy the favours peculiar to the children of God must
yet expect the troubles that are common to the children of men. Deborah, who,
had she lived, would have been a comfort to Rachel in her extremity, died but
a little before. Note, When death comes into a family, it often strikes
double. God by it speaks once, yea, twice. The Jewish writers say, "The
death of Deborah and Rachel was to expiate the murder of the Shechemites,
occasioned by Dinah, a daughter of the family." 7. Jacob set up a pillar
upon her grave, so that it was known, long after, to be Rachel's sepulchre (1
Sam. x. 2), and Providence so ordered it that this place afterwards fell in
the lot of Benjamin. Jacob set up a pillar in remembrance of his joys (v.
14), and here he sets up one in remembrance of his sorrows; for, as it may be
of use to ourselves to keep both in mind, so it may be of use to others to
transmit the memorials of both: the church, long afterwards, owned that what
God said to Jacob at Bethel, both by his word and by his rod, he intended for
their instruction (Hos. xii. 4), There he spoke with us.
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The
Disgrace of Reuben.
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B. C. 1716.
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21 And Israel journeyed, and spread his
tent beyond the tower of Edar. 22 And it came to pass, when Israel
dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's
concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were
twelve: 23 The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and
Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun: 24 The
sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin: 25 And the sons of Bilhah,
Rachel's handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali: 26 And the sons of Zilpah,
Leah's handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which
were born to him in Padan-aram. 27 And Jacob came unto Isaac his
father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where
Abraham and Isaac sojourned. 28 And the days of Isaac were an
hundred and fourscore years. 29 And Isaac gave up the ghost, and
died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and
his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
Here is, 1.
Jacob's removal, v. 21. He also, as his fathers, sojourned in the land
of promise as in a strange country, and was not long in a place. Immediately
after the story of Rachel's death he is here called Israel (v.
21, 22), and not often so afterwards: the Jews say, "The historian does
him this honour here because he bore that affliction with such admirable
patience and submission to Providence." Note, Those are Israels indeed,
princes with God, that support the government of their own passions. He that
has this rule over his own spirit is better than the mighty. Israel, a prince
with God, yet dwells in tents; the city is reserved for him in the other
world. 2. The sin of Reuben. A piece of abominable wickedness it was that he
was guilty of (v. 22), that very sin which the apostle says (1 Cor v.
1) is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his
father's wife. It is said to have been when Israel dwelt in that land;
as if he were then absent from his family, which might be the unhappy occasion
of these disorders. Though perhaps Bilhah was the greater criminal, and it is
probable was abandoned by Jacob for it, yet Reuben's crime was so provoking
that, for it, he lost his birthright and blessing, ch. xlix. 4. The
first-born is not always the best, nor the most promising. This was Reuben's
sin, but it was Jacob's affliction; and what a sore affliction it was is
intimated in a little compass, and Israel heard it. No more is
said--that is enough; he heard it with the utmost grief and shame, horror and
displeasure. Reuben thought to conceal it, that his father should never hear
of it; but those that promise themselves secresy in sin are generally
disappointed; a bird of the air carries the voice. 3. A complete list of the
sons of Jacob, now that Benjamin the youngest was born. This is the first time
we have the names of these heads of the twelve tribes together; afterwards we
find them very often spoken of and enumerated, even to
the end of the Bible, Rev. vii. 4; xxi. 12. 4. The visit which Jacob made to
his father Isaac at Hebron. We may suppose he had visited him before since his
return, for he sorely longed after his father's house; but never, till
now, brought his family to settle with him, or near him, v. 27.
Probably he did this now upon the death of Rebekah, by which Isaac was left
solitary, and not disposed to marry again. 5. The age and death of Isaac are
here recorded, though it appears, by computation, that he died not till many
years after Joseph was sold into Egypt, and much about the time that he was
preferred there. Isaac, a mild quiet man, lived the longest of all the
patriarchs, for he was 180 years old; Abraham was but 175. Isaac lived about
forty years after he had made his will, ch. xxvii. 2. We shall not die
an hour the sooner, but abundantly the better, for our timely setting our
heart and house in order. Particular notice is taken of the amicable agreement
of Esau and Jacob, in solemnizing their father's funeral (v. 29), to
show how wonderfully God had changed Esau's mind since he vowed his brother's
murder immediately after his father's death, ch. xxvii. 41. Note, God
has many ways of preventing bad men from doing the mischief they intended; he
can either tie their hands or turn their hearts.
Contents
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