Commentary
Skeptic's Annotated Bible
35:1 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.
35:2 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:
Still trying to convince the "pagans" to give up their polytheistic religions in favor of this one.
35:3 And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; 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.
35:4 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.
35:5 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.
35:6 So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him.
35:7 And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel:
"God's house of God"?
because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.
35:8 But Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allonbachuth.
"Oak of weeping"
35:9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him.
35:10 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.
This is the 2nd time that God has renamed Jacob to Israel. I wonder if this one sill stick?
35:11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply;
The 12 children you have from four wives is not fruitful enough!
a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;
35:12 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.
35:13 And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.
35:14 And Jacob
Israel! See, the name didn't stick (again).
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.
35:15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.
How many times have we named this place now? Two? Three?
35:16 And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor.
35:17 And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also.
35:18 And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin.
35:19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.
35:20 And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.
35:21 And Israel
Much better.
journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar.
35:22 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.
She was either his wife (as it said in Gen 30: "And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife"), or Bilhah wasn't his wife and he's an adulterer. Either way, it's bad. And why are we mentioning here that Reuben (the son of Jacob and Leah) had sex with Bilhah (one of Jacob's wives) anyway? This doesn't play any further into the story here at all. I guess I can just hope that they refer to this bit again later.
Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:
35:23 The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun:
35:24 The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin:
35:25 And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali:
35:26 And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid: Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padanaram.
35:27 And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arba, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.
35:28 And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.
Isaac lives 180 years.
35:29 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.
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