Genesis 35:1-15

The Return to Bethel

35:1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up at once ¹  to Bethel ²  and live there. Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” ³  35:2 So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. ⁴  Purify yourselves and change your clothes. ⁵  35:3 Let us go up at once ⁶  to Bethel. Then I will make ⁷  an altar there to God, who responded to me in my time of distress ⁸  and has been with me wherever I went.” ⁹ 

35:4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession ¹⁰  and the rings that were in their ears. ¹¹  Jacob buried them ¹²  under the oak ¹³  near Shechem 35:5 and they started on their journey. ¹⁴  The surrounding cities were afraid of God, ¹⁵  and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

35:6 Jacob and all those who were with him arrived at Luz (that is, Bethel) ¹⁶  in the land of Canaan. ¹⁷  35:7 He built an altar there and named the place El Bethel ¹⁸  because there God had revealed himself ¹⁹  to him when he was fleeing from his brother. 35:8 (Deborah, ²⁰  Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel; thus it was named ²¹  Oak of Weeping.) ²² 

35:9 God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan Aram and blessed him. 35:10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but your name will no longer be called Jacob; Israel will be your name.” So God named him Israel. ²³  35:11 Then God said to him, “I am the sovereign God. ²⁴  Be fruitful and multiply! A nation – even a company of nations – will descend from you; kings will be among your descendants! ²⁵  35:12 The land I gave ²⁶  to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you. To your descendants ²⁷  I will also give this land.” 35:13 Then God went up from the place ²⁸  where he spoke with him. 35:14 So Jacob set up a sacred stone pillar in the place where God spoke with him. ²⁹  He poured out a drink offering on it, and then he poured oil on it. ³⁰  35:15 Jacob named the place ³¹  where God spoke with him Bethel. ³² 

[35:1]  ¹ tn Heb “arise, go up.” The first imperative gives the command a sense of urgency.

[35:1]  ² map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[35:1]  ³ sn God is calling on Jacob to fulfill his vow he made when he fled from…Esau (see Gen 28:20-22).

[35:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “which are in your midst.”

[35:2]  ⁵ sn The actions of removing false gods, becoming ritually clean, and changing garments would become necessary steps in Israel when approaching the Lord in worship.

[35:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “let us arise and let us go up.” The first cohortative gives the statement a sense of urgency.

[35:3]  ⁷ tn The cohortative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose or consequence.

[35:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “day of distress.” See Ps 20:1 which utilizes similar language.

[35:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “in the way in which I went.” Jacob alludes here to God’s promise to be with him (see Gen 28:20).

[35:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in their hand.”

[35:4]  ¹¹ sn On the basis of a comparison with Gen 34 and Num 31, G. J. Wenham argues that the foreign gods and the rings could have been part of the plunder that came from the destruction of Shechem (Genesis [WBC], 2:324).

[35:4]  ¹² sn Jacob buried them. On the burial of the gods, see E. Nielson, “The Burial of the Foreign Gods,” ST 8 (1954/55): 102-22.

[35:4]  ¹³ tn Or “terebinth.”

[35:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and they journeyed.”

[35:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and the fear of God was upon the cities which were round about them.” The expression “fear of God” apparently refers (1) to a fear of God (objective genitive; God is the object of their fear). (2) But it could mean “fear from God,” that is, fear which God placed in them (cf. NRSV “a terror from God”). Another option (3) is that the divine name is used as a superlative here, referring to “tremendous fear” (cf. NEB “were panic-stricken”; NASB “a great terror”).

[35:6]  ¹⁶ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[35:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and Jacob came to Luz which is in the land of Canaan – it is Bethel – he and all the people who were with him.”

[35:7]  ¹⁸ sn The name El-Bethel means “God of Bethel.”

[35:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “revealed themselves.” The verb נִגְלוּ (niglu), translated “revealed himself,” is plural, even though one expects the singular form with the plural of majesty. Perhaps אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) is here a numerical plural, referring both to God and the angelic beings that appeared to Jacob. See the note on the word “know” in Gen 3:5.

[35:8]  ²⁰ sn Deborah. This woman had been Rebekah’s nurse, but later attached herself to Jacob. She must have been about one hundred and eighty years old when she died.

[35:8]  ²¹ tn “and he called its name.” There is no expressed subject, so the verb can be translated as passive.

[35:8]  ²² tn Or “Allon Bacuth,” if one transliterates the Hebrew name (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). An oak tree was revered in the ancient world and often designated as a shrine or landmark. This one was named for the weeping (mourning) occasioned by the death of Deborah.

[35:10]  ²³ tn Heb “and he called his name Israel.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[35:11]  ²⁴ tn The name אֵל שַׁדַּי (’el shadday, “El Shaddai”) has often been translated “God Almighty,” primarily because Jerome translated it omnipotens (“all powerful”) in the Latin Vulgate. There has been much debate over the meaning of the name. For discussion see W. F. Albright, “The Names Shaddai and Abram,” JBL 54 (1935): 173-210; R. Gordis, “The Biblical Root sdy-sd,” JTS 41 (1940): 34-43; and especially T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 69-72. Shaddai/El Shaddai is the sovereign king of the world who grants, blesses, and judges. In the Book of Genesis he blesses the patriarchs with fertility and promises numerous descendants. Outside Genesis he both blesses/protects and takes away life/happiness. The patriarchs knew God primarily as El Shaddai (Exod 6:3). While the origin and meaning of this name are uncertain its significance is clear. The name is used in contexts where God appears as the source of fertility and life. For a fuller discussion see the note on “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1.

[35:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “A nation and a company of nations will be from you and kings from your loins will come out.”

[35:12]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew verb translated “gave” refers to the Abrahamic promise of the land. However, the actual possession of that land lay in the future. The decree of the Lord made it certain; but it has the sense “promised to give.”

[35:12]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and to your offspring after you.”

[35:13]  ²⁸ tn Heb “went up from upon him in the place.”

[35:14]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and Jacob set up a sacred pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a sacred pillar of stone” (see the notes on the term “sacred stone” in Gen 28:18). This passage stands parallel to Gen 28:18-19, where Jacob set up a sacred stone, poured oil on it, and called the place Bethel. Some commentators see these as two traditions referring to the same event, but it is more likely that Jacob reconsecrated the place in fulfillment of the vow he had made here earlier. In support of this is the fact that the present narrative alludes to and is built on the previous one.

[35:14]  ³⁰ tn The verb נָסַךְ (nasakh) means “to pour out, to make libations,” and the noun נֶסֶךְ (nesekh) is a “drink-offering,” usually of wine or of blood. The verb יָצַק (yatsaq) means “to pour out,” often of anointing oil, but of other elements as well.

[35:15]  ³¹ sn Called the name of the place. In view of the previous naming of Bethel in Gen 28:19, here Jacob was confirming or affirming the name through an official ritual marking the fulfillment of the vow. This place now did become Bethel, the house of God.

[35:15]  ³² tn The name Bethel means “house of God” in Hebrew.