Jacob: Arise!

Genesis 35

Between the rasslin' match and now, Jacob has met Esau and survived; lied to Esau about coming home with him - instead going in the opposite direction. His new neighbor raped his daughter Dinah; then his sons killed the new neighbors after convincing them to be circumcised, then Jacob blows his top at his sons - accusing them of enraging all the other neighbors.

A huge mess, because Jacob didn't go to Bethel when God told him to.  I guess the stairway between Heaven and Earth wasn't a big enough reminder to him.

And God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. 

This word "Arise" is a commandment from God to Jacob.It means (in Hebrew) to ascend, to move to a higher place.  God is not only telling Jacob to (finally) go to Bethel [as Jacob agreed to do when he left Laban with his family] - he's also telling Jacob to move up to a position of authority in his family.

And make there an altar to God Who appeared to you when you fled from the presence of Esau your brother.

Then Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and purify yourselves and change into fresh garments;  Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar to God Who answered me in the day of my distress and was with me wherever I went.

A plan and direction from God. And his family utters no complaints, no whining.

So they [both young men and women] gave to Jacob all the strange gods they had and their earrings which were [worn as charms against evil] in their ears; and Jacob buried and hid them under the oak near Shechem.

They didn't try to make a profit from them - just got rid of them.

And they journeyed and a terror from God fell on the towns round about them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

These were the neighbors that Jacob was so frightened by.

So Jacob came to Luz, that is, Bethel, which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people with him.  There he built an altar, and called the place El-bethel [God of Bethel, God of the city of God], for there God revealed Himself to him when he fled from the presence of his brother.

And now the story reconnects Jacob to his mother, by way of Rebekah's nurse.  It appears that Jacob's mother sent her own nurse with him to Laban's household.  And now Jacob is moving on from Bethel to see Isaac and Rebekah.

But Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried below Bethel under an oak; and the name of it was called Allon-bacuth [oak of weeping].

And God [in a distinctly visible manifestation] appeared to Jacob again when he came out of Padan-aram, and declared a blessing on him.  Again God said to him, Your name is Jacob [supplanter]; you shall not be called Jacob any longer, but Israel shall be your name. So He called him Israel [contender with God].

A reminder to Jacob and his family (and to us?) that he is Israel.

And God said to him, I am El Shaddai [God Almighty]. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you and kings shall be born of your stock;  the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and to your descendants after you I will give the land. Then God ascended from him in the place where He talked with him.

I think Jacob has a head-start on the 'fruitful and multiply' side of things.  He has eleven sons by two wives and two concubines.

And Jacob set up a pillar (monument) in the place where he talked with [God], a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink offering on it and he poured oil on it.  And Jacob called the name of the place where God had talked with him Bethel [house of God]. And they journeyed from Bethel and had but a little way to go to Ephrath [Bethlehem] when Rachel suffered the pangs of childbirth and had hard labor.

Hey! God told him to be fruitful.

When she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, Do not be afraid; you shall have this son also.

The midwife may be referring to Rachel's first son Joseph [May God Add] when her second son is on the way.

And as her soul was departing, for she died, she called his name Ben-oni [son of my sorrow]; but his father called him Benjamin [son of the right hand]. 

Benjamin is the only child in Jacob's family to be born in the Promised Land.

He is also the only child in the family named by Jacob.  I think he knows the impact of a given name.  In this case, the name Benoni would have been a sad reminder of Rachel each time he called his son.  

Is the death of Rachel in response to the promise made to Laban about the stolen family idols?

So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem.  And Jacob set a pillar (monument) on her grave; that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.  Then Israel journeyed on and spread his tent on the other side of the tower of Edar.

When Israel dwelt there, Reuben [his eldest son] went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine; and Israel heard about it. 

Heard about it.  I guess any action will come later.  And God can add to His notes "... and don't have sex with your father's wife ..."  

If Rachel was Jacob's favorite wife, there's a chance that Bilhah, her nurse, would become the new favorite wife.  Reuben may have been trying to take her from Jacob, so his mother Leah would become the primary wife.  And Bilhah may have been attempting to become the primary wife in the next generation by hooking-up with Reuben, the eldest son.

Now Jacob’s sons were twelve.
  The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
  The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
  The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali.
  And the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. 

These are the sons of Jacob born to him in Padan-aram.

And Jacob came to Isaac his father at Mamre or Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned.  

Now the days of Isaac were 180 years.  

It's nice that Isaac got to see his grandchildren.

And Isaac’s spirit departed; he died and was gathered to his people, being an old man, satisfied and satiated with days; his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

And it looks like Jacob finally got over his fear of Esau.  And I guess Esau repented of his vow to kill Jacob after Isaac's death.