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A Journey Thru The Bible's First Book

Gen 32:24b . . And a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.

There's been some speculation regarding not only the identity of this man but also
his species. Some say it was the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ. Some say it was Esau's
evil angel. Some say it was one of God's holy angels. And some say it was God
himself in a human form. Hosea can help settle this.

"The Lord once indicted Judah, and punished Jacob for his conduct, requited him for
his deeds. In the womb he tried to supplant his brother; grown to manhood, he
strove with a divine being, he strove with an angel and prevailed-- the other had to
weep and implore him. At Bethel [Jacob] would meet him, there to commune with
him." (Hos 12:3-5)

There can be no doubt who Jacob communed with at Bethel. Jacob met Yhvh there
on his way north when he left home. And he met Yhvh there again in Bethel after
returning. The man that Jacob wrestled with that night was no evil angel, that's for
sure; and Jacob very well knew it too.

How it is possible for Yhvh to appear in a human form? I don't know but He did it
again in Moses' day. (Ex 24:9-11)

Their conflict shouldn't be construed as some sort of combat or an athletic event. It
wasn't that at all. When Jacob perceived that the man was actually divine, he
clutched and hung on; refusing to let Yhvh depart until He blessed him.

When my boy was little, sometimes he would cling to my ankles like a little boa
constrictor and I would have to drag him around the room for a while before he'd
let go. Well, that's what Jacob did. No one since has ever been so dogged
determined with God like that. The angel was reluctant to bless Jacob for good
reason: so Bible students could see just how much Jacob really valued spiritual
things. Some people extol David's love for God, but I prefer to extol Jacob for his
stubborn refusal to let go. It's easy to see now why God wanted the patriarchy for
him instead of his brother Esau.

From the little we know about Jacob, I'm guessing that the one thing he valued
most about God more than anything else was providence. We got a glimpse of that
back in chapter 28 when Jacob said: "If God will be with me and will keep me in
this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I
come again to my father's house in peace, then Jehovah shall be my God"

Juxtapose Jacob with Cain; the man who walked out on God. Well; not only did
Jacob not walk out on God, but he refused to let God walk out on him. Jacob was a
pretty amazing guy.

There is a really good story about a Gentile woman in the New Testament who was
persistent with God like Jacob. Not quite as physical as he, but, in her own way,
just as persistent nonetheless. (Matt 15:21-18)

Some people lose heart, and give up on God way too soon. It's not that He's
stubborn and doesn't really want to bless, or that we have to somehow overcome
His reluctance. No, that's not it. For some reason God is very pleased when we cling
and show Him we mean business. Dogged prayer, like tough love, gets results and
shows God we mean business and that we won't take "no" for an answer. Is God
annoyed by that? Far from it. Compare the "persistence" parables at Luke 11:5-10
and Luke 18:2-8.

Many years prior to where we are now in Genesis, Jacob had a dream. He saw a
staircase with Yhvh standing at the top. At the time, Jacob just gawked in awe; but
were he to have that same dream at this point in his life, Jacob would have run up
those stairs and tackled The Lord before He could get away. The man coming back
down from the north isn't the same man that ran away from home. He's different.

Gen 32:25 . .When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he wrenched
Jacob's hip at its socket, so that the socket of his hip was strained as he wrestled
with him.

In spite of the injury, Jacob still hung on and refused to let go. The injury served a
purpose. It wasn't to make Jacob let go; after all, the angel could just as easily
broken both of Jacob's arms. The injury served to handicap Jacob, and force him to
depend even more upon God's providence; and less upon himself.
_
 
Gen 32:26a . .Then he said: Let me go, for dawn is breaking.

Time is of the essence for Jacob to get ready for his brother. Dawn wasn't a
problem for the angel. His carriage wasn't going to turn back into a pumpkin or
anything like that nor was he going to burn up in the sunlight like a vampire.

Gen 32:26b . . But he answered: I will not let you go, unless you bless me.

Jacob risked giving Esau the advantage by staying too long; but this is one guy not
to squander an opportunity with God.

Gen 32:27a . . Said the other: What is your name?

Like he didn't know already? Of course he knew it. But the angel's question is a
type of question we call a leading question. You could restate it like this: And what
*strategic pause* is your name?

Gen 32:27b . . He replied: Jacob.

His name was actually ya'aqob (yah-ak-obe') which means: heel-catcher (i.e.
supplanter). But that is all over now. From this point on; it won't be necessary for
Jacob to supplant somebody in order to gain the advantage.

Gen 32:28a . . Said he: Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel

"Israel" is from yisra'el (yis-raw-ale') which means: he will rule as God. We might
call Jacob's new name his spiritual name and it's very curious. It doesn't mean rule
like God; but rather: in God's stead.

NOTE: If we take Jacob's new name literally (I think we can) then what we're
looking at is 110% prophetic of a reality. (cf. Ps 110:1 and Ps 45:6-7)

Although Jacob was a patriarch, and a great sheik, he was never a conqueror.
There's a huge difference between ruling as God and ruling as a conqueror.
Conquerors typically rule for their own profit, making slaves out of their subjects
and exacting taxes and tributes. But God always rules for man's benefit; helping
him achieve his greatest potential from within a peaceful environment.

Through the ages, God has used Jacob's spiritual name to identify the nation that
sprang from him. True, Jacob's progeny has not always ruled as God. But his
ultimate progeny, Messiah, certainly will. No question about it.

"In that day The Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is
feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like
God, like the angel of The Lord before them." (Zech 12:8)

Gen 32:28b . . for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have
prevailed.

The Hebrew word for "beings divine" is 'elohiym (el-o-heem') which is a nondescript
label for all manner of gods: the true and the false, the real and the imagined, and
the genuine and the imitation.

The word for "prevailed" is from yokel (yaw-kole') which means: to be able, literally
(can, could) or morally (may, might). In other words: he was up to the challenge;
and able to see it through. Jacob was indeed a very remarkable man.

Gen 32:29a . .Then Jacob inquired, and he said: Divulge, if you please, your
name. And he said: Why then do you inquire of my name?

In other words: Do you really have to ask? No; Jacob knew very well who he was
grappling with. But sometimes we just want things stated for the record.

Gen 32:29b . . and He blessed him there.

I sure wish we had the wording of that blessing Jacob worked so hard to obtain.

Gen 32:30 . . So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel-- For I have seen the
Divine face to face, yet my life was spared.

It's true Jacob didn't actually see The Almighty God in His actual form; but what he
saw and touched was pretty close enough. (cf. 1John 1:1-3)

Jacob was ready for anything after that experience. Esau would be small potatoes
what with The Almighty God and a host of His holy angels in the vicinity looking out
for Jacob's safety.

Gen 32:31-32 . .The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping on his hip.
That is why the children of Israel to this day do not eat the thigh muscle that is on
the socket of the hip, since Jacob's hip socket was wrenched at the thigh muscle.

God didn't command such a practice; it became a man-made, ethnic tradition;
which doesn't make it eo ipso bad. I mean; wine with Passover dinner is a
rabbinical invention, but Jesus went along with it at his last supper. The Lord was
sometimes a bit peeved with the Jews' traditions; but not always since they were
his heritage too as well as theirs.

But Jacob's experience does indicate the importance of the event in the minds of
the Jews. Some people think Jacob is some sort of a squeaky little gerbil when it
comes to ranking the saints' mettle. But The Almighty was very impressed with
him. That has to count for something.
_
 
Gen 33:1-2 . . Looking up, Jacob saw Esau coming, accompanied by four hundred
men. He divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maids, putting the
maids and their children first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph
last.

Whether Rachel was expecting Benjamin at this time is difficult to ascertain; but if
she was; then that would help explain why Jacob put her last in the caravan.

Gen 33:3a . . He himself went on ahead

Good move. Still keeping himself at a distance from his family just in case violence
should break out. If Esau was spoiling for a fight, hopefully it would be with Jacob
alone, and not with his family right in the middle of it.

Gen 33:3b . . and bowed low to the ground seven times until he was near his
brother.

The Tell El Amarna tablets record that when approaching a king, the approacher
always bowed seven times. So, as was customary in those days, Jacob bowed low
before Esau as he came near as a token of respect and recognition of Esau as ruler
of the region. He may not have actually been living down in Seir yet at this time,
but had already subdued the indigenous peoples so that the area was his domain;
and under his control.

Gen 33:4 . . Esau ran to greet him. He embraced him and, falling on his neck, he
kissed him; and they wept.

Imagine Jacob's utter surprise (and relief) when, expecting violence from his
brother, he was kissed instead and Esau became emotional and started blubbering
all over the place! This scene may have played out a whole lot differently if God
hadn't taken a role in it.

"When the Lord is pleased with a man's conduct, He may turn even his enemies
into allies." (Prv 16:7)

But what about those angels, the ones that camped nearby Jacob's camp? What
part did they play in all this?

According to Jewish folklore, four bands of angels went to Esau's camp the previous
night and beat him and his men savagely. When Esau realized that Jacob had men
with him who could knock his teeth out, it changed his attitude and developed a
respect for his brother that he didn't have before. Because of that, a saying came
about that if you want an "Esau" to treat you with respect, you should beat him up
because that's the only thing he understands.

Well; that's very imaginative, and somewhat amusing too. But I believe those
angels served another purpose altogether, and they fought with a totally different
foe too.

Invisible to the unaided eye are dark, unholy creatures in our world who go around
influencing human thoughts, and manipulating people to evil ends. They surely
would've interfered in Jacob's homecoming had not the holy angels restrained
them. That's part of their job-- holding back the invisible forces of evil in the world
of men. They don't always do that though; usually only when God has a special
purpose to accomplish; for example Dan 10:10-14.

In the unseen world; sinister beings are operating covertly: manipulating the
destiny of persons, and nations. (cf. Eph 2:1-2)

No wonder the world is plagued with monsters like Muammar Qaddafi, Pol Pot, Kim
Jong Un, Manuel Noriega, Saddam Hussein, and Osama Bin Laden; and politicized
business models, predatory lenders, unscrupulous investment banks, dishonest
securities rating firms, Orwellian social media moguls, and Machiavellian politicians
in Washington.

People like that are human allies to the forces of evil; the mortal marionettes of
invisible masterminds-- evil intelligences who secretly run world affairs undetected
by natural means. The beauty of their system is that it is just too incredible to
comprehend. Very few modern, intellectual sophisticates believe in spirits. Since
hardly anyone believes in them, they have the advantage of stealth-- and their
unsuspecting victims just go on about their business as usual, oblivious to their
presence; and easy prey to powerful psychological suggestions and manipulations.

The dark spirits can easily cause the ruin of perfectly good marriages, friendships,
and businesses; and they can control an entire nation's economy and it's politics.
Take a look at the country of Israel today. Does it really look as though God is
running it? No way. It is only too obvious who has control of it now. And the dark
angels will stay in control until such a time as Messiah commands the holy angels to
purge them out.

Dark mists could've made things go very badly between Jacob and Esau. But God
foreknew their evil intentions and stepped in to thwart them by sending a
detachment of His own forces to hold the mists in check while the two brothers
kissed and made up; and settled their differences.

NOTE: Not too long ago I ran across an op-ed in the local paper in regards to the
mental faculties of today's movers and shakers in government and big business.
The op-ed's observation was that events of the last decade suggest that the
patients are running the sanitarium. America's government, and America's financial
institutions, seem to have taken leave of their senses and behaving as men and
women with mental illness.
_
 
Gen 33:5 . . Looking about, he saw the women and the children. Who, he asked:
are these with you? He answered: The children with whom God has favored your
servant.

Because Jacob's response drew Esau's attention to the lads rather than the women,
Jewish folklore proposes that Jacob did that so as to take Esau's mind off the wives.
What an ugly thing to say. It implies that Esau was a barbaric cave man who stole
wives from their husbands; yet there is not one single incident in the entire Old
Testament recording something like that about him. So that remark is unfounded,
and totally uncalled for. It's highly unlikely that Esau's mind would be off the
women anyway while they were standing right there in front of him; and
subsequently introduced one by one.

Gen 33:6-7 . .Then the maids, with their children, came forward and bowed low;
next Leah, with her children, came forward and bowed low; and last, Joseph and
Rachel came forward and bowed low;

The Hebrew word for "bowed low" is from shachah (shaw-khaw') which means: to
depress, i.e. prostrate. At Gen 22:5, and also in many, many other places in the
Old Testament, shachah is translated "worship".

I think the scene went something like this: First Esau asked about the women and
children. Then Jacob, by way of introduction, like a master of ceremonies on a
variety show, moved to the side, raised his arm, gestured towards his family, and
presenting them for Esau's review, proudly announced; Voila! My offspring, with
whom God has favored your servant.

Why not introduce the wives first? Well; in that day, wives were a dime a dozen;
literally bought and sold. But offspring! Oh yes; offspring were to brag about. Men
regarded their offspring as gold and precious stones in value.

"Sons are the provision of the Lord; the fruit of the womb, His reward. Like arrows
in the hand of a warrior are sons born to a man in his youth. Happy is the man who
fills his quiver with them; they shall not be put to shame when they contend with
the enemy in the gate." (Ps 127:3-5)

First up were Bilhah with Dan and Naphtali, then Zilpah with Gad and Asher. Then
came Leah with Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah. Then,
last of all, Rachel and Joseph.

Everybody did obeisance to Esau. I tell you the humility of Jacob's family is
astounding. Nobody, not one among them, Jacob included, harbored the
unbearable "chosen-people" mentality that is so prevalent today among modern
Jews.

Esau has been given a very bad rap in Jewish folklore. Yet, not one single time does
the Old Testament portray him as a murderer, a liar, a thief, or an adulterer. Those
allegations have all been smirched upon his reputation by people with evil minds;
prejudiced against him for no good reason at all but merely because his Jewish
detractors can't bear to accept him either as a brother, nor as an equal. Jacob's
progeny has been guilty of all the crimes and sins of which they accuse Esau, and
more too; yet many Jews count their own people superior to Esau in every way
imaginable.

The only reason Jacob's progeny continues to exist is because of the oath and the
promises that God gave their ancestor Abraham. If not for that early covenant, they
would be just as extinct today as the Edomites, and for the very same reasons.

"Fair Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a city
beleaguered. Had not the Lord of Hosts left us some survivors, we should be like
Sodom-- another Gomorrah." (Isa 1:8-9)

Gen 33:8 . . And he asked: What do you mean by all this company which I have
met? He answered" To gain my lord's favor. Esau said: I have enough, my brother;
let what you have remain yours.

No doubt uncle Laban would have judged Esau a fool because Rachel's dad, badly
infected with a serious case of unbridled avarice, would have certainly snapped up
Jacob's offer immediately. But Esau's repertoire of vices apparently didn't include
greed. He was actually a very moderate kind of guy, and easy to satisfy. I think I'd
categorize Esau as someone who feels that better isn't necessary when adequate
will do.
_
 
Gen 33:10-11 . . But Jacob said: No, I pray you; if you would do me this favor,
accept from me this gift; for to see your face is like seeing the face of God, and you
have received me favorably. Please accept my present which has been brought to
you, for God has favored me and I have plenty. And when he urged him, he
accepted.

In accordance with oriental customs, which have continued to be practiced for
thousands of years, the most certain way for one who desires reconciliation to be
assured of it is to have his proffered gift accepted by the one whose favor he seeks.
In any case, it would be considered a great personal favor if Esau would accept
Jacob's gift, even though Jacob knew that his brother didn't really need it in any
material sense.

Jacob's diplomacy was irresistible. The men used different adverbs to describe their
prosperity. Esau said; "I have enough". Enough is from rab (rab) which means:
abundant (in quantity, size, age, number, rank, quality) But Jacob said; "I have
plenty". Plenty is from kol (kole) and/or kowl (kole) which means: the whole;
hence, all. So Esau, through his own industry, had garnered for himself all that he
would ever need. But Jacob, through the providence of God, had everything. So I
think he was implying that he really had too much to manage and would consider it
a personal favor if Esau would take some off his hands.

Here in American culture, we typically feel indebted by accepting a gift from a
friend. That mind-set spoils good will, so that a present-- which should have, in all
respects, represented someone's heart-felt happy thoughts towards us --is typically
regarded as a trap, and robs an occasion of the good feelings it was intended to
generate.

Fortunately there are numerous occasions when we have implied consent to lavish
gifts upon friends and loved ones without arousing suspicions of evil intent; e.g.
birthdays, anniversaries, Xmas, Easter, promotions, retirements, graduations; and
whatever else we can appropriate to express our affections for others. I think that
too many of us have become Grinches out of fear of obligation. It just shouldn't be
that way.

Esau, realizing the sincerity of Jacob's motives, and also himself desiring that there
be no question he himself also earnestly desired full reconciliation with his brother,
finally agreed to accept Jacob's gifts.

Something is strangely missing from the brothers' reunion. Wouldn't you think that
Jacob would be asking about his mom and dad? Were they still alive? In good
health? Stuff like that. Well; I think Jacob already knew. After all, he knew exactly
where to find Esau.

So Jacob may have stayed current all those twenty years via caravans and
messengers. Somewhere along the line, Rebecca's personal nurse Deborah had
joined Jacob. So there's a pretty good chance Jacob already knew all about his
mom and dad before returning to Canaan. However, since Rebecca's personal nurse
Deborah had already joined Jacob, and since there's no record that Jacob ever saw
Rebecca alive after leaving home, his mom may have been deceased at this point.
_
 
Gen 33:12 . . And [Esau] said: Let us start on our journey, and I will proceed at
your pace.

Jacob undoubtedly told Esau his ultimate destination, which was probably Hebron,
the place where their dad would later die. Isaac's last known address was Beer
sheba. Why he moved 26 miles north to Hebron is unknown; but when you're a
rancher, you've got to go where the pasture is for the sake of the livestock.

Gen 33:13-14a . . But he said to him: My lord knows that the children are frail
and that the flocks and herds, which are nursing, are a care to me; if they are
driven hard a single day, all the flocks will die. Let my lord go on ahead of his
servant, while I travel slowly, at the pace of the cattle before me and at the pace of
the children,

Jacob's children were all still kids, the eldest being no more than 12 or so, and
many of the female animals were caring for nursing young. Refusing to accept
Esau's kind offer was a practical consideration. He was traveling light, probably on
swift camels, and his rough-riding fighting men, desiring to get back home as soon
as possible for R&R, were likely to grow impatient with the snail's pace of Jacob's
unit.

Gen 33:13-14b . . until I come to my lord in Seir.

Jacob wasn't going southward to Seir; but across the Jordan up into the highlands
of Canaan. The words for "go on ahead" are ya'baar which is from 'abar (aw-bar')
which means: to cross over; and used very widely of any transition (literal or
figurative)

Jacob promised to visit with Esau at some later date after his household was all
settled in. But for now, it was necessary to take it easy and rest his herds before
making the final push on up into the West Bank. It's no simple matter moving
hundreds and hundreds of head of livestock; especially over rugged country.
Coming down from Paddan-aram through the Syrian Desert and the Golan Heights
must have been exhausting for everyone-- women, children, and animals alike.

Gen 33:15-17a . .Then Esau said: Let me assign to you some of the men who are
with me. But he said; Oh no, my lord is too kind to me! So Esau started back that
day on his way to Seir. But Jacob journeyed on to Succoth,

There is more than one Succoth in the Bible. The precise location of this one in
particular is difficult to pin-point. But according to Judges 8:4-16, it was on the east
side of the Jordan; somewhere between the river and the place where Jacob
grappled with the angel.

Gen 33:17b . . and built a house for himself and made stalls for his cattle; that is
why the place was called Succoth.

Stalls is from cukkah (sook-kaw') which means: a hut or a lair. That has sort of a
primitive ring to it. The huts, and very likely Jacob's house too, were probably just
rudimentary shelters constructed of poles cut from trees (those hills grew lots and
lots of trees in that day) and thatching fashioned with reeds gathered from along
the banks of the Jordan and the W. Zarqa (Jabbok).

NOTE: The specifications given for huts constructed for the Feast Of Tabernacles list
a variety of perishable materials because the huts are only meant to be temporary
shelters. (Lev 23:40)

Succoth is from cukkowth (sook-kohth') and/or cukkoth (sook-kohth') and is just
simply the plural of cukkah; ergo: huts and lairs.

There was a place by that name in Egypt too. The exact location is difficult to pin
point but it may have been somewhere north of the reed (Red) sea crossing (Ex
12:37, Ex 13:20, Ex 14:1-4). How long Jacob remained at Succoth is unknown.

It might be well to mention that not all events in the Bible relate to important
spiritual truths. Many are just simply historic and mean nothing at all except that
people lived normal lives in those days just like we live our lives in these days with
very few events of any lasting importance; viz: we're born, we leave home,
accumulate wealth, marry, buy a home, reproduce, retire, and then die; same-O,
same-O.

Gen 33:18 . . Jacob arrived safe in the city of Shechem which is in the land of
Canaan-- having come thus from Paddan-aram --and he encamped before the city.

The site wasn't originally named Shechem but probably well known as that name by
the time the author wrote Genesis. It was the very first place in Canaan where God
met with Abraham (Gen 12:5-7). Shechem was up in the West Bank and very likely
close to present day Nablus.

Gen 33:19 . .The parcel of land where he pitched his tent he purchased from the
children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred kesitahs.

The word for "kesitahs" is from qesiytah (kes-ee-taw') and means: an ingot (as
definitely estimated and stamped for a coin). The exact value of a kesitah is
unknown. It was probably a local money, in any kind of shape; e.g. discs, bars,
rods, or chunks. The metal of which a kesitah was made is unknown.

Before paper and coins were introduced as permanent forms of money, people used
a variety of objects to serve for legal tender. Examples of early forms of money
include rice (China), dog teeth (Papua New Guinea), small tools (China), quartz
pebbles (Ghana), gambling counters (Hong Kong), cowrie shells (India), metal disks
(Tibet), and limestone disks (Yap Island).

Monies can be anything so long as everybody using them agrees upon their value.
In ancient time, various articles made of metals such as silver and gold, as well as
of iron and bronze, were used as money; while among primitive peoples such
commodities as shells, beads, elephant tusks, furs, skins, and livestock served as
mediums of exchange too. Anything that's widely accepted in payment for goods
and services, and in settlement of debts, can be acceptable as money-- even
Pokemon trading cards.

Why would Jacob purchase property in Canaan? For a cemetery? Maybe. But some
feel he did it with the intention of making Shechem his capital. I mean, after all,
God promised him complete ownership of the land; so why not pick out a location
for a sort of Washington DC? At any rate, a real estate investment was, at the very
least, a token of his confidence in God's promise that his progeny would one day
own every bit of Canaan outright. So when Messiah takes over, whoever is
squatting on Jacob's land at the time is going to have to move somewhere else and
maybe even pay some back rent too.

Shechem was a prominent city throughout biblical history, located on Mount
Gerazim in what later became the territory of Benjamin's tribe. It was very close to
the future city of Samaria, which became capital of the northern kingdom of Israel.
_
 
Gen 33:20 . . He set up an altar there, and called it El-elohe-yisrael.

El-elohe-yisrael is actually 'Eel-'Eloheey-Yisraa'eel which is a compound of three
separate Hebrew words.

'Eel is from 'el (ale) and means strength; as an adjective; viz: mighty.

'Eloheey is from 'elohiym (el-o-heem') and means god(s) in a nondescript sense;
viz: the one true god and all manner of imitation gods.

Yisraa'eel is from yisra'el (yis-raw-ale') and means: he will rule as God, which,
according to Gen 32:29, was Jacob's new name.

NOTE: Jacob himself was never personally seated on God's throne and ruling as
God; but one of his biological descendants does. (Num 24:17, Col 3:1, Phil 2:8-11)

So, if we put it all together, Jacob's altar was dedicated to The Almighty God of he
who will rule as God; or just simply The God Of Israel. It was the very, very, first
altar to ever be named after the god of the people of Israel. A true milestone in the
nation's history, and Jacob's too.

Just exactly how much time elapsed between Jacob's temporary camp at Succoth
and the events coming up in chapter 34 are unknown.

In the interval, Jacob very likely visited his dad and also traveled down to Seir to
visit his brother Esau too; like he promised in verse 14. Just because the Bible
doesn't say so; doesn't mean he didn't. One of the aspects of the Bible that some
people find very annoying is that it doesn't record every little detail.

For example at Matt 2:22-23 it's reported that the prophets said Jesus would be
called a Nazarene. But you won't find that quote in the Old Testament, so there's
no use in looking for it; and that's because not every word spoken by the prophets
was recorded: same as not every word spoken by Jesus was recorded in the
gospels; and not every detail of the patriarchs' lives are recorded in Genesis.

Scripture's omissions can often lead people into error via a kind of logic called an
Argument From Silence; which is a kind of reasoning that assumes that if
something isn't clearly stated, then it's inferred from the silence that there was
nothing to state.
_
 
Gen 34:1 . . Now Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had borne to Jacob, went out
to visit the daughters of the land.

Even though Dinah was brought up in a God-fearing home, she is going to fall prey
to the morals of a local culture; and that can happen to anybody, so no one should
ever think themselves immune to it.

"Do not be deceived: bad company corrupts good morals." (1Cor 15:33)

Paul's letter to the Corinthians wasn't written to bad people to encourage them to
live like Christians. No, it was written to Christians to discourage them from
hanging out with impious people and thereby becoming one of them.

Gen 34:2 . . Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, chief of the country, saw her, and
took her and lay with her by force.

The words "by force" aren't in the Hebrew text. By penciling those words into the
text, translators make Dinah appear to be the victim of a rape rather than a willing
partner in a hot affair. Most Bible students are well aware of the oftentimes low
moral character of the people of God, so if Dinah was truly accommodating in this
episode, it shouldn't surprise anyone. After all, young girls are very susceptible to
hero worship, and Shechem was a prince; the son of a sheik. What young girl
doesn't dream of being swept off her feet by a prince? It's pretty common; and it's
all part of being a real girl; for example:

I was amazed at an AeroSmith concert by the numbers of shapely, drop-dead
gorgeous young girls crowded up against the stage trying to get Steven Tyler to
notice them. If you've seen Mr. Tyler, I think you would agree with me he will
never qualify as a hunk. But Tyler is a famous entertainer; and entertainers have a
powerful sensual charisma regardless of their looks.

I observed an even more impressive display at a Rolling Stones concert (now
there's a study in ugly). Women of all ages, sizes, and waistlines, slingshot their
bras and panties up on the stage for the men to keep as love tokens. There were so
many female undergarments cluttering the stage that the situation became a safety
hazard. Keith Richards and the others had to kick them away to avoid tripping and
falling.

Gen 34:3 . . Being strongly drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and in love with
the maiden, he spoke to the maiden tenderly.

Shechem's feelings for Dinah weren't the typical violent lusts that rapists expend
upon their victims. That boy was truly overwhelmed by Dinah; just like Jack was
overwhelmed by Rose in the movie "Titanic". I wonder if anyone reading this can
remember the last time you felt that way about somebody-- how you had difficulty
catching your breath, and how utterly vulnerable you felt in their presence. No, I
just can't believe Shechem raped Dinah. He really did like her as a person. She
wasn't just a girl toy for Shechem to exploit; no, Dinah was "the one" and to him,
she lit up the room the moment she walked in-- in his eyes; everything around her
was a silver pool of light.

Gen 34:4 . . So Shechem said to his father Hamor: Get me this girl as a wife.

In modern American culture, Shechem would be regarded as a wimp for not being
man enough to speak with Dinah's parents himself instead of seeking his dad's
assistance. But in that day, a man's parents or relatives did all the negotiating in
nuptial matters; and when it reached that stage, the romance was pretty serious
business.

Gen 34:5a . . Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah;

From whom Jacob heard the news is not stated. Dinah had been taken into
Shechem's home (Gen 34:2) and remained there until this episode was over (Gen
34:26). So news came probably by some of Dinah's girlfriends from town whose
friendships she sought in Gen 34:1. By now, Dinah must be feeling very alone, and
afraid to come home and face the music.

When guys lose their virginity, it's different. They feel more like a man, they feel
better about themselves, and they feel highly regarded in the eyes of their male
friends. But girls oftentimes feel like cheap goods: soiled and fallen; not to mention
the fear of pregnancy and family disgrace. Not all girls feel the same about pre
marital trysts. Some relish the excitement. But others are scarred for life, and
never really get over it.

The Bible is silent about Dinah's feelings about all this, and after chapter 34, she's
mentioned only one more time at Gen 46:15 and that's it.

Gen 34:5b . . but since his sons were in the field with his cattle, Jacob kept silent
until they came home.

If Jacob had allowed his passions to overrule his better judgment, he might have
stormed out and confronted Shechem's family all by himself, and they just may
have been annoyed enough to murder him on the spot. No, best to wait for back-up
on this one. And besides, brothers were often key decision makers in a sister's
betrothal (e.g. Gen 24:29-61). So Jacob needed his boys; if not for personal
defense, then at least to take part in the decision concerning whom Dinah would
wed.

Gen 34:6-7a . .Then Shechem's father Hamor came out to Jacob to speak to him.
Meanwhile Jacob's sons, having heard the news, came in from the field.

Jacob probably sent a runner out to get the boys and have them come home as
soon as possible. By luck, they arrived the same time as Shechem and his dad. So
the key players are present, the stage is set, and they can all get down to business.

Gen 34:7b . .The men were distressed and very angry, because he had
committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter-- a thing not to be
done.

This is the first instance of Jewish tribalism in the Bible. Ironically; the boys were
far more upset for what Shechem did to the family name then what he did to their
sister. However; that's a very common reaction from male siblings. Brothers
typically take it personal when a guy abuses their sister or says something
derogatory about her; even when the brothers themselves don't even like her.

The phrase "a thing not to be done" didn't apply to Shechem and Hamor.
Promiscuity wasn't considered immoral in their culture. Extra-marital activity was a
normal social interaction in many parts of Canaan, and nobody gave it a second
thought. In fact, neither Shechem nor his dad felt any inclination whatsoever to
apologize for what happened and probably would have become indignant if asked
to; but Israel's moral standards were God-influenced, and ran counter to common
mores. (cf. Gen 18:19)
_
 
Gen 34:8-9 . . And Hamor spoke with them, saying: My son Shechem longs for
your daughter. Please give her to him in marriage. Intermarry with us: give your
daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves:

The only problem is: whose religion would be taught to Dinah's children? Would it
be the Canaanites' religion or Jacob's religion? Would they be taught both religions;
and thus create confusion in the children's minds? People for whom religion means
very little; can cross breed all they want and it doesn't make any difference.

However; as a general rule, it is never, ever a good idea to marry outside your own
religion. Marriage is tough enough without dividing the family with differing
religious ideologies. Couples should make every effort to strive for unity in all
things; especially in the area of religion.

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with
darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what province hath he that
believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?
for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and
walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

. . .Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and
touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you,
and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." (2Cor 6:14-18)

For Jacob's family, marriage with another culture was not a good idea at all. Their
granddad was called to a very high purpose-- a purpose in which they were all
expected to have a role; and that would be the role of engendering a great nation
whose God would be Yhvh; and thus be a witness to the one True God: and a
nation that would ultimately be a blessing to the whole world. A people like Hamor's
were a serious threat to fulfilling that purpose.

Gen 34:10 . .You will dwell among us, and the land will be open before you;
settle, move about, and acquire holdings in it.

That must have been a very tempting offer to Jacob. Hamor's people would protect
his family, and let him use choice grazing lands, and sell him property to build a
home on if he joined their clan instead of going off on his own with no one but Yhvh
to rely upon. But then Israel would be assimilated; and that was something Jacob
had to avoid at all costs.

A holy nation has got to remain separated and independent from its unholy
neighbors so God can bless. Just look what assimilation has done to the people of
Israel over the years. Only a measly ten percent of them today are orthodox. Many
of them are secular, worldly, conformed, and totally without their God. That is truly
pitiful; and totally unacceptable.

Gen 34:11-12 . .Then Shechem said to her father and brothers: Do me this favor,
and I will pay whatever you tell me. Ask of me a bride-price ever so high, as well as
gifts, and I will pay what you tell me; only give me the maiden for a wife.

Shechem really did love Dinah, and was willing to go to some pretty extreme
lengths to keep her. Unfortunately, he got off on the wrong foot with Dinah's
brothers; which would prove fatal to every man in his village, including Shechem's
dad.

Gen 34:13a . . Jacob's sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor

It's uncertain all eleven of Jacob's boys took part in this. Later, only two of them,
Simeon and Levi, would subsequently go into town and murder all the men. Jacob
apparently said nothing in the negotiations; he only witnessed it all, listening to
everything, but letting his sons do all the talking.

Gen 34:13b-17 . . speaking with guile because he had defiled their sister Dinah--
and said to them: We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to a man who is
uncircumcised, for that is a disgrace among us. Only on this condition will we agree
with you; that you will become like us in that every male among you is circumcised.

. . .Then we will give our daughters to you and take your daughters to ourselves;
and we will dwell among you and become as one kindred. But if you will not listen
to us and become circumcised, we will take our daughter and go.

It's difficult to ascertain what the boys were implying by the prerequisite of
circumcision. Were they implying that Shechem's clan could only blend with the
people of Israel via Abraham's covenant of circumcision? Apparently that's the
impression they were giving, and Hamor seems to understand that if the two
families were to become one clan, then Israel's religion has to be in common.

Jacob's silence suggests he was thinking the very same. As for Hamor, being a
covetous man at heart; circumcision surely seemed an insignificant price to become
joint owner of Jacob's possessions.
_
 
he only reason Jacob's progeny continues to exist is because of the oath and the
promises that God gave their ancestor Abraham. If not for that early covenant, they
would be just as extinct today as the Edomites, and for the very same reasons.
Deu 32:6 Do you thus repay the LORD, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?
32:7 Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you.
32:8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
32:9 But the LORD's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.
32:10 “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
 
Gen 34:18-19 . .Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor's son Shechem. And the
youth lost no time in doing the thing, for he wanted Jacob's daughter. Now he was
the most respected in his father's house.

Shechem took the lead and set the example for the rest of the men in his village.
He apparently had quite a bit of influence, and people looked up to him.

Gen 34:20-24 . . So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the public place of their
town and spoke to their fellow townsmen, saying: These people are our friends; let
them settle in the land and move about in it, for the land is large enough for them;
we will take their daughters to ourselves as wives and give our daughters to them.

. . . But only on this condition will the men agree with us to dwell among us and be
as one kindred: that all our males become circumcised as they are circumcised.
Their cattle and substance and all their beasts will be ours, if we only agree to their
terms, so that they will settle among us. All who went out of the gate of his town
heeded Hamor and his son Shechem, and all males, all those who went out of the
gate of his town, were circumcised

Hamor convinced the men of his village that they would prosper by submitting to
the surgery. His village apparently operated on the commune principle: What you
have is mine, and what I have is yours. So everyone would benefit from
assimilating Jacob's family because they would become co-owners of his
possessions; which, when he departed Laban, was a goodly amount of livestock and
slaves. The arrangement was appealing: it made good business sense, and would
have been very lucrative for Hamor's village if only Jacob's sons had been honest
about it.

Gen 34:25-26 . . On the third day, when they were in pain, Simeon and Levi, two
of Jacob's sons, brothers of Dinah, took each his sword, came upon the city
unopposed, and slew all the males. They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the
sword, took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went away.

The boys did all that without Jacob's knowledge. Exactly what effect the massacre
of her boyfriend and his dad had upon Dinah is not said. Family rivalries, like the
old hillbilly feuds, are bitter and driven solely by the code of the vendetta. There's
no justice in a vendetta; only pay-back.

Oh, The Martins and the Coys,
They were reckless mountain boys,
And they scarred the mountains up with shot and shell.

There was uncles, brothers, cousins,
Why; they bumped them off by dozens,
Just how many bit the dust is hard to tell.
-- Gene Autry --

Gen 34:27 . .The other sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the
town, because their sister had been defiled.

Only two of the brothers did the killing, but apparently all who were old enough
participated in the pillaging. I tell you, some of the patriarchs were brutal men; and
it was from them that the nation of Israel sprang. Later, they will sell their own kid
brother Joseph into slavery simply because they envied his favorite-son status with
their dad.

Gen 34:28-29 . .They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys, all that was
inside the town and outside; all their wealth, all their children, and their wives, all
that was in the houses, they took as captives and booty.

What they did was what conquerors legitimately do in war. But Jacob wasn't at war
with Hamor's clan. Those boys were nothing in the world but murderers,
kidnappers, thugs, and thieves. To think Messiah came from that blood line is
beyond belief!

Gen 34:30-31 . . Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: You have brought trouble on me,
making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the
Perizzites; my men are few in number, so that if they unite against me and attack
me, I and my house will be destroyed. But they answered: Should our sister be
treated like a harlot?

Dinah's brothers were rash and hot headed; placing their own rage above and
beyond their family's safety, and their father Jacob's honor. That is the self
centered attitude of criminals; which is exactly what they were. Without God's
providence, surely all of Canaan would have banded together and justly hanged
every last male in Jacob's camp so that the nation of Israel would have ended right
then and there. There would have been no holocaust and no crucifixion, and the
Palestinians today would have a country to call their own. It's almost impossible to
comprehend how those boys could have ever descended from the world's most
respected religious figure the world has ever known: Abraham ben Terah.

Many years later, Moses' people came to the brink of annihilation again because of
the pride of just one lone Jew in the book of Ruth. Boy! I tell you: God has really
had His hands full keeping those people from destroying themselves. Truth be told:
if it weren't for God's promise to Abraham, the Jews would have been extinct as a
people long ago. (2Kings 13:23)
_
 
Gen 35:1 . . God said to Jacob: Arise, go up to Bethel and remain there; and
build an altar there to the god who appeared to you when you were fleeing from
your brother Esau.

That is some very strange language. Why didn't God say "build an altar to Me; who
appeared to you when, etc". On the surface, it appears that God is speaking of a
deity other than Himself. But according to Gen 35:2, Jacob's family had a number
of gods in their possession and I think God just wanted to make sure Jacob
understood that He wanted no truck with them. For example:

"You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or
any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water
under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, Jehovah your
god, am a jealous god," (Ex 20:3-5)

Gen 35:2 . . So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him: Rid
yourselves of the alien gods in your midst, purify yourselves, and change your
clothes.

This is embarrassing. To top off the shame of recent events-- Dinah's tryst, the
murders, and the subsequent looting in town-- now it turns out that the one family
on earth who was supposed to be a witness to the one True God and all that He
stands for, had other gods in their midst! They were also wearing clothing taken
from the dead in town, clothing that more than likely honored the religions-- and
thus the morals-- of the Canaanite gods! No doubt the alien gods themselves were
booty too, collected from Shechem's town after the massacre.

Precisely what Jacob meant for his household, and all who were with him, to do in
order be "purified" is not said. Bathing in water was the usual means of purification
in the Old Testament; and often done in preparation to meet with God; but it's
more likely that he simply regarded the alien gods and the stolen booty as ill gotten
gain; ergo: contamination.

Gen 35:3 . . Come, let us go up to Bethel, and I will build an altar there to the
God who answered me when I was in distress and who has been with me wherever
I have gone.

Jacob thus made a distinction between the mute gods of the Canaanites, and the
vocal god of Israel. Jacob's god had been extremely active and useful in his life;
whereas the Canaanite gods were only inanimate pieces of superstitious statuary,
like voodoo dolls.

The altar would serve a couple of important purposes, but the one that would really
count in this case is its capacity as an official place of confession and absolution of
sins. The people of God, whether Jew or Christian, have never been sinless. But
sinless-ness is not an indicator that certifies whether or not someone is in God's
family. Confession and absolution are far better indicators, e.g. Ps 32:5-7.

The advantage of being in the family of Israel's God is the latitude His own have for
being themselves. Jacob's household sinned big time, yes, but their sins will effect
neither their divine purpose, nor their eternal destiny.

Gen 35:4 . .They gave to Jacob all the alien gods that they had, and the rings
that were in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the terebinth that was near
Shechem.

According to Webster's, a terebinth is a small European tree (Pistacia terebinthus)
of the cashew family yielding turpentine. The Hebrew word for "terebinth" is 'elah
(ay-law') which just means an oak or other strong tree.

The religious items Jacob collected, were not only in the possession of his kin, but
also in the possession of "all who were with him" (Gen 35:2) which would have
included servants, his slaves; and the recent captives. Some of the items would
have come from looting the town of Shechem, but many would have been acquired
in the area up and around Laban's vicinity in Mesopotamia; which is where Jacob
acquired the bulk of his labor force (Gen 30:43). Jacob lived for many years in close
proximity to religions centered upon gods other than Israel's God, and the influence
of those religions had a heavy impact upon the most holy community existing on
the entire planet at that time.

Exactly why Jacob chose to bury those items under a terebinth, instead of just
burying them in a hole out in pasture, is not said. He could have incinerated them
too, but, for some undisclosed reason, didn't. Some have tried to find symbolism in
that, but his decision may have been motivated by something as simple as a hot
day, and Jacob would rather work in the shade than out in the open.

Gen 35:5 . . As they set out, a terror from God fell on the cities round about, so
that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

The patriarchs had some very interesting advantages. Even when they deserved to
die, or at least assaulted and battered, the Bible's God was often on hand to
prevent it. Think about it though. If you knew that a small force of Jews were able
to overpower a whole town, would you want to lock horns with them? I don't think
so. Jacob's boys no doubt had a reputation in those parts now, and made their
neighbors nervous.

People were very superstitious in those days and often gave the credit for military
victories to their own personal gods; or to the gods of their conquerors, if that's the
way things went in battle. So that the god of the people of Israel now became the
one to be feared in those parts.

However, it's far better-- if at all possible --for the people of God to give a
testimony to the love of God rather than to the terror of God. But because of the
patriarchs' recent violent behavior, the love of God was far from the minds of the
people in Jacob's vicinity. They saw the people of Israel and their god as a serious
threat to the safety and well being of their communities rather than seeing Israel's
God as a potential source of blessing and providence.
_
 
Gen 35:1 . . God said to Jacob: Arise, go up to Bethel and remain there; and
build an altar there to the god who appeared to you when you were fleeing from
your brother Esau.

That is some very strange language. Why didn't God say "build an altar to Me; who
appeared to you when, etc". On the surface, it appears that God is speaking of a
deity other than Himself. But according to Gen 35:2, Jacob's family had a number
of gods in their possession and I think God just wanted to make sure Jacob
understood that He wanted no truck with them. For example:
I do not know what Bible version you are using in your commentary but looking at other multiple versions they do all differ from your "god" used in your version ...
(ESV) God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
(LITV) And God said to Jacob, Rise up, go to Bethel and live there. And make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled before your brother Esau.
(KJV) 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.

This is doctrinally consistent and is in keeping with other references in the OT where Yahweh (Father) and Yahweh (Son) are both mentioned in scripture together, such as:
Gen 19:24 Then the LORD caused to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
Already in the OT we come across references to Jesus as God, as Yahweh, also as the Angel of God, the Name of God ...
the GOD that appeared unto Jacob in his dream at Bethel was Jesus (or rather Yahweh - I Am).
 
Gen 1:3 . . Then God said "Let there be light" and there was light.

The creation of light was a very, very intricate process. First God had to create
particulate matter, and along with those particles their specific properties, including
mass; if any. Then He had to invent the laws of nature to govern how matter
behaves in combination with and/or in the presence of, other kinds of matter in
order to generate electromagnetic radiation.

Light's properties are curious. It propagates as waves in a variety of lengths and
frequencies, and also as quantum bits called photons. And though light has no
mass; it's influenced by gravity. Light is also quite invisible to the naked eye. For
example: you can see the Sun when you look at it, and you can see the Moon when
sunlight reflects from its surface. But none of the Sun's light is visible to you in the
void between them and that's because light isn't matter; it's energy; and there is
really a lot of it.

I would sugest when God said "Let there be light" and there was light. God's gloryas the light. His presence entered the seen . Day four the glgory had departed and the temporal coruoption time kepers were in place .The Sun as the source of temporal light and the moon to refllect . the glory of theb Sun ,

A picture or parable of the Father and the Son working as one God
 
their god ???

Yes a presentation of the God of isreal . God has no literal form .But does reveal that which is hidden from natural, faithless, unconverted mankind in parable in oder to teach us how to walk or understand acording to the unseen mysteries of the gospel .
 
Gen 35:6-7 . .Thus Jacob came to Luz-- that is, Bethel --in the land of Canaan,
he and all the people who were with him. There he built an altar and named the site
El-bethel, for it was there that God had revealed Himself to him when he was
fleeing from his brother.

Bethel is located approximately 11 miles directly north of Jerusalem. Jacob erected
a stone cairn there when he left home; and gave the site its name: Bethel (House
Of God). At least thirty years have gone by since then. He stayed twenty years with
Laban, and had lived for an undisclosed number of years in the vicinity of
Schechem. Jacob was 75 when he left home, and was now easily over 100. He is
not only older now, but he's a lot wiser too. The experience at Shechem changed
Jacob in a remarkable way.

This time he builds an altar instead of a cairn, and names the site El-bethel (the
god of the House Of God). So Jacob's focus has shifted. Previously his emphasis
was upon a special site to worship God. This time, Jacob puts the emphasis where it
should have been in the first place: upon the object of his worship. Because, unless
God is actually present during worship, then designating a special place for worship
is futile.

In Rev 3:14-22, the church of the Laodicians is depicted as so entirely christless
that Jesus isn't even a member, no, he's on the outside of the building banging on
the door trying to get someone's attention to let him in. That was a solid Christian
church at one time; but as time went by; it somehow became quite christless.

Gen 35:8a . . Deborah, Rebecca's nurse, died, and was buried under the oak
below Bethel;

By now, Deborah was very aged; older than Rebecca, and had come south with her
to Canaan twenty years prior to Jacob's birth (Gen 24:59, 25:20, 25:26). Deborah
was already a mature woman when she came south with Rebecca because the word
for nurse-- yanaq (yaw-nak') --indicates a wet nurse. So Deborah did the surrogate
task of breast feeding the infant Rebecca, whose biological mom, for reasons
unknown, couldn't do it herself. Jacob knew Deborah quite well, having grown up
with her in his own home, and remained with her a good number of years before
leaving home himself at 75.

There's pretty good reason to believe that Rebecca had died prior to Gen 35:8
because it's extremely doubtful Deborah would leave her to join Jacob's troupe
otherwise.

Gen 35:8b . . so it was named Allon-bacuth.

Allon-bacuth means: oak of weeping. Deborah's passing was surely as emotionally
painful a loss to Jacob as the loss of his own mother.

Gen 35:9a . . God appeared again to Jacob on his arrival from Paddan-aram,

Paddam-aram was the region up north, in and around where Laban lived, and from
whence Jacob fled a number of years prior to Gen 35:9. But God reckoned Jacob
still on-route for the simple reason that he had yet to strictly comply with the order
to "Return to the land of your fathers where you were born" and "arise and leave
this land and return to your native land." (Gen 31:3, 31:13).

Instead of going directly to Bethel, as God apparently expected Jacob to do, he
settled in the region around Shechem-- where his daughter became promiscuous,
his sons became murderers and thieves, and Jacob alienated his neighbors: thus;
he, and his whole family, had become quite useless as a witness to the knowledge
of the one true God in that region.

Gen 35:9b-10 . . and He blessed him. God said to him: You whose name is Jacob,
you shall be called Jacob no more, but Israel shall be your name. Thus He named
him Israel.

This wasn't news to Jacob. He was renamed Israel by the angel (Gen 32:29). But
Jacob wasn't living up to his new identity. He needed urging to live as who he now
is, not live as who he once was before meeting God face to face.

Gen 35:11a . . And God said to him: I am El Shaddai.

The patriarchs were aware of God's other name Yhvh, and often referred to Him by
it; but El Shaddai is a name of God that they knew Him by in a personal way. It
means: God of all might; viz; the all-power god; or the god who invented, created,
and controls all natural and supernatural powers.

El Shaddai is the god who can make things happen, even things that are impossible
by natural means, and things that are above and beyond Man's mortal imagination;
so that El Shaddai is "the" god of providence who is easily strong enough to meet
any, and all, human need.

The name El Shaddai relates to Jacob's vow in Gen 28:20-21 where he said: If God
remains with me, if He protects me on this journey that I am making, and gives me
bread to eat and clothing to wear, and if I return safe to my father's house-- Yhvh
shall be my God.

God did remain with Jacob, protected him, provided for him, and got him back
home. Time now to make good on that vow.

Gen 35:11b . . Be fertile and increase;

At this point in his life, Jacob was just about done reproducing. He had one more to
go: Joseph. But Jacob's increase went way beyond his twelve sons were just the
beginning.

Gen 35:11c . . A nation, yea an assembly of nations, shall descend from you.
Kings shall issue from your loins.

That's pretty much what God promised Abraham back in chapter 17. The most
important kings were those of Israel, and in particular, the ones in David's line who
preceded Messiah.

Gen 35:12 . .The land that I assigned to Abraham and Isaac I assign to you; and
to your offspring to come will I assign the land.

Ownership of the land didn't pass from Abraham down to Isaac, and then to Jacob
as if it were an heirloom. God promised each patriarch full ownership along with
their progeny. We might call that kind of ownership tenancy in common, community
property, or joint-heirship. However, there's yet a fourth tenant in common: Christ.
(Gal 3:16)
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Gen 35:13-14 . . God parted from him at the spot where He had spoken to him;
and Jacob set up a pillar at the site where He had spoken to him, a pillar of stone,
and he offered a libation on it and poured oil upon it.

The pillar that Jacob erected on this same site back in Gen 28:18 received a
somewhat different treatment. In that instance, Jacob poured only oil on it. In this
instance, he added a libation. The precise recipe is unknown, but could have been a
forerunner of the libation rituals that would come later in Israel's history-- typically
an alcoholic beverage made from grapes. (e.g. Ex 29:40, Lev 23:13)

Wine is an ingredient in a formal Temple offering called the daily burnt offering (Ex
29:38-46) whose recipe lists a lamb, a paste made of flour and oil, and some wine.
The entire offering is totally destroyed; incinerated by fire. The residing priests,
serving at the Temple, arranged this offering every day during the course of their
duties; including the Sabbath day; which normally would be illegal since it's against
the law to kindle a fire on the Sabbath. (cf. Ex 36:3, Mtt 12:5)

Some have interpreted the libation as representing the offerer's life's work; which
in the case of the daily burnt offering, would be the life's work of the entire nation
of the people of Israel; and of course including the priests themselves. So that
every twenty-four hours, the whole nation's every-day activities went up in smoke.

We could interpret Jacob's libation as a formal act of dedication-- not of the pillar;
but of Jacob himself. Right after his first encounter, on this very spot, with the God
of his fathers Abraham and Isaac, a good thirty years ago; Jacob vowed to dedicate
himself to Yhvh if only He would fulfill certain stipulations.

Jacob's vow at that time included a promise to make Yhvh his god-- implying his
only god --and to give God a tithe of "all that You give me". Jacob's libation implies
that, from here on in, it's his sincere intent to start living up to his new name, and
to make good on those promises.

This is a really huge event, and marks a serious milestone in Jacob's spiritual life.
And I believe it's important to point out that Jacob didn't take this turning point
when he was living at home with ma and pa. Too many people are in their parents'
religion just because they were born into it. Jacob chose a spiritual path for himself
long after he became an adult.

Gen 35:15 . . Jacob gave the site, where God had spoken to him, the name of
Bethel.

That could look back in time to Gen 28:10-22; or it could just simply mean that
Jacob decided that the name Bethel would not just be a pet name of his own: but
knowing (and believing) that this land would one day be inhabited by his progeny,
Jacob willed it to be on the map as the town of Bethel when such a time as his
progeny took actual physical possession of Canaan later on in the book of Joshua.

Gen 35:16a . .They set out from Bethel; but when they were still some distance
short of Ephrath,

This is the very first mention of Ephrath; which is actually Bethlehem (Gen 35:19,
Gen 48:7). Apparently this area wasn't yet on the map as either Ephrath or
Bethlehem in Jacob's day, but later during the author's day. It's not uncommon for
Bible authors (or later scribes and/or editors) to give the contemporary name as
well as the ancient name of a city or town so that his readers knew where to look in
their own day for those old-time places.

Ephrath can also be spelled Ephratah. The founder of Bethlehem was a Jewish man
named Ephratah, and his name became attached to Bethlehem so that you could
refer to it in compound form as Bethlehem Ephratah; or Bethlehem of Ephratah
(e.g. 1Chrn 4:4, Mic 5:2). Ephrath is apparently the female spelling (1Chrn 2:19)
and Ephratah is the male version.

The next incident didn't actually occur in Bethlehem, but "some distance" from it.
Other than Gen 48:7 (which is a citation of the section we're in now), the only other
place the phrase "some distance" is used again in the entire Old Testament is 2Kgs
5:19; where some feel it indicates a distance about equal to that required for a
runner on foot to catch up with a chariot on the move; but the true meaning is lost
in antiquity.
_
 
Gen 35:16b . . Rachel was in childbirth, and she had hard labor.

Rachel was no longer a spring chicken. Rueben, Jacob's firstborn, is now old enough
to fool around with grown women. It's probably been in the neighborhood of 40+
years since Rachel's first meeting with Jacob back in chapter 29; when she was just
a youngster of perhaps 15-20 years old at the time.

Gen 35:17 . .When her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her: Have no
fear, for it is another boy for you.

Rachel, no doubt remembered why she named her other son Joseph, back in
chapter 30, while they were all yet still living up north with Laban. Joseph's Hebrew
name is yowceph (yo-safe') which is a mini prayer that says: May the Lord add
another son for me. (Gen 30:24)

Gen 35:18 . . But as she breathed her last-- for she was dying --she named him
Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.

A complicated delivery in those days typically ended in tragedy. People had no
surgical skills nor tools and procedures to save either the mother or her child. The
exact nature of Rachel's problem isn't stated. She could have experienced severe
hemorrhaging, eclampsia, or maybe her heart just couldn't take the stress, and
gave out.

Ben-oni possibly means: "A Son Born In Grief". But Jacob changed it to binyamiyn
(bin-yaw-mene') which possibly means: "The Son At My Right Hand".

Joseph, rather than Benjamin, became Jacob's favorite; and the only one of the
twelve upon whom he could rely. (cf. Ps 16:8, Ps 110:1)

BTW: Benjamin holds the distinction of being the only one of Jacob's children born
in the land of Canaan, i.e. he was a native son while the other boys were
immigrants. Abraham was an immigrant too, having migrated from the area in and
around what we know today as Iraq.

Gen 35:19 . .Thus Rachel died. She was buried on the road to Ephrath-- now
Bethlehem.

The postscript "now Bethlehem" indicates an editorial insertion by someone later;
possibly a scribe or someone assigned the task of making copies; which was a
perpetual task in the ages prior to the existence of modern papers, printing
presses, and electronic storage media.

Gen 35:20 . . Over her grave Jacob set up a pillar; it is the pillar at Rachel's grave
to this day.

The pillar was probably just a pile of rocks, like a cairn. The phrase "to this day"
indicates the day of the writer rather than the day upon which somebody in our
own day might read this passage.

By the time of 1Sam 10:2-- roughly 1020 BC --Rachel's Tomb was a famous
landmark. The traditional site, presently so-called, lies about four miles south of
Jerusalem, and one mile north of Bethlehem. The current small, square shaped,
domed structure isn't the original, but a relatively late monument. In 1841, the
"tomb" was renovated, and in 1948 taken over by Jordanian invaders. Jews were
barred from visiting it, and the area was converted into a Muslim cemetery; which
was eventually liberated by Israelis in 1967.

NOTE: Loss of access to an important ancestor's grave site isn't just an
archeological loss; it's a family loss.

When my father-in-law passed away in 2012 a step-daughter tried to commandeer
his body from the hospital so she could get him cremated and spread his ashes
somewhere over the landscape in Arizona without the slightest consideration for the
feelings of his blood kin who, except for my wife, all live on the East coast.

Well; thank God my wife and her sister intervened with the appropriate legal
documents in the nick of time to take custody of their father's body before the step
daughter got away with her nefarious scheme. My father-in-law certainly deserved
better than just discarding his ashes somewhere out in the desert.

He was a pipeline engineer with the US Army on the Ledo Road (a.k.a. Stilwell
Road) in the China/Burma/India theater in the second world war. His remains are
now safely buried back East in the family's cemetery; where his real kin can come
and visit him on occasion.
_
 
Gen 35:21 . . Israel journeyed on, and pitched his tent beyond Migdal-eder.

Although Israel is Jacob's spiritual name, it's also the name of his whole household
(e.g. Gen 34:7) so that when Genesis says "Israel journeyed" it means everybody
associated with Jacob was on the move.

An important technicality to note is that Abraham and Isaac were no more Israelites
than Noah was. The name Israel began with Jacob, and was carried forward by his
sons. In its infancy, Israel was a family name rather than the name of a nation that
it is now. It might sound ridiculous, but in order for Abraham and Isaac to become
Israelites, it would be necessary for Jacob to legally adopt them.

Migdal-eder is a compound word. Migdal can mean a tower, a rostrum, or a
pyramidal bed of flowers. 'Eder is a proper name, of either a man or a place-name
in Palestine. So Migdal-eder could be 'Eder's tower, which may not have even
existed in Jacob's day but was a well known landmark in the author's.

Migdal appears only three times in Genesis: once here, and twice in chapter 11 in
reference to the Tower of Babel. The tower in Babel was probably an elaborate
ziggurat, but 'Eder's tower may have been something very rudimentary, quite
simple to construct, and used for agrarian purposes-- e.g. tending herds; and
watching for rustlers and predators --rather than especially for religious purposes.

Gen 35:22a . .While Israel stayed in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah,
his father's concubine; and Jacob found out.

Bilhah was Rachel's maid, and quite a bit older than Reuben. She was also the
mother of two of Reuben's half-brothers: Dan and Naphtali. Exactly why Reuben
took an interest in Bilhah isn't stated. But, it's not like there was a shortage of girls
his own age among the women in Jacob's camp. Jacob had a lot of hired help, and
plenty of slaves too. If Reuben just wanted to sow some wild oats, it would have
been very easy.

Reuben may have been interested in Bilhah for quite a while prior to this recorded
incident; but was kept at bay by Rachel's oversight. Now, with her dead, and out of
the way, the coast was clear for a carnal liaison. Exactly how Bilhah felt about the
affair is not said; but may have been quite flattered by a younger man's interest;
and who's to say she wasn't a cougar at heart.

One possibility, that seems quite reasonable, and actually makes much better
business sense than the motions of a young man's passions, is that Reuben took a
bold step to insure Rachel's maid Bilhah would not ascend to the position of favored
wife over his own mom Leah. He was surely aware of the sisterly rivalry between
Rachel and Leah, since he was in the middle of a conjugal struggle between the two
back in Gen 30:14-16; and he must have been fully aware of his mom's feelings
over being switched on Rachel's wedding night.

By sleeping with Bilhah, and thus "defiling" her, Reuben may have hoped Jacob
would be sufficiently revolted enough by the affair so that he'd be inclined to avoid
Bilhah from then on and turn his full attention upon Leah.

If the above is true, then it only goes to show just how heartless Reuben could be.
His plan, if successful, would leave Bilhah in living widowhood, and the clutches of
loneliness and sexual frustration for the remainder of her life. That very scenario
was a reality in the case of David and his son Absalom. (2Sam 15:16, 16:20-22,
and 20:2-3)

An additional possibility is that in ancient times, firstborn sons commonly inherited
not only their father's estate, but also his wives and concubines. Reuben may thus
have been claiming his future inheritance. But in so doing, he was, in reality,
whether intentional or not, taking steps to depose Jacob; and thus gain immediate
headship in the clan. This seems likely because the boys really didn't think much of
Jacob's competency. They went over his head in the incident at Shechem, and were
disgusted with Jacob's lack of strong response to their sister's escapades: an
episode which in reality disgraced the family of Israel. (Gen 34:30-31)

Whatever the true circumstances, and the motives, the thing Reuben did earned
him Jacob's reprimand, and cost him the loss of his privileged position in the family
(Gen 49:3-4). Reuben's birthright was transferred to Joseph. (1Chro 5:1)
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