GRIFFIN COMMENTS GEN 35

GRIFFIN COMMENTS GEN 35

(Gen 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.

From time to time we must return to our Bethel, our house of God. It is good that we made a consecration long ago, but there needs to be many renewals, times of refreshing.

BACK TO BETHEL(Gen_35:1) George L. Glass, Sr.

INTRODUCTION:

1. Bethel: House of God

A. Here Jacob came when he left home.

2. He then went on to Haran.

A. Here discuss his years there.

B. God speaks to him to return (Gen_31:11-13).

3. His return

A. He had to meet his brother he had wronged (Gen_32:1).

B. He prayed through (Gen_32:1+).

C. He put away the idol gods which he had taken up in the land of Haran, also their earrings (Gen_35:1).

4. Let us go back in experience to Bethel.

A. Where we first met God.

GRIFFIN COMMENTS GEN 35—PAGE 1

B. Remember our vows.

C. Lay aside our idols, worldliness.

D. Our consecration.

a. We had no ill will toward anyone when we received the Holy Ghost.

b. No malice, envy, strife.

c. We were willing to do anything in the world He would demand of us.

E. After a few years it is so easy to forget these things.

a. That is why it is good for us to go back to Bethel.

CONCLUSION: As ye therefore received the Lord Jesus Christ, so walk ye in Him. The consecration we made to find Christ, we must make to walk with Him.

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GO UP TO BETHEL(Gen_35:1-7) George L. Glass, Sr.

INTRODUCTION: This command from God to Jacob came 30 years after Jacob's first experience at Bethel.

1. Bethel, House of God.

A. Jacob met God here (Gen_28:16-22).


B. Jacob made a covenant [agreement] with God (Gen_28:16-22).

a. God said, "I am with thee and will be with thee in all the places whither thou goest, and bring thee again to this place.

b. Jacob said, "If God be with me and bring me again to this place, I will surely give the tenth to thee (Gen_28:22).

2. Now God reminds him of Bethel and told him to return. [text]

A. Genesis 34 tells why: Israel was too close to other nations. Sin was committed.

B. Jacob acknowledged God had kept His end of the bargain.

a. No one can ever say God has failed in this.

b. Samson failed, not God.

3. Their returning.

A. Put away strange gods that are among you (Gen_35:2).

a. So easy over a period of time to pick up the strange gods of the world.

B. Be clean, washed. Thank God for the blood.

C. Change your garments.

a. Let us lay aside any garment other than garment of God's righteousness..


D. They gave Jacob all their strange gods which were in their hands, and earrings which were their ears.

E. They journeyed: let us move with God.

a. The terror of God was on the cities that were round about them.

b. When God's people move with Him, it fills the hearts of those around us with fear.

4. Let us go to Bethel.

A. May have to lay a lot aside.

B. What have we picked up along the way?

5. At Bethel Jacob made another altar (El-Bethel).

A. El-Bethel (God of the house of God).

B. Many love the house of God; lost sight of God of the house of God.

CONCLUSION: What would happen among us and our neighbors if every child of God would go to Bethel?

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BACK TO BETHEL(Gen_35:1-5)

1. JACOB NOW IN MOURNFUL STATE OF MIND

Yet a very common one

A. Forgotten mercies


B. Forgotten vows

2. COMMAND GIVEN TO JACOB IN HIS FORGETFULNESS

A. Lord remembers our vows and promisesB. Lord often reminds His people of their forgotten

mercies

3. THE OBEDIENCE THE PATRIARCH RENDERED TO THE DIVINE COMMAND

A. There were strange gods in Jacob's house.This may surprise you.

In the house of the only man in the world who served the true God. And he knew they were there. He tolerated them. How did they get there? Rachel brought them and he loved Rachel.

(See Ecc_5:5 Going back to Bethel)

GOING BACK TO BETHEL(Gen_35:1; Ecc_5:5) Allan Oggs, 3 March 1963, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

When a man has gone to Bethel he finds it easy to make a vow. There in the presence of God we forget all the past and future, and think of what God is doing right now. Here we can say we will go all the way.

The longer we wait to pay the vow the harder it is to pay. The reason you did not repay will be added to the other reasons and it will become almost impossible to fulfill.

All men have their Bethel. The place to make a vow to God. Sometimes there are years before the return trip to Bethel. Before you go you will have to clean up your life.


Joh_21:15-17 PeterRedig the wells. Devil returns and fills them when unused (Luk_11:24-26)Restoration Mar_5:1Act_4:31 FefilledProdigal

(Gen 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:

Jacob knew then that there were gods in his family. He apparently was tolerating them for some reason. If Rachel still had hers it could be that he allowed them to stay because he loved her. Such is the nature of love, yet love should never be allowed to cause us to stray from our God nor His ways. Regardless of how much we love any human on earth, we must love God more. Other gods in the family apparently came from the spoils of Shechem.

(Gen 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.

The heart must keep an altar ready, for there will be more days of distress, and more ways to travel. There is a God who can lead you in the way you should go, but you need an altar whereby you can consult Him. You must be prepared for different directions tomorrow than the ones He has given today. Jesus disciples were taught this lesson (Luk_22:35-36).

(Gen 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.

I had much rather read that he buried them in the sea or burned them in the fire. For what purpose would he want to


hide them under an oak unless he planned to return and take them again? And who would need to hide gods of this world when they had the true and living God? The repentance of some people is only temporary when God is looking for total commitment.

(Gen 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.

God can bring favor to us and cause terror because of us. He controls attitudes that people have one way or the other. These things are not just accidents of nature. They could easily have pursued the sons of Jacob after they found out the way they treated the Shechemites, and it is a wonder that they did not, but God caused the opposite response, a fear and avoidance instead of attack.

(Gen 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.

That is a good idea—take your family to the altar, do not go there alone. Let none remain, that “all the people” learn to serve the God of glory and then they will be willing to get rid of their gods for good.

See how wise God is in discriminating character. Why did God choose Jacob rather than Esau? Because he was the more serviceable man of the two. The long run in those days was a more desirable thing than the short cut. Patient steadiness was more serviceable for the Divine ends than mere executive rush. James would have been better than Peter to go on Old Testament errands. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

(Gen 35:7) And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.


He remembered how God had given him an assurance as he fled from Esau. God promised to be with him all the way on his journey and bring him back safely, and God had kept his promise. We must never forget where God intervened for us. We must know the God of the house of God. So many forget their vows in times of prosperity, but Jacob remembered.

(Gen 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.

This old mother in Israel was over a hundred years old and to me is a most fascinating woman. Little is known of her. We know she was Rebekah’s nurse, and went with her when she was sent to marry Isaac. She must have raised Esau and Jacob, then some time after they arrived back in Canaan, and there was no record left of when it was, but somewhere, sometime, Jacob went and took Deborah to be with his family, no doubt to help raise his children. He needed someone experienced and none was better than Deborah. I attribute the morality of Joseph, and his refusal to give in to Potiphar’s wife, to the truths Deborah instilled in him as a child. It is obvious here that Jacob highly esteemed her, though he never spoke of her, and did none of the others in her life. She is among those unsung heroes who go about their work unnoticed but leave behind a great impact.

DEBORAHGen_35:8

There he buried Deborah, Rebekah's nurse. We have reason to think that Jacob, after he came to Canaan, while his family dwelt near Shechem, went himself (it is likely, often) to visit his father Isaac at Hebron. Rebekah probably was dead, but her old nurse (of whom mention is made <Gen_24:59>) survived her, and Jacob took her to his family, to be a companion to his wives, her country-women, and an instructor to his children; while they were at Bethel,


she died, and died lamented, so much lamented that the oak under which she was buried was called Allon-bachuth, the oak of weeping. (Matthew Henry)

[But Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died] She was sent with Rebekah when taken by Abraham's servant to be wife to Isaac, <Gen_24:59>. How she came to be in Jacob's family, expositors are greatly puzzled to find out, but the text does not state that she was in Jacob's family. Her death is mentioned merely because Jacob and his family had now arrived at the place where she was buried, and the name of that place was called Allon-bachuth, "the oak of weeping," as it is likely her death had been greatly regretted, and a general and extraordinary mourning had taken place on the occasion. Of Rebekah's death we know nothing. After her counsel to her son, <Gen. 27>, we hear no more of her history from the sacred writings, except of her burial in <Gen_49:31>. Her name is written in the dust. And is not this designed as a mark of the disapprobation of God? It seems strange that such an inconsiderable person as a nurse should be mentioned, when even the person she brought up is passed by unnoticed! It has been observed that the nurse of AEneas is mentioned nearly in the same way by the poet Virgil; and in the circumstances, in both cases, there is a striking resemblance.(Adam Clarke)

[Deborah, Rebekah's nurse died.] This event seems to have taken place before the solemnities were commenced. Deborah— i. e., a bee. The nurse in an Eastern family was an important personage, and always held in high esteem. In Syria she is a sort of second parent. She always accompanies the bride to her husband's house, and ever after remains there an honoured character' (`Siege of Acre').(Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown)


"Luz, which is in the land of Kenaan." This seems at first sight to intimate that there was a Luz elsewhere, and to have been added by the revising prophet to determine the place here intended. Luz means an almond tree, and may have designated many a place. But the reader of Genesis could have needed no such intimation, as Jacob is clearly in the land of Kenaan, going from Shekem to Hebron. It seems rather to call attention again <Gen_33:18> to the fact that Jacob has returned from Padan-aram to the land of promise. The name Luz still recurs, as the almond tree may still be flourishing. "And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el." Thus has Jacob obeyed the command of God, and begun the payment of the vow he made twenty-six years before at this place <Gen_38:20-22>. "There God revealed himself unto him." The verb here [nigluw] (heb 1540) is plural in the Masoretic Hebrew, and so it was in the copy of Onkelos. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Septuagint have the singular. The reading is therefore, various. The original was probably singular, and may have been so even with its present letters. If not, this is one of the few instances in which Elohim is construed grammatically with a plural verb. Deborah dies in the family in which she began life. She is buried under "the well-known oak" at Bethel. Jacob drops a natural tear of sorrow over the grave of this faithful servant, and hence, the oak is called the oak of weeping. It is probable that Rebekah was already dead, since otherwise we should not expect to find Deborah transferred to Jacob's household. She may not have lived to see her favorite son on his return.(Barnes' Notes)

(Gen 35:9) And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him.

The Lord had appeared unto Jacob before in a ladder where the angels were seen ascending and descending into the heavens and back to the earth. Then He sent angels to him as he re-entered Canaan. Now again Elohim appeared to


Jacob to confirm the covenant. It had been many years at this point since he had come from Padan-aram.

(Gen 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.

We do know that on that memorial night God appeared to Jacob when He wrestled and changed his name, and placed upon him the first part of Elohim.

[and he called his name Israel] confirmed the name he had before given him, Gen_32:28; and by this confirmation of it signifying, that as he had prevailed over his brother Esau, and escaped his hands, so he should prevail. (Gill)

(Gen 35:11) And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;

If this appearance was at the same time mentioned earlier we are just now finding out about God telling him this on that night. Of course this could be another meeting with God, and we know that at this time God renewed the promise of a great heritage to him, and told him that kings would come from him. Thus is known even then that the day would come Israel would have kings.

(Gen 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.

Notice that the promise to give the land was not just to his seed, but to Jacob and his seed was the promise made. Jacob never obtained the land himself and if we can take it like it reads here there will come a day when Jacob will return to the land. That can only take place after Jesus returns to the earth and sets up His kingdom.


(Gen 35:13) And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.

Elohim now ascended up into the heavens from Jacob in this visible form. The record does not tell us what form He was in, but likely angelic.

As God is said to descend, when he shows some sign of his presence: so he is said to ascend when a vision is ended. (Geneva Bible) In actuality God goes nowhere, but the angel that represents His presence is seen moving from place to place.

(Gen 35:14) And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon.

He had set one up before when he first came to Bethel on his way to Padan-aram.

and he poured a drink offering thereon; of wine, of which drink offerings under the law were, thereby consecrating it to the worship and service of God. Aben Ezra says it was either of water or of wine, with which he washed it, and after that poured oil on it; and the Targum of Jonathan says, he poured a drink offering of wine, and a drink offering of water. (Gill)

(Gen 35:15) And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.

This was the third time that Jacob named this place, and the second time he called it simply, “Bethel.” He named it Bethel the first time he came (Gen_28:19) because he recognized God was in this place, then to El-beth-el (Gen_35:7); now he reverted to the old name. It would hold a very special place in Israel's history, but never become the place where God put His name.


(Gen 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 labour.

[They journeyed] literally they “pulled up,” that is, they pulled the tent pegs on the tents and went on their way. Near Ephrath [fruitful], or Bethlehem [house of bread], Rachel went into labor with Benjamin. She is a good type of the church of Christ for He has a Gentile bride, the beloved bride when Israel had been the first, which was rejected.

(Gen 35:17) And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also.

People who traveled as Jacob, and Abraham before him, carried with them many servants. Abraham armed 318 of his own when he went to rescue Lot. Jacob had this midwife and it is possible she was midwife to all his children. We do have a record of her coming from Padan-aram. We do have record of Deborah; nurse to Rebekah and probably to her children and those of Jacob. Thus groups like this were self-sufficient.

She reminded Rachel of the promise when her first child [Joseph] was born, that she would have another, and thus says, “You will have this son also.”

(Gen 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.

Jacob had never intervened before in the naming of these children, all of which were named out of the struggle of the family. Both Leah and Rachel had named their children according to their circumstances at the time. This time he would not allow this son to be raised as a son of sorrow, but coming from Rachel, his favorite wife, he changed his name to Benjamin, “Son of my right hand.”

(Gen 35:19) And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.


Bethlehem was the city of David’s birth, and of Jesus. It was prophesied that the Savior would be born here (Mic_5:2), and that it was a small city, but not to be despised on that account.

Rachel had said when she could have no children, “Give me children or I die,” so it is interesting that in having a child, she died.

(Gen 35:20) And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.

This land would later belong to Benjamin and he would have his mother’s grave in his possession. This pillar was still around in the time of Samuel (1Sa_10:2).

[Jacob set a pillar upon her grave] Was not this the origin of funeral monuments? In ancient times, and among rude nations, a heap of stones designated the burial place of the chief; many of these still remain in different countries. (Adam Clarke)

(Gen 35:21) And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar.

Tower of Edar - Literally, the tower of the flock, and so translated Mic_4:8. It is supposed that this tower was about a mile from Bethlehem, and to have been the place where the angels appeared to the shepherds. The Targum of Jonathan expressly says: “It is the place in which the King Messiah shall be manifested in the end of days.” By the tower of the flock we may understand a place built by the shepherds near to some well, for the convenience of watering their flocks, and keeping watch over them by night. (Adam Clarke)

They would have been watching the temple sacrifice lambs that would later be a sacrifice, and angels


appeared to let them know THE LAMB OF GOD had arrived.

(Gen 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. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:

In the original there is a pause after heard, and we will never know what goes in the blank. The Septuagint put “and it was evil in his sight,” which of course is true, but it very likely spells out more than that. This was Jacob’s concubine by Rachel, so now Rachel was gone and her maid had been defiled, so it was no wonder that Jacob took away the birthright from Reuben on his dying bed.

(Gen 35:23) The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun:These were listed under the wives according to their age, thus Leah’s first four were mentioned and there were the four of the handmaids between those four and the last two.

(Gen 35:24) The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin:

These were the favorites of Jacob. He would later say to all of his sons when they wanted to take Benjamin to Egypt, “You know that my wife bare me two sons,” (Gen_44:27). This must have rankled the others, but Jacob made no apologies about his special attraction to Rachel and her children.

(Gen 35:25) And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali:

Servants like Bilhah had no choice in such matters of having children. They were handmaids to a woman and then at the disposal of that woman to her husband, or to any other service they might feel a requirement.

(Gen 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.


That is, they were all born in Padan-aram except Benjamin whose birth was mentioned in this chapter as born in Ephrath. He was the only one born in Canaan.

(Gen 35:27) And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

This was not the first time he had gone to see his father for he had Deborah with him when she died, near Bethel and the only way he could have gotten her would have been to stop by the home of Isaac. Rebekah must have died some time before this, for there was no mention her and Jacob ever seeing each other after he left for Padan-aram. She had expected it to be only a few days as it had been with Eleazer.

(Gen 35:28) And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.

And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years. He lived, forty years after he had made his will, and blessed his two sons. Jacob was now one hundred and twenty years of age, being born when his father was sixty; and Joseph was now twenty nine years of age, so that Isaac lived twelve years after the selling of Joseph into Egypt; he was five years older than his father Abraham was when he died. (Gill)

(Gen 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.

The age and death of Isaac are recorded, though he died not till after Joseph was sold into Egypt. Isaac lived about forty years after he had made his will, Gen_27:2. (Matthew Henry)

The death of a parent should ever awaken new affection and kindness in children; and while they unite in paying respect


to his memory, they should be grateful for his virtues, and so far as he obeyed God, imitate his example. (FBN)


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GRIFFIN COMMENTS GEN 35