Genesis chapter 35, there's a lot going on here in the life of Jacob. I'll begin reading in verse 1 to the end of the chapter, and we'll look at the various aspects of Genesis 35.
Scripture Reading: Genesis 35
Then God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau, your brother. And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, put away the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel.
And I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone. So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands and the earrings which were in their ears. And Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree, which was by Shechem. And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.
So Jacob came to Luz, that is, Bethel, which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. And he built an altar there and called the place El Bethel, because there God appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother. Now, Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the terebinth tree. So the name of it was called Alan Bakuth.
Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan Aram and blessed him. And God said to him, Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name. So he called his name Israel.
Also God said to him, I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of kings shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you, and to your descendants after you I give this land.
Then God went up from him in the place where he talked with him. So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, a pillar of stone. And he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel.
Then they journeyed from Bethel, and when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel labored in childbirth, and she had hard labor. Now it came to pass when she was in hard labor that the midwife said to her, do not fear, you will have this son also. And so it was, as her soul was departing, for she died, that she called his name Ben-Oni, but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is Bethlehem.
And Jacob set a pillar on her grave, which is the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day.
Reuben's Treachery
Then Israel journeyed and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. And it happened when Israel dwelt in that land that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard about it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. The sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Bilah, Rachel's maidservant, were Dan and Naphtali. And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's maidservant, were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan Aram.
Then Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kirjath Arba, that is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had dwelt. Now the days of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years. So Isaac breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
Introduction
So again, a lot going on here. First, we'll notice the return to Bethel. Jacob first went to Bethel in Genesis chapter 28. It's there that God, without the use of the language covenant, makes a covenant with him.
And I suspect that what's going on here at Bethel in chapter 35 is covenant renewal. So we'll look at the return to Bethel in verses 1 to 15. Secondly, the death of Rachel in verses 16 to 20. Thirdly, the sons of Jacob in verses 21 to 26.
And then finally, the death of Isaac in verses 27 to 29. The bulk of the chapter has to do with Bethel and what God does with Jacob at this particular time. And
Return to Bethel
with reference to the return to Bethel, we'll notice first the command of God in verse 1. It says, then God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother. Now, we should appreciate the kindness and the mercy and the grace of God to come to Jacob, as he does here, in chapter 35, verse 1, and give him this instruction. Because when we last left off with Jacob, he is perplexed, he is fearful, he is basically terrified at the thought of losing his life and his household.
Remember, after the massacre in Shechem that was righteously carried out by the sons of Jacob, we notice in chapter 34 at verse 30, it said, Again, not a great time. in the life of Jacob. He shows something of a fearfulness and a cowardice that is not consistent with his daughter's honor. His daughter had been raped by this young man, Shechem. His daughter had been taken captive and held in Shechem's house, and it was ultimately through the means of Simeon and Levi liberating her.
But his whole beef, or his whole concern, is that he is troubled that he will look or lose face in the sight of the inhabitants of the land, namely among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. That is more troubling or concerning to him than the honor and dignity of his daughter. And then at the end of verse 30 it says, and since I am few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and kill me. I shall be destroyed, my household and I.
So he is expressing great cowardice and fear in light of these present circumstances. So verse 1 in chapter 35 really is amazing grace. God gives him an anecdote. God gives him a remedy, God gives him a means by which he can get rid of that fear or extricate himself of that fear and he can go and meet with God and renew this covenant that he had engaged in in Genesis chapter 28.
Verse 1b indicates the similarity with chapter 28 when it says, "...who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother." Remember, in chapter 27, Esau wanted to kill Jacob. That was his desire. After he had been cheated out of the blessing, he had this desire and longing and intent to kill or murder his brother Jacob. So then Rebekah says, go to the land of Haran, and there go to your uncle's house, and there find a wife.
You'll be gone a few days. Well, 20 years later, he comes back to the land of Canaan. But on the way to Mesopotamia, or on the way to Haran, Pat and Aram, it's in Mesopotamia, there at Bethel he meets God, and God reminds him of this in verse 1. Then we see the obedience of Jacob in verses 2 to 8.
Jacob's Obedience and Purification
He plans to go to Bethel, so he tells his family to put away the idols. Notice in verse 2, Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves and change your garments. Now the last chapter dealt a lot with defilement. Dinah was defiled, there was sexual rape and sin, and the whole family, as it were, was defiled.
So now Jacob rightly understands to go and meet in the presence of God, we cannot be defiled. We have to be purified. So put away all those foreign gods that are among you. Remember when they left from Laban's, Rachel stole the teraphim, the household gods.
But it may not just be that that's in view. By this time, Jacob has Canaanites. that are living with him or within his household as servants, and they no doubt have their items of worship as well, which we see in verse 4 that they all do get rid of. They do dispossess their pockets and their pouches from the various idols that they were indeed carrying. And then that language in the middle of verse 2, put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves and change your garments.
It does anticipate the Mosaic legislation in terms of ritual cleanliness, ritual purity. Waltke says the narrator seems to assume the purification rituals of the Mosaic Law, bathing the body, washing clothes, and abstaining from sexual intercourse, to effect passage from defilement of idols to purity before God. So that's legit and consistent. Get rid of those things as we go into the presence of the living God.
Again, that's for worship. Now the idea that a sinner needs to get rid of his sin before he goes to the Savior, that's not what's in view here. This is the sanctified or the righteous or the covenant people meeting with their God. Purification is in order.
But with reference to the sinner, come to the Lord Jesus Christ, it's him that deals with sin. I think there's that false teaching out there that many people sort of subscribe to, that I need to clean up my act before I get I need to get myself right. I need to get myself better. Well, the very purpose of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is to deal with those who can't make themselves better, who cannot make themselves appropriate, who cannot cleanse themselves of their sins.
In the prophet Ezekiel, or rather Jeremiah, God says to the nation of Israel, return you backsliding sinners and I will heal your backsliding. So that's the glory of the Christian gospel. But in this instance, it's purification prior to entering into the presence of the living God. And then Jacob specifies the reason or the purpose for the visit to Bethel in verse 3.
He says, Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to my God. That's the reason for which he is going. And again, I think that what's in view is covenant renewal. The covenant was made with Abraham and Isaac, and then it's made with Jacob, specifically in Genesis chapter 28, but here it's renewed.
And you see this in the history of Israel. There's a lot of covenant renewal sort of ceremonies that God takes the people of Israel through. I think the supper, the Lord's Supper that we undergo each and every month is a covenant renewal ceremony. It's a time where God refreshes His people.
It's a time where God reminds His people of His promises. He reminds them of the various aspects of the covenant that they are involved in, not only them, but God along with them. And so that's the reason for this visit to Bethel. And then the theological reason or the theological rationale is in the latter part of verse 3.
He says, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone. So Genesis 28 in that initial covenant or that initial act of covenant with Jacob was to help him and to gird him up and to strengthen him for the various aspects of life that he would undergo, the difficulties, the hardships. Well again, here it functions in a similar manner, because if you follow the narrative here in Genesis chapter 35, Jacob meets with a lot of hardship. There's a lot of affliction that he undergoes here.
His wife dies, his father dies, there's all kinds of things that are in his horizon, and so it is the gift or grace of God to come to Jacob at Bethel in Genesis 35 to renew this covenant, to stabilize his faith, to ground him in the things of God, and to prepare him to march forward and to persevere by grace. And I think the overarching concern in this particular chapter, or rather an overarching application in this chapter, is the stabilizing influence of the means of grace. The things that God gives us in our lives when we are beset with distress or trial or affliction, God doesn't call us to undergo those things alone, but rather God prepares us and equips us and fits us to go through those things having spent time in His presence. That's the reason why we read the Bible and why we pray and why we come to Bible study, why we go to church and why we take the supper.
Yes, it's God-ward. We worship and glorify God, but it's also man-ward. It stabilizes, secures, and encourages the people of God so that they can, in fact, persevere in the various hardships that they face in this lower world. And then in verse 4, we see the response of the people.
So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods, which were in their hands, and the earrings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree, which was by Sheka." Now, for any of you ladies that may possibly be wearing earrings right now, I just want to encourage you. We had a fellow at one time that got a bee in his bonnet and thought that this particular chapter taught that every woman who ever wore earrings was necessarily committing idolatry. That's not the emphasis in this passage. That's not what's in view in this particular passage.
John Gill says, not the earrings that women wore in common, such as Abraham's servant gave to Rebekah, and which Jacob's wives might wear, for such were not unlawful, but either which were worn in the ears of the strange gods or idols, for such used, it seems, according to some writers, to be decorated and ornamented after that manner. or rather in the ears of the idolaters themselves, worn by them in a superstitious way, having the images of these idols on them." So he says there's a difference between wearing earrings, which God sanctions, God says it's okay, versus using earrings for an idolatrous purpose. So to take this particular passage and necessarily condemn every act of female decoration in terms of earring is simply to go overboard with the text. And Robert Alter, a modern commentator, reminds us that archaeology has abundantly discovered earrings were often fashioned as figurines of gods and goddesses. So if your earrings happen to be in the shape of Baal or Asherah, So I'm scanning out.
I don't see any of that right now. You seem to be okay. But if you had some sort of an idol hanging off your ear, well, certainly you need to get rid of those particular things. That's what's in view.
The idea that God is here condemning earrings is a misreading of the text, and it's really irresponsible exegesis. That's not the point. But what they did have that reeked of strange gods, they parted with, and they throw down, and they bury them, or hid them under the terebinth tree, which was by Shechem. And now
God's Terror and Israel's Protection
they journey to Bethel according to verses 5 to 8. And verse 5 really does indicate why Jacob should have never been fearful. Jacob should have never been afraid after Simeon and Levi went on that mission to liberate their sister Dinah. Notice in verse 5, "...and they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob." So you see, God in His providence, God in His power, God in His protective ability makes sure that the enemies of His people don't get at His people.
So those cities around no doubt were upset by the way Simeon and Levi took care of business there in the city of Shechem, but God had restrained them so that they were not able to engage against Jacob and his family. Wenham says, once again, Jacob's experience anticipates that of his descendants when they conquered the land. If you go to the book of Exodus for just a moment, just to see this theme, because I think it's very valuable and very important, and I think it does find its sort of pinnacle expression in Paul's language in Romans chapter 8, when he says, if God is for us, what can man do? And I think when we see these Old Testament references, it puts that in a real tangible perspective in a real tangible light.
In Exodus 23 at verse 27, I will send my fear before you. I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. The book of Deuteronomy after the mandate concerning holy war in Deuteronomy chapter 7 when we drop down a bit to verses 20 to 24. God highlights that fear that he will indeed put into the hearts of those around Israel.
Deuteronomy 720, Moreover, the Lord your God will send the hornet among them until those who are left, who hide themselves from you, are destroyed. You shall not be terrified of them, for the Lord your God, the great and awesome God, is among you. And the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you little by little. You will be unable to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.
But the Lord your God will deliver them over to you and will inflict defeat upon them until they are destroyed. And he will deliver their kings into your hand and you will destroy their name from under heaven. No one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed that. And then that wonderful confession of Rahab the harlot in Joshua chapter two.
Joshua chapter 2 verse 9, well in verse 8 she comes to the spies and says, Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted. Neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you for the Lord your God.
He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. So you see, the Lord promotes the fear of the Lord in the hearts of those outside of Israel to keep them from trying to harm anybody within Israel. And that is the exact emphasis here in 35.5. They arrive at Bethel, according to verse 6.
Jacob then builds an altar in verse 7. And then we have this curious note concerning the death of Deborah in verse 8. Now, there may be great reasons for it. quite aware as to why it's here, but it is intriguing. No record whatsoever of Rebecca's death.
Likely she's already dead by this particular time. Waltke surmises she's not mentioned because she did play a pivotal role in deceiving her husband. So whether he's right in that or not, At least we have this reference concerning Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died. She was buried below Bethel under the terebinth tree, so the name of it was called Alan Bakuth.
So there you have their journey, they're at Bethel, and now God appears in verses 9 and following.
Covenant Renewal at Bethel
Verse 9 tells us, So all the elements that were present initially in Genesis 28, if that was in fact the initial covenant by God with Jacob, this again is renewal. The terms are repeated, they are reiterated, and that Not because God is contemplating reneging, but it's for Jacob. It's for his faith. It's for his encouragement.
Again, that's why we take the supper. That's why we read and study scripture. That's why we pray. That's why we use the means of grace. to fortify and strengthen our hearts that God is in fact faithful." So God blesses Jacob and then He affirms that name Israel in verse 10.
He'd already gotten that sort of name change back in chapter 32 when he wrestled with God and he prevailed, he received the name of Israel. which is prince of God that prevailed with God, basically, and that's what the Lord reaffirms here. And then he highlights the particular promises involved in the covenant. So with Abraham, Isaac, and now Jacob, it's seed and it's land. And as he gives the seed promise here, he uses the language of Genesis 1.
He uses the language of being fruitful and multiplying. Perhaps there's a connection to what was failure on the part of the first Adam will be success on the part of the second Adam. And that second Adam will ultimately come from This man, Jacob, the Lord Jesus Christ, will come as is specified in this very passage. So in verse 11, also God said to him, I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply.
He says, a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you and kings shall come from your body. That was given to Abraham. Specifically, Abraham and Sarah, that there would be kings that would come from her body in Genesis chapter 17 at verse 6. John Gill reminds us of some of those kings as Saul, David, Solomon, and many others who were kings of Israel and Judah, and especially the king Messiah.
Again, as I've tried to encourage us as we sort of think our way through these chapters in Genesis, what at times appear to be very normal, sort of mundane, ordinary, day-in and day-out events, like, you know, the 65 verses, I think, in chapter 24, when Abraham's servant goes to find a wife for Isaac. I mean, that's a lot of information about a particular marriage. Again, the underlying current in all of this is the seed. It's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And as we have these two sorts of families under the one household of Jacob, you've got sons of Leah, you've got sons of of Rachel, there is factionalism between them. The latter half of the book is essentially, or as we move into the Joseph narratives, it's essentially the sons of Leah who have animosity towards the son of Rachel, vis-Ã -vis Joseph. Now, just because Joseph is favored by Jacob, that does not mean that the promise is ultimately connected to him. Now, in terms of family, but with reference to specifics, it's Judah.
Judah was a son of Leah, but you see that underlying current through all of this is the seed, is the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's how you should, all of us, should understand this. Kings shall come from your body. And then the land promise is reasserted there in verse 12.
The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you, and to your descendants after you I give you this land. Now, we've seen this land promise a lot. Give me a little bit of a nod if you remember this land promise. We've seen it with Abraham, we've seen it with Isaac, and we're seeing it with Jacob.
And we might ask the question, why is it being repeated so many times? Because as they are in the land, they're still surrounded by Canaanites and Perizzites. While they are in the land, they are still surrounded by non-Israelites. While they are in the land, they are still not the full and sole occupiers of the land.
So God is nourishing their faith. God is encouraging their hearts. God is reiterating these things. Again, not for God so that he can kind of remember what his business is with this particular family, but it's for the people in this particular family that their hearts and their minds will be filled with the promises of God so that when the mandate in Deuteronomy comes to go out and engage in holy war and dispossess the land of the Canaanites, they've gotten enough information, they've had enough promises.
The foundation has been laid so that they can go and embark on that particular task and take the land as God had given it to them. So each time, this promise is reiterated. It's not for God, but rather it's for God's people, the inheritors of that land. And then, of course, at this point, the natural reflex on the part of the worshiper is to worship.
And that's precisely what Jacob does. Verse 13 says, then God went up from him. Now, when it says that God went up from him, that's spoken in the manner of men. God doesn't come down and then go up.
That's language that appeals to or speaks to us in a way that we can understand. God is omnipresent. There's no sort of local movement with God. He's not over here at one particular time and over here at another particular time.
These are anthropomorphisms. These are the predicating of physicality or locality to an infinite being. It's done for us so that we can understand. So God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.
So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him. Bethel, and Bethel literally means house of God. So there he goes to renew that covenant, or God does, to renew that covenant with Jacob to sort of ready him and sort of prepare him for all the sorts of things that are going to follow from this point on.
Death of Rachel
And that brings us to the death of Rachel. And, you know, again, as we sort of look at this and try to draw out practical implications, it happens this way at times, doesn't it? You have these great experiences with God, you're in the holy of holies, as it were, and you sort of come back to the reality of life and there's tragedy, there's hardship, there's pain, there's ache. In fact, there's a...
Lloyd-Jones, I don't know if it's in his Preaching and Preachers, I think. A couple of guys over here have been reading that, talking about the various, or no, Spurgeon and his minister's fainting fits. He says that oftentimes, a minister's depression comes after some season of great usefulness. In other words, you think that you're on sort of top of the world, and then the next day, Elijah under the broom tree.
Well, the same sort of thing obtains here. He's just met with God at Bethel, and then his wife dies. And that brings us to consider the death of Rachel in verses 16 to 18. Then they journeyed from Bethel, and when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath, this is right near Bethlehem, Rachel labored in childbirth, and she had hard labor.
Now it came to pass when she was in hard labor that the midwife said to her, Do not fear, you will have this son also. Now, I think the midwife is speaking connected with what she had said, with what Rachel had said when she had given birth to Joseph. Back in Genesis chapter 30, at verse 22, it says, Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb. And she conceived in Borison, and said, God has taken away my reproach.
So she called his name Joseph, and said, The Lord shall add to me another son. So whether it was prayer or prophecy, the midwife here reminds her of that and assures her that you will, in fact, have this son also. Unfortunately, as she has this particular son, she dies. And we see that in verse 18.
Verse 18, it says, and so it was, as her soul was departing, for she died, that she called his name Ben-Oni, but his father called him Benjamin. Now, before we look at the naming of this particular sign,
Soul, Body, and the Intermediate State
this does confirm something in terms of individual eschatology. For the Saturday morning crowd, we just went through this in Birkhoff's Systematic Theology. Under the chapter of eschatology, which is the doctrine of or the study of last things, there's two divisions. There's cosmic eschatology, What happens when Jesus returns?
Second coming, age to come, those sorts of things. But there's individual eschatology. What happens when a person dies? When a person dies, their soul or spirit departs to be present with the Lord.
And this passage confirms that dichotomous nature of man. Man is not just physical. Man is also immaterial. There is the physicality and the immaterial nature of man, and that's upheld here.
Verse 18, as her soul was departing, for she died. The body died, but the soul departed. So the dichotomous nature of man is seen in this particular passage, as well as the confirmation of the intermediate state. The body dies, the body goes into the ground, but the soul departs.
Now we hope the soul obviously here departed and was present with the Lord, but that's certainly obvious in the passage. Her soul departs and then she calls his name Ben-Oni, which literally means son of my sorrow or son of my vigor. Son of My Sorrow seems to get most of the sort of appreciation on the part of commentators, but also Son of Vigor. I mean, her last very act with reference to life was to give birth to this son.
He was, in fact, the son of her vigor in that 11th hour. But of course, Jacob changes the name to Benjamin, which means Son of My Right Hand. And this means the son of my favored son. Gil says, he named him this, being as dear to him and as beloved by him as his right hand.
Which again indicates something of his favoritism for Rachel and for the children of Rachel versus Leah and the children of Leah. I don't think he hated any of them, but he certainly favored Rachel and her sons. and then Rachel is buried, she dies in verse 19 and it's Bethlehem Ephrathah that's referred to in Micah 5.2 as the birthplace of the Messiah. This is also mentioned in Jeremiah 31.15 and then again in Matthew 2. Matthew 2 invokes or calls, quotes rather, Jeremiah 31 15 in terms of Rachel weeping.
And I think there's some typology going on there and the murder of the innocents by Herod in Matthew chapter 2. So there is more on this in the Bible. And then according to verse 20, it says, he set a pillar on her grave, which is the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day. So certainly when Moses wrote, it was still there.
And then in 1 Samuel chapter 10, verse 2, that pillar was still there. And then that brings us to this interesting scene with reference to Reuben in verses 21 and 22. It says, Then Israel journeyed and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Adar. And it happened when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bila, his father's concubine, and Israel heard about it.
Now what do we make of this? Why would Reuben do this? This was an act of treachery. This was a sinful thing.
The Mosaic Law will certainly speak against this kind of conduct in Leviticus 18.8, Leviticus 20.11, and Deuteronomy 27.20. This is absolutely positively condemned. It seems to be the case that Rubin does this more in terms of politics than sensuality. Wenham makes the observation.
It seems likely that Rubin's motives were more than sensual. By his act, he hoped to prevent Rachel's maid succeeding Rachel as his father's favorite wife. See, I don't think Reuben ever liked the fact that Leah wasn't the favorite and that Rachel was. So this was a strategic play on his part to make sure that Rachel's maidservant didn't become Jacob's favorite.
He goes on to say, Reuben resented that Jacob did not honor his mother, Leah. But also, and this is fundamental when you see this through the former prophets, it was a claim to authority over his father. It was a claim to authority over his father. As firstborn, he was therefore asserting a claim to his father's estate.
Abner does this with Saul's concubine. David is told by the prophet Nathan, I gave you Saul's wives, I gave you his goods. If that was too little, I would have given you more. Well, the giving of the wives shows the authority that David now possesses.
In 2 Samuel 16, this was Absalom's treachery when he went up on the rooftop and he had relations with David's concubines. It was an assertion, not of his sexual prowess and ability, it was an assertion of his authority. He wanted to take the throne away from David, and this was an evident usurpation of the throne. And then you see it in 1 Kings 2, verses 13 to 25, when there's some jockeying for the throne that ultimately goes to Solomon.
And so if that's what Reuben is doing, which it seems that that is the case, to make sure that this woman doesn't become the favored, but as well to sort of assert himself as the firstborn to take that authority that would come to him. Most likely that's why Reuben does what he does. It's intriguing that at the end of verse 22, we read, and Israel heard about it. just like back in chapter 34 at verse 5. Well, Jacob never does, you know, express his feelings, if you will, or his thoughts concerning the Dinah rape.
Well, he doesn't do that here either. He doesn't make any comment whatsoever. Could be just silence on the part of the narrator, but the fact that he doesn't reprimand the boy, the fact that he doesn't, or the young man, the fact that he doesn't censure him, sanction him or something, seems to be amiss. Now, later on, it certainly does come back with reference to Jacob, and he brings this up with Reuben in the blessing in Genesis 49.
In Genesis 49, 3 and 4, Jacob never forgot. Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. Unstable as water, you shall not excel, because you went up to your father's bed, then you defiled it, he went up to my couch." So certainly, Jacob was concerned about it in the context of Genesis 35. Nothing is said, but at the end of his life when he comes to bless his sons, he goes along and he bypasses not only Reuben, but also Simeon and Levi.
And it's Judah that is ultimately the leader of the 12 tribes, and that's the one from whom Jesus comes. So the treachery of Reuben, the sin, and then the response.
Sons of Jacob Enumerated
And then that brings us to this rehearsal of the sons of Jacob. Again, we might ask the question, why? As far as I can tell, because we're going to look at the descendants of Esau next week, That's maybe about a 10-minute Bible study, so just keep that in your mind. I'm not sure how much I can say about the genealogy of Esau.
I'm going to do my best. I know there's a lot of verses there, but I'm just not really invested into the family line of Esau, though I will try to get something, and it might be more than 10 minutes, Isaac. You're looking too concerned. It was just a joke.
But there's this statement concerning the sons of Jacob, and then you've got the descendants of Esau. But as I said, as we move into the Joseph narrative, it's the sons of Leah that sort of have this animosity, this jealousy, this envious spirit towards the son of Rachel. And that's what leads ultimately to this great breach within the family of Jacob, where Joseph is ultimately sold into slavery, and then Benjamin is even proffered up. He has to go, much to the chagrin of Jacob.
And with reference to these particular sons, they're categorized by the wives. You've got the sons of Jacob and Leah in verse 23, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. the sons of Jacob and Rachel, verse 24, Joseph and Benjamin, the sons of Jacob and Billah, Rachel's maidservant, in verse 25, Dan and Naphtali, and then the sons of Jacob and Zilpah, Leah's maidservant, in verse 26, Gad and Asher. And so this sets the stage again for what we see in chapter 36 in terms of the sons of Esau, and then the breach that obtains within the household of Jacob.
Death of Isaac
And that brings us finally to the death of Isaac. We see that Jacob comes to his father Isaac at Mamre or Kirjath Arba, that is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had dwelt. Now the days of Isaac were 180 years, so Isaac breathed his last and died. and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days." So at this particular time, Jacob would have been 120 years old, here as Isaac was 60 when Jacob was born, according to Genesis 25 and verse 26. And notice, the last statement there, before the family of Esau, his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
That's a good thing. These brothers did reconcile, these brothers did come back together. These brothers are present at the death of their father and together they bury him in the cave in Machpelah and that was the place that Abraham and Sarah were buried and this is ultimately where Jacob will be buried according to Genesis 49 verses 29 to 32.
Application: Means of Grace
Well, as I said, the overarching concern or application that I think is very helpful for us as God's people is that concept of covenant renewal. And again, whether you consciously think of the Lord's Supper in those terms or whether you consciously think of reading your Bible or praying or corporate worship in those terms, it's kind of what it is. It's the means of grace that God has given. Now, when we talk about the means of grace, it's not formulaic.
It's not Baal-ism. When you sort of did for Baal, then you could expect Baal would do for you. It's not the way the means of grace work. Well, Lord, I read my Bible for 34 minutes last week.
I should get 34 units of blessing. Or I prayed for 20 minutes, and therefore I should get whatever. I think at times we approach this in that way. We approach it, whether consciously or not, as a health, wealth, and prosperity approach.
We think that if we do for God, then He's going to do for us. That's not the way the means of grace work. And just because we read our Bibles, or we pray, or we attend church, doesn't mean that sort of blessings are going to flow. We've got something happening tomorrow.
I'm going to go to church today. If I go to church today, then that secures whatever I want that's good tomorrow. That's not the way it works. And it's not the case that God cannot speak to you, and I don't mean audibly, but remind you of scripture or whatever when you're doing your shopping or when you're mowing your lawn.
But there are things calculated by God for the growth of His people. We are commanded in 2 Peter 3 at verse 18 to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That's not optional. That's not for a handful of people in the church that like to get up early and go to, you know, a theology study.
That's for every one of God's people. but grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Well, how do we grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus? Is it magic? Is it hocus-pocus? Do we have to, you know, disengage our minds and just sort of lay there and hopefully God will zap us and conform us?
No, we use the means that God has given. We use the Bible, we use prayer, we use corporate worship, we use those means. Again, not formulaically, that if we do it, we get so many benefits from it, but rather we do it because God commands us to do it, and it is in the midst of that that these are conduits by which God pours out grace into the lives of His people. And I suspect that's what's happening, both in Genesis 28 and Genesis 35.
God knows the weakness of Jacob. God knows the weakness of Jacob far better than you and I do. As we move our way through the Jacob narratives, there are things that make me go, I can't believe he's not upset that his daughter was raped. I cannot believe that he's upset about what Canaanites and Perizzites are going to think of him, and he hasn't shed one tear, at least as far as we know, over the rape of his daughter Dinah.
I mean, God knows so much more His weakness, and God comes to aid Him in His weakness. And the same is true with us. He knows our frame, Psalm 103 tells us. He knows that we're but dust, and He pities us.
And so He gives us these things. They're simple things. He doesn't tell us to shimmy up Mount Shem and spend a week there and chant or hum, and God will flood our souls with His presence. That's not what He calls us to do.
He calls us to read, He calls us to pray, and He calls us to attend a corporate worship. Again, the particular sorts of requirements aren't huge and they're not hardships, but rather they are means given by God for our growth in grace and for stabilization for the various things that life throws at us. Again, consider post-Bethel in Genesis chapter 35. He sees the death of Rachel, his wife.
He sees the treachery of Reuben, his son. He sees the death of Isaac, his father. And not long from now, he's going to incur the loss of Joseph, his son, at least for a time. He's going to suffer under famine.
Remember, behold, there is corn in Egypt. That's why he sends his sons over into Egypt. And then he's going to lose Benjamin, at least for a time. So you see, in the kindness and in the goodness of God, God comes to him at Bethel to strengthen him and fortify him so that he doesn't fall apart even more so.
We see that in the midst of the Jacob narratives, there are those instances where it does seem, at least ethically, he's fallen apart. But he doesn't completely abandon. He's never left shipwrecked. He's never left without God and without that peace.
And the same thing is true for us. Those who neglect the Bible, those who neglect prayer, and those who neglect corporate worship are not typically the most stable when it comes to the sorts of things that Genesis tells us are very commonplace. In other words, as we look at this list, the death of Rachel his wife, the treachery of Reuben his son, the death of Isaac his father, These are the same sorts of things that you and I undergo in this world presently. Well, how are we going to deal with those sorts of things if we are strangers to the grace of God, if we never avail ourselves of those resources that God gives us and that He uses for our well-being and for our growth and for our stability?
So as we read through Genesis 35, yes, appreciate the amazing grace and the kindness and the goodness of God that He comes to Jacob at Bethel, but also see that Jacob went to Bethel, Jacob obeyed, Jacob complied, Jacob received the grace that God was giving to him. The fact that God is going to pour out all this grace upon His people that are absent or that don't use the things that He has given for us is an absolute shame. We are to be the people that seek the Lord as the Lord has promised those who seek Him will find Him. And He will stabilize us, He will encourage us, and He will help us along the way.
So let us learn from Jacob's Bethel experience to make much of the means of grace.
Closing Prayer
Let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for Your Word and we thank You for the clarity in these narratives and for the fact that You show such grace and such mercy and such kindness to Your people. And God, we know it's not just Jacob then, but it's us even now. For as we look at our own hearts and we look at our own lives and we look at our own conduct, we do stand. in constant need of your grace and of your mercy and of your loving kindness.
We thank you that you've promised to never leave us nor forsake us. We thank you that Paul has well said that if you are for us, who can be against us? May these things encourage us and may you help us to persevere in this world. And we ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.