Genesis 35:1

35:1-5 Beth-el was forgotten. But as many as God loves, he will remind of neglected duties, one way or other, by conscience or by providences. When we have vowed a vow to God, it is best not to defer the payment of it; yet better late than never. Jacob commanded his household to prepare, not only for the journey and removal, but for religious services. Masters of families should use their authority to keep up religion in their families, Jos 24:15. They must put away strange gods. In families where there is a face of religion, and an altar to God, yet many times there is much amiss, and more strange gods than one would suppose. They must be clean, and change their garments. These were but outward ceremonies, signifying the purifying and change of the heart. What are clean clothes, and new clothes, without a clean heart, and a new heart? If Jacob had called for these idols sooner, they had parted with them sooner. Sometimes attempts for reformation succeed better than we could have thought. Jacob buried their images. We must be wholly separated from our sins, as we are from those that are dead and buried out of sight. He removed from Shechem to Beth-el. Though the Canaanites were very angry against the sons of Jacob for their barbarous usage of the Shechemites, yet they were so kept back by Divine power, that they could not take the opportunity now offered to avenge them. The way of duty is the way of safety.

Genesis A FORGOTTEN VOWGenesis 35:1 . Thirty years at least had passed since Jacob’s vow; ten or twenty since his return. He is in no haste to fulfil it, but has settled down at Shechem and bought land there, and seems to have forgotten all about Bethel. 1. The lesson of possible negligence. { a } We are apt to forget vows when God has fulfilled His side of them. Resolutions made in time of trouble are soon forgotten. We pray and think about God more then than when things go well with us. Religion is in many men’s judgment for stormy weather only. { b } We are often more resolved to make sacrifices in the beginning of our Christian course than afterwards. Many a brilliant morning is followed by cloudy day. Youth is often full of enthusiasms which after-days forget. 2. The reasons for the negligence. Jacob felt a gradual fading away of impressions of need. He was comfortably settled at Shechem. He was surrounded by a wild, godless household who cherished their idols, and he knew that if he went to Bethel idolatry must be given up. 3. The essentials to communion and service. Surrender. Purity. Must bury idols under oak. 4. The reward of sacrifice and of duty discharged. The renewed appearance of God. The confirmation of name Israel. Enlarged promises. So the old man’s vision may be better than the youth’s, if he lives up to his youthful vows.

Genesis 35:1 . God said, Arise, go up to Beth-el — This was a word in season to comfort his disquieted mind, and direct him to a safer place. Make there an altar — Consider and pay thy vows there, made in the time of thy distress. Jacob had said in the day of his distress, If I come again in peace, this stone shall be God’s house, Genesis 28:22 . God had performed his part, and given Jacob more than he then desired, namely, “bread to eat, and raiment to put on;” but it seems, if he had not forgotten his vow, he had at least deferred the performance of it, waiting, probably, for a fit time for that purpose; or an admonition from God concerning the proper season of paying it. And dwell there — That is, he was not only to go himself, but to take his family with him, that they might join with him in his devotions.

XXXV. JACOB RETURNS TO BETH-EL AND HEBRON.—DEATH OF ISAAC. (1) Arise, go up to Beth-el.—The position of Jacob at Shechem had become dangerous; for though the first result of the high-handed proceeding of Simeon and Levi was to strike the natives with terror (Genesis 35:5), yet reprisals might follow if they had time to learn the comparatively small number of Jacob’s followers. It was necessary, therefore, to remove; but besides this, Beth-el was the goal of the patriarch’s jonrneyings. He had made a solemn vow there on his journey to Padanaram, and though forty-two years had elapsed, it had not been forgotten (see Genesis 31:13); and the Divine command to go thither Was the outward authorisation of what his own conscience dictated. On this account we cannot believe that he had remained long at Shechem. Nomads are singularly leisurely in their movements. There is nothing of the rush and hurry of city life in their doings or purposes. They are capable of a great effort occasionally, but then relapse into their usual slowness. And so, when Jacob found good pasture and plenty of room for his cattle at Shechem, he remained there for awhile; but he did not abandon his purpose of going first to Beth-el, and finally to Hebron.

1 . go up to Beth-el ] From Shechem to Bethel is an ascent of 1000 feet. Bethel is 2890 feet above the sea. LXX εἰς τὸν τόπον Βαιθήλ = “unto the place Bethel,” cf. Genesis 12:6-8 , Genesis 13:4 , Genesis 28:11 . an altar ] Jacob is commanded to worship at Bethel in fulfilment of his vow, Genesis 28:22 .

CHAPTER 35 Ge 35:1-15. Removal to Bethel. 1. God said unto Jacob, Arise, &c.—This command was given seasonably in point of time and tenderly in respect of language. The disgraceful and perilous events that had recently taken place in the patriarch's family must have produced in him a strong desire to remove without delay from the vicinity of Shechem. Borne down by an overwhelming sense of the criminality of his two sons—of the offense they had given to God and the dishonor they had brought on the true faith; distracted, too, with anxiety about the probable consequences which their outrage might bring upon himself and family, should the Canaanite people combine to extirpate such a band of robbers and murderers; he must have felt this call as affording a great relief to his afflicted feelings. At the same time it conveyed a tender rebuke. go up to Beth-el—Beth-el was about thirty miles south of Shechem and was an ascent from a low to a highland country. There, he would not only be released from the painful associations of the latter place but be established on a spot that would revive the most delightful and sublime recollections.

The pleasure of revisiting it, however, was not altogether unalloyed. make there an altar unto God, that appeared—It too frequently happens that early impressions are effaced through lapse of time, that promises made in seasons of distress, are forgotten; or, if remembered on the return of health and prosperity, there is not the same alacrity and sense of obligation felt to fulfil them. Jacob was lying under that charge. He had fallen into spiritual indolence. It was now eight or ten years since his return to Canaan. He had effected a comfortable settlement and had acknowledged the divine mercies, by which that return and settlement had been signally distinguished (compare Ge 33:19). But for some unrecorded reason, his early vow at Beth-el [Ge 28:20-22], in a great crisis of his life, remained unperformed. The Lord appeared now to remind him of his neglected duty, in terms, however, so mild, as awakened less the memory of his fault, than of the kindness of his heavenly Guardian; and how much Jacob felt the touching nature of the appeal to that memorable scene at Beth-el, appears in the immediate preparations he made to arise and go up thither (Ps 66:13).God commands Jacob to dwell at Beth-el, and build an altar there, Genesis 35:1. He commands his family to purge themselves from idols, and go to Beth-el, Genesis 35:2,3. They obey, Genesis 35:4. He and they go thither, none pursuing them; the reason thereof, Genesis 35:5,6. There he builds an altar, Genesis 35:7.

Verse 1. - And God - Elohim. The employment of this name for the Deity throughout the present chapter has been deemed conclusive evidence that, with Rome Jehovistic alterations, it belongs to the fundamental document (Tuch, Bleek, Delitzsch, Kalisch, et alii ); but the frequent allusions to Genesis 28:13-16 , which by partitionists is almost universally assigned to the Jehovist, prove that both sections have proceeded from the same author, and that, "though the mention of the name is avoided, this chapter, there is no doubt, substantially relates to Jehovah" (Hengstenberg), while the name Elohim may simply indicate that Jacob s journey from Shechem was undertaken in obedience to a Divine intimation (Quarry) - said unto Jacob (shortly after the incidents recorded in the preceding chapter), Arise, go up to Bethel , - about thirty miles distant ( Genesis 12:8 ; Genesis 13:3 ; Genesis 28:19 ), to which, some thirty years previous, he had solemnly vowed to return ( Genesis 28:22 ) - a vow which he appeared somewhat dilatory in performing, although its conditions had been exactly fulfilled (Keil, Kurtz, Kalisch, &c.) - and dwell there (the massacre of the Shechemites had obviously rendered longer residence in that neighborhood unsafe): and make there an altar - this Jacob had substantially promised to do in his vow (vide Genesis 28:22 ) - unto God, that appeared unto thee - i.e. unto Jehovah ( vide Genesis 28:13) - when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother .