Genesis 35 explained: Back to Bethel, Losses on the Road

Clearing out the old gods (vv. 1-5)

Years earlier at Bethel, Jacob had promised to worship God there if he came home safely, and now God calls him back to keep that promise. His household hands over its idols, possibly including Rachel's stolen household gods and loot from Shechem, along with earrings that may have been worn as charms, and the nearby towns are too afraid to take revenge as they leave.

Worship and a quiet death (vv. 6-8)

Jacob builds an altar and names the spot El Bethel, meaning "the God of Bethel." Deborah, the old nurse who came with his mother Rebekah from her homeland, dies there, and her burial tree is named "the oak of weeping."

The name and promise renewed (vv. 9-15)

God confirms Jacob's new name, Israel, first given after he wrestled through the night, and repeats the promises made to Abraham and Isaac: many descendants, kings among them, and this land. Jacob sets up a stone pillar and pours a drink offering and oil on it, an old way of marking a place as holy.

Rachel dies giving birth (vv. 16-20)

Rachel, who once longed desperately for children, dies bearing her second son and names him Ben-Oni, "son of my sorrow." Jacob renames him Benjamin, "son of the right hand," a name of honor, and a site near Bethlehem is still pointed to as her tomb.

Reuben's act, Jacob's sons (vv. 21-26)

Reuben, the oldest son, sleeps with Bilhah, his father's secondary wife, which many scholars read as a bold claim to his father's place, and later Jacob takes away his firstborn rank for it. The list names the twelve sons who become the ancestors of Israel's tribes, and its summary loosely includes Benjamin, though he was born in Canaan.

Isaac's death (vv. 27-29)

Isaac dies at a great age and is said to join his people, an old way of describing death as rejoining one's ancestors. Esau and Jacob, once bitter rivals, bury him together, though the wider timeline suggests his death is told here ahead of when it happened.

Key verse: Genesis 35:11

Something to think about

Jacob went back to the place where he once made a promise in a desperate moment. Is there a place or time in your own life you keep returning to, and what draws you back?