Genesis 35:15

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

Ver. 16. She had hard labour.] Woman, of all creatures, bringeth forth with most pain and peril, as the philosopher {a} observeth, and experience confirmeth. Her only way is to send for Lady Faith, the best midwife; {1Ti 2:15} and thereby to repose upon him whose "voice causeth the hinds to calve," {Psa 29:9} which yet, of all brute creatures, bring forth with greatest trouble, "bowing themselves," bruising their young, and "casting out their sorrows." {Job 39:3-4}

{a} Arist., De Anima., lib. vii.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(15) Jacob called . . . —See Gen_28:19. The name had, of course, remained unknown and unused, as what then passed had been confined to Jacob’s own inward consciousness. He now teaches the name to his family, explains the reason why he first gave it, and requires them to employ it. But with so grand a beginning the town was debased to unholy uses, and from being Beth-el, the house of God, it became Bethaven, the house of iniquity (Hos_10:5).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel. He confirmed the name he had before given it, when he went to Mesopotamia, and now upon his return renews and establishes it; or he gave this name more especially to that particular spot where God conversed with him, and on which he erected a pillar, and consecrated it to religious worship, and so made it God's house, as he promised he would, Gen 28:22, both building an altar for sacrifice, and setting up a pillar, which was beginning an house for God.

, both building an altar for sacrifice, and setting up a pillar, which was beginning an house for God.

Genesis 35:16

gen 35:16

gen 35:16

gen 35:16And they journeyed from Bethel,.... Jacob and his family; how long they stayed there is not certain, some say four months (z); hence they removed towards Bethlehem, which was twelve miles from Bethel (a), in their way to Hebron:

and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath; or Bethlehem, as it was also called, Gen 35:19; a mile off of it, according to the Targums of Onkelos and Jerusalem; or about a mile, as Saadiah Gaon; for it was not a precise exact mile, but something less than a mile, as Ben Melech observes; and so Benjamin of Tudela, who was on the spot, says (b), that Rachel's grave is about half a mile from Bethlehem. Ben Gersom thinks the word here used signifies cultivated land, and that the sense is, that there were only fields, vineyards, and gardens to go through to the city, see Gen 48:7,

and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour; the time of childbirth was come, and which came suddenly upon her, as travail does, even while journeying, which obliged them to stop; and her pains came upon her, and these very sharp and severe, so that she had a difficult time of it: pains and sorrow in childbearing are the fruit of sin, and more or less attend all in such a circumstance; but, in some, labour is more painful than in others, and more at one time than at another, and is the most painful in women than in other creatures.

(z) Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 1. (a) Bunting's Travels, p. 72. (b) Itinerar. p. 47.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel. This name was first given after the dream vision of the ladder; (Gen_28:19) already on this occasion it had been changed into El-beth-el (ver. 7); now its old name is reimposed.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

AND JACOB CALLED THE NAME OF THE PLACE…BETH-EL (HOUSE OF G-D). He called it so time after time [since he had previously called it by that name]. This is to inform us that it is truthfully and properly a House of G-d, and there the Divine Presence will ever be. The same was true with the name of Beer-sheba, [which was so called by both Abraham and Isaac., 21:31; 26:33. Here too it could not refer to naming the city but rather to calling it by its name.]

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ויקרא יעקב, this has now been mentioned already a third time, all in order to make sure that we understand that the site at which Yaakov had built the house of G’d, the monument, and the altar he called Bet El, in addition to the fact that originally the name of the whole city had been Bet El. Now the name of the town reflected what had occurred nearby repeatedly.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.