Genesis 35:6

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.

Ver. 6. So Jacob came to Luz.] Which was thirty miles from Shechem: a long journey for such a large family, who went it with hearts full of heaviness, for, "without were fightings, within fears": but this was their comfort, they went to see the face of God at Bethel. As they that "passed through the valley of Baca," though they took many a weary step, yet went "from strength to strength," because they were to "appear before God in Zion." {Psa 84:6-7} Popish pilgrims, though used hardly and put to much expense and inconvenience, yet satisfy themselves in this, I have that I came for, viz., the sight of a dumb idol, as Calvin notes. What, then, should not we suffer to see God in his ordinances? "They shall bring your brethren as an offering to the Lord, upon horses, in chariots, and in litters," saith the prophet: {Isa 66:20} that is, though sick, weakly, and unfit for travel; yet, rather in litters, than not at all.

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.

Gen_35:6-7

So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him.

And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el; because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother

The obituary of a name

Jacob is dead; Israel still lives. I want now to pronounce the obituary of Jacob. There are just two classes of lessons to be learned from the story of Bethel and Penuel, for there were just two persons in contact and conflict in this thirty years war. The type of all is found in the early vision of the ladder. At the foot of it lay Jacob on his pillow of stone: And behold, the Lord stood above it. Hence one class of lessons will instruct us concerning God, and one concerning man. One touches on doctrine, the other on duty. So everywhere The Scriptures principally teach what we are to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.

I. We begin with the lessons of DOCTRINE. The same Divine Being, with all attributes and characteristics unchanged, rules to-day as then. It is wisely worth our while to note how He is wont to deal with a free-willed human creature, and how He manages a world of such.

1. Mark, for one thing, how independent God is in choosing His especial agents. He chooses whom He will for His purposes; and He chose this man Jacob.

2. Now let us learn a second lesson, and possibly we shall derive some slight help before we get through with that. 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.

3. But we pass on to a third lesson: indeed, we feel the need of it. Mark here how persistent God is in preparing men for a better life by means of His choice. Just tell over the old fable as you used to tell it to your little children, for there is an illustration of Divine truth in it; I mean that about the coward whose cure was effected by an enchanted sword put in his hand. He was timid enough, but the trusty blade was of itself belligerent. He could not drop it, for it clung to his hand. He could not run to the rear, for the sword remained steadily at the head of the attack. He could not surrender, for the moment he got his foolish lips ready to cry for quarter, the weapon had already leapt from the scabbard and was fighting like a thing of life. So at last he began to understand it, then he began to obey it, then he began to watch it, then he began to trust it; and then he began to be a new man under its working. And home from the campaign he came, the welkin ringing with praises of his prowess. There is fine truth in that little tale. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. It converts the man who carries it. And before you go any further in commenting on the singular choice God made of Jacob, thoughtfully consider that the choice was the exact force which made Jacob Israel.

4. One more lesson under this head; see here how perfectly satisfied God seems to be with the result of His election.

II. Lessons of DUTY.

1. One is concerning the recognition of God in even the personal biographies of men.

2. Another lesson is concerning what are sometimes called hard cases. All the wood-carvings in Gods temple have been made out of knots!

3. A third lesson is concerning the value of even one high attainment of grace. You see in some true Christians the glory of superior meekness; in others the beauty of unusual zeal. So on: these excellencies are costly. They are rare; they have used up labour; they have been found with pain; but they transform and transfigure the whole character. The little child asked its aged grandparent as it laid its tiny finger in the furrow of his forehead, What made that wrinkle? He might well ask, for an artist would have said it alone was the old mans feature of beauty. But what made it? An early sorrow first cut it, deep, sharp, painful. Then a time of generous success rounded its edges somewhat. Then a loss went over the line and made it plainer. As life rolled on, that wrinkle became one of the permanent institutions of the countenance, so that things gladdening and things saddening all went into it. And by-and-by there came to be fixed this quiet, resigned, gentle line in the face, to give it all its character. The Italians call Time an inaudible file. It took fifty years to smooth and fashion that one exquisite expression. So there are lines on the soul which do not come at conversion or grow in an hour. It is better to begin early to work for such. Any one may miss his chance by being careless and getting behindhand.

4. Our final lesson is concerning the folly of losing thirty years of time. (C. S.Robinson, D. D.)

Jacob back at Bethel

I. THAT MEN ARE LIABLE TO SUFFER LOSSES IN THIS WORLD EVEN WHEN OBEYING GODS COMMANDMENTS.

II. THAT WHEN OBEYING GODS WORD WE MAY EXPECT TO MEET GOD HIMSELF.

1. Meeting God is to have a greater knowledge of ourselves.

2. Meeting God is to have a clearer revelation of Him.

3. Meeting God will increase our usefulness.

4. Meeting God gives us an assurance of the future.

III. MEETING GOD IS A MEMORABLE EVENT. (Homilist.)

Lessons

1. God securing His by His terrors upon enemies, they come in safety where God calleth them.

2. Names of places old and new may be indifferently used without superstition.

3. Gods providence brings all with Jacob into the place of His security (Gen_35:6).

4. Jacob is working to honour providence, even as that worketh to save them.

5. Double indigitation of Gods name do His saints make upon continued goodness.

6. The revelation of God by Himself or angels requireth worship from His saints to the utmost (Gen_35:7). (G. Hughes, B. D.)

Grateful memory

In the midst of his greatest prosperity George Moore never forgot auld Cumberland. His mind was always turning back to the home of his birth and the scenes of his boyhood. The very name of Cumberland had a charm for him. When any Cumberland lad called upon him at his office, he welcomed him cheerfully, asked him to his house, and often got him a situation. (S. Smiles.)

Past scenes

The early childhood of Dean Hook was spent at the rectory of Hertingfordbury, and to this, the house of his earliest recollections, he ever looked back with the loudest affection. A very few years before his death he made a journey with his youngest son specially to see it: to pace once more the pleasant lawn and garden, and to see if the names were still legible which in his boyhood he had carrel upon some of the trees that shaded the path by the river-side, the names of himself and of his friend William Page Wood, together with the names of Shakespeare and Milton, both of whom they loved with passionate devotion.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

35:6-7 Jacob built an altar at Bethel as God had instructed (35:1; cp. 12:8).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Jacob and his retinue having safely arrived at Bethel, we are here told what passed there.

I. There he built an altar (Gen 35:7), and no doubt offered sacrifice upon it, perhaps the tenth of his cattle, according to his vow, I will give the tenth unto thee. With these sacrifices he joined praises for former mercies, particularly that which the sight of the place brought afresh to his remembrance; and he added prayers for the continuance of God's favour to him and his family. And he called the place (that is, the altar) El-beth-el, the God of Bethel. As, when he made a thankful acknowledgment of the honour God had lately done him in calling him Israel, he worshipped God by the name of El-elohe Israel; so, now that he was making a grateful recognition of God's former favour to him at Bethel, he worships God by the name of El-beth-el, the God of Bethel, because there God appeared to him. Note, The comfort which the saints have in holy ordinances is not so much from Bethel, the house of God, as from El-beth-el, the God of the house. The ordinances are but empty things if we do not meet with God in them.

II. There he buried Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, Gen 35:8. 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. Note, 1. Old servants in a family, that have in their time been faithful and useful, ought to be respected. Honour was done to this nurse, at her death, by Jacob's family, though she was not related to them, and though she was aged. Former services, in such a case, must be remembered. 2. We do not know where death may meet us; perhaps at Beth-el, the house of God. Therefore let us be always ready. 3. Family-afflictions may come even when family-reformation and religion are on foot. Therefore rejoice with trembling.

III. There God appeared to him (Gen 35:9), to own his altar, to answer to the name by which he had called him, The God of Bethel (Gen 35:7), and to comfort him under his affliction, Gen 35:8. Note, God will appear to those in a way of grace that attend on him in a way of duty. Here, 1. He confirmed the change of his name, Gen 35:10. It was done before by the angel that wrestled with him (Gen 32:28), and here it was ratified by the divine Majesty, or Shechinah, that appeared to him. There it was to encourage him against the fear of Esau, here against the fear of the Canaanites. Who can be too hard for Israel, a prince with God? It is below those who are thus dignified to droop and despond. 2. He renewed and ratified the covenant with him, by the name El-shaddai. I am God Almighty, God all-sufficient (Gen 35:11), able to make good the promise in due time, and to support thee and provide for thee in the mean time. Two things are promised him which we have met with often before: - (1.) That he should be the father of a great nation, great in honour and power - a company of nations shall be of thee (every tribe of Israel was a nation, and all the twelve a company of nations), great in honour and power - kings shall come out of thy loins. (2.) That he should be the master of a good land (Gen 35:12), described by the grantees, Abraham and Isaac, to whom it was promised, not by the occupants, the Canaanites in whose possession it now was. The land that was given to Abraham and Isaac is here entailed on Jacob and his seed. He shall not have children without an estate, which is often the case of the poor, nor an estate without children, which is often the grief of the rich; but both. These two promises had a spiritual signification, of which we may suppose Jacob himself had some notion, though not so clear and distinct as we now have; for, without doubt, Christ is the promised seed, and heaven is the promised land; the former is the foundation, and the latter the top-stone, of all God's favours. 3. He then went up from him, or from over him, in some visible display of glory, which had hovered over him while he talked with him, Gen 35:13. Note, The sweetest communions the saints have with God in this world are short and transient, and soon have an end. Our vision of God in heaven will be everlasting; there we shall be ever with the Lord; it is not so here.

IV. There Jacob erected a memorial of this, Gen 35:14. 1. He set up a pillar. When he was going to Padan-aram, he set up for a pillar that stone on which he had laid his head. This was agreeable enough to his low condition and his hasty flight; but now he took time to erect one more stately, more distinguishable and durable, probably placing that stone in it. In token of his intending it for a sacred memorial of his communion with God, he poured oil and the other ingredients of a drink-offering upon it. His vow was, This stone shall be God's house, that is, shall be set up for his honour, as houses to the praise of their builders; and here he performs it, transferring it to God by anointing it. 2. He confirmed the name he had formerly given to the place (Gen 35:15), Beth-el, the house of God. Yet this very place afterwards lost the honour of its name, and became Beth-aven, a house of iniquity; for here it was that Jeroboam set up one of his calves. It is impossible for the best man to entail upon a place so much as the profession and form of religion.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

So Jacob came to Luz . . . that is, Beth-el--It is probable that this place was unoccupied ground when Jacob first went to it; and that after that period [CALVIN], the Canaanites built a town, to which they gave the name of Luz [Gen 28:19], from the profusion of almond trees that grew around. The name of Beth-el, which would, of course, be confined to Jacob and his family, did not supersede the original one, till long after. It is now identified with the modern Beitin and lies on the western slope of the mountain on which Abraham built his altar (Gen 12:8).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

6. Luz] See Gen_28:19, Gen_48:3.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is Bethel,.... The place Jacob had called Bethel, when he was there before, was formerly called Luz, Gen 28:19; and is here said to be in the land of Canaan, that is, in that part of the land which was inhabited by those who were properly called Canaanites, to distinguish it from another Luz, which was in the land of the Hittites; Jdg 1:26,

he and all the people that were with him; wives, children, servants, or whoever else came from Shechem, these all came safe to Luz without any molestation or loss.

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

Chanaan, to distinguish it from another. Judges i. 26, (Menochius) or because Moses wrote this in Arabia. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

In the land of Canaan, properly so called, or where the Canaanites properly so called dwelt. Thus it is distingnished from another Luz, Jdg 1:26.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. Luz… Beth-el — See on Gen_28:19. How must Jacob’s soul have burned with tender emotion as he came again to this holy spot!

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So (literally, and) Jacob came to Luz (vide, Gen_28:19) which is in the land of Canaan (this clause is added to draw attention to the fact that Jacob had now accomplished his return to Canaan), that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with himi.e. his household and the captured Shechemites.

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

Luz

This is the name of a city. See how you translated this in Genesis 28:19. (See: How to Translate Names)

El Bethel

Translators may add a footnote that says: "The name El Bethel means 'God of Bethel.'" (See: How to Translate Names)

there God had revealed himself to him

"there God made himself known to Jacob"

Deborah

This is the name of a woman. (See: How to Translate Names)

Rebekah's nurse

A nurse is a woman who takes care of another woman's child. The nurse was highly honored and important to the family.

She was buried down from Bethel

This can be stated in active form. AT: "They buried her down from Bethel" (See: Active or Passive)

down from Bethel

The phrase "down from" is used because they buried her in a place that was lower in elevation than Bethel.

Allon Bakuth

Translators may add a footnote that says: "The name Allon Bakuth means 'Oak tree where there is weeping.'" (See: How to Translate Names)

translationWords

Jacob

Bethel

Canaan

altar

God

reveal

Rebekah

bury

oak

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

לוזה אשר בארץ כנען, this teaches that there was a second place or town called “Luz.”

הוא וכל העם, the Torah wants to inform us that Yaakov had not suffered a single casualty among his servants, even, as a negative fallout of the killing of all the males in Shechem, not even on the way. This was all due to the intense fear of retribution by the G’d of Yaakov which had gripped the Canaanites of the region. They did not even dare pursue the family, [which might have been perceived as retreating, seeing that they had not made an attempt to take over the city, Ed.]

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.