Death
Background and Printed Text: Genesis 35
1And Elohim said unto He-Will-Heel (Jacob), “Arise! Ascend House-Of-Mighty-[One]. And dwell there. And make an altar there to Mighty-[One] the Appearer unto thee in thy fleeing from the faces of Hairy thy brother.”
2And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) said unto his house and unto all who are with him, “Put-ye away the gods of the foreigner that are in your midst. And make yourselves clean. And change your garments. 3And we have arisen. And we have ascended House-Of-Mighty-[One]. And I have made an altar there to Mighty-[One] the Answerer of me in the day of my tribulation. And He was with me in the way that I walked.”
4And they gave unto He-Will-Heel (Jacob) all the gods of the foreigner that are in their hand and the earrings that are in their ears. And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) concealed them under the oak that is with Shoulder. 5And they journeyed. And the terror of Elohim was upon the cities that are round about them. And they did not pursue after the sons of He-Will-Heel (Jacob). 6And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) came toward Devious (Luz) that is in the land of Merchant (Canaan)—he is House-Of-Mighty-[One])—he and all the people that is with him. 7And he built an altar there. And he called to the place Mighty-[One] House-Of-Mighty-[One]. For there the Gods were revealed unto him in his fleeing from the faces of his brother.
8And Bee (Deborah), Multiplied-Decanting’s (Rebekah’s) nurse, died. And she was buried from under to House-Of-Mighty-[One] under the oak. And he called his name Oak of Weeping.
9And Elohim appeared unto He-Will-Heel (Jacob) again in his coming from High Extension. And He blessed him. 10And Elohim said to him, “Thy name is He-Will-Heel (Jacob). Thy name shall not again be called He-Will-Heel (Jacob), but rather He-Will-Prince-Mighty-[One] (Israel) shall be thy name.” And He called his name He-Will-Prince-Mighty-[One] (Israel). 11And Elohim said to him, “I am Mighty-[One] My-Breasts (El Shaddai). ‘Fruit’ and multiply. A race and a congregation of races—he shall be from thee. And kings shall exit from thy loins. 12And the land that I gave to Father-Of-A-Multitude (Avraham) and to He-Will-Laugh (Isaac)—I will give her to thee and to thy seed after thee. I will give the land.” 13And Elohim ascended from upon him in the place where He spoke with him.
14And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) positioned a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a pillar of stone. And he poured a pouring upon her. And he flowed oil upon her. 15And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) called the name of the place that Elohim spoke with him there House-Of-Mighty-[One] (Bate-El).
16And they journeyed from House-Of-Mighty-[One] (Bate-El). And there was yet a measure of the land to come to I-Will-Fruit-Her (Ephrat). And Ewe (Raquel) childed. And she was snared in her childing. 17And he was in her being snared in her childing. And the childer (midwife) said to her, “Fear not. For also this is to thee a son.” 18And he was in the exiting of her being. For she died. And she called his name Son-of-my-Exhaustion (Ben Onee). And his father called to him Son-Of-Right (Ben Yameen, Benjamin).
19And Ewe (Raquel) died. And she was buried on the way to I-Will-Fruit-Her (Ephrat). He is House-of-Bread (Bate-Lekhem, Bethlehem). 20And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) positioned a pillar upon her grave. He is the Pillar of Ewe’s (Raquel’s) Grave unto today.
21And He-Will-Prince-Mighty-[One] (Israel) journeyed. And he stretched her tent from beyond to Flock Tower.
22And he was in He-Will-Prince-Mighty-[One’s] (Israel’s) abiding in that land. And They-Saw-A-Son (Reuben) walked. And he lay with Via-Languishing (Bilhah) his father’s concubine. And He-Will-Prince-Mighty-[One] (Israel) heard.
And the sons of He-Will-Heel (Jacob) were twelve.
23The sons of Weary (Leah):
The firstborn of He-Will-Heel (Jacob) is They-Saw-A-Son (Reuben),
And
Hearkening (Shimon)
And
My-Near-[one] (Levi)
And
He-Confessed-Yehovah (Judah)
And
There-Is-A-Wage (Issachar)
And
They-Cohabited (Zebulun).
24The sons of Ewe (Raquel):
He-Will-Gather (Joseph)
And
Son-Of-Right (Benjamin).
25And the sons of Via-Languishing (Bilhah), Ewe’s (Raquel’s) slavewoman:
He-Adjudicated (Dan)
And
My-Wrestling (Naphtali).
26And the sons of Her-Trickling (Zilpah), Weary’s (Leah’s) slavewoman:
Troop (Gad)
And
Happy (Asher).
These are the sons of He-Will-Heel (Jacob) who were childed to him in High Extension.
27And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) came unto He-Will-Laugh (Isaac) his father to Bitter-Causer (Mamre), City of the Four (Kiryat Arba). He is Friendship (Hebron) where Father-Of-A-Multitude (Avraham) and He-Will-Laugh (Isaac) sojourned. 28And the days of He-Will-Laugh (Isaac) were a hundred year and eighty year. 29And He-Will-Laugh (Isaac) expired. And he died. And he was gathered old and full of days unto his peoples. And his sons Hairy (Esau) and He-Will-Heel (Jacob) buried him.
I. The Instructions (verse 1)
(Two of Jacob’s sons had murdered the males of an entire city. Jacob knew that the Canaanites and Perizzites would pursue him and his family to take vengeance. Jacob did not know what to do. Yehovah now told him what to do.)
Elohim told Jacob to arise and ascend to Bate El (Bethel), and to dwell there. He commanded him to make an altar to Mighty One Who had appeared to him when he fled from the faces of Esau.
Questions
1. Why did Elohim tell Jacob to arise and to ascend Bethel (as if he must run) instead of telling him to remain while He (Elohim) delivered him from all his neighbours and enemies?
2. What is the purpose of making and using an altar and doing a sacrifice in the Bible?
3. Why did Elohim tell Jacob to make an altar to “Mighty One the Appearer unto thee” instead of making the altar to Yehovah, to Elohim, or to some other description of God?
4. Will later Israelis flee from Esau, and if so, will there be an appearance of the Mighty One at that time?
II. Jacob’s Commands (verses 2-3)
(Jacob now had a very much larger household. All the Hivite women and children left alive were now part of his people, taken captive by his sons.)
Jacob commanded his house and all who were with him, “Put-ye away the gods of the foreigner that are in your midst.” He also commanded, “Make yourselves clean. And change your garments.”
He told them the plan, once they had changed their garments: “And we have arisen. And we have ascended House-Of-Mighty-[One]. And I have made an altar there to Mighty-[One] the Answerer of me in the day of my tribulation.”
Jacob stated, “And He was with me in the way that I walked.”
Questions
1. Why did Jacob’s house (that is, his wives, children, slaves, and all others who are with him, including the women and children who were added as a result of the slaughter) have idols in the first place? Didn’t they know that Jacob feared and believed in Yehovah, and wouldn’t Jacob have insisted that no one will keep or have an idol?
2. Who or what are the gods of the foreigner, and who is this foreigner?
3. What were they supposed to do with those gods?
4. Why did Jacob desire that they put the gods away? Why didn’t Jacob tell them to destroy them?
5. What does “make yourselves clean” mean and involve?
6. What does changing garments typify?
7. Was House of Mighty One a house like what you know?
8. Why did Jacob call God “Mighty One the Answerer of me in the day of my tribulation”?
9. Jacob said, “He was with me in the way that I walked.” What did Jacob mean, and what happened while he walked?
III. The Real God (verses 4-7)
All in Jacob’s group gave to him all the gods of the foreigner that were in their hand, and the earrings that were in their ears. Jacob concealed them under the oak that was with Shechem, the city named after the leader who was killed.
They then journeyed. Instead of the Canaanites and the Perizzites gathering together to slaughter Jacob and his men, Elohim put terror into all the surrounding inhabitants. They did not pursue the sons of Jacob.
Jacob came toward Luz, the old name for Bate El (Bethel) in the land of Canaan. He built the altar there and renamed the place Mighty One House of Mighty One (El Bate El). That was the place where the Gods had been revealed to him while he fled from the faces of his brother.
Questions
1. Did they also give Jacob their own gods—gods that were not of the foreigner?
2. Why did they also give the earrings in their ears???
3. Why did Jacob conceal them under a tree?
4. What caused the terror that kept the locals from pursuing the sons of Jacob?
5. Why would a city be named Devious?
6. Did anyone else take part in building the altar with Jacob?
7. Why did he call to the place? What does that mean?
8. Why did he call the place “Mighty One House of Mighty One”? Isn’t that an odd and long name?
9. Elohim (Gods) is plural in Hebrew, yet it usually takes a singular verb (a verb showing that there is just one doing the action, not more than one). This text is different, since Elohim is plural as usual, but the verb is also plural! Why is this text written this way?
IV. Death (verse 8)
Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, was greatly loved. Her death greatly affected everyone. She was buried “from under to” (down yonder from) Bethel, under the oak tree. The oak was named Oak of Weeping.
Elohim again appeared to Jacob in his journey from Padan Aram. He blessed him. Elohim then said to Jacob, “Thy name is Jacob. Thy name shall not again be called Jacob, but rather Israel shall be thy name.” Then Elohim called his name Israel.
Elohim next re-identified Himself: “I am Mighty-[One] My-Breasts (El Shaddai).” With that identification in mind, He said, “‘Fruit’ (become fruitful and bear fruit) and multiply. A race and a congregation of races—he shall be from thee. And kings shall exit from thy loins.”
Elohim promised to give the land that He gave to Avraham and to Isaac also to Jacob and to Jacob’s seed after Jacob. Elohim then ascended “from upon him” in the very place where He spoke with him.
Questions
1. What is a nurse in the Bible?
2. How can a reader know that some in Jacob’s group greatly loved Deborah?
3. If a person is greatly loved so that there is much weeping at the person’s death, what did the person do to be so greatly mourned?
4. If Deborah was Rebekah’s nurse, what was their relationship?
5. Why did many have nurses? Why didn’t their own mothers behave as their nurses?
V. Another Appearance (verses 9-13)
Elohim again appeared to Jacob in his journey from Padan Aram. He blessed him. Elohim then said to Jacob, “Thy name is Jacob. Thy name shall not again be called Jacob, but rather Israel shall be thy name.” Then Elohim called his name Israel.
Elohim next re-identified Himself: “I am Mighty-[One] My-Breasts (El Shaddai).” With that identification in mind, He said, “‘Fruit’ (become fruitful and bear fruit) and multiply. A race and a congregation of races—he shall be from thee. And kings shall exit from thy loins.”
Elohim promised to give the land that He gave to Avraham and to Isaac also to Jacob and to Jacob’s seed after Jacob. Elohim then ascended “from upon him” in the very place where He spoke with him.
Questions
1. Why did Elohim again appear unto Jacob?
2. What does bless mean?
3. The text states that Elohim told Jacob, “Thy name is Jacob. Thy name shall not again be called Jacob, but rather Israel shall be thy name.” In Genesis 32:28, the man wrestling with Jacob already told him this. Why did Elohim say the same thing the man said?
4. Elohim said, “Thy name shall not again be called Jacob, but rather Israel shall be thy name.” Did Elohim stop calling this man Jacob?
5. Why did Elohim identify Himself as Mighty One My Breasts (El Shaddai)?
6. What does ‘fruit’ mean in verse 11?
7. What will happen if Israel ‘fruits’?
8. How can Israel multiply?
9. What is a race?
10. What is a congregation of races?
11. What does “kings shall exit from thy loins” mean?
12. If Elohim will give Jacob and Jacob’s seed the land that He promised Avraham and Isaac, doesn’t He have to take the land away from Avraham and Isaac to do this?
13. Who is this seed?
14. Why did Elohim say, “I will give the land”?
15. What did Elohim look like?
16. The text states that Elohim ascended from upon Jacob. What does that mean?
VI. A Pillar and a Name (verses 14-15)
Jacob positioned a stone pillar in the place where Elohim spoke with him. He poured a pouring upon the stone, and he ‘flowed’ oil upon the stone. He called that place where God had spoken to him Bate El.
Questions
1. Why did Jacob position a stone pillar in the place where Elohim spoke with him?
2. What did Jacob pour upon her? Who is she? Why did Jacob do this?
3. What does oil picture in the Bible?
4. If the above is true, why anoint a rock?
VII. The Hard Birth (verses 16-18)
They journeyed from House of God, and had a little way to go to come to Ephrat (known also as Bethlehem). Raquel was pregnant, and she gave birth. The child was not coming out properly. The midwife finally got the child out, and it was a boy. She spoke to the greatly pained and weakened Raquel, telling her to not fear; this child was also a son. Raquel was dying, however. She called the child Son of my Exhaustion (Ben Onee). Jacob called the little one Son of my Right (Benjamin).
Questions
1. What was the distance from Bethel to Ephrat?
2. What does “Raquel childed” mean?
3. What does “she was snared in her childing” mean?
4. What does “he was in her being snared in her childing” mean?
5. What is a midwife?
6. Why did the midwife tell Raquel not to fear?
7. What does “he was in the exiting of her being” mean?
8. Who is she in, “And she called his name Ben Onee”?
9. Why didn’t Jacob honour the name she gave to the child?
10. What does right mean in, “Son-Of-Right”?
11. Why did Jacob name this child Ben Yameen?
VIII. Another Pillar (verses 19-20)
Raquel died. She was buried on the way to Ephrat (also known as Bethlehem, House of Bread). Jacob positioned a pillar upon her grave. That is the Pillar of Raquel’s Grave to this very day.
Questions
1. Did Raquel die in Bethlehem?
2. What other famous person was born in this area of Israel?
3. What does Bethlehem mean?
4. Why did Jacob position a pillar upon her grave?
5. Was Jacob sad?
6. If we go to Israel to look for this Pillar of Raquel’s grave, will we find it?
IX. Settling (verses 21-22)
Israel journeyed. He stretched (set up) her tent just beyond a location called Flock Tower.
During the time that Israel abode in that land, Reuben walked and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine. Israel heard about this.
Questions
1. Where is Flock Tower?
2. The text states, “he stretched her tent…” Whose tent did he stretch?
3. What happened in verse 22?
4. What is a concubine?
5. Was what Reuben did wrong?
6. Why didn’t Bilhah scream or fight?
7. Why did Reuben do this?
8. Why didn’t Jacob do anything about this?
9. From whom did Jacob hear this?
X. The List (verses 22-26)
The Bible now gave a list of the twelve sons of Jacob with their mothers.
Leah: Reuben, Shimon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun
Raquel: Joseph, Benjamin
Bilhah: Dan, Naphtali
Zilpah: Gad, Asher
These sons were ‘childed’ to Jacob in Padan Aram.
Questions
1. Memorize the names of the twelve sons in order as given in this text.
2. Now, place the meanings of the names of the twelve sons in order.
3. I will now string them together to see if sentences are present. (No question)
4. I will again string them together, but with the names of the parents involved, to see if sentences are present. (No question)
XI. Isaac’s Death (verses 27-29)
Jacob came back to Isaac his father in Mamre/Kiryat Arba (also known as Hebron where Avraham and Isaac previously sojourned.
Isaac lived 180 years worth of days. He then expired and died, and was gathered unto his peoples old and full of days. Esau and Jacob buried him together.
Questions
1. Did Jacob see his father Isaac again?
2. Was 180 years a long time to live?
3. What is the difference between expiring and dying?
4. In what way was he gathered unto his peoples?
5. When folks die today, are they gathered to their peoples?
6. Esau and Jacob buried their father together. What does this show?