Genesis 35 – Jacob’s Renewal & The Deaths of Rachel & Isaac

Overview: Renewal, Loss, & Covenant Fulfillment

🔹 Timeframe: Shortly after the events of Genesis 34, as Jacob’s household is moving away from Shechem.

🔹 Setting: Bethel, the house of God, where Jacob first encountered God in Genesis 28.

🔹 Theme: Renewal, divine calling, loss, and covenant confirmation.

🔹 Connection to Future Events: The births and transitions in this chapter set the stage for the next generation of Israel.

Key Takeaways

🔑 God calls us to spiritual renewal and purification.

🔑The covenant remains despite human failures.

🔑 Loss and transition are part of God’s greater plan.

🔑 Our choices affect generations to come.

Prophetic Patterns & Dual Fulfillment

🔮 Bethel Represents Spiritual Renewal – Returning to Bethel foreshadows Israel’s future calls to return to God.

🔮 Rachel’s Death Foreshadows the Suffering of Israel – In Jeremiah 31:15, Rachel’s weeping symbolizes the sorrow of Israel during exile and Herod’s massacre of infants (Matthew 2:18).

🔮 Reuben’s Fall Mirrors Later Leadership Shifts – Just as Reuben lost his birthright, the tribe of Judah eventually takes leadership in Israel.

Historical & Cultural Context

📜 Bethel as a Sacred Place – Bethel means “House of God” and was a location of divine encounters, later becoming a major worship site in Israel’s history.

📜 Household Idols in Ancient Times – Jacob orders the removal of pagan idols, possibly those stolen by Rachel (Genesis 31:19).

📜 Mourning & Burial Traditions – The deaths of Rachel and Isaac include burial customs typical of ancient Semitic culture.

💡 Final Reflection: Returning to God & Embracing Transformation

Jacob’s journey reminds us that spiritual renewal is necessary, and God is always faithful to His covenant.

📌 Are we holding onto things God has called us to remove?
📌 Are we walking in our new identity, or still living in the past?
📌 Are we trusting God’s promises even in times of loss and transition?

🚀 Genesis 35 teaches that God calls us to return to Him, and when we do, He reaffirms His promises and leads us forward!

God Blesses and Renames Jacob
Gen 35:1  And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. 
Gen 35:2  Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: 
Gen 35:3  And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. 
Gen 35:4  And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. 
Gen 35:5  And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. 
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. 
Gen 35:7  And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother. 
Gen 35:8  But Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allonbachuth. 
Gen 35:9  And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him. 
Gen 35:10  And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel. 
Gen 35:11  And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; 
Gen 35:12  And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. 
Gen 35:13  And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him. 
Gen 35:14  And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon. 
Gen 35:15  And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel. 
The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac
Gen 35:16  And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. 
Gen 35:17  And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. 
Gen 35:18  And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin. 
Gen 35:19  And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. 
Gen 35:20  And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day. 
Gen 35:21  And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar. 
Gen 35:22  And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve: 
Gen 35:23  The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun: 
Gen 35:24  The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin: 
Gen 35:25  And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali: 
Gen 35:26  And the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padanaram. 
Gen 35:27  And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. 
Gen 35:28  And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years. 
Gen 35:29  And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.