= Genesis 35 Discussion
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== Genesis 35
=== Jacob at God’s commandment goeth up to Bethel built an altar. 
1 And God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there: and make there an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau thy brother.”

=== He reformeth his household.
2 Then Jacob said to his household, and to all that were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments;

3 and let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.”

4 And they gave unto Jacob all the foreign gods which they had, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak[a] which was by Shechem.

=== God maketh the enemies of Jacob afraid.
5 And they journeyed; and the terror of God was upon the cities that were around them, and they did not chase after the sons of Jacob.

6 So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan (the same is Beth-el), he and all the people that were with him.

7 And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el[b]; because there God was revealed to him, when he fled from the face of his brother.

=== Deborah Dieth.
8 And Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died, and she was buried below Beth-el under the oak; and the name of it was called Allon-bacuth[c].

9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.

10 And God said unto him, “Your name is Jacob; your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel shall be your name;” and he called his name Israel.

11 And God said to him, “I am God[d] Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your loins;

=== The land of Canaan is promised him.
12 and the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and to your seed after you I will give the land.”

13 And God went up from him in the place where he spoke with him.

14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a pillar of stone: and he poured out a drink-offering thereon, and poured oil thereon.

15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Beth-el.

16 And they journeyed from Beth-el; and there was still some distance to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor.

17 And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said unto her, “Fear not; for now you shall have another son.”

=== Rachel dieth in labor.
18 And it came to pass, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-oni[e]; but his father called him Benjamin[f].

19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath (the same is Beth-lehem).

20 And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave: the same is the Pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day.

21 And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

=== Reuben lieth with his father’s concubine.
22 And it came to pass, while Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine; and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:

23 the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun;

24 the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin;

25 and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid: Dan and Naphtali;

26 and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid: Gad and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, that were born to him in Paddan-aram.

27 And Jacob came to Isaac his father in Mamre, to Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

28 And the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years.

29 And Isaac and died, and was gathered unto his people, old and full of days; and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him.

== Notes
[4] Or, terebinth

[7] That is, The God of Beth-el.

[8] That is, The oak of weeping.

[11] Hebrew El Shaddai.

[18] That is, The son of my sorrow.

[18] That is, The son of the right hand.

[29] That Esau helped bury his father and his head rests in his father’s sealed tomb, alludes to a midrash where Jacob killed Esau.

== Rashi
Selected commentary.

=== [1]
h.קום עלה ARISE: GO UP [TO BETHEL] — Because you have delayed to fulfil your vow to sacrifice to me at Bethel you have been punished by this trouble of your daughter coming upon you (Genesis Rabbah 81:2). 

=== [2]
h.הנכר [PUT AWAY] THE STRANGE [GODS] —which you have in your possession from the spoil of Shechem.

h.ותטהרו AND PURIFY YOURSELVES of idol-worship.

h.והחליפו שמלותיכם AND CHANGE YOUR GARMENTS — lest you have in your possession a vestment that has been employed in idolatrous worship (Genesis Rabbah 81:3). 

=== [4]
h.האלה THE TEREBINTH — a kind of tree that bears no fruit.

h.עם שכם means by Shechem.

=== [5]
h.חתת means terror. 

=== [7]
h.אל בית אל EL-BETH-EL — the Holy One, blessed be He, is in Beth-El; i.e. His Divine Presence has revealed itself in Bethel. Sometimes the prefix ב “in” is omitted from a word: e.g., (2 Samuel 9:4) “Behold, he is (בית) in the house of Muchir, the son of Ammiel”, which is the same as בבית in the house of Machir; (24:13) בית אביך is the same as בבית אביך ,‘in the house of thy father”.

h.נגלו אליו האלהים GOD WAS REVEALED UNTO Him — In many passages terms denoting Divine Power and Lordship are used in the plural e. g., (39:20) “Joseph’s master (אֲדוֹנַי)” (construct plural), and (Exodus 22:14) “If its owner (בעליו) be with it”, where it does not say בַּעֲלוֹ (the singular form). Similarly, forms of אלהים denoting Judge or Authority are expressed in the plural, but you will find none other of the Divine Names in the plural. 

=== [8]
h.ותמת דבורה AND DEBORAH DIED — How came Deborah to be in Jacob’s house? But the explanation is: because Rebékah had promised Jacob (Gen. 27:45) “then I will send and fetch thee from thence”, she sent Deborah to him to Padan-aram to tell him to leave that place, and she died on the return journey I learnt this from a comment of R. Moses Ha-darshan.

h.מתחת לבית אל BELOW BETHEL — The city was situated on a mountain and she was buried at the foot of the mountain.

h.תחת האלון UNDER THE OAK — The Targum renders it by “on the lower part of the plain” because there was some level ground above on the slope of the hill and her grave was beneath this. The plain of Bethel bore the name of Allon (cf. Rashi on Genesis 14:6). An Agada (Genesis Rabbah 81:5) states that he there received news of another mourning for he was informed that his mother had died. — In Greek allon means “another”. — Because the time of her death was kept secret in order that people might not curse the mother who gave birth to Esau, Scripture also does not make open mention of her death (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Teitzei 4).

=== [9]
h.עוד AGAIN — the second time at this spot: once when he set out on his journey, once when he returned.

h.ויברך אתו AND HE BLESSED HIM. — He gave him the blessing of consolation addressed to mourners (Genesis Rabbah 81:5; cp. Rashi on Genesis 25:11). 

=== [10]
h.לא יקרא שמך עוד יעקב THY NAME SHALL NOT BE CALLED ANY MORE JACOB— which means a man who comes as a lurker and trickster, but it shall be Israel (ישראל), which signifies Prince and Chief. 

=== [11]
h.אני אל שדי I AM GOD, ALMIGHTY, for I have the power to bless because the blessings are Mine.

h.פרה ורבה BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY — God said this in allusion to the fact that Benjamin was not yet born although she (Rachel) was soon to give birth to him (Genesis Rabbah 82:4).

h.גוי A NATION — referring to Benjamin. (Genesis Rabbah 82:4)

h.גוים NATIONS — referring to Manasseh and Ephraim who would come from Joseph — and these actually were counted as tribes.

h.ומלכים AND KINGS — referring to Saul and Ishbosheth who were of the tribe of Benjamin and these were not yet born. This verse Abner explained in this sense when he made Ishbosheth king, and the tribes of Israel also explained it thus and therefore became friendly again with the tribe of Benjamin. For so it is written (Judges 21:1) “They said there shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife”. Afterwards they retracted this, saying, “If, indeed, he was not to be counted among the tribes), the Holy One, blessed be He would not have said to Jacob in reference to Benjamin and kings shall come out of thy loins” (and since there have not yet been kings of the tribe of Benjamin that tribe must not be exterminated). Genesis Rabbah 82:4

h.גוי וקהל גוים “A NATION AND AN ASSEMBLAGE OF NATIONS” — this means that his sons are destined to become nations the same in number as the nations (of the ancient world) which was seventy. So, too, the whole Sanhedrin consisted of seventy. Another explanation is that it signifies that his children will sacrifice on high places at a time when this practice is forbidden, as other nations always did — this refers to the days of Elijah (Genesis Rabbah 82:5). From “This verse” is found in an old text of Rashi.)

=== [13]
h.במקום אשר דבר אתו AT THE PLACE WHERE HE SPAKE WITH HIM — I do not know what this is intended to tell us. 

=== [16]
h.כברת הארץ A KIBRATH OF LAND — Menachem ben Seruk explains the word כברת to have the meaning of כביר “much” and that the phrase means a great distance. A Midrashic explanation is: at the time when the ground was full of holes and was riddled like a sieve (כברה) (cf. Rashi on Genesis 48:7) — when there was plenty of ploughed ground; the winter was passed, but the dry season had not yet come. This, however, cannot be the literal sense of the verse, for in the case of Naaman we find (2 Kings 5:19) “So he departed from him כברת ארץ” (which cannot possibly have this meaning). I think that it is a name for a measure of land, the distance of a Parsa or more, just as you say (Isaiah 5:10) “acres (צמדי) of vineyard” and (33:19) “the parcel (חלקת) of field”: In the same way in reference to a man’s journey Scripture mentions the name of a measure — viz., a כברת ארץ, a כברה of land. 

=== [17]
h.כי גם זה FOR THIS ALSO — also means additional to you, over and above Joseph. Our Rabbis explained that with each of Jacob’s sons a twin-sister was born, whilst with Benjamin an additional twin sister was born (Genesis Rabbah 82:8). 

=== [18]
h.בן אוני means SON OF MY SORROW (Genesis Rabbah 82:9).

h.בנימין BENJAMIN — I am of opinion that he was so called because he alone was born in the land of Canaan which is in the South (ימין) as one comes from Aram-Naharaim, as it is said (Numbers 33:40) “in the South, in the Land of Canaan”, and (12:9) “going on still towards the South”. בנימין therefore means בן ימין where ימין has the same meaning as in (Psalms 89:13) “The North and the South (ימין) Thou hast created them”. For this reason the word is here written plene (with a י after the מ). 
Another explanation of בנימין is that it means “son of his old days (ימים)”, only that it is written with ן (instead of ם), like (Daniel 12:13) “at the end of days.

=== [22]
h.בשכן ישראל בארץ ההוא WHEN ISRAEL DWELT IN THAT LAND — before he came to Isaac at Hebron, all these troubles happened to him.

h.וישכב AND HE LAY — Because he had disturbed his couch Scripture accounts it to him as though he had actually sinned in this manner. But why did he disturb his couch? When Rachel died Jacob removed to Bilhah’s tent and Reuben came and protested against the slight thus inflicted on his mother (Leah). He said: “If my mother’s sister was her rival, is that any reason why the handmaid of my mother’s sister should become a rival to her!” On this account he disturbed the couch (Shabbat 55b).

h.ויהיו בני יעקב שנים עשר NOW THE SONS OF JACOB WERE TWELVE — Scripture begins again where it left off the previous narrative (i.e. the birth of Benjamin): when Benjamin was born the destined number of his sons was complete and it was proper that they should then be enumerated; and therefore it enumerates them. Our Rabbis explained that these words are intended to tell us that Jacob’s twelve sons were all equal — they were all equally righteous, for Reuben had committed no actual sin (Shabbat 55b). 

=== [23]
h.בכור יעקב JACOB’S FIRSTBORN — even when it speaks of his corrupt action Scripture calls him firstborn (Genesis Rabbah 82:11).

h.בכור יעקב JACOB’S FIRSTBORN — firstborn with regard to heritage, firstborn with regard to Divine Service (for before the Levites were appointed to minister to God the duty devolved upon the oldest son in each family), firstborn in any enumeration of the twelve tribes; for the right of a firstborn son was given to Joseph only in respect of the tribes — in that he founded two tribes (just as a firstborn son received a double portion in his father’s property) (Genesis Rabbah 82:11). 

=== [27]
h.ממרא MAMRE — the name of the plain.

h.קרית הארבע KIRIATH-ARBA— the name of the city.

h.ממרא קרית הארבע therefore means “to the plain of Kiriath-arba”. If you say that it should have written ממרא הקרית ארבע (that Kirjath-arba being one name the definite article should be placed in front of it) then I reply that this is the rule in Biblical Hebrew: in every case of a name compounded of two words, such as this, and such as בית לחם and אבי עזר and בית אל, when it is necessary to prefix the definite article (in order to determine the name) it is prefixed to the second element of the name — thus (1 Samuel 16:1)בית הלחמי  the Bethlehemite; (Judges 6:24) “in Ophrah (אבי העזרי) of the Abiezrites”; (1 Kings 16:34) “did Hiel the Bethelite (בית האלי) build”. 

=== [29]
h.ויגוע יצחק AND ISAAC EXPIRED — There is no such thing as “earlier’’ or “later” (chronological order) in the narratives of the Torah (Pesachim 6b), and the sale of Joseph preceded Isaac’s death by twelve years.  Thus: at Jacob’s birth Isaac was sixty years old — as it is said (25:26) “And Isaac was sixty years old [when he bore them]” (Esau and Jacob). Isaac died when Jacob was 120, for if you deduct 60 from 180 (Isaac’s age when he died), you have left 120. Joseph was 17 years old when he was sold, and that year was the one hundred and eighth of Jacob’s life. How is this? Jacob was 63 when he received the blessing of his father; 14 years he hid himself in Eber’s School — making 77 — and 14 years “he served for his wives” (Rashi borrows a phrase from Hosea 12:13 “And Israel served for a wife”; but he means for both wives), and at the expiration of these 14 years Joseph was born as it is said (30:25) “and it came to pass when Rachel had born Joseph” (that Jacob wished to return home and he would not have desired to do this if his fourteen years of service were not completed) making 91. Add to this the seventeen years of Joseph’s life before he was sold, and you have 108. This may also be derived more directly from Scripture thus: from the time when Joseph was sold until the time when Jacob came to Egypt was 22 years, for it is said (41:46) “And Joseph was 30 years old [when he stood before Pharaoh]” (and therefore he had been in Egypt 13 years, as he was 17 when he was sold) and the seven years of plenty and two of famine had elapsed before Jacob came to Egypt (cf. 45:6), making 22 years. And as it is written (47:9) that Jacob on his arrival in Egypt said to Pharaoh “The days of the years of my sojournings are a hundred and thirty years”, it follows that at the time when Joseph was sold Jacob was one hundred and eight years old.