Ge 35:1-15. REMOVAL TO BETHEL.
1. God said unto Jacob, Arise, &c.--This command was given
seasonably in point of time and tenderly in respect of language. The
disgraceful and perilous events that had recently taken place in the
patriarch's family must have produced in him a strong desire to remove
without delay from the vicinity of Shechem. Borne down by an
overwhelming sense of the criminality of his two sons--of the offense
they had given to God and the dishonor they had brought on the true
faith; distracted, too, with anxiety about the probable consequences
which their outrage might bring upon himself and family, should the
Canaanite people combine to extirpate such a band of robbers and
murderers; he must have felt this call as affording a great relief to
his afflicted feelings. At the same time it conveyed a tender rebuke.
go up to Beth-el--Beth-el was about thirty miles south of
Shechem and was an ascent from a low to a highland country. There, he
would not only be released from the painful associations of the latter
place but be established on a spot that would revive the most
delightful and sublime recollections. The pleasure of revisiting it,
however, was not altogether unalloyed.
make there an altar unto God, that appeared--It too frequently
happens that early impressions are effaced through lapse of time, that
promises made in seasons of distress, are forgotten; or, if remembered
on the return of health and prosperity, there is not the same alacrity
and sense of obligation felt to fulfil them. Jacob was lying under that
charge. He had fallen into spiritual indolence. It was now eight or ten
years since his return to Canaan. He had effected a comfortable
settlement and had acknowledged the divine mercies, by which that
return and settlement had been signally distinguished (compare
Ge 33:19).
But for some unrecorded reason, his early vow at Beth-el
[Ge 28:20-22],
in a great crisis of his life, remained unperformed. The Lord appeared
now to remind him of his neglected duty, in terms, however, so mild, as
awakened less the memory of his fault, than of the kindness of his
heavenly Guardian; and how much Jacob felt the touching nature of the
appeal to that memorable scene at Beth-el, appears in the immediate
preparations he made to arise and go up thither
(Ps 66:13).
JFB.
Outline
1 God sends Jacob to Bethel
2 Jacob puts away the strange gods from his household
6 He builds an altar at Bethel
8 Deborah dies
9 God blesses Jacob at Bethel
16 Rachel travails with Benjamin, and dies in the way to
Bethlehem
23 The sons of Jacob
27 Jacob comes to Isaac at Hebron
28 The age, death, and burial of Isaac.
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