Day 12: Genesis 34-36

(The previous post documented the events from the time of Jacob's leaving Laban through Jacob's meeting with Esau. It was during this time Jacob's name was changed to Israel.)

Genesis 34
¹ And Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.
² And Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her; And he took her, and lay with her, and humbled her.

(This appeared to be against her consent. She did not accept this, so this was not covenantal...in fact, it was rape.)

³ And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel.
⁴ And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife.

(Shechem's soul clave unto Dinah. Remember, the man cleaves to the woman. It looked as if sex, even though it was not consensual, resulted in Shechem's soul being tied to Dinah's. Schechem having to ask for Dinah to be his wife was proof the sex was not covenantal. This sexual intercourse did not result in marriage.)

⁵ Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; and his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they came.
⁶ And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him.
⁷ And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; which thing ought not to be done.
⁸ And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you, give her unto him to wife.
⁹ And make ye marriages with us; give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you.

(Hamor wanted an agreement established for his daughters and the daughters of Israel to be given in marriage to the men.)

¹⁰ And ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein.
¹¹ And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find favor in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give.
¹² Ask me ever so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife.
¹³ And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with guile, and spake, because he had defiled Dinah their sister,

(The sons of Jacob were deceitful (guile). Deception is a right what with a wrong (or no) how/why.)

¹⁴ and said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us.
¹⁵ Only on this condition will we consent unto you: if ye will be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised;
¹⁶ then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.
¹⁷ But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone.

(The agreement would only be established if Hamor's men were circumcised as Israel was.)

¹⁸ And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor's son.
¹⁹ And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter: and he was honored above all the house of his father.
²⁰ And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying,
²¹ These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for, behold, the land is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters.
²² Only on this condition will the men consent unto us to dwell with us, to become one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised.
²³ Shall not their cattle and their substance and all their beasts be ours? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us.

(Hamor and Shechem convinced the rest of the city with greed.)

²⁴ And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city.
²⁵ And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city unawares, and slew all the males.

(Simeon and Levi killed all the males. Simeon was the second oldest and Levi was the third oldest sons of Jacob through Leah.)

²⁶ And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went forth.
²⁷ The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.
²⁸ They took their flocks and their herds and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field;
²⁹ and all their wealth, and all their little ones and their wives, took they captive and made a prey, even all that was in the house.
³⁰ And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and, I being few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and smite me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.

(Simeon's and Levi's actions broke the agreement that Jacob made with Hamor. Jacob did not approve and was afraid this would cause a war against him and the surrounding people.)

³¹ And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with a harlot?

(Jacob's sons responded with a question.)




Genesis 35
¹ And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, who appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.

(Beth-el meant "house of God.")

² Then Jacob said unto 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 unto 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 were in their hand, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

(Why were there so many foreign gods among Jacob's household? Was this Rachel's influence, that is, the influence of having lived in Laban's house? (Remember the teraphim?) Could this have been why Simeon and Levi acted deceptively?)

⁵ And they journeyed: and a terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue 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; because there God was revealed unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.

(El-beth-el meant "The God of the house of God.")

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.

(Allon-bacuth meant "oak of weeping.")

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

(God blessed Jacob after his entire house purified itself by putting away foreign gods. God confirmed Jacob's name change by the angel. Notice, some people want to say that God saw polygamy as sin, yet Israel was married to more than one woman and God blessed Israel.)

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;

(Profitability ("be fruitful and multiply") was emphasized again!)

¹² and the land which I gave unto Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.
¹³ And God went up from him in the place where he spake with him.
¹⁴ And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spake 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 spake with him, Beth-el.

(God formally included Jacob into the Covenant with Abraham and Isaac. Jacob was the patriarch, even though he was younger than Esau, just like Isaac was younger than Ishmael.)

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 thou shalt have another son.
¹⁸ And it came to pass, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin.

(Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin. Rachel named him Benoni, which meant "son of my sorrow" but Jacob changed his name to Benjamin, which meant "son of the right hand.")

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.

(Rachel was not buried in the cave of Machpelah but was buried near Ephrath. This was another name for Beth-lehem, the birthplace of both David and Jesus Christ. Ephrath meant "place of fruitfulness" and Beth-lehem meant "house of bread (food).")

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

(Bilhah was not Jacob's wife. Rachel or (most likely) Leah did not accept her into the Marriage. A concubine was not covenantal because the sharing was limited: shelter and food. Reuben (Jacob's first born) laid with Bilhah, Dan's mother. Simeon and Levi massacred all the males in a city. The three oldest sons (Reuben, Simeon, and Levi) were half of Leah's sons.)

²³ The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's first-born, 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 unto Isaac his father to Mamre, to Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.
²⁸ And the days of Isaac were a hundred and fourscore years.

(Isaac lived for 180 years.)

²⁹ And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, old and full of days: and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him.

(Esau and Jacob buried Isaac.)




Genesis 36
¹ Now these are the generations of Esau (the same is Edom).
² Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite,
³ and Basemath Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebaioth.

(Esau even took wives of the daughters of Ishmael.)

⁴ And Adah bare to Esau Eliphaz; and Basemath bare Reuel;
⁵ and Oholibamah bare Jeush, and Jalam, and Korah: these are the sons of Esau, that were born unto him in the land of Canaan.
⁶ And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the souls of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his possessions, which he had gathered in the land of Canaan; and went into a land away from his brother Jacob.
⁷ For their substance was too great for them to dwell together; and the land of their sojournings could not bear them because of their cattle.

(Just as Lot and Abram, Esau and Jacob had too many cattle to dwell in the same land so they had to separate.)

⁸ And Esau dwelt in mount Seir: Esau is Edom.

(The Edomites came from Esau.)

⁹ And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount Seir:
¹⁰ these are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau.
¹¹ And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz.
¹² And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau's son; and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek: these are the sons of Adah, Esau's wife.

(The Amalekites came from Esau. Esau's tribes (Edomites and Amalekites) and Lot's tribes (Moabites and Ammonites) torment Israel for the rest of the Bible. The Arabs came from Ishmael (Isaac's older half-brother) and they torment Israel today.)

¹³ And these are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, and Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah: these were the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife.
¹⁴ And these were the sons of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife: and she bare to Esau Jeush, and Jalam, and Korah.
¹⁵ These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz the first-born of Esau: chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz,
¹⁶ chief Korah, chief Gatam, chief Amalek: these are the chiefs that came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah.

(The Book of Job presented three "comforters" that confront Job. The first was known as Eliphaz the Temanite (Job 4). This would be an example of the righteous (Job/Israel) being confronted by Esau.)

¹⁷ And these are the sons of Reuel, Esau's son: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah: these are the chiefs that came of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife.
¹⁸ And these are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau's wife: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, chief Korah: these are the chiefs that came of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife.
¹⁹ These are the sons of Esau, and these are their chiefs: the same is Edom.
²⁰ These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan and Shobal and Zibeon and Anah,
²¹ and Dishon and Ezer and Dishan: these are the chiefs that came of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom.
²² And the children of Lotan were Hori and Heman. And Lotan's sister was Timna.
²³ And these are the children of Shobal: Alvan and Manahath and Ebal, Shepho and Onam.
²⁴ And these are the children of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah; this is Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father.

(The KJV stated that "this was that Anah that found the mules in the wilderness." The Hebrew word yem was translated into "mules" or "hot springs" in different translations. The Strong's Concordance stated this as the meaning of yem: "meaning uncertain, meaning perhaps mules or hot springs.")

²⁵ And these are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah.
²⁶ And these are the children of Dishon: Hemdan and Eshban and Ithran and Cheran.
²⁷ These are the children of Ezer: Bilhan and Zaavan and Akan.
²⁸ These are the children of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

(Job was from the "land of Uz." See both Genesis 10:23 and Job 1:1.)

²⁹ These are the chiefs that came of the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah,
³⁰ chief Dishon, chief Ezer, chief Dishan: these are the chiefs that came of the Horites, according to their chiefs in the land of Seir.
³¹ And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.
³² And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom; and the name of his city was Dinhabah.

(Dinhabah meant "give thou judgement; to plunder.")

³³ And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead.
³⁴ And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his stead.
³⁵ And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Avith.

(Avith meant "ruins.")

³⁶ And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead.
³⁷ And Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the River reigned in his stead.
³⁸ And Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead.
³⁹ And Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab.

(Pau meant "bleating/screaming.")

⁴⁰ And these are the names of the chiefs that came of Esau, according to their families, after their places, by their names: chief Timna, chief Alvah, chief Jetheth,
⁴¹ chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon,
⁴² chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar,
⁴³ chief Magdiel, chief Iram: these are the chiefs of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession. This is Esau, the father of the Edomites.

(This post covered Jacob formally becoming the patriarch, Rachel's death during Benjamin's birth, Isaac's death, and the history of Esau and the Edomites. The last nine chapters covered the 4th Dispensation from Jacob's perspective. While Jacob remained the patriarch for the rest of the Book of Genesis, thirteen of the remaining fourteen chapters were presented from Joseph's perspective.)

Day 13