What does Jacob do at Bethel, and what changes follow in his family?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Jacob removes the household’s foreign gods and goes to Bethel to build an altar. God blesses him as Israel and promises descendants and land. The chapter then records Rachel’s death while giving birth, Ruben’s act with Bala, the twelve sons, and Isaac’s death and burial.

Chapter breakdown

God tells Jacob to go up to Bethel, live there, and make an altar to the God who appeared to him when he fled from his brother Esau. Jacob gathers his whole household and tells them to cast away their foreign gods, be cleansed, and change their clothes. They are to go to Bethel and make an altar to the God who heard him in his distress and accompanied him on his journey. The household gives Jacob all the foreign gods they have and the earrings they are wearing. He buries them under the turpentine tree, the tree named in the account, behind the city of Sichem.

As they leave, the terror of God falls on all the surrounding cities, whose people do not dare pursue them. Jacob and everyone with him arrive at Luza in Chanaan, also called Bethel. He builds an altar and calls the place The house of God, because God appeared there when he fled from his brother. At the same time Debora, Rebecca’s nurse, dies. She is buried at the foot of Bethel under an oak, and the place is called The oak of weeping.

After Jacob returns from Mesopotamia of Syria, God appears to him again and blesses him. God says that he will no longer be called Jacob: Israel will be his name. God calls him Israel.

Challoner’s note explains Israel as one who prevails with God.

God identifies himself as God almighty and tells Israel to increase and multiply. Nations and peoples of nations will come from him, and kings will be his descendants. God promises to give him the land given to Abraham and Isaac, and to give it to his descendants after him. God then departs. Jacob sets up a stone monument where God spoke to him, pours drink-offerings and oil on it, and calls the place Bethel. The drink-offerings are named without specifying the liquid.

Leaving there in springtime, Jacob comes to the land leading to Ephrata. Rachel goes into labour, and the difficult birth puts her in danger. The midwife tells her not to fear because she will have this son also. As Rachel’s soul departs in pain and death draws near, she calls her son Benoni, meaning the son of my pain. His father calls him Benjamin, meaning the son of the right hand. Rachel dies and is buried along the highway leading to Ephrata, which is Bethlehem. Jacob puts a pillar over her tomb; the account says that Rachel’s monument remains to its own day.

Jacob moves on and pitches his tent beyond the Flock tower, the named landmark in the account. While he lives in that country, Ruben sleeps with Bala, his father’s concubine. Jacob knows about it. The verse then states that Jacob’s sons are twelve.

Challoner’s note explains that Bala was Jacob’s lawful wife. It says the Hebrew wording calls her a concubine because she came from a servant’s background.

Lia’s sons are Ruben the firstborn, Simeon, Levi, Juda, Issachar and Zabulon. Rachel’s sons are Joseph and Benjamin. Bala, Rachel’s handmaid, has Dan and Nephthali. Zelpha, Lia’s handmaid, has Gad and Aser. The list closes by describing these as Jacob’s sons born to him in Mesopotamia of Syria. That closing wording is retained here alongside the earlier account of Benjamin’s birth on the way to Ephrata, rather than changing either part of the chapter to make them agree.

Jacob comes to his father Isaac at Mambre, the city of Arbee, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. Isaac’s life reaches one hundred and eighty years. Worn out with age, old and full of days, he dies and is gathered to his people. His sons Esau and Jacob bury him.

The story inside

The return to Bethel begins with a specific command, followed by changes in the household before the journey. God tells Jacob to live there and build an altar. Jacob tells the family to remove the foreign gods, be cleansed and change clothes, then gives his reason: God heard him in distress and accompanied his journey. Their surrender of the gods and earrings makes that instruction a recorded action; Jacob buries them at the named tree behind Sichem. During the move, the surrounding cities do not pursue because the terror of God has fallen on them. At Bethel Jacob carries out the altar command. The later appearance brings the name Israel and promises of descendants, kings and land, after which Jacob marks the place with a stone and offerings. The sequence gives concrete acts and promises without inventing the origin of the idols or turning protection on this journey into a guarantee about every journey.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Jacob’s command to remove the foreign gods is followed by their actual surrender and burial. The change is therefore shown through what the household does, as well as what Jacob says. His stated reason for going to Bethel is the help God gave him in distress and on his journey.
2
The promise of land looks both backward and forward: God names the land given to Abraham and Isaac, then promises it to Jacob and his descendants. Retaining both directions shows what is being promised rather than leaving only a reference to the earlier gift.
3
The family record includes blessing, loss and wrongdoing. Rachel’s child survives while she dies; Ruben’s act with Bala is known to Jacob; Isaac dies at one hundred and eighty and both Esau and Jacob bury him. Keeping these events alongside the twelve names preserves the family’s actual course without making the blessing erase its losses.

Test your recall

What does Jacob ask his household to do before going to Bethel, how does he carry out God’s altar command, and what does God promise to him and his descendants?

Show answer

Jacob tells his household to give up foreign gods, cleanse themselves, and change their clothes. He buries the gods and earrings before they leave. At Bethel he builds the altar God commanded. God again names him Israel and promises that nations and kings will come from him, and that the land given to Abraham and Isaac will belong to him and his descendants.

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 3966–3988
Genesis Chapter 35 Jacob purgeth his family from idols: goeth by God’s commandment to Bethel, and there buildeth an altar. God appearing again to Jacob blesseth him, and changeth his name into Israel. Rachel dieth in childbirth. Isaac also dieth. 35:1. In the mean time God said to Jacob: Arise and go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar to God, who appeared to thee when thou didst flee from Esau, thy brother. 35:2. And Jacob having called together all his household, said: Cast away the strange gods that are among you, and be cleansed, and change your garments. 35:3. Arise, and let us go up to Bethel, that we may make there an altar to God; who heard me in the day of my affliction, and accompained me in my journey. 35:4. So they gave him all the strange gods they had, and the earrings which were in their ears: and he buried them under the turpentine tree, that is behind the city of Sichem.
Lines 3989–4003
35:5. And when they were departed, the terror of God fell upon all the cities round about, and they durst not pursue after them as they went away. 35:6. And Jacob came to Luza, which is in the land of Chanaan, surnamed Bethel: he and all the people that were with him. 35:7. And he built there an altar, and called the name of that place, The house of God: for there God appeared to him when he fled from his brother. 35:8. At the same time Debora, the nurse of Rebecca, died, and was buried at the foot of Bethel, under an oak, and the name of that place was called, The oak of weeping.
Lines 4004–4009
35:9. And God appeared again to Jacob, after he returned from Mesopotamia of Syria, and he blessed him, 35:10. Saying: Thou shalt not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And he called him Israel.
Lines 4010–4011
Israel.... This name signifieth one that prevaileth with God.
Lines 4012–4026
35:11. And said to him: I am God almighty, increase thou and be multiplied. Nations and peoples of nations shall be from thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins. 35:12. And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to thee, and to thy seed after thee. 35:13. And he departed from him. 35:14. But he set up a monument of stone, in the place where God had spoken to him: pouring drink-offerings upon it, and pouring oil thereon: 35:15. And calling the name of that place Bethel.
Lines 4027–4043
35:16. And going forth from thence, he came in the spring time to the land which leadeth to Ephrata: wherein when Rachel was in travail, 35:17. By reason of her hard labour, she began to be in danger, and the midwife said to her: Fear not, for thou shalt have this son also. 35:18. And when her soul was departing for pain, and death was now at hand, she called the name of her son Benoni, that is, the son of my pain: but his father called him Benjamin, that is, the son of the right hand. 35:19. So Rachel died, and was buried in the highway that leadeth to Ephrata, this is Bethlehem. 35:20. And Jacob erected a pillar over her sepulchre: this is the pillar of Rachel’s monument, to this day.
Lines 4044–4049
35:21. Departing thence, he pitched his tent beyond the Flock tower. 35:22. And when he dwelt in that country, Ruben went, and slept with Bala the concubine of his father: which he was not ignorant of. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.
Lines 4050–4052
The concubine.... She was his lawful wife; but, according to the style of the Hebrews, is called concubine, because of her servile extraction.
Lines 4053–4062
35:23. The sons of Lia: Ruben the first born, and Simeon, and Levi, and Juda, and Issachar, and Zabulon. 35:24. The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 35:25. The sons of Bala, Rachel’s handmaid: Dan and Nephthali. 35:26. The sons of Zelpha, Lia’s handmaid: Gad and Aser: these are the sons of Jacob, that were born to him in Mesopotamia of Syria.
Lines 4063–4072
35:27. And he came to Isaac his father in Mambre, the city of Arbee, this is Hebron: wherein Abraham and Isaac sojourned. 35:28. And the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years. 35:29. And being spent with age he died, and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.