“Genesis 35:9-15”

Thursday, March 05, 2020

“Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. God said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob; you shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.’ Thus He called him Israel. God also said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come forth from you. The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you.’ Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him. Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel.”

---End of Scripture verses---

“Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him.” (verse 9) Nahum Sarna noted that “God, for His part, now fulfills the prayer offered by Isaac in 28:3-4.” That passage read: “May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.”

“God said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob; you shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.’” (verse 10) Even though the Lord’s angel had named Jacob “Israel” after their altercation (Genesis 32:28), the author has persisted in calling him by his given name up until this point in the narrative of his life. But in this instance, God Himself personally conferred the name of Israel upon him. When the angel told Jacob his new name, he did so “on the other side of the Jordan. Therefore, the new name ‘Israel’ needs to be confirmed and validated by God Himself in the promised land.” (Nahum Sarna)

“I am God Almighty…” (verse 11) The Lord identified Himself as “El-Shaddai”—the name by which he had established his covenant with Abraham (Genesis 17:1). By addressing Jacob as “God Almighty” He was able to comfort and assure him that He was more than able to protect, defend and provide for him and fulfill all of the promises He had made to him. The Lord Yahweh is all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful and all-sufficient to provide for all of our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs. As the One who created us, loves us most and knows us best, He willingly and competently supplies His people with all the needs that reside in the temporary and eternal realms of existence.

“Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come forth from you…” (verse 11) Of course, Israel would only have one additional son born to him after this divine encounter, and that is Benjamin. But the nation which would afterward bear his name would grow to be a mighty force in the region of Palestine and far beyond. Israel’s twelves sons would grow to be twelve tribes and constitute a multiplicity of peoples spread throughout the world by various means. Great kings such as King David, King Solomon, King Josiah and many others came forth from the lineage of Israel and reigned over the nation of Israel and of Judah after the division. And, most importantly, King Jesus would ultimately “come forth” from Israel as the “seed of Abraham” in fulfillment of God’s promise to bless all peoples of the Earth.

“The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you.” (verse 12) “Meaning the land of Canaan, which, as he had by promise given it to his grandfather, and father, so he would give it to him; thus renewing the grant of it for his comfort, and the encouragement of his faith, when he had been in danger of being destroyed by the inhabitants of it, and was obliged to remove from one part of it to another.” (Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible)

“Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him.” (verse 13) The Lord likely “ascended” in some sort of visible display of His presence. “This formula, used before in Genesis 17:22; Genesis 18:33, shows that this manifestation of God’s presence was more solemn than any of those previous occasions upon which the Deity had revealed Himself to Jacob. It was, in fact, the acknowledgment of the patriarch as the heir of the Abrahamic covenant.” (Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers)

“Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it.” (verse 14) “To commemorate the experience, Jacob sets up a stone pillar, just as he had on the earlier occasion… The text does not clarify whether this is the rededication of the original pillar of 28:18 or the erection of a new one. On this occasion, unlike the earlier, Jacob pours upon it a libation. Hebrew nesekh usually means a wine offering and is nowhere else found in Genesis. Moreover, it is here poured on the pillar, not on the altar. This combination of anomalies indicates that the ceremony Jacob here performs is not simply a duplication of the earlier one but has an added dimension. He is rehabilitation the original stela, which is now invested with new meaning.” (Nahum Sarna)

“So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel.” (verse 15) “See Genesis 28:19. The name had, of course, remained unknown and unused, as what then passed had been confined to Jacob’s own inward consciousness. He now teaches the name to his family, explains the reason why he first gave it, and requires them to employ it. But with so grand a beginning the town was debased to unholy uses, and from being Beth-el, the house of God, it became Bethaven, the house of iniquity (Hosea 10:5).” (Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers)

Please read Genesis 35:16-22 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

-Louie Taylor

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