Genesis 35:1-29
35:1 God's advice for Jacob is to travel to Bethel and create a home. His advice for Jacob is to build an altar, a place from which to pray and meditate to God. Jacob has been through a journey of developing his faith; he strengthens it more and more as he experiences tribulation inside and outside of his immediate family. It is similarly important for us to have a space (even if it's only in our head) to pray and meditate to God: to remember the ways in which He is alive in our lives, to practice patience and reevaluate our values and life goals. Consistent commitment to our faith is to consistently strengthen and enable its ability and power in our lives.
35:2 Jacob returns to his household with instructions: get rid of all of the false idols and fake Gods because it is time to focus on our true God. Jacob's family had recently experienced a traumatic event involving his daughter Dinah and in addition to that, there were members still holding on to old and false systems of religion. It was an opportune and crucial moment for Jacob with God to refocus the family.
Jacob instructs his family to do the following and symbolically, calls us to do the exact same.
- Put away the foreign gods: Eliminate the attachments which hinder and even taint true faith.
- Change your garments: Figuratively divest any corruption and selfishness and redress in humility, patience and love, bold compassion and justice.
35:3
- Arise and go to Bethel: Establish body, mind and soul in the spiritual house of God. Leave all other places, leave the unrest, the anger and frustration, the stagnancy... leave it all behind and arrive in God.
- Build an altar to God: Continually build faith. Consistently contemplate and reaffirm personal principles and values, commitments to growth in love and wisdom. Express gratitude, explore the wonder of the surrounding natural universe in order to retain perspective.
35:4 Jacob's household complies. In order for their (and our) commitment to be authentic and in a constant state of growth, our willingness and participation is required. Jacob's family turns in all of their false idols and representations of defunct belief systems and they trade them in for something better, something real: our God.
Jacob buries the old. He removes the corruption from their lives completely. He clears the house in order to clear the minds. A commitment to faith is a commitment to incorporating faith into every aspect of life.
35:5 The family's commitment to grow and heal in faith enables God to protect them. God waits for our invitation: He can work miracles in our lives but he respects our boundaries. It is worthwhile for each of us to consider that by offering God complete control of our lives, our mistakes and enemies no longer hold that position of power.
35:6-7 Jacob does precisely as God instructs, proving once again his trust in God. God has a specific plan for each of his children. His plan for us includes our greatest joys and journey to fulfillment of purpose. The closer we follow His leadership, the closer we land near the blessings he creates and places for us.
35:8 Jacob's mother Rebekah is advancing in age and so are the people around her, her nurse Deborah reaches the culmination of her life. Deborah buried under a terebinth tree and it is named Allon Bachuth: Terebinth of Weeping.
35:9 God blesses Jacob as he continues to follow and fulfill the instruction of God. When we are aligned with compassion and natural wisdom, blessings are so able to reach us. We are recognized by the loving nature of creation. When we live justly and compassionately, we subsequently walk underneath God's wing. We automatically enabled ourselves to receive his protection and love.
35:10 Jacob's renaming is reiterated by God: from Jacob to Israel. The house or family of Israel is going to comprise the population of much of the Earth, even today. It's important for God to make a distinction between Jacob, the man and Israel the soul within the man committed to this faith. For through Israel, humanity would be changed forever.
35:11-13 God reaffirms the promise made to Abraham, Isaac and now Abraham's grandson Jacob/Israel. He blesses and expands their posterity, making a promise to remain committed to humanity's wellbeing. Through this family, God connected with the souls on Earth. Through this family, our ancestors, God enabled the most important relationship ever to be had.
Our relationship with God is the only relationship with need. A healthy relationship with God enables and teaches us how to have a healthy relationship with ourselves, our natural earth and the people in our lives. Our relationship with God connects us to our spiritual origin and creation. Our relationship with God answers any existential question we could ever have. Through our relationship with God we discover our meaningfulness, our individual and collective purpose. Our relationship with our spiritual sage guides and protects us throughout life.
35:14-15 Grateful for the promise of committed love and instruction, Jacob/Israel expresses the gratitude. The energy of our faith often inspires us to physically, tangibly express our love and gratitude. Gratitude nourishes our faith, keeps the line of communication between self and God wide open. Gratitude is an acknowledgement of God's orchestration of the particulars of our lives; our perspective becomes spiritual informed.
35:16-17 Rachel becomes pregnant with another son. The pregnancy and labor of birth is a difficult one different from her previous pregnancies. Her midwife assures her that the child will be born and not to fear. Is is possible that this midwife was placed by God? Of course, Hebrews 13:2. God places his angels into our lives even when we do not realize. They help to bring his blessings into fruition in our lives. God's messengers arrive on earth in all forms and professions with different expertise.
35:18-20 Rachel dies in childbirth but not before she is able to name her son: Ben-Oni, son of my sorrow. She is buried on the way to Bethlehem and Jacob pays respects to her grave. We each have a purpose on Earth and once we fulfill our purpose we receive the reward of joining our God in Spirit. It is difficult to be separated from those we love (remember that Rachel and Jacob were completely in love with each other) but the separation is temporary.
35:21-22 Life on earth continues and Jacob/Israel must continue to raise his children, and deal with their actions. His son Reuben engages in an affair with Bilhah (who is the biological mother of Jacob's children Naphtali and Dan).
35:23 Jacob has twelve sons in total.
- Jacob and Leah's children: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun.
35:24
- Jacob and Rachel's children: Joseph and Benjamin (formerly Ben-Oni).
35:25
- Jacob and Bilhah's children: Dan and Naphtali
25:26
- Jacob and Zilpah's children: Gad and Asher.
35:27-29 Jacob visits his father Isaac, the beloved son of Abraham. Isaac reached one hundred and eighty years and passed from the Earth. Isaac's twin boys Esau and Jacob buried him. Isaac is described to have been old and full of days; he's lived a long and fulfilling life and leaves the Earth among loving family directly into God's hands.
