Genesis 35:1–7: Edit history

Context

In Genesis 34, Jacob's daughter Dinah is defiled at Shechem, and Simeon and Levi kill the men of the city. Jacob fears reprisal from the surrounding inhabitants (Genesis 34:30). Chapter 35 opens immediately after this crisis with God's word to Jacob. God tells him to go up to Bethel, where God had appeared to him as he fled from his brother Esau. At that time Jacob had made a vow at Bethel (Genesis 28:20–22), and the passage depicts his return to the place of that vow. The foreign gods in Jacob's household are sometimes read in connection with chapter 31, where Rachel steals the teraphim (household gods) of her father, Laban.

Interpretation

• Fulfillment of the vow: Many commentators see this passage as the scene in which Jacob, at God's prompting, finally keeps the Bethel vow he had long postponed. They therefore interpret it as a spiritual restoration in Jacob's life.
• Purification as preparation for worship: The steps of putting away foreign gods, cleansing oneself, and changing garments (v. 2) are read as a model of repentance and purification before worship. Many interpreters hold that the earrings buried along with the idols were not mere ornaments but objects associated with idolatry or used as amulets.
• God's protection: The statement in verse 5 that "the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them" is read as God's direct answer to the fear Jacob had expressed in chapter 34.
• Old Testament scholarship: Some scholars find in this procedure—burying the idols under the tree at Shechem and then going to Bethel—traces of an ancient Israelite pilgrimage or renewal ceremony. They also compare it with the covenant renewal at Shechem in Joshua 24:14–25.

Debates and Issues

There is little notable controversy among denominations over this passage, though several points of detail are discussed.

• The plural verb in verse 7: In the Hebrew text, the verb rendered "appeared" ("God appeared unto him") is plural. Several explanations have been offered:
• It agrees grammatically with Elohim, the word for God, which is plural in form.
• It refers to the angels Jacob saw in chapter 28.
• As some earlier Christian interpreters held, it is a hint of the Trinity.
• Translation of "oak": The Hebrew word is also rendered "terebinth."
• Manner of application: Some caution that applying "let us arise, and go up to Bethel" as a call to go to a particular prayer retreat center or location goes beyond the context of the passage.

In the Korean Church

Sermons titled "Let Us Go Up to Bethel" are common, particularly at the new year, at revival meetings, and on themes such as restoration and recovering one's first love. Verse 2 is frequently cited as a text emphasizing repentance and purification before worship. "Bethel" is also widely used as a name for churches and prayer retreat centers.

Related Passages

• Genesis 28:10–22
• Genesis 31:19
• Genesis 34:30
• Joshua 24:14–25
• Hosea 12:4–5