Genesis 35 & 36

          God tells Jacob to return to Beth-el where God first appeared to Jacob in a dream that first night on his journey to Haran almost thirty years earlier. (Genesis 28:19) Jacob then instructs his household to “Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments…” (v.2) (This is similar to the command God gave Moses regarding the Israelites in Exodus 19:10, 14.) He explains to his family that they’re going back to Bethel where he first encountered God, “who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.” (v.3) His wives, children, and servants do as he commands, handing over not only their idols but also their earrings. (Exodus 32:3-4, Hosea 2:13)
          During their journey, they are untouched and unchallenged by the people of the cities around them, because of “…the terror of God…” (v.5). This is probably due, in part, to the incident related in the previous chapter. Once again, God uses the sinful, disobedient actions of men to bring about His divine will. In this case, He desired that no one interfere with Jacob and his household as they migrate back to the plains of his birth.
           When Jacob arrives at Beth-el, he builds an altar and renames that place El-Beth-el, meaning “God of the house of God”. Note from my study Bible: “Thus Jacob made it clear that he was returning to God, not just to His house. This decision became the turning point of his life.”
 
          Verses 9-15: God appears to Jacob once again, before he leaves Padan-aram, and reaffirms His blessing to Jacob. (Genesis 32:27-28) He reminds Jacob of his new name, Israel, and commands him to be fruitful and multiply, for “…a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;” (v.11) God also promises to Jacob and his seed the same land which He gave to Abraham and Isaac. After the vision, Jacob builds and altar there, just as he did the first time, and pours out a drink offering as well as oil upon it. He also reaffirms the name of the place as Bethel.
 
          Verses 16-20: On the way to Ephrath, Rachel goes into labor, but there are complications, and she dies. She is delivered of a son, and she calls him Ben-oni, which means “son of my sorrow”. Jacob calls him Benjamin, meaning “son of my right hand”. (v.18) Rachel is buried at Bethlehem, and Jacob builds a pillar upon her grave. (v.19-20)
 
           Verse 22: Rueben commits the sin of incest with Bilhah, and this costs him his birthright as the firstborn. (Genesis 49:4, 1 Chronicles 5:1) This also costs him the honor of having his name bestowed upon one of the twelve tribes of Israel.
 
          Verses 27-29: Jacob and all his house are, at last, reunited with his father Isaac in Hebron. Isaac, now 180 years old, dies and is “…gathered unto his people…”. (Genesis 15:15, 25:8, 49:33) Esau and Jacob bury their father beside Abraham and Isaac in the cave of Machpelah. (Genesis 23:19-20)
 
           This chapter is, for all intents and purposes, the conclusion of Jacob’s story. Starting with chapter 37, the spotlight shifts to Jacob’s eleventh born son, Joseph. The key verses in this chapter are verses 2, 3 and 14. As noted earlier, Jacob was returning to God, and God reaffirmed the Abrahamic covenant with Jacob, whose name was now Israel. Jacob is a character study in how God often chooses the worst of us to fulfill His divine will and purposes. Jacob started out as a rather unlikable man: selfish, lying, manipulating, and deceiving. He appeared to have no real ambitions other than to satisfy his own lusts and desires, which, of course, caused him all sorts of trouble.
          But, at his lowest point, God appeared to Jacob and called him out for a special purpose. And while Jacob willingly surrendered, he also never completely gave up his penchant for relying on his own means of getting ahead. He had trouble fully trusting in God and depending completely on the Lord for sustenance and protection. This was evident in his attempts to breed Laban’s flock so as to produce more of the speckled and ringstraked livestock, as well as his separation of his family into two camps as he prepared to reunite with Esau. Jacob just couldn’t bring himself to let go of the reins altogether and leave his fate entirely in the hands of God.
          Yet God didn’t chasten Jacob for that. Instead, God did what He always does: he incorporated Jacob’s choices and actions into His own divine stream, bringing Jacob’s boat to His desired landing spot regardless. And Jacob recognized this. (Genesis 31:9) Furthermore, Jacob even dared to wrestle with God, demanding a blessing of protection and deliverance. Jacob knew that God was the only one who could deliver him and all his family from the wrath of Esau, and Jacob refused to let God go until He had blessed him with a promise of such. Jacob was the very example of the exhortation given to all of us in Hebrews 4:16. But he was also an example of chapter 12:6-7 of that same book. The Lord hobbled Jacob as a lesson of his own weakness, to show Jacob how futile his pride and stubbornness were in the face of God’s divine will. For the rest of his life, Jacob had a constant physical reminder of his need for God. Only through obedience and complete submission to the Lord could Jacob partake of the rewards and fulfillment of God’s promise of a nation through whom all other nations of the earth would be blessed.
          All of this, however, is merely a prelude to the main act. In the twilight years of his life, through his second youngest son, Joseph, Jacob is about to witness just how truly incredible, awesome and humbling is God’s omniscience, providence, and divine will – especially in regards to the salvation His chosen people.

Chapter 36:

         Before launching into the saga of Joseph, we are given one final chapter on Esau. This passage is a genealogy of Esau’s descendants. Most of these names only appear here and in 1 Chronicles 1. As noted in Genesis 26:34 and 28:9, Esau took wives of the Canaanites and the Egyptians, and he was the father of the Edomites. (v.1, 8-9) (Genesis 25:30) Verses 6-7 explain why Esau journeyed from Seir to meet Jacob in Penuel/Mahanaim (Chapter 33) and why the two brothers with their respective households and wealth could not occupy the same territory afterwards. This was the same issue experienced by Abraham and Lot. (Genesis 13:6-7)
         There are two names on this list that bear a closer look: Eliphaz (v.10) and Uz (v.28). Eliphaz was one of Job’s friends who came to comfort him during his persecution by Satan. (Job 2:11) Uz is listed as one of the sons of Aram, son of Shem. (Genesis 10:22-23) Job lived in the land of Uz. (Job 1:1) Job 2:11 says that Eliphaz was a Temanite. Esau’s son, Eliphaz, had a son named Teman. (v.11) Teman is named in Jeremiah 49:7 as a location within Edom. All of this causes me to wonder if perhaps the events related to us in the book of Job occurred about two or three generations after the lives of Jacob and Esau??? We know for certain that Job lived at the time of the patriarchs, long before there was the Levitical law, the tabernacle, and the established priesthood as instructed to Moses by God. The reason we know this is because Job was the acting priest of his household, according to the custom of the patriarchs of that time. (Genesis 12:8, 22:13, 28:18, 33:20, 35:7, Job 1:5) It’s very possible that the story of Job takes place sometime after Jacob and his family migrate to Egypt in the final chapters of Genesis and the exodus of the Israelite nation under Moses four hundred and thirty years later.
          The reason this is a surprise to me now is because all of my Bible commentaries, as well as other online research I’ve done on the book of Job, suggest that Job lived at a time before Abraham. Almost all Biblical scholars and theologians seem to hold the common belief that Job lived, at the very least, at the same time as Abraham, if not many generations earlier. So it was a surprise to me to find these clues in Esau’s genealogy that strongly suggest Job lived a few generations after Abraham.
         If I’m wrong, or if I’m missing a key piece of evidence from somewhere else in the book of Job that directly refutes this hypothesis, please let me know in the comments section. In any case, the chapters of the Bible devoted wholly to genealogies are not always as dull and laborious to wade through as we often believe. God sprinkles these long lists of names and relations throughout His word for a purpose, and sometimes there’s some surprising connections to be made when we zoom in for a closer look.