Genesis 35:3

3 Then let's rise and go up to Bethel so that I can build an altar there to the God who answered me when I was in trouble and who has been with me wherever I've gone."

Genesis 35:3 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 35:3

And let us arise and go up to Bethel
Thus prepared and purged, their tents clear of idols, their bodies washed with pure water, and their garments new, neat, and clean; all symbolical of inward purity, and of freedom from idolatry and evil works, as became those who go to the house of God, and are his worshippers, see ( Hebrews 10:22 ) .

I will make there an altar unto God;
as he has directed, and sacrifice to him, and worship him, and give the tenth unto him, and so make it a Bethel, an house of God indeed, as he had vowed, ( Genesis 28:22 ) ;

who answered me in the day of my distress;
on account of his brother Esau, from whose wrath he fled:

and was with me in the way which I went;
from his father's house to Padanaram; in which journey he was alone and destitute, and exposed to many difficulties and dangers, but God was with him, and preserved him, and directed and brought him to Laban's house in safety.

Genesis 35:3 In-Context

1 God said to Jacob, "Get up, go to Bethel, and live there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you ran away from your brother Esau."

2 Jacob said to his household and to everyone who was with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you. Clean yourselves and change your clothes.

3 Then let's rise and go up to Bethel so that I can build an altar there to the God who answered me when I was in trouble and who has been with me wherever I've gone."

4 So they gave Jacob all of the foreign gods they had, as well as the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the terebinth at Shechem.

5 When they set out, God made all of the surrounding cities fearful so that they didn't pursue Jacob's sons.