Genesis 35 Study Notes

35:16-20 While Jacob’s clan was making a fifteen-mile journey to Ephrath, Rachel—now pregnant with her second child—began to give birth. As her son was being born she apparently began hemorrhaging, an occurrence that kills about one out of every two hundred mothers in many African nations even today. Before she died she named her son Ben-oni, meaning “son of my sorrow.” However, to make sure that his wife’s dying gift to him would be properly remembered, Jacob renamed the child Benjamin, meaning “right-hand son,” the most honored son. Jacob also set up a marker at Rachel’s burial site in the Bethlehem area. Visitors to Israel today can still visit the traditional site of her grave.

God called himself ’El Shaddai when addressing Abram and Jacob, but after he explained the name Yahweh to Moses (Ex 6:3), ’El Shaddai hardly appears—just once in Ezekiel 10:5. Yet Shaddai occurs 48 times, once or twice in Numbers, Ruth, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Psalms, and Joel, and 31 times in Job, perhaps suggesting that Job is an early book. ’El was a Semitic word for “god” but could designate the high god, as in the ancient city-state Ugarit. The sense of Shaddai is uncertain but was probably linked with an Akkadian word for mountain—the gods were pictured as living on mountains. Modern versions that translate ’El Shaddai as God Almighty follow the Septuagint and Vulgate. Shaddai alone may be a shortened form of ’El Shaddai, for ’El and Shaddai are separated in Gn 49:25; Nm 24:4,16; and 20 times in Job.

35:21-22 The disgusting character of another of Jacob’s sons—this time his firstborn Reuben—was revealed beyond the Tower of Eder, a spot probably situated southwest of Bethlehem. Reuben slept with Bilhah, the mother of his half brothers Dan and Naphtali. By doing this Reuben was asserting his right to take his father’s place as leader of the group (2Sm 12:8,11; 16:21-22) and perhaps seeking revenge for Jacob’s shunning of his mother Leah. His father learned of it and later cursed Reuben because of it (Gn 49:3-4).

35:23-26 With Benjamin’s birth Jacob’s set of offspring was now complete. This section lists the patriarch’s twelve sons during his time in Paddan-aram and, in Benjamin’s case, following his return to Canaan. The sons are listed according to their mothers, not their birth order; the mothers are listed chronologically in the order of their connection with Jacob.

35:27-29 Jacob moved his family to stay with his father Isaac, who was living near the family burial cave at Mamre in the vicinity of Hebron. Isaac would live for many more years, dying at the age of 180 and being buried by Esau and Jacob in the family cave of Machpelah (49:31).