Opening
Individuals: Take time to think back about your past week. Where have you seen God work in your life or answer prayer? Write down any prayer requests you have.
Group: Open the study by sharing life updates, reviewing highs and lows of your past week, or sharing prayer requests and praises.
Icebreaker: Have you every clearly experienced God speaking to you or directing you? If so, what did he say, and what was the outcome?
All: Begin the study with a word of prayer, asking God to open your heart for today’s study. You can also pray for any prayer requests now, or save that for the end.
Study
Read today’s passage: Genesis 35:1-20.
35 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”
2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3 Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. 5 Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.
6 Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7 There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.
8 Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak outside Bethel. So it was named Allon Bakuth.
9 After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. 10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel.
11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants. 12 The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.” 13 Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him.
14 Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. 15 Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel.
16 Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. 17 And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, “Don’t despair, for you have another son.” 18 As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin.
19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). 20 Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb.
What is the context for this passage?
A lot has happened since we last saw Jacob and his family in Genesis 30. After Jacob built up his flock, Laban’s sons began to be jealous. They felt that Jacob had taken all of their wealth for himself. Laban had changed Jacob’s wages multiple times, and no matter what the wages were, Jacob always got the better end of the deal. So the Lord told Jacob to go back to the land of his fathers. His wives agreed, and they set off without telling Laban.
Once Laban finds out, he pursues them, accusing Jacob of leaving without letting him say goodbye as well as stealing his idols. Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols, so he let Laban search for them. Rachel hid them, and Laban never found them. Laban and Jacob made a covenant to not harm each other, and Laban returned home.
Now Jacob has another obstacle—his brother Esau. They didn’t leave on good terms, and Jacob is afraid that Esau will kill him as soon as they see each other. To try to prevent this, Jacob sends messengers ahead of him along with a gift. When Jacob hears that Esau is coming to meet him along with 400 men, Jacob prepares to be attacked and calls out to God to protect him. One night, Jacob wrestled with God, and God changed his name to Israel.
When the time finally came for Jacob to meet Esau, Jacob found something quite unexpected. Esau welcomed him with open arms! Once Jacob and Esau’s relationship was restored, Jacob bought some land and settled there. Jacob’s daughter Dinah ended up being raped by Shechem, one of the men that lived nearby. Dinah’s brothers were furious, so when Shechem approached them and asked to marry Dinah, the brothers “agreed.” They said they would give Dinah to Shechem to marry only if all the men were circumcised. Amazingly, all the men agreed. While they were still in pain from the procedure, Jacob’s sons attacked them, killed them, and looted all their wealth. Because of this, Jacob was afraid that others would attack him, so he set out to move his family again.
Read the passage again.
Explore a different version if you have one available. If you are online, here is Genesis 35 in NIV through Bible Gateway. You can change the version by using the dropdown menu at the top right of the page.
Try to summarize the passage in your own words.
Answer these three questions about the passage:
1. What does the passage say about God?
God speaks to his people. Two different times in this story, God speaks to Jacob. The first time, God tells him where to settle and worship. The second time, God changes Jacob’s name and confirms his covenant with Jacob. Although God doesn’t speak to people in quite the same way he did in the Old Testament, he will still speak to us if we listen.
God directs his people. When God spoke with Jacob, he told Jacob exactly where he should settle and build an altar. Throughout the Bible, God directs his people to know where they should go and what they should do.
God helps people who are in distress. When Jacob was speaking to the members of his household, he said that God answered him in the day of his distress. If we call out to God when we are in distress, he will hear us. How he decides to help may look different than what we expect, but he will hear us and help us in the way that follows his plan.
God dwells with his people. Jacob recognized that God had been with him wherever he went. Whether he was at home with his father or in a foreign land with Laban’s family or on the road to meet Esau, God went with Jacob. God does the same for his people today. He dwells with his people through the Holy Spirit.
God reveals himself to his people. Back in Genesis 28, when Jacob was fleeing from his brother, Jacob had a dream where God revealed himself to Jacob. Now, many years later, Jacob remembers that interaction and built an altar to worship God. When God reveals himself to us, we need to pay attention and use that as a reminder to worship God.
God blesses his people. This seems to be a common theme in the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As God has done with each generation, God blessed Jacob, changed his name, and reminded Jacob of his promise.
God is the Almighty one. When God identified himself, he described himself as God Almighty. He is the one who has all the power to do whatever he wants, including fulfilling his promise to bless Jacob, growing him into a nation, and giving him the land he promised to Abraham and Isaac.
2. What does the passage say about people?
When someone worships the One True God, there is no room for other gods. Over the years, foreign gods had seeped into Jacob’s household. When Jacob decided to fully commit his household to worshiping God, he made everyone get rid of all of their other gods. And they did.
People who plan to worship God want to be pure. Jacob planned for him and his household to worship God. Before they did, they all purified themselves. When we worship before a holy God, we should make the effort to purify our hearts so we can truly worship.
People follow strong leadership. Jacob was a strong leader in this story. When he gave instructions to his household, they followed his direction. If Jacob had been a weak leader, they likely would not have been willing to give up their foreign gods and worship Jacob’s God.
People who don’t follow God feel terror when they see evidence of his presence. Although Jacob and his family followed God, the people around them didn’t. After the altercation Jacob’s sons had with Shechem and the other men of the area, the surrounding people felt terror because of the God that Jacob served.
Sometimes women have trouble during childbirth and die. Although childbirth is often a happy occasion, it doesn’t always end well. Like Rachel, some women have trouble during childbirth and die. Sometimes the baby also dies, but in this case, he didn’t. Jacob had one last son from Rachel: Benjamin.
People bury those who have died and mourn for them. After Rachel died, Jacob buried her and set up a pillar to mark her tomb. As his beloved wife, Jacob and his family mourned their loss.
3. What does the passage say about God’s plan?
God’s plan was to keep Jacob and his family safe. When Jacob’s sons riled up the people living around them, God still protected them. As the family packed up to leave the area, God put terror in the people’s hearts so that they would not pursue or attack Jacob and his family.
God’s plan was to change Jacob’s name to Israel. When God blessed Jacob, he changed his name from Jacob to Israel. This is where we get the name Israelites. Israel means “he struggles with God,” a reference back to Genesis 32 when Jacob wrestled with a man—who turned out to be God.
God’s plan was to make Jacob into a great nation—a nation of kings. When God confirmed his promise with Jacob, he again promises to make Jacob into a great nation. Not only will he become a great nation, but he will be a community of nations, and those nations will be ruled by kings. We see this fulfilled throughout the Old Testament.
God’s plan was to give Jacob and his descendants the land promised to Abraham and Isaac. God also confirmed his promise to give Jacob a land to call his own. That land was promised to Jacob as well as his descendants. Not only would God bless Jacob, but his descendants would carry on that blessing that comes with God’s presence.
How does the passage fit into the overarching story of the Bible?
Sometimes it’s easier to understand a passage if you have a little outside knowledge from other passages in the Bible. This section will help provide that outside perspective.
When God confirms his promise to Jacob, he promises three things: God will make him into a nation, kings will be among Jacob’s descendants, and God will give the land to Jacob’s descendants. Throughout the rest of Genesis and into Exodus, we see that God fulfills the first part of this promise. Jacob’s descendants became numerous and grew into a large nation. The nation was so large that they split it into a community of nations—the 12 tribes of Israel.
Then primarily in Joshua and Judges, we see God fulfill the third part of the promise. After God leads the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, he leads them to the Promised Land, this land that he declared would belong to Jacob’s descendants. Joshua leads the Israelites to conquer the people in the land so that they can take possession of it as their own.
Later in the books of Samuel and Kings and beyond, we see God fulfill the second part of the promise. God sets up kings to rule over the Israelites, including Saul, David, Solomon, and many more. Some of these kings were good and led the people to follow God. Others were bad and led the people away from God and to foreign idols. But through it all, God brings one final King—Jesus. Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and he rules over all creation for all eternity.
Discussion
Individual: Answer the following questions thoughtfully for yourself.
Group: Pose these questions for discussion.
All: If you are willing to share, I’d love to hear your thoughts to these questions. Feel free to use the comment section to start a discussion about this passage.
What else strikes you about this passage?
How does the passage affect how you view God? How you view yourself?
How does this passage affect how you will live your life?
Additional Study
For additional study related to this topic, read Joshua 1, Joshua 23.
Premium Resources
For Bible Essential studies, you can use my thoughts as your devotional, or you can download and use the journaling sheet to work through the passage on your own. If desired, you can then compare your thoughts to mine. Journal sheets can be downloaded and used now or later. They can be printed and filled in by hand or saved and filled out electronically. Journal sheets are available for individual or group use.
If you plan to lead a group study, a PowerPoint presentation is also available.
You can access these resources by clicking here: Genesis 35 Resources
Or you can download the journal sheets here*:
*Substack doesn’t support PowerPoint file downloads yet, so if you want to access the PowerPoint file for group study, you will need to download it from the resource page linked above.