Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
back to:
Genesis
Book: Genesis
Chapter: 35
Overview:
God commands
Jacob to go to
Beth-el, He puts away idols from
his family.
(1-5) Jacob builds an
Altar,
Death of
Deborah,
God
blesses
Jacob.
(6-15) Death of
Rachel.
(16-20) Reuben's crime,
The
Death of
Isaac.
(21-29)
1-5 Beth-el was forgotten. But as many as
God loves, he will
remind of neglected duties, one way or other,
By Conscience or
By providences. When we have vowed a vow to
God, it is best not
to defer the payment of it; yet better late than never.
Jacob
commanded his household to prepare, not only for the
Journey and
removal, but for religious services. Masters of families should
use their authority to keep up religion in their families, Jos
24:15. They must
Put away strange gods. In families where there
is a
Face of religion, and an
Altar to
God, yet many times there
is much amiss, and more strange gods than one would suppose.
They must be
Clean, and change their garments. These were but
outward ceremonies, signifying the purifying and change of the
Heart. What are
Clean clothes, and new clothes, without a
Clean
Heart, and a new
Heart? If
Jacob had called for these idols
sooner, they had parted with them sooner. Sometimes attempts for
reformation succeed better than we could have thought.
Jacob
buried their images. We must be wholly separated from our sins,
as we are from those that are dead and buried out of sight. He
removed from
Shechem to
Beth-el. Though the
Canaanites were very
angry against the sons of
Jacob for their barbarous usage of the
Shechemites, yet they were
So kept back
By Divine power, that
they could not take the opportunity now offered to avenge them.
The way of duty is the way of safety. When we are about
God's
work, we are under special protection;
God is with us, while we
are with him; and if He be for us, who can be against us?
God
governs the world more
By secret terrors
On men's minds than we
are aware of.
6-15 The comfort the saints have in holy ordinances, is not
So
much from
Beth-el, the
House of
God, as from El-
Beth-el, the
God
of the
House. The ordinances are empty things, if we do not meet
with
God in them. There
Jacob buried
Deborah,
Rebekah's nurse.
She died much lamented. Old servants in a family, that have in
their time been
Faithful and useful, ought to be respected.
God
appeared to
Jacob. He renewed the
Covenant with him. I am
God
Almighty,
God all-sufficient, able to make good the promise in
due time, and to support thee and provide for thee in the mean
time. Two things are promised; that he should be the
Father of a
great nation, and that he should be the master of a good land.
These two promises had a spiritual signification, which
Jacob
had some notion of, though not
So clear and distinct as we now
have.
Christ is the promised Seed, and
Heaven is the promised
land; the former is the foundation, and the latter the
top-
Stone, of all
God's favours.
16-20 Rachel had passionately said, Give me children, or else I
die; and now that she had children, she died! The
Death of the
body is but the departure of the soul to the world of spirits.
When shall we learn that it is
God alone who really knows what
is best for his people, and that in all worldly affairs the
safest path for the
Christian is to say from the
Heart, It is
the
Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. Here alone is our
safety and our comfort, to know
No will but his. Her dying lips
called her newborn son Ben-oni, the son of my sorrow; and many a
son proves to be the heaviness of her that bare him. Children
are enough the sorrow of their mothers; they should, therefore,
when they grow up, study to be their joy, and
So, if possible,
to make them some amends. But
Jacob, because he would not renew
the sorrowful remembrance of the mother's
Death every time he
called his son, changed his name to
Benjamin, the son of my
right
Hand: that is, very dear to me; the support of my
Age,
like the staff in my right
Hand.
21-29 What a sore affliction
Reuben's
Sin was, is shown, " and
Israel heard it."
No more is said, but that is enough.
Reuben
thought that his
Father would never hear of it; but those that
promise themselves secrecy in
Sin, are generally disappointed.
The
Age and
Death of
Isaac are recorded, though he died not till
after
Joseph was sold into
Egypt.
Isaac lived about forty years
after he had made his will, chap. 27:2. We shall not die an
Hour the sooner, but much the better, for timely setting our
hearts and houses in order. Particular notice is taken of the
agreement of
Esau and
Jacob at their
Father's
Funeral, to show
how
God had wonderfully changed
Esau's mind. It is awful to
behold relations, sometimes for a little of this world's goods,
disputing over the graves of their friends, while they are near
going to the
Grave themselves.