SERIES B --- A CHOSEN PEOPLE --- LESSON 10

BURIED IDOLS

BENJAMIN AND BELOVED RACHEL

From Genesis 35

When Simeon and Levi destroyed all of the men of Shechem, Jacob was concerned about his safety once more. But YHVH had new marching orders for him. [Go to Bethel and live there,] YHVH told Jacob. [Build an altar to YHVH who appeared to you when you were running from your brother Esau.] Therefore, Jacob told his entire household and all who lived with him, [Put away the foreign gods among you and purify yourselves. Change into fresh clothing, for we are moving to Bethel. There I will make an altar to YHVH who helped me in my times of trouble and has been with me wherever I have gone.] The people brought all their idols and earrings to Jacob and he buried them under an oak tree near Shechem. As Jacob and his people started out toward Bethel, YHVH caused fear to descend upon the surrounding cities so that they did not attack Jacob and his people. When Jacob arrived in Bethel, which was also called Luz, in the land of Canaan, he set up an altar and called it El-bethel, which meant [YHVH of Bethel,] for YHVH had appeared to him there when he had run away from Esau. Not long after this, Rachel’s nurse, Deborah, died and was buried beneath an oak tree near Bethel. Because of the many tears shed for her, the oak became known as Allon-hacuth, or [Oak of Weeping.] After Jacob had returned from Padan-aram, YHVH appeared to him once more at Bethel and blessed him. [Your name has been Jacob, but from now on it will be Israel. I am the Almighty YHVH, and I will cause you to multiply into a great nation, even many nations and kings. The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac will be your land and the land of your descendants.] When YHVH had finished, He ascended from the place where He had been speaking. There Jacob set up a pillar of stone as a memorial and poured olive oil and wine upon it. With the olive oil, he anointed the stone, and with the wine, he presented a drink offering to YHVH. He reaffirmed the name Bethel, for it was the place where YHVH had spoken to him. As time passed, Jacob and his company moved on toward Ephrath, also called Bethlehem. While they were still quite far from Bethlehem, Rachel’s labour pains began and she had a very difficult childbirth. [Don’t be afraid,] the midwife said to Rachel. [You will have another son.] With her last breath, Rachel named the baby boy Ben-oni, which meant [Son of My Sorrow.] But Jacob gave him the name Benjamin, which meant [Son of My Right Hand.] Rachel was buried on the road that led to Bethlehem. On her grave, Jacob set up a stone pillar, which remains at the time this is written. Jacob’s company moved south and set up camp at the Tower of Edar. While living there, Reuben went in to Jacob’s concubine, Bilhah, and Jacob was told about this incident. These are the names of Jacob’s twelve sons: Leah’s sons were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun; Rachel’s sons were Joseph and Benjamin; the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, were Dan and Naphtali; and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid, were Gad and Asher. These were all born at Padan-aram except Benjamin who was born on the way to Bethlehem. At last, Jacob reached the home of his father Isaac at Mamre, near Kiriath-arba, also known as Hebron, where Abraham had lived. Isaac had lived to be a hundred and eighty, but he died soon after Jacob came home. His sons, Esau and Jacob, buried him.

COMMENTARY

THE HOUSE OF...

The murders of Shechem and his villagers showed how greatly the sons of Israel needed a fresh start. Jacob collected the idols his family had brought from their homeland and buried them. The family was to worship YHVH only. YHVH would build a great nation from these few. They must learn to rely on Him alone. [Beth-] was attached as the first syllable to the names of many towns in ancient Palestine. In the language of the Hebrews and of their Canaanite neighbours, [Beth] meant [house.] This prefix was used in much the same way as the suffix [-ville,] which means [town,] is used in [Jacksonville] or [Millville.] Before the Canaanites developed an alphabet of written letters, they used simple, rough pictures to represent ideas and things. The ancient sign for [Beth] was a small squarish symbol shaped somewhat like a house, its door opened to the left. Today the house-shaped symbol is preserved in the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, equivalent to the English letter B. The second half of the ancient Palestinian place-names was what distinguished one town from the other. The Canaanites chose names for a number of reasons. Some places were named for a distinctive feature in the land around it. For example, the village of Bethzur, [The House of Stone,] was called that because it was surrounded by the Rocky Mountains of Judea. Other towns might take the name of the occupation or resource that had become most important for its livelihood. Bethsaida, beside the Sea of Galilee, had a name that meant, [The House of Fishing.] The rich, fertile soil of Bethlehem resulted in the name which meant, [The House of Bread.] Still other places took names of the particular person or object that the town wanted to honour most. Bethel, [The House of YHVH,] was named by Jacob because he met YHVH there. Beth-shemesh, [The House of the Sun,] honoured the source of light. Yet the origin of some place-names remains forever clouded in mystery. No one may ever know what unhappy events caused some ancient settler to name a town Beth-aven, [The House of Evil.]