We previously studied that Jacob's daughter, Dinah was raped by Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country (Genesis 34:2) When Jacob's sons found out, Shechem and his father came to his father, and Hamor said, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. And make marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to yourselves. So you shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you. Dwell and trade in it, and acquire possessions for yourselves in it.” (Genesis 34:8-10)
Jacob's sons said the only way they would allow that is, "If you will become as we are, if every male of you is circumcised, then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us; and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. But if you will not heed us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and be gone.” (Genesis 34:15-17) So, every male in the country did get circumcised, and on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came boldly upon the city and killed all the males. And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went out. (Genesis 34:25-26)
Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and since Iam few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and kill me. I shall be destroyed, my household and I.” But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a harlot?” (Genesis 34:30-31) So they fled from that place and journeyed back to the promised land.
So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. And he built an altar there and called the place El Bethel, because there God appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother. Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the terebinth tree. So the name of it was called Allon Bachuth [meaning, the oak of weeping]. Then God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Padan Aram, and blessed him. And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” So He called his name Israel [meaning, he will rule as God]. (Genesis 35:6-10)
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The terebinth tree was ideal for a burial site, very large and the area underneath was well covered and protected by the limbs. Abram used the terebinth tree as a landmark when he traveled throughout Canaan: in Moreh (Genesis 12:6) and in Mamre (Genesis 13:18). God also did with Jacob what he had done with Abraham, changed his name. Abram and Sarai's names were changed to Abraham and Sarah. God said, "No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. ... As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.” (Genesis 17)
Now God changed Jacob's name to Israel, because through Israel's descendants, the promise to Abraham and Isaac would be fulfilled. Also God said to him: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.” Then God went up from him in the place where He talked with him. So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel. (Genesis 35:11-15)
Then they journeyed from Bethel. And when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel labored in childbirth, and she had hard labor. Now it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said to her, “Do not fear; you will have this son also.” And so it was, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-Oni [meaning, son of my sorrow]; but his father called him Benjamin [meaning, son of the right hand]. So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). And Jacob set a pillar on her grave, which is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day. (Genesis 35:19-20)
Then Israel journeyed and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. And it happened, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine; and Israel heard about it. (Genesis 35:21-22) The scripture doesn't go into detail now, but it will later of the consequences Reuben would suffer because of committing this sexually immoral act. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve: the sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun [and a daughter, Dinah]; the sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin; the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant, were Dan and Naphtali; and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maidservant, were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Padan Aram. (Genesis 35:22-26)
Then Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kirjath Arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had dwelt. Now the days of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years. So Isaac breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. (Genesis 35:27-29) Isaac's sons reunited again, at his death, just like Abraham's sons reunited when he died, and Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the field of Ephron... (Geness 25:9)
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