H. P. Mansfield Bible notes — checked and arranged in verse-by-verse Expositor style

Source: HPB 01-Gen01-Gen41.PDF, principally Genesis 35 photographed pages 90–91

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

After the moral disaster at Shechem, Genesis 35 begins with a Divine summons back to Bethel, the place where Jacob first received the promise while fleeing Esau. Restoration is accompanied by deliberate cleansing: foreign gods are removed, the household is purified, garments are changed, and an altar is built. At Bethel the name Israel is formally confirmed and the Abrahamic promise renewed.

The onward journey remains marked by mortality. Deborah dies, Rachel dies while giving birth to Benjamin, Reuben forfeits his standing through grave sin, and the chapter closes with Isaac’s death. The covenant advances not because the family is free from weakness or loss, but because God remains faithful.

RETURN AND CLEANSING — GENESIS 35:1–5

Genesis 35:1 — “Arise, go up to Bethel”

God commands Jacob to arise, go to Bethel, dwell there, and make an altar to the God who appeared to him when he fled from Esau. The command deliberately brings Jacob back to the place of Genesis 28:10–22. Bethel is not merely a refuge from the danger created at Shechem; it is the place of renewed worship and covenant memory.

Genesis 35:2–3 — put away, be clean, change garments

Jacob orders his household and everyone with him to put away the “strange” or foreign gods, be clean, and change garments. Hebrew nekar means foreign/alien. The sequence is practical and spiritual: remove rival worship, prepare for approach to God, and outwardly mark a changed condition. Mansfield’s baptismal and ecclesial applications are useful typology, but the historical command is a household purification before worship at Bethel.

Jacob describes God as the One who answered him “in the day of my distress” and was with him throughout his journey. This retrospective testimony is important: the fugitive of Genesis 28 now recognises the whole intervening history as guided by the God of Bethel.

Genesis 35:4 — foreign gods and earrings buried

The household gives Jacob the foreign gods and the earrings in their ears, and he hides them under the oak/terebinth near Shechem. In this context the earrings were evidently associated with the religious objects being surrendered and may have had amuletic or cultic significance. The verse does not teach that earrings as ordinary jewellery are inherently idolatrous.

The tree word is ’elah, commonly oak or terebinth. Mansfield connects it with the earlier tree at Shechem and develops “strength” symbolism. The secure point is that the objects belonging to the old environment are decisively buried before the journey to Bethel.

Genesis 35:5 — the terror of God

As the household travels, a “terror of God” falls upon the surrounding cities and they do not pursue Jacob’s sons. The phrase denotes a God-sent dread. This directly answers Jacob’s fear in Genesis 34:30 that the inhabitants of the land would gather against and destroy his family. Psalm 105:10–15 expresses the wider principle of Divine preservation of the patriarchs while they were few and vulnerable.

EL-BETHEL AND DEBORAH — GENESIS 35:6–8

Genesis 35:6–7 — El-beth-el

Jacob reaches Luz, that is Bethel, and builds an altar. He calls the place El-beth-el because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled Esau. The name can be rendered “El/God of Bethel” or “God of the house of God.” Mansfield’s phrase “Strength of the house of El” reflects his preferred use of El as Strength; it is best retained as exposition rather than the only possible translation.

The verb for God’s earlier “appearing” here is galah, to uncover or reveal, giving the sense that Divine purpose was disclosed to Jacob at Bethel. This differs from the more ordinary seeing/appearing verb used in verse 9.

Genesis 35:8 — Deborah and Allon-bachuth

Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, dies and is buried below Bethel under an oak called Allon-bachuth, “oak of weeping.” Genesis 24:59 identifies Deborah’s role by implication as the nurse who accompanied Rebekah from Haran; Genesis 35 is the first place she is named. Mansfield reconstructs a long later association with Jacob’s household, but Scripture does not explain when or how she joined Jacob, so those biographical details remain conjectural.

THE NAME ISRAEL AND THE PROMISE CONFIRMED — GENESIS 35:9–15

Genesis 35:9–10 — the new name confirmed

God appears again and blesses Jacob. “Thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name.” This confirms the name first granted at Peniel in Genesis 32:28. Both names continue to appear in the narrative, so the statement means that the old name no longer defines him exclusively. At Bethel the transformation is now formally ratified in connection with covenant renewal.

Genesis 35:11–12 — El Shaddai and Abrahamic inheritance

God identifies Himself as El Shaddai, the same title used in Genesis 17:1. “God Almighty” is the secure traditional translation; Mansfield’s additional “Nourisher/Destroyer” explanation belongs to his debated etymological exposition and should not be treated as certain.

Jacob is commanded to be fruitful and multiply. A nation, a company of nations and kings will come from him. The land given to Abraham and Isaac is promised to Jacob and his seed. The words deliberately renew the Abrahamic covenant and require fulfilment beyond Jacob’s mortal lifetime, as Hebrews 11:9–13 later confirms.

Genesis 35:13–15 — pillar, drink offering and oil

God ascends from Jacob. Jacob sets up a stone pillar, pours a drink offering upon it, pours oil upon it, and again calls the place Bethel. The actions consciously echo Genesis 28:18–22. The earlier fugitive had erected and anointed a stone in hope; the returned patriarch now marks the same place after God has fulfilled the promise to be with him and bring him back.

RACHEL DIES; BENJAMIN IS BORN — GENESIS 35:16–20

Genesis 35:16–17 — hard labour near Ephrath

The household leaves Bethel and Rachel enters severe labour while still some distance from Ephrath, associated with Bethlehem. The midwife tells her not to fear because she will have this son also, recalling Rachel’s earlier naming prayer at Joseph’s birth: “Yahweh shall add to me another son” (Genesis 30:24).

Genesis 35:18 — “as her life was departing”

The KJV reads, “as her soul was in departing.” The Hebrew nephesh frequently means life/person, and the verse immediately explains “for she died.” It therefore gives no basis for an immortal conscious soul departing to another realm; Rachel’s life was ebbing away as she died.

Rachel names the child Ben-oni, “son of my sorrow,” but Jacob calls him Benjamin, traditionally “son of the right hand.” Mansfield develops the movement from sorrow to the right hand as a type of Christ’s suffering followed by exaltation, supported by passages such as Psalm 110:1 and Acts 2:33–34. The typology is fitting, but remains an interpretative layer over the historical naming.

Genesis 35:19–20 — Rachel’s grave

Rachel is buried on the way to Ephrath, identified in the text with Bethlehem, and Jacob erects a pillar over her grave. The memory of Rachel’s burial near Bethlehem later informs Jeremiah 31:15 and Matthew 2:18, where Rachel poetically represents mourning for her descendants.

REUBEN AND THE TWELVE SONS — GENESIS 35:21–26

Genesis 35:21 — Migdal-eder

Israel journeys onward and pitches his tent beyond Migdal-eder, “tower of the flock.” The exact site is uncertain, though it lay in the Bethlehem region. Micah 4:8 later uses the same expression “tower of the flock” in a royal prophecy; Luke 2:8 records shepherds keeping watch near Bethlehem, but Scripture does not identify their field as the exact patriarchal site.

Genesis 35:22 — Reuben’s sin

Reuben lies with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and the text adds simply, “and Israel heard it.” The silence that follows is striking. The fuller consequence is stated later: Genesis 49:3–4 removes Reuben’s pre-eminence because he defiled his father’s bed, and 1 Chronicles 5:1–2 explains that the birthright was transferred away from him.

Genesis 35:23–26 — the twelve sons enumerated

The twelve sons are listed according to their mothers: Leah, Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah. Mansfield constructs sentences and future associations from the name meanings in different lists. Individual name wordplays have value where the birth narratives themselves explain them; elaborate sentences assembled from all twelve names should remain devotional exposition rather than an inspired hidden translation.

ISAAC DIES — GENESIS 35:27–29

Genesis 35:27–28 — Jacob returns to Mamre/Hebron

Jacob comes to Isaac at Mamre, Kirjath-arba/Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. Isaac’s age at death is given as 180. The placement of the death notice completes the “generations of Isaac” section; chronologically some events in the Joseph narrative occur before Isaac’s death.

Genesis 35:29 — “breathed his last”

The KJV “gave up the ghost” translates gava‘, to expire or breathe one’s last. Isaac dies and is “gathered unto his people,” the familiar Hebrew death/burial idiom, not a statement that an immortal soul travels to heaven. Esau and Jacob together bury their father, just as Isaac and Ishmael had united at Abraham’s burial.

PRINCIPAL THEMES

• Restoration after Shechem begins with a return to Bethel and deliberate household cleansing.

• Foreign gods are removed before renewed worship; sacred commitment cannot coexist with rival allegiances.

• God protects Jacob from the consequences he feared and confirms the name Israel.

• The Abrahamic covenant is renewed despite the family’s failures.

• Ben-oni to Benjamin moves from sorrow to the right hand, providing a significant typological pattern.

• Reuben’s sin explains the later loss of firstborn pre-eminence.

• The journey of faith continues through bereavement, weakness and death, while the promise remains.

EDITORIAL VERIFICATION AND RECOVERED READINGS

RESIDUAL UNCERTAINTIES

Scripture does not explain when Deborah rejoined Jacob’s household or whether Rebekah was already dead; Mansfield’s reconstruction is therefore conjectural. The earrings surrendered at Shechem may have had talismanic or cultic associations, but the text does not condemn jewellery as such. The exact location of Migdal-eder is uncertain. Mansfield’s elaborate twelve-name messages and the full Benjamin-Christ scheme remain typological exposition rather than lexical facts.