Testimonia — Early Christian Bible Commentary
Genesis 35 · World English Bible
1God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and live there. Make there an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.”
2Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments.
3Let’s arise, and go up to Bethel. I will make there an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me on the way which I went.”
4They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
5They traveled, and a terror of God was on the cities that were around them, and they didn’t pursue the sons of Jacob.
6So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.
7He built an altar there, and called the place El Beth El; because there God was revealed to him, when he fled from the face of his brother.
8Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and its name was called Allon Bacuth.
9God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan Aram, and blessed him.
10God said to him, “Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be Jacob any more, but your name will be Israel.” He named him Israel.
11God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will come out of your body.
12The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and to your offspring after you I will give the land.”
13God went up from him in the place where he spoke with him.
14Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it.
15Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him “Bethel”.
16They traveled from Bethel. There was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and Rachel travailed. She had hard labor.
17When she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for now you will have another son.”
18As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Benoni, but his father named him Benjamin.
19Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath (also called Bethlehem).
20Jacob set up a pillar on her grave. The same is the Pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.
21Israel traveled, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder.
22While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.
23The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
24The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
25The sons of Bilhah (Rachel’s servant): Dan and Naphtali.
26The sons of Zilpah (Leah’s servant): Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.
27Jacob came to Isaac his father, to Mamre, to Kiriath Arba (which is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac lived as foreigners.
28The days of Isaac were one hundred eighty years.
29Isaac gave up the spirit and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him.
World English Bible · World English Bible; source eBible.org.
Notes on Genesis 35
Date uncertain | Irenaeus of Lyons
4. As to the Duodecad, in connection with which the mystery of the passion of the defect occurred, from which passion they maintain that all things visible were framed, they assert that is to be found strikingly and manifestly everywhere [in Scripture]. For they declare that the twelve sons of Jacob, from whom also sprung twelve tribes,—the breastplate of the high priest, which bore twelve precious stones and twelve little bells,—the twelve stones which were placed by Moses at the foot of the mountain,—the same number which was placed by Joshua in the river, and again, on the other side, the bearers of the ark of the covenant,—those stones which were set up by Elijah when the heifer was offered as a burnt-offering; the number, too, of the apostles; and, in fine, every event which embraces in it the number twelve,—set forth their Duodecad. And then the union of all these, which is called the Triacontad, they strenuously endeavour to demonstrate by the ark of Noah, the height of which was thirty cubits; by the case of Samuel, who assigned Saul the chief place among thirty guests; by David, when for thirty days he concealed himself in the field; by those who entered along with him into the cave; also by the fact that the length (height) of the holy tabernacle was thirty cubits; and if they meet with any other like numbers, they still apply these to their Triacontad.
Source passage · edition’s verse reference · Against Heresies, Book 1 / Chap. xviii.— Passages from Moses, which the heretics pervert to the support of their hypothesis., source paragraph ancl:1a436bdeeefb75cadfc9:p:162 · Original source
1868 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
Gen. xxxv. 22, xlix. 28.
Editorial footnote · Against Heresies, Book 1 / Chap. xviii.— Passages from Moses, which the heretics pervert to the support of their hypothesis., editorial note cite_note-232 · Original source
1885 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
Gen. xxxv. 22, Gen. xlix. 28.
Editorial footnote · Against Heresies: Book I, Chapter uncertain (transcription heading: Chapter XVIII), editorial note cite_note-242 · Original source
1885 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
Gen. xxxv. 6–10.
Editorial footnote · Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter LVIII.—The same is proved from the visions which appeared to Jacob., editorial note cite_note-209 · Original source
1885 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
Gen. xxxv. 7.
Editorial footnote · Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter LX.—Opinions of the Jews with regard to Him who appeared in the bush., editorial note cite_note-218 · Original source
1886 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
Gen. xxxv. 1.
Editorial footnote · The Treatises of Cyprian, Chapter uncertain; original source section: Part 6, editorial note cite_note-1 · Original source
1888 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
Gen. xxxv. 10.
Editorial footnote · Sermon LXXII, Chapter uncertain, editorial note cite_note-17 · Original source
1894 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
The Benedictine Editor thinks that in calling the place “woody” Cyril refers to a grove planted by Hadrian in honour of Adonis, which had been destroyed about sixteen years before, when Helena built the Church at Bethlehem: see Eusebius, Life of Constantine, III. 43. But Cyril evidently means that the wood of which the Psalmist speaks had remained till a few years before. Ephrâthah is the ancient name of Bethlehem (Gen. xxxv. 19; xlviii. 7), and by “the fields of the wood” is probably meant Kirjath-Jearim, “the city of woods,” where the Ark was found by David (2 Sam vi. 2; 1 Chron. xiii. 6).
Editorial footnote · S. Cyril, Chapter uncertain; original source section: Lecture 12, editorial note cite_note-94 · Original source
Date uncertain | Cyril of Jerusalem (historical attribution)
20. But now hear the place of the promise, as Micah says, And thou, Bethlehem, house of Ephrathah, art thou little to be among the thousands of Judah? For out of thee shall come forth unto Me a ruler, to be governor in Israel: and His goings forth are front the beginning, from the days of eternity. But assuredly as to the places, thou being an inhabitant of Jerusalem, knowest also beforehand what is written in the hundred and thirty-first psalm. Lo! we heard of it at Ephrathah, we found it in the plains of the wood. For a few years ago the place was woody. Again thou hast heard Habakkuk say to the Lord, When the years draw nigh, thou shalt be made known, when the time is come, thou shalt be shewn. And what is the sign, O Prophet, of the Lord’s coming? And presently he saith, In the midst of two lives shalt thou be known, plainly saying this to the Lord, “Having come in the flesh thou livest and diest, and after rising from the dead thou livest again.” Further, from what part of the region round Jerusalem cometh He? From east, or west, or north, or south? Tell us exactly. And he makes answer most plainly and says, God shall come from Teman (now Teman is by interpretation ‘south’) and the Holy One from Mount Paran, shady, woody: what the Psalmist spake in like words, We found it in the plains of the wood.
Source passage · edition’s verse reference · S. Cyril, Chapter uncertain; original source section: Lecture 12, source paragraph 25 · Original source