Jacob shows us, Matthew Henry writes, that "where we have a tent God must have an altar, where we have a house he must have a church in it.". - Ancient GeographyHebron in Easton's Bible Dictionary a community; alliance. It was about 12 miles N. of Jerusalem. He killed all the males, including Shechem and Hamor. 2 Kings 23:8 - And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that [were] in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which [were] on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.2 Samuel 24:2 - For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which [was] with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people.Amos 5:5 - But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.Nehemiah 11:30 - Zanoah, Adullam, and [in] their villages, at Lachish, and the fields thereof, at Azekah, and [in] the villages thereof. 1. And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you. Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him. The Canaanites feared any military action or resistance because they were convinced of the fierceness of the sons of Jacob and of the might of their God. Shechem asks his father, Hamor, to negotiate marriage terms. And he put the maids and their children in front, and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. It was afterwards known as Mamre. No real growth or progress in Jacobs spiritual life could take place until he returned to Bethel. A Hivite chieftain named Hamor was the father of a man named Shechem, who lived in the city that bore his name. Whether married or not, make time for private study and praise. Its aftermath resulted in the murder of Shechem's male population by two of Jacob's sons (Gn . 1837. Khalil er Rahman, "the friend of the Merciful," i.e. Old Testament Overview - General survey of the Old Testament. Bethel is where God first appeared to Jacob (28:10-22) and where he returned later with his family (35:6). What do I do about calling a priest father at my Catholic University? Jacob leaves Beersheba and flees to Haran in c.1703BC. 15 It may appear from Gods command that Jacob was to dwell at Bethel (35:1) and that his departure from Bethel after a time was sinful disobedience. Theophanies occurred there to Hagar (21:17), to Isaac (26:24), to Jacob (46:2), and to Elijah (1 Ki 19:5). If we are to accept the precise definition of Ge 12:8 the name of Bethel would appear to have existed at this spot even before the arrival of Abram in Canaan. Much of the heartache which Jacob experienced in this chapter was the result of his previous sins. Toward the end of Jeroboam's life Bethel fell into the hands of Judah. Bethel. At length all traces of the idolatries were extirpated by Josiah, king of Judah (2 Kings 23:15-18); and the place was still in existence after the Captivity (Ezra 2:28; Neh. --ED.) The foreign gods and also the earrings, which must have had some unacceptable pagan religious associations (cf. The Human Face on the Divine Chariot: Jacob the Knight, Jerubaal, Jacob, and the Battle for Shechem: A Tradition History,, The Northern Tribal Tradition of Settling the Land,, The Rape of Dinah, Added as a Motive for the Sack of Shechem,, Jacobs merit is why his descendants are given the land (Ramban, 1, Jacob performed a ritual act in which he threw arrows towards the land in order to possess it by magic, which eventually comes true when the Israelites conquer the land hundreds of years later (Ramban 2. First, he came to the point where he stopped going his own sinful way and once again obeyed that which he knew to be the will of God. It was the favorite home of Abraham. Other seven years of service had to be completed probably before he obtained the beloved Rachel. It was after Joseph's birth that his father, Jacob, worked his final six years for Laban in Padan Aram (30:25; 31:38,41). In Genesis 47:8-9 we are told that Jacob was 130 years old when he and the rest of the seventy souls (Gen. 46:27) came into Egypt and began their stay in that land. 20:18, 31; 21:2). or from Beersheba to. There, Jacob called the people to 'put away the foreign gods that are among you' so they buried their household gods, treating them as 'dead . But when the seven years were expired, Laban craftily deceived Jacob, and gave him his daughter Leah. S. of the town in the bottom of the valley is a tank, 130 ft. square by 50 deep. The birthright secured to him who possessed it (1) superior rank in his family (Gen. 49:3); (2) a double portion of the paternal inheritance (Deut. Hebron was the original name, changed to Kirjath Arba during Israel's sojourn in Egypt, and restored by Caleb, to whom it was given at the conquest of Israel (Genesis 23:2; Joshua 14:13-15). If anything, this constitutes evidence Israel was aware that God wanted him to keep his oath at Bethel. It should be noted that the personal names `Aqqubh and Ya`aqobhah (accent on the penult) also occur in the Old Testament, the former borne by no less than 4 different persons; also that in the Palmyrene inscriptions we find a person named `ath`aqobh, a name in which this same verb `aqabh is preceded by the name of the god `Ate, just as in `Aqabhyah it is followed by the name YahuJacob in Wikipedia (pronounced /dekb/; Hebrew: , Standard Yaakov; Septuagint Greek: ; "heel" or "leg-puller", Arabic: Yaqb), also known as Israel (Hebrew: , Standard Yisrael, Isrl; Septuagint Greek: ; "persevere with God"[1]), as described in the Bible, was the third patriarch of the Jewish people, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, named after his descendants. It was originally called Kirjath-Arba, " The city of Arba." Roman Empire Map - 6:18; 1 Chr. The tope was levelled by Solomon, and immense walls were built around it from the base to enlarge the level surface for the temple area. 13 The bondage of the will is a soteriological concept, unrelated to our present discussion. And it came about while Israel was dwelling in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his fathers concubine; and Israel heard of it. Rachel demanded children of her husband out of jealousy toward her sister Leah. "Jacob called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of that city was called Luz at the first" (Joshua 16:1-2). 13:2). They were lost years, for they were a time of independence and disobedience on Jacobs part. Jacob is between 130 and 147 years old. The proverb "in the Mount of Jehovah it (or He) shall be seen" probably originated in Jerusalem under Melchizedek. It is picturesquely situated in a narrow valley, surrounded by rocky hills. After the overthrow of Israel, the king of Assyria sent one of the Israelite priests to settle at Bethel, and teach the new settlers from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, "the manner of the god of the land," and "how they should fear Jehovah" (2 Kings 17:27- 28). 1. Besides the frequent mention of his name in conjunction with the names of the other two patriarchs, there are distinct references to the events in the life of Jacob in four books of the New Testament - Joh 1:51; 4:5,12; Ac 7:12,16; Ro 9:11-13; Heb 11:21; 12:16Jacob in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE I. Solomon knew it also and had him put to death for treason. 18 Both in verse 4 and verse 8, the oak tree is called the oak, not an oak. In the Hebrew Bible he is the son of Isaac and Rebecca, the grandson of Abraham and Sarah and of Bethuel, and the twin brother of Esau. of Bethel. Egypt. David sought Gods forgiveness for his sin and received it (Psalm 51, 32), but the consequences for his acts were not held back (cf. 1. Hosea 2:13), were collected and buried under the oak tree near Shechem. Shechem raped Jacob's daughter, Dinah, and two of Jacob's sons avenged their sister by slaughtering all the men in the city, including Shechem and Hamor (Genesis 34:1-29). 14 Elsewhere I have referred to the commands of God as His declared will, the expressions of the desires of God as His desiderative will, and the decree of God as His determined will. Only the last of these is inviolable. But I took your . While oblivious to divine standards of holiness and purity in Succoth and Shechem, Jacob was intent upon putting off impurity before coming into the presence of God. The family of Hebronites sprang from him. Hebron is said to have been rounded before Zoan (i.e. Laban would not consent to give him his daughter in marriage till he had served seven years; but to Jacob these years "seemed but a few days, for the love he had to her." On the round mount S.E. He had then moved on to the city of Shechem, where he had bought the land that his tents were pitched on from Hamor (Genesis 33:17-19). The Christian does have a free will in the sense of being able to choose whether or not he (or she) will obey that which God has commanded.13 We can resist the commands of God, but we cannot thwart His ultimate purposes.14 God allowed Jacob to go his own way and to reap the consequences of his disobedience. He would be fruitful and would become a nation and a company of nations, and the land promised Abraham would be his and his descendants. But here we are told that the possession of such gods was much more common in the camp of Jacob than by just Rachel. Ge 35:1-8 The original name was Luz. He, like Adonijah, was the older brother, who would have been expected to assume the rights of the firstborn. So far as we are told, there is only one act of immorality rather than an ongoing relationship. Today, Jacob's Well in Samaria lies within the monastery complex of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Nablus, a part of the Palestinian West Bank. of Zion. It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph" (Joshua 24:32). It was in the city of Beersheba where Jacob deceived his brother Esau and the strife developed, Jacob departed from Beersheba to go to his family in PadanAram, to the city of Haran (Gen. 25:28-34; 27:1-46). Here also Jacob dug a well for his many herds. Life, even the Spirit-filled life, is full of sickness (Philippians 2:25ff. For twenty long years, Jacob most likely imagined how and when Esau would settle the score. And Jacob set up a pillar over her grave; that is the pillar of Rachels grave to this day (Genesis 35:16-20). He needed nothing new, but a greater grasp of that which was old. For Jacob, this event served as a rededication to the God Who had set His love on Him in eternity past and Who had sought him out thirty years before when he was fleeing from Esau. Jacob in Easton's Bible Dictionary one who follows on another's heels; supplanter, (Gen. 25:26; 27:36; Hos. Why did so many thousands come to Jesus in the beginning before he had done or said anything. New Testament Overview - General survey of the New Testament. E. of this mount stands the ruin Tel er Rijmah, "the mound of the heap," answering to Ai or Hai. Somewhere between Bethel and Bethlehem, Rachel went into hard labor. God also said to him, I am God Almighty; Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from you. After the lapse of twenty-one years he returned from Padan-aram with two wives, two concubines, eleven sons and a daughter, and large property. And he built an altar there, and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him, when he fled from his brother. Since we know that Joseph was born at the end of Jacobs 14-year contract with Laban (30:25-26), he would have been about six years old when Jacob left Paddan-aram (cf.