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Genesis 35 (WEB)

Shechem — Journeys of Abram—Shechem·City

Journeys of Abram

1. Ur of the Chaldees (Gen 11:31; Acts 7:2-4)

Haran died before his father Terah in Ur (Gen 11:28). Sometime after this death, Terah took his son Abram, and Lot the son of Haran, Sarai, Abram's wife, and went from Ur of the Chaldees to the land of Canaan, to the city called Haran (presumably named after his father) to make that his new home (Gen 11:31).

It appears that in Haran, Yahweh spoke to Abram and informed him that it was He who brought Abram out of Ur, in order to give the land of Canaan as an inheritance (Gen 15:7). Nehemiah confirms this (Neh 9:7), where the text of Scripture says that Yahweh is the God who chose Abram (great father) and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees and gave to him the name Abraham (father of many nations).

2. Haran (Gen 12:1-4; Acts 7:4)

Haran is the name of the son of Terah who died in Ur of the Chaldees, and also the name of the city in Canaan. Genesis 11:27 indicates that Terah lived seventy years before he became the father of his sons Abram, Nahor, and Haran. It may be that the order of the sons (Gen 11:26), as is common, depicts the order of their birth (see the sons of Noah, Gen 10). If this is so, then the youngest brother of Abram, Haran, preceded his brothers and father in death (Gen 11:28), after he had already become the father of Lot (Gen 11:27), the nephew of Abram.

The biblical account continues that Abram married his half-sister, Sarai (Gen 11:29). This may be due to the scarcity of possible wives where they went, but the text does not speak of this, but the Bible reveals that Abram and Sarai were married before they left Ur (Gen 11:31). Upon coming to Haran, Terah, at two hundred and five years old, died there (see the map of the Ancient Near East and location of Haran. (Map Link to Haran and Mesopotamia, click map to have a larger map).

Upon the death of Terah, Abram, now seventy-five, was approached by Yahweh, who commanded him to leave Haran, and many of his relatives (Gen 12:1) and travel south from Haran to the places that Yahweh would show him (Gen 12:1).

The biblical text indicates that Abram, in obedience to Yahweh's command, left relatives in Haran, but also took a number of his extended family into the land of Canaan, including Sarai, his wife and half-sister, his nephew Lot (son of Haran), and apparently several others (Gen 12:5) on this journey. Several years later, at Isaac's command, his son Jacob returned to Haran, to escape the wrath of Esau, to live with his uncle Laban (Gen 27:43; 28:10).

Several of the foregoing details in Genesis are substantiated in the sermon of Stephen (Acts 7:2-4).

3. Damascus (Gen 15:2)

4. Shechem (Gen 12:6, 7)

5. Bethel (Genesis 12:8)

6. Egypt (Gen 12:9-20)

7. Bethel (Gen 13:1-9)

8. Hebron (Gen 13:10-18)

9. Dan (Gen 14:1-14)

10. Hobah (Gen 14:15, 16)

11. Salem (Gen 14:17-21)

12. Hebron (Gen 15:1-21; 17:1-27)

13. Gerar (Gen 20:1-18)

14. Beersheba (Gen 21:1-34)

15. Moriah (Gen 22:1-18)

16. Beersheba (Genesis 26:23-33)

17. Hebron (Gen 23: 1-20)

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Genesis 35 (WEB)

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 · public domain · ebible.org

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