Genesis – The Surly Curmudgeon

Genesis 35 brings us finally to the end of Jacob’s return journey from Paddan-aram to his father’s house in Canaan. Following the despicable massacre of the men of Shechem, God called Jacob to return to Bethel (Luz) where He had appeared to Jacob in a dream 20 years before. There God reiterated Jacob’s renaming as Israel, and His promise to give the land of Canaan to Jacob and his descendants. From Bethel, Jacob continued toward his father’s house in Hebron, but along the way Rachel died giving birth to Jacob’s youngest son Benjamin.

Genesis 34 recounts one of the most deplorable events in all God’s Word – the rape of Jacob’s daughter Dinah and the horrific revenge taken by Jacob’s sons upon her rapist Shechem’s city.

In Genesis 32-33 we look at the well-known story of Jacob wrestling with God who blesses him and renames him Israel. Afterward Jacob and his twin brother Esau meet and reconcile after a twenty-year estrangement. Esau then returns to his home in Seir while Jacob returns to Canaan and settles at Shechem.

This map shows possible routes that Jacob and Esau may have taken to their meeting place east of the Jordan where they were reconciled after a 20-year estrangement. Also on the map is a potential location for Penuel where Jacob wrestled with God.

After Jacob had served his uncle Laban 20 years, God finally called Jacob to return home to Canaan. After Jacob left secretly he was pursued by Laban who caught up with Jacob in the hill country of Gilead where the two made a non-aggression agreement.

This map shows a possible route that Jacob may have followed on his return from Paddan-aram to Canaan along with a possible location for Galeed where Jacob and Laban made a non-aggression covenant.

After serving his uncle Laban for fourteen years for his two daughters Leah and Rachel, Jacob continued in Laban’s service in exchange for a portion of livestock from Laban’s flocks and herds.

Jacob sojourned in Paddan-aram for over twenty years serving his uncle Laban. In that time Jacob married Laban’s daughters Leah and Rachel and fathered eleven of his twelve sons and at least on daughter by his two wives and their two maid servants Zilpah and Bilhah.

Fleeing to his mother’s family in Paddan-aram from his brother Esau who had sworn to kill him when their father Isaac died, Jacob stopped overnight at Luz. There he dreamed of a ladder going up to Heaven. From the top of the stairway, God reiterated to Jacob His promise to his grandfather Abraham that through their descendants all the families of the earth would be blessed. The next morning, Jacob renamed that place Bethel – the house of God.