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Expanded Comments |
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| 1 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, who appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. |
Said unto Jacob – Type of the New Creation. F172
The face of Esau – Type of natural Israel and Christendom. D15; F172
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| 2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments: |
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| 3 and let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. |
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| 4 And they gave unto Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hand, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. |
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| 5 And they journeyed: and a terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. |
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| 6 So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan (the same is Bethel), he and all the people that were with him. |
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| 7 And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el; because there God was revealed unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother. |
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| 8 And Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak: and the name of it was called Allon-bacuth. |
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| 9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. |
And blessed him – Confirming the covenant originally made with Abraham. B45.
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| 10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel. |
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| 11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; |
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| 12 and the land which I gave unto Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. |
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| 13 And God went up from him in the place where he spake with him. |
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| 14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spake with him, a pillar of stone: and he poured out a drink-offering thereon, and poured oil thereon. |
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| 15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel. |
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| 16 And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was still some distance to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor. |
Rachel – Typifying covenant of sacrifice; bringing forth two separate classes of saints typified by Joseph and Benjamin. R5231:3
See comments on Gen. 29:30.
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| 17 And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; for now thou shalt have another son. |
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| 18 And it came to pass, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin. |
Her soul was in departing – It is the soul life or being that went out. HG205:1
For she died – Benjamin's mother died in giving him birth; so we expect the spiritual feature of the Abrahamic covenant to pass away entirely with the change of those who will constitute the "Great Company." R4437:1, R5231:5
Benjamin – Means "Son of my right hand" or "Son of my pain. " He was born in sorrow and travail, even as the Great Company will come up out of the great tribulation. R4437:1, R5231:5
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| 19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath (the same is Beth-lehem). |
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| 20 And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave: the same is the Pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day. |
Rachel's grave – Qeburah, place of interment. E356
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| 21 And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder. |
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| 22 And it came to pass, while Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine: and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve: |
Were twelve – Type of the twelve apostles. B246
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| 23 the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun; |
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| 24 the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin; |
Rachel – Type of the Gospel Church, Zion. R184:3, R4454:1
Joseph – Type of The Christ. R184:5, R4436:6, R4454:1
Benjamin – Type of the Great Company, born after Zion's travail. (Isa. 66) R184:6, R4436:6, R4454:1
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| 25 and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid: Dan and Naphtali; |
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| 26 and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid: Gad and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, that were born to him in Paddan-aram. |
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| 27 And Jacob came unto Isaac his father to Mamre, to Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. |
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| 28 And the days of Isaac were a hundred eighty years. |
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| 29 And Isaac gave up the breath, and died, and was gathered unto his people, old and full of days: and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him. |
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