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| 1 And God saith unto Jacob, 'Rise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar to God, who appeared unto thee in thy fleeing 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 And Jacob saith unto his household, and unto all who [are] with him, 'Turn aside the gods of the stranger which [are] in your midst, and cleanse yourselves, and change your garments; |
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| 3 and we rise, and go up to Bethel, and I make there an altar to God, who is answering me in the day of my distress, and is with me in the way that I have gone.' |
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| 4 And they give unto Jacob all the gods of the stranger that [are] in their hand, and the rings that [are] in their ears, and Jacob hideth them under the oak which [is] by Shechem; |
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| 5 and they journey, and the terror of God is on the cities which [are] round about them, and they have not pursued after the sons of Jacob. |
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| 6 And Jacob cometh in to Luz which [is] in the land of Canaan (it [is] Bethel), he and all the people who [are] with him, |
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| 7 and he buildeth there an altar, and proclaimeth at the place the God of Bethel: for there had God been revealed unto him, in his fleeing from the face of his brother. |
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| 8 And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, dieth, and she is buried at the lower part of Bethel, under the oak, and he calleth its name 'Oak of weeping.' |
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| 9 And God appeareth unto Jacob again, in his coming from Padan-Aram, and blesseth him; |
And blessed him – Confirming the covenant originally made with Abraham. B45.
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| 10 and God saith to him, 'Thy name [is] Jacob: thy name is no more called Jacob, but Israel is thy name;' and He calleth his name Israel. |
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| 11 And God saith to him, 'I [am] God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply, a nation and an assembly of nations is from thee, and kings from thy loins go out; |
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| 12 and the land which I have given to Abraham and to Isaac to thee I give it, yea to thy seed after thee I give the land.' |
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| 13 And God goeth up from him, in the place where He hath spoken with him. |
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| 14 And Jacob setteth up a standing pillar in the place where He hath spoken with him, a standing pillar of stone, and he poureth on it an oblation, and he poureth on it oil; |
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| 15 and Jacob calleth the name of the place where God spake with him Bethel. |
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| 16 And they journey from Bethel, and there is yet a kibrath of land before entering Ephratha, and Rachel beareth, and is sharply pained in her bearing; |
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 cometh to pass, in her being sharply pained in her bearing, that the midwife saith to her, 'Fear not, for this also [is] a son for thee.' |
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| 18 And it cometh to pass in the going out of her soul (for she died), that she calleth his name Ben-Oni; and 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 dieth, and is buried in the way to Ephratha, which [is] Bethlehem, |
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| 20 and Jacob setteth up a standing pillar over her grave; which [is] the standing pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day. |
Rachel's grave – Qeburah, place of interment. E356
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| 21 And Israel journeyeth, and stretcheth out his tent beyond the tower of Edar; |
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| 22 and it cometh to pass in Israel's dwelling in that land, that Reuben goeth, and lieth with Bilhah his father's concubine; and Israel heareth. |
Were twelve – Type of the twelve apostles. B246
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| 23 And the sons of Jacob are twelve. Sons of Leah: Jacob's first-born Reuben, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun. |
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| 24 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 sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maid-servant: Dan and Naphtali. |
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| 26 And sons of Zilpah, Leah's maid-servant: Gad and Asher. These [are] sons of Jacob, who have been born to him in Padan-Aram. |
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| 27 And Jacob cometh unto Isaac his father, at Mamre, the city of Arba (which [is] Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac have sojourned. |
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| 28 And the days of Isaac are a hundred and eighty years, |
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| 29 and Isaac expireth, and dieth, and is gathered unto his people, aged and satisfied with days; and bury him do Esau and Jacob his sons. |
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