Genesis 35:20

_AND JACOB SET A PILLAR UPON HER GRAVE: THAT IS THE PILLAR OF RACHEL'S GRAVE UNTO THIS DAY._ Set a pillar upon her grave ... unto this day. The spot still marked out as the grave of Rachel exactly agrees with the Scripture record, being about a mile from Beth-lehem. Anciently it was marked by a pillar х_ MATSEEBAAH_ (H4676), a monument, or cippus], which has long disappeared; but the present tomb, surmounted by a rude cupola, and supported by four large square pillars, is a Mohammedan erection. The site of Rachel's tomb has been kept in remembrance by the united traditions of Jews, Mohammedans, and Christians. (See the note at 1 Samuel 10:2.)...

16-20 Rachel had passionately said, Give me children, or else I die; and now that she had children, she died! The death of the body is but the departure of the soul to the world of spirits. When shall we learn that it is God alone who really knows what is best for his people, and that in all worldly affairs the safest path for the Christian is to say from the heart, It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. Here alone is our safety and our comfort, to know no will but his. Her dying lips called her newborn son Ben-oni, the son of my sorrow; and many a son proves to be the heaviness of her that bare him. Children are enough the sorrow of their mothers; they should, therefore, when they grow up, study to be their joy, and so, if possible, to make them some amends. But Jacob, because he would not renew the sorrowful remembrance of the mother's death every time he called his son, ch...

Verse Genesis 35:20. _JACOB SET A PILLAR UPON HER GRAVE_] Was not this the origin of funeral monuments? In ancient times, and among rude nations, a heap of stones designated the burial place of the chief; many of these still remain in different countries. Afterwards a rude stone, with a simple inscription, was used, containing only the name of the deceased, and that of his father. But where arts and sciences flourished, superb monuments were erected highly decorated, and pompously inscribed. It is very likely from the circumstances of Jacob that a single stone constituted the _pillar_ in this case, on which, if writing did then exist, the name, or rather some hieroglyphical device, was probably inscribed. That which is now called _Rachel's pillar_ is allowed, by those who have examined it, to be a comparatively _modern_ structure....

- The Death of Isaac 8. דברה _d__e__borâh_, Deborah, “bee.” בּכוּת אלּון _'alôn_-_bākût_, Allon-bakuth, “oak of weeping.” 16. כברה _kı̂brâh_, “length stretch.” A certain but unknown distance, a stadium or furlong (Josephus) a hippodrome (Septuagint) which was somewhat longer, a mile (Kimchi). אפרת _'ephrâth_, Ephrath, “fruitful or ashy.” 18. בן־אוני _ben_-_'ônı̂y_, Ben-oni, “son of my pain.” בנימין _bı̂nyāmı̂yn_, Binjamin, “

EXPOSITION GENESIS 35:16 AND THEY JOURNEYED—not in opposition to the Divine commandment (Genesis 35:1), which did not enjoin a permanent settlement at Bethel, but in accordance probably with his own desire, if not also Heaven's counsel, to proceed to Mamre to visit Isaac—FROM BETHEL (southwards in the direction of Hebron); AND THERE WAS BUT A LITTLE WAY (literally, _there was yet a space of land; _probably a few furlongs (Murphy), about four English miles (Gerlach). The Vulgate translates, "in the spring-time," and the LXX. render, ἐγένετο δὲ ἡνίκα ἤγγισεν εἰς χαβραθὰ_, _both of which are misunderstandings of the original—TO COME TO EPHRATH:—Fruitful; the ancient

AND JACOB SET A PILLAR UPON HER GRAVE,.... A sepulchral monument erected in memory of her; this according to Benjamin of Tudela e was made of twelve stones, according to the number of the sons of Jacob, and over it was a vault or roof, supported by four pillars: THAT [IS] THE PILLAR OF RACHEL'S GRAVE UNTO THIS DAY; it continued to the times of Moses, the writer of this history, and to the times of Samuel, as appears from 1 Samuel 10:2; and even travellers of late times affirm it to be seen still, to the north of Bethlehem, on the right hand of the way as you go from Bethlehem to Jerusalem; but the present sepulchral monument, as Mr. Maundrel says f, can be none of that which Jacob erected, for it appears plainly to be a modern Turkish structure. Near the grave are found some little black stones, which strangers pick up, and are fancied to be helpful to women, to give them

CHAPTER 35 JACOB AT BETHEL AND THREE DEATHS _ 1. The divine commandment (Genesis 35:1)_ 2. The defilement put away (Genesis 35:2) 3. The journey to Bethel and the altar (Genesis 35:5) 4. Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, dies (Genesis 35:8) 5. God appears to Jacob (Genesis 35:9) 6. Benoni-Benjamin and Rachel's death (Genesis 35:16) 7. The twelve sons of Jacob ...

GENESIS 35:16 A. RACHEL DIES AT THE BIRTH OF BENJAMIN. Genesis 35:16 is assigned by some to J and by some to E. There is no decisive reason for either. Genesis 35:21_ a_ is from J. The use of Israel as Jacob's name is characteristic of J. The pathetic story of Rachel's death is often explained to mean that, when the tribe of Benjamin was formed in Palestine after the Conquest, the earlier tribe of Rachel was broken up. This may be correct, but is very uncertain. Ephrath is identified in Genesis 35:19; Genesis 48:7 with Bethlehem. Th

(J). Birth of Benjamin and Death of Rachel "The meaning of the statement that Rachel died when Benjamin was born is that the formation of the new tribe Benjamin broke up the old tribe Rachel" (Bennett). But it would be a mistake to attempt to distinguish too closely the personal and tribal elements in the narrative. Events in personal life may be recorded for their symbolical significance. The story of Jacob, as distinct from that of Joseph, closes with Rachel's death....

SET A PILLAR, &C.— The learned Bochart is of opinion, that this monument of Rachel's (which is the first that we read of in Scripture) was a _pyramid,_ curiously wrought, and raised upon a _basis_ of twelve large stones, whereby Jacob intended to intimate the number of his sons. It was certainly standing at the time when Moses wrote, Genesis 35:20 and just before Saul was anointed king there is some mention made of it, 1 Samuel 10:2. But that the present monument cannot be the same which Jacob erected, is very manifest, from its being a modern and Turkish structure. Mr. Le Brun, who was at the place, and took a draught of it, says, that the tomb is cut into the cavity of a rock, and covered with a dome, supported by four pillars, on fragments of a wall, which open to the sepulchre. The work i