From Shechem to Hebron and Beyond
At the end of Genesis 34, Jacob finds himself in a dilemma. He cannot stay near Shechem, but where can he go? God, of course, has an answer to this as we learn in the next chapter. He directs Jacob to return to Bethel--where he had met God when running from Esau--and make an altar. It looks like Jacob's obedience was immediate. The group's obedience seems to have been immediate also.
And then God protected them as they traveled, sending a fear into the nations they passed by or through.
Finally, they reached Bethel. Jacob built the altar and called the place El-bethel, "because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother's presence" (35:7). Poignant mention is made of the death of Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, and her burial. I call it poignant because Rebekah had probably predeceased this woman, yet the family had seen to it that Deborah was cared for.
Again God appears to Jacob and again blesses him and again renames him. He is no longer to be known as Jacob but as Israel. More than that, "God said to him, 'I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from your own body. The land that I gave to Abraham and to Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you'" (35:11-12); "Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken to him" (35:13)--a precursor to the Lord's ascent from the mount at the end of the gospel Matthew wrote.
Jacob's response was of course worship.
I'm not sure from the text why Jacob left Bethel to move to Bethlehem. It does note Rachel's death as she gave birth to Benjamin and mentions her burial.
Another baffling even is recounted in terse terms in verse 22: "While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine. And Israel heard of it." This would have consequences later.
We also have a review of the sons of Jacob, each grouped by his mother.
Perhaps the most poignant statement comes at the end of the chapter. As we remember, Isaac had expected to die years before, which led to his premature decision to bless each son as appropriate to his birth order. This led to Esau's anger at being deprived of his blessing, Rebekah's having to send her son-of-choice into a form of exile, Jacob's years as a resident of Laban's household, and much else. Providentially, before Isaac's death, Jacob and Esau were reconciled.
"And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiraith-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him" (35:27-29).
I puzzled over the presence of chapter 36 with all the details of Esau's descendants. What place does this have? A whole, detailed chapter seems, well, excessive. After all, Esau wasn't the elect brother. Then I recalled that Ishmael's lineage was also included earlier in GENESIS. What was I to draw from these?
My tentative conclusion is that though these were not the chosen ones--those being Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--the fact that Ishmael was Abraham's son and that Esau was Isaac's meant that God had still included them and their descendants in His plans, and provided for their territories vis a vi their elect brothers. Sadly, their descendants would become enemies of their cousins.
Granted, at this point I looked at the notes in the MacArthur Study Bible to verify my suspicions.

Jacob's Stay Near Shechem
It seems that the events of Genesis 34 took place in a short period of time--maybe less than a week.
Genesis 34 opens with a seemingly innocent choice: Dinah went out to see the women of the land. Well, why not? She'd always lived with relatives. Now there were others to become acquainted with. But in short order, innocent curiosity turns into an incomprehensible catastrophe. I suspect that she had not travelled far into the city when Shechem spotted her, seized her, lay with her, and humiliated her (34:2). The rapist becomes more drawn to her, speaking tenderly to her whom he had humiliated. He demands of his father, "Get me this girl for my wife" (34:4).
How will their families deal with this situation? Jacob chooses to wait until his sons come home from work before confronting the offender and his family. The offender's father approaches and says, essentially, "my son loves your daughter. Please may he marry her?" Jacob's sons had come home as soon as they had heard Dinah was raped and were not satisfied by this proposition.
"Whatever it costs, I want to marry her," says the would-be groom. The wily brothers insist that the one thing required for the marriage to take place is for all the men--not only these two--to be circumcised.
This seems reasonable to the rapist and his father; after all, once they intermarry, all the possessions of Dinah's family will become theirs. So these men, from their positions of power in the Shechemite community, talk all the rest into having this procedure done. And all have it done on the same day.
While they are recovering, two of Dinah's brothers slaughter not only the culprit and his parent, but all the males of the community. Then their other brothers enter into the plundering, taking women, children, livestock, etc. What happened to Dinah was wicked, but so was the way Jacob's sons chose to respond.
Jacob is not pleased with this. How will their small group survive when word of this slaughter of the innocent gets out? As insolent as the response of Jacob's sons appears to be, it also seems to silence him. Still, his question is valid. How will this group survive. It can't stay near Shechem now.

Reunion of the Brothers

Put yourself in Jacob's position. He is finally leaving Laban. Yet he feels uneasy. Under the circumstances, who wouldn't? The last time Jacob saw Esau, Esau was plotting revenge, seeing Jacob as having stolen both birthright and blessing from him. Isaac thought he was on his deathbed. Rebekah was protecting Jacob from Esau. To say tensions were high would understate matters.
As Jacob heads toward his reunion with Esau, first he sees angels and recognizes God's presence. Following this encounter, Jacob sens messengers to Esau. As far as Esau knew, Jacob had settled permanently in their mother's home country. Now Jacob wisely informs Esau of where he has been and what he had gained. He is feeling out Esau's attitude. I think I would have done the same, had I been in Jacob's position
Jacob is unnerved when the messengers return and inform him, "We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him" (32:6). What does Jacob do first? See to it that the people with him, and flocks and herds and camels, are divided into two groups. What is his reasoning? "If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape" (32:7).
After that, Jacob prays.
How often do I act first and then pray?
I love Jacob's prayer in Genesis 32:9-12 as he recounts first God's command, then recognizes his unworthiness and God's fulfilled promise. Then he follows with a straightforward request, and concludes with reminding God of His promise to Jacob.
The next day (if I read this correctly), Jacob sends 5 groups of livestock as gifts to Esau--or bribes--"for he thought, 'I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me'" (32:20).
Again, after all those years had passed with no communication from or about Esau, what could Jacob think but that Esau's feelings toward him were still anger and bitterness? So he sought to soften Esau's presumed attitude by these gifts.
How often have I done something similar?
Then we come to a fascinating account. Jacob has sent his family ahead along with everything else that he had. Jacob is alone. Or thinks he is. But we read of a man who wrestles with Jacob all night. While Jacob may have been taken by surprise, he was not to be taken otherwise. We know from the text that the man did not prevail against Jacob, not even when he put Jacob's hip out of joint (32:25).
What an astonishing dialog follows in 32:26-29.
As Genesis 33 opens, we finally have the dreaded (by Jacob) reunion. Here were Esau and his four hundred men. Jacob must have felt at a significant disadvantage, disabled by the man with whom he wrestled the night away. Yet he had the presence of mind to divide his family into groups and precede them, "bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother" (33:3).
"But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept" (33:4). This was not the response which Jacob had anticipated.
Then came the introductions to the family, followed by a reasonable question from Esau regarding the livestock Jacob had sent to him. For once, Jacob answered forthrightly: "To find favor in the sight of my lord" (33:8). After some conversation, Jacob talks Esau into keeping the gift. But a sticky moment ensues. Esau suggests they travel together, but Jacob demurs. He uses as an explanation the frailty of the children and the nursing livestock. Then he falls back into his old habit and lies to Esau, implying that he will meet Esau in Seir, Esau's home territory.
Esau makes one final attempt to assist Jacob, and, when rebuffed, leaves for Seir, perhaps believing that Jacob will follow him. "But Jacob" went elsewhere, first to Succoth, then to Schechem. His decision to sojourn by Schchem would have unforeseen consequences.

20 Years of Life with Laban
Genesis 28:
Providentially, Jacob encounters God has he travels to his mother's homeland. Jacob will need all the spiritual support that meeting provides as he spends the next twenty years under his uncle's "roof."
Read God's wonderful promise to Jacob: "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you" (28:15). This reminds me of the Lord's promise recorded in Matthew 28: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (28:18-20).
Genesis 29:
Jacob--the deceiver--meets Laban, who also appears skilled in dishonesty. I would think that Laban knew soon that Jacob was smitten with Rachel. Jacob proposed marriage to Rachel and served seven years for her. Then Laban pulled the first of many "fast ones" where Jacob would be concerned. First Laban sent Leah in, instead of Rachel, and then explained the custom of the country. They made a deal: a week with Leah and then Rachel for another seven years.
It was obvious to all that Jacob only agreed to stay in his marriage to Leah because then he could also marry Rachel. What heart ache!
Providentially, the Lord saw and made Leah fertile while closing Rachel's womb. Leah hoped with each son she bore to Jacob to win his heart. That was never to be. He would always prefer Rachel.
Genesis 30:
Although Rachel was the more loved, her continuing childlessness drove her to accuse Jacob of withholding children from her. Her envy of her sister strangely did not dispose her to wrangle with Leah but take her frustration out on their husband. And the same custom which Sarah and Abraham fell back on with Hagar came into use here.
Rachel determines that Bilhah will be surrogate. Bilhah bears two sons to Jacob: Dan and Napthali.
Leah then gives her servant Zilpah to Jacob as surrogate and she has two sons by Jacob: Gad and Asher.
A sad story is included at this juncture: Rachel trades a night with Jacob for some fruit which Leah's son Reuben found in the field. Imagine how Jacob felt when he heard this: "When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, 'You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son's mandrakes'" (30:16)
What happened? "So he lay with her that night. And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son" (30:16-17).
Leah bore Jacob not only a fifth but a sixth son and then a daughter, Dinah. After that, after six sons and a daughter born to Jacob by Leah and four sons by his wives servants, then "God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb." What joy she felt when she finally conceived a son. Yet one son was not enough for her. She named him Joseph, saying, "May the LORD add to me another son!" (30:24).
While all this was going on, Jacob had faithfully served Laban as a shepherd. What a change for a man who had preferred tent life when he was growing up!
Both during the 14 years Jacob served for Rachel--Leah being thrown into the deal--and for another six years after that, Jacob labored for Laban. And Laban prospered. We know that during those 14 years Laban became even wealthier than he had been from his response to Jacob when Jacob wanted to leave.
The deal they struck for the wages Laban would now pay Jacob is baffling to a non-agrarian society such as ours. And when Laban tried to keep Jacob from getting the promised livestock, Jacob found a way to not only get what he was promised, but also the best of the stock, both sheep and goats.
Deceivers deceiving! Yet God oversaw and sovereignly caused all things to work together.
Genesis 31:
What brought matters to a head and caused Jacob to decide to go home? For one, he overheard Laban's sons complaining that he had taken (not earned) all their father's wealth. And Jacob also realized that Laban did not "regard him with favor as before" (31-1-2). But what made Jacob have the confidence to go? "Then the LORD said to Jacob, 'Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you" (31:3).But Jacob could not just trust that. The old conspirer met secretly with Rachel and Leah. He taught them what could be considered applied theology. For everything he rehearsed that Laban had done, he pointed out God's intervention. Finally he relates the dream. Rachel and Leah agree. They have seen Laban's change of attitude toward them also. They encourage Jacob: "Whatever God has said to you, do" (31:16).
Jacob must have been planning for this as we see him move quickly to get his wives, children, livestock, and all other property to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac.
Even a three day head start on Jacob's part is not enough to dissuade Laban from chasing after them. We learn that Laban pursued them for seven days. "But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, 'Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad'" (31:24).
"And Laban overtook Jacob" (31:25). That must not have been hard. Jacob had all his family and livestock and other belongings, and could not travel at any speed.
What concerned Laban when he finally confronted Jacob? Someone had stolen Laban's household goods. That worried him more than the loss of his daughters or grandchildren or the flocks. Why? He may have counted on their spiritual power.
What a scene ensues as Jacob permits Laban to search for those gods! In Genesis 31:36-42, Jacob confronts Laban for his deceitfulness and rightly concludes: "If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night" (31:42).
What could Laban say or do in response? He made a peace of sorts with Jacob, with a covenant and agreement that neither would act to harm the other. An oathis taken, a sacrifice offered, bread broken, a night spent, a blessing given, and eventually Laban departs and returns home.
Jacob no longer lives with Laban, but next must somehow live at peace with Esau.