Week 2 Genesis
In chapter 35 the Lord told Jacob to leave Shechem and go to Bethel.
I wasn’t sure of the geography so I checked a map in the back of my bible.
Shechem was approximately in the geographic centre of the region. Not far away I found Bethel – about 30 kilometres to the south.
Bethel was where Jacob had his Jacob’s Ladder dream / vision, and now years later the family settled there for a while.
After some period of time the family moved on from Bethel and again headed south toward Bethlehem. On my map Bethlehem looked to be about 30 kilometres south of Bethel. Rachel died in childbirth on that trip. Jacob stopped there to bury the wife he loved most, and put a memorial pillar at her grave.
Eventually the family travelled farther south to the tower of Eder (which I couldn’t find). But as I read on I realized that Jacob was headed for home: and Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre of Kiriatharba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. Hebron was another 20 kilometres south of Bethlehem.
When I first read the chapter I thought the trip was a more or less continuous journey from Shechem to Hebron. But looking at it again I think it might have taken years. And so after roaming far and wide to the north-east Jacob goes back home to settle in the south country.
Note: quote from Genesis 35:27 (NASB)