God calls Jacob to visit the place he first met him in the desert when he ran from Esau. Decades earlier Jacob dreamt of a ladder with angels and made an altar at a place he called Bethel. Jacob tells his family to bathe and leave their foreign gods behind. They hide their idols and jewelry under an oak tree.

As they traveled, the other nations feared them and stayed away. The Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah his mother dies and is buried under the Weeping Oak. 

God again calls him Israel (one who wrestles with God) instead of Jacob (supplanter). It’s taking him a while to accept and adopt this new name. Again, God repeats the promise he gave to Abraham and Isaac to multiply and bless their family and make him a father of a company of nations. 

During their travels, Rachel goes into labor for a second time in her life and she struggles. As she is dying she names her new son Ben-oni meaning son of my struggle. Her husband renames him Benjamin, meaning son of my right hand. Israel puts up a pillar to mark her tomb in Ephrath that is later Bethlehem. 

Israel settles in Elder. Ruben, Israel’s oldest son from Leah sleeps with Bihah the handmaid of Rachel and the mother of his half-brothers Dan and Naphtali. 

Finally, the company arrives to his parent’s camp at Mamre where Isaac is still alive. He lives to 180 and then Jacob and Esau buries him. 

This section is mixed good and bad. On the positive, Jacob/Israel is letting go of the old gods and accepting the God of his father and grandfather, his new name and promises. He returns to his ancestral home reconciled with his estranged brother. 

On the negative, Israel is failing as a parent. When he renames his youngest son “his right hand,” his oldest son acts out by sleeping with his father’s concubine. It’s an act of rebellion from the oldest son at being sidelined by the youngest. An enmity between brothers energized by their parent’s actions has carried on to the next generation. If Israel isn’t mindful, there will be more repercussions to come.