© Charles Chandler

 

Tanakh	commentary
Genesis 34:1-24	After the death of Moses, the Hebrews in Moab were set to claim what had been promised to them on the West Bank. The city of Shechem in the northern province had been granted to the Levites, but Jacob, high priest of the El-Elohe-Israel temple, had assets in the area he didn't want to relinquish. To strengthen his claim, he arranged the marriage of his daughter Dinah to the son of Hamor, lord of Shechem, who had a similar motive to desire an alliance.
Genesis 34:25-31 Genesis 35:1-5	But the Levites took exception to the alliance, slaughtering all of the males in the city. Then Simeon looted the city, which Jacob condemned. So he gathered up all of the loot and hid it at the "sanctuary of the Lord" in Shechem (i.e., made an offering to the pharaoh). Horemheb then instructed Jacob to head for Luz.
Joshua 9 Joshua 10:1-27	Gibeon falls in with the Israelites, but then Adoni-Bezek mounts an alliance against them.
Judges 1:1-10 Judges 1:16-21 Judges 1:27-36	Judah & Simeon attacked the Canaanites & Perizzites, including Adoni-Bezek and others in Gibeon & Jerusalem. They left Hebron to Isaac, and then defeated the kings of Hormah, Gaza, Ashkelon, & Ekron, though they didn't drive out all of the inhabitants.
Judges 1:22-26 Genesis 35:6-15	Joseph took Luz, which the Lord renamed Bethel in the ceremony in which the Lord bestowed the Covenant on Jacob.
Genesis 27:1-40	Isaac blessed Jacob instead of Esau.
Genesis 35:16-26	Rachel died giving birth to Ben-oni, who Jacob renamed Benjamin. In Hebrew, "ben" means "son of...", and "oni" is a girl's name, meaning "God has favored me." If Ben-oni can be read so literally, it meant the son of the girl favored by God. If we read Benjamin as literally, he was the son of Jamin, and it's hard not to notice the name of the dominant Egyptian god at the time, so perhaps he was named the son of Amun. If so, perhaps the name change is to be interpreted as going from the son of his mother to the son of his Egyptian overlord. For both of those to work, Benjamin was the son of Rachel, who had found favor with her Egyptian overload, who in 1302 bce would have been Horemheb. Thereafter Benjamin was the darling, second only to Joseph, the next youngest son, and the last to be born in Mitanni (in 1318 bce).
Genesis 35:27-29	Isaac died in Hebron, and Esau & Jacob buried him. Perhaps Isaac was already semi-retired, with Jacob already installed in Shechem, and Esau in Seir. But the official family seat was in Hebron.
Judges 3:12-14	Eglon king of Moab defeated Israel and took Jericho.