Genesis 35–36; Job 25–26; Proverbs 3:19-24;
Commentary on Genesis 35–36
Jacob gets rid of the idols (the household gods) and amulets that were with his family and servants, and builds an altar to God when He requested.
God appears to Jacob changing his name to Israel and reaffirming the blessing of Abraham and Isaac.
Rachel dies while she was giving birth to Benjamin.
Reuben lays with Bilhah, Rachel’s maid and Jacob/Israel’s concubine, and Israel knows about this. (Gen 35:22).
Isaac dies, and Jacob and Esau buries him. Probably did not happen chronologically here, as Isaac was already in his deathbed 20 years before this (when Jacob left Canaan).
Esau’s descendants are shown: the Edomites and the Horites.
Esau and Jacob separate themselves because their possessions were too much for the land (Gen 36:6-8), just as happened with Abraham and Lot. Jacob stays in the promised land, just like Abraham, and Esau leaves, just as Lot did. (Gen 13:8-12)
Notes: Gen 35:22 (Reuben laying with Bilhah) reminds of Gen 9:22, where Ham tried to assert authority by laying with Noah’s wife (his mother).
Commentary on Job 25–26
Bildad responds saying that no one or nothing can compare to God’s greatness, then how does a man can be “clean” before God? He refuses to believe Job’s innocence.
Job answers questioning, rhetorically, what did his friends do to help him, who has no power and no strength. Then, he continues talking about how God’s power manifests in the natural world.
Commentary on Proverbs 3:19-24
The Lord used Wisdom to create the universe. It is because he created a ordered and intelligible universe with predictable laws that we can do natural sciences and understand the universe ourselves.