Day 1
We ended Genesis 34, and now we are starting Genesis 35! In preparation for the lessons to come, let’s read all of Genesis 35 to your Tiny Arrows!
Day 2
After everything that had happened at Shechem, God told Jacob to go to Bethel! The same place Jacob had a dream about God and made an alter and vow to him! Today let’s read Genesis 35:1 and Genesis 28:18-22 and ask your Tiny Arrow if God did what Jacob asked him to do! Was God with him? Yes! Did he get food and clothes? Yes! Did he return safely to Canaan? Yes!
Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an alter there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.” – Genesis 35:1 NIV
Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” – Genesis 28:18-22 NIV
Day 3
Jacob was getting ready to go to Bethel like God asked. But first he wanted everyone to get rid of their idols, wash up and change their clothes! Today let’s read Genesis 35:2 and grab some things your Tiny Arrow can throw away that will represent idols. Then place them in a room and tell them to throw away the idols, wash their hands and change their shirt! Just like Jacob asked his house to do before they could go!
So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes.” – Genesis 35:2 NIV
Day 4
Jacob told everyone with him they were to get ready and go to Bethel! He wanted to build an alter to God there! He knew that God had been with him and had helped him! Today let’s read Genesis 35:3 and ask your Tiny Arrow if they can remember some of the things God helped Jacob with or some of the things God has helped your family with!
“Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an alter to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” – Genesis 35:3 NIV
Day 5
Everyone in Jacob’s house gave him their gods and earrings. They were getting ready to go! Then Jacob took everything and buried them under an oak tree! Today let’s read Genesis 35:4 and grab a shovel and something small your Tiny Arrow can bury! Then help them bury it outside somewhere! Then tell them they got to bury something just like Jacob did!
So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. – Genesis 35:4 NIV
Day 6
Jacob and his family were ready to go, and they all packed up and left! While they were leaving, the people around them did not harm or go after them them for what they did to the people of Shechem! God was still protecting Jacob! Today let’s read Genesis 35:5 and have your Tiny Arrow walk in front of you while you cower as they go by! Then explain that the people were afraid and let Jacob leave without harming them!
Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them. – Genesis 35:5 NIV
Day 7
Jacob and his family left Shechem and traveled all the way to Bethel! Today let’s read Genesis 35:6 and draw a line from Shechem to Bethel on the coloring page!
Jacob and all the people living with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. – Genesis 35:6 NIV
Day 8
Jacob came to Bethel and built God an alter! Then he named it El Bethel or the God of Bethel! Today let’s read Genesis 35:7 and find a few rocks and stack them together and remind them that Jacob built an alter too!
There he built an alter, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother. – Genesis 35:7 NIV
Day 9
While they were in Bethel, Rebekah’s nurse Deborah, who looked after Jacob’s mom, died. And they buried her under an oak tree outside of the town. They called the place Oak of Weeping! Today let’s read Genesis 35:8 and look up the nearest cemetery near you, and find out it’s name and what the name means! Is it anything like the name Jacob used for Deborah’s burial site?
Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak outside Bethel. So it was name Allon Bakuth. – Genesis 35:8 NIV
Day 10
God appeared to Jacob again and blessed him! He told Jacob that his new name was Israel! Today let’s read Genesis 35:9-10 and Genesis 32:24-28 and learn about the 2 times Jacob was named Israel!
After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel. – Genesis 35:9-10 NIV
So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” – Genesis 32:24-28 NIV
Day 11
God blessed Jacob, called him Israel and told him that he would be fruitful and a nation would come from him! Today let’s read Genesis 35:11 and ask your Tiny Arrow what nation would come from Israel? Israel! Then find it together on a map!
And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants. – Genesis 35:11 NIV
Day 12
God blessed Jacob, called him Israel and told him that he would be fruitful and the land would be his! The land was first given to Abraham, then Isaac and now Israel! Today let’s read Genesis 35:12 and color the coloring page!
The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.” – Genesis 35:12 NIV
Day 13
After God had talked with Israel, he set up a pillar and poured his drink and oil on it! Today let’s read Genesis 35:13-15 and place a few rocks on each other, then pour a drink and some oil on top of it! Just like Israel did!
Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him. Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel. – Genesis 35:13-15 NIV
Day 14
Jacob and his family left Bethel, and Rachel began to have her baby! Today let’s read Genesis 35:16 and talk about the day your Tiny Arrow was born or someone they know!
Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. – Genesis 35:16 NIV
Day 15
Rachel was giving birth, and was having trouble, but she gave birth to another son! Today let’s read Genesis 35:17 and ask your Tiny Arrows if they remember the name of Rachel’s other son; Joseph!
And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, “Don’t dispair, for you have another son.” – Genesis 35:17 NIV
Day 16
Rachel was having her second son, and she was dying! Before she died she named her son Ben-Oni, which means son of my trouble, but Israel named him Benjamin, which means son of my right hand! Today let’s read Genesis 35:18 and tell your Tiny Arrow if either parent had a different name in mind for them or if they both agreed right away! Then find out what their names mean!
As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named him Ben-Oni. But his father name him Benjamin. – Genesis 35:18 NIV
Day 17
Rachel, Israel’s wife, died. She was buried on the way to Bethlehem! Today let’s read Genesis 35:19 and ask your Tiny Arrow if they can remember some of the special things mentioned in the Bible about Bethlehem!
So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). – Genesis 35:19 NIV
Day 18
Jacob set up a pillar marking Rachel’s tomb! So they would remember where she was buried! Today let’s read Genesis 35:20 and do an internet search for different stones or pillars that people do here and around the world!
Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb. – Genesis 35:20 NIV
Day 19
Israel kept moving on and stopped after Migdal Eder and lived there for a while! Today we are going to read Genesis 35:21-22 and make a tent from the coloring page, or build your own!
Israel moved on again and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it. – Genesis 35:21-22 NIV
Day 20
Jacob had 11 sons before he had Benjamin, and now he has 12! Wow! Today let’s grab 12 different small objects and count them together to see how many sons Jacob had! You can even name them! Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin!
Jacob had twelve sons. – Genesis 35:22 NIV
Day 21
Jacob had 12 sons, but he had them with 4 different women! His first wife Leah had 6 boys! Today let’s read Genesis 35:23 and write down Leah and her sons in order! Save this paper for the next 3 days!
The sons of Leah: Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun. – Genesis 35:23 NIV
Day 22
Jacob also had 2 sons with Rachel! Today let’s read Genesis 35:24 and write down Rachel and the name of her sons on the paper from yesterday!
The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. – Genesis 35:24 NIV
Day 23
Jacob had 2 sons with Bilhah, Rachel’s servant! Today let’s read Genesis 35:25 and write down Bilhah and the name of her sons on the paper from yesterday!
The sons of Rachel’s servant Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali. – Genesis 35:25 NIV
Day 24
Lastly, Jacob had 2 sons with Leah’s servant Zilpah! Today let’s read Genesis 35:26 and write down Zilpah and the name of her sons on the paper from yesterday!
The sons of Leah’s servant Zilpah: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.- Genesis 35:26 NIV
Day 25
Jacob came home to see his father Isaac, and he died at the age of 180! Both Esau and Jacob buried him in the same cave Abraham and Sarah were in!
Jacob came home to his father Isaac in Mamre, near Kiriath Arba (that is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. Isaac lived a hundred and eighty years. Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.- Genesis 35:27-29 NIV
Day 25
Today let’s reread Genesis 35 and remember the activities and verses we learned!