A35 God Blesses Jacob At Bethel Poem by Simple Simon

To Bethel, the chosen place,
God made Jacob go at once,
And told him, 'Build an altar
For Me, after you settle there.'

Then Jacob told his family,
'Leave, we must early,
At Bethel, as God said,
An altar for Him, to build.'

Their ear-rings and foreign gods,
Beneath an oak, Jacob buried.
People, out of fear for them,
Did not pursue them.

Jacob reached the place Bethel.
And settled down there well;
He built an altar anew there,
And lived without any fear.

God told Jacob at Bethel:
'Your name now is Israel
Not the one you had earlier,
That was more familiar.'

Jacob raised a memorial,
At the holy place Bethel:
He poured olive-oil and wine,
O’er the sacred stone so fine.

The Death of Rachel

Jacob then left Bethel.
It was time for his Rachel
To deliver baby en way.
Midway they halted for a day.

Severe labor pains she had;
A son she finally delivered.
Alas, Rachel breathed her last,
And her body was laid to rest.
.
She named him Benoni.
Jacob called him Benjamin;
He moved to his camp at Eder,
The other side of the Tower.

The Death of Isaac

Jacob’s father, Isaac died,
At the age of one hundred
And eighty long years.
He was buried by his sons.