Genesis 35:21-26

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Genesis 35:21. Tower of Edar.] Probably a watch-tower for the purpose of guarding the flocks. (2 Kings 18:8; 2 Chronicles 26:10; 2 Chronicles 27:4.)

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Genesis 35:21-26

JACOB’S TWELVE SONS

The number, twelve, of the sons of Jacob, in its typical significance. Twelve, the number of a life completed, or expanded to its full limits and development, Thus in the house of Ishmael and of Esau, but in a higher sense in the house of Israel. Hence the twelve sons are the types of the twelve tribes (Genesis 49:0; Deuteronomy 33:0), and the twelve tribes of the theocracy types of the twelve apostles of Christ, and these, again, types of the twelve fundamental forms of the New Testament Church. (Revelation 21:12, etc.—(Lange).