35:1 go up to Bethel. It is strange that during all the ten years or so that Jacob had been back in Canaan he had never yet gone back to nearby Bethel to build his altar, as he had promised God he would do when he was leaving Canaan (Genesis 28:20-22). He may have been spiritually uncomfortable with how content he allowed his family to become in their compromising and worldly prosperity at Shechem.