What does Genesis 35:21 Mean?

Context Summary

From Bethel to Bethlehem is not far. The one, the House of God; the other, the House of Bread. We need them both, if we are to bear up under the repeated shocks of life, such as the death of the old nurse Deborah, the death of our beloved Rachels, the sins of our children, and the breakup of the old home, as when our father is borne to his grave. Well was it for Jacob that he had got right with God before these repeated waves broke upon him. Isaac had not lived a great life, but his full years gave him a claim on the veneration of his sons, who forgot their jealousies and feuds as they stood together at his bier. But how greatly men misjudge death. It is not the end, but the beginning. We find hereafter Isaac associated with Abraham and Jacob, as welcoming the saints homeward. Death greatens good men! [source]

Chapter Summary: Genesis 35

¹  God commands Jacob to go to Bethel
²  He purges his house of idols
⁶  He builds an altar at Bethel
⁸  Deborah dies at Allon Bacuth
⁹  God blesses Jacob at Bethel
¹⁰  Jacob Named Israel
¹⁶  Rachel travails of Benjamin, and dies in the way to Edar
²²  Reuben lies with Bilhah
²³  The sons of Jacob
²⁷  Jacob comes to Isaac at Hebron
²⁸  The age, death, and burial of Isaac