Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 35:8

"And Deborah Rebekah`s nurse died, and she was buried below Beth-el under the oak: and the name of it was called Allon-bacuth." — Genesis 35:8 (ASV)

Deborah. —As she was at Hebron with Rebekah when Jacob journeyed to Haran, he must have somehow gone there before this, seen his father, and told him of his fortunes. Apparently, Rebekah was then dead, and Jacob brought back Deborah with him. (See Note on Genesis 33:18.) How dear she was to them is shown by their calling the tree under which she was buried the oak of weeping. This oak was “beneath Beth-el,” that is, in the valley below it.

Deborah must have died at a great age, for she nursed Rebekah, and must therefore have been an adult when Rebekah was born. Now Jacob, when he returned from Padan-aram, was ninety-seven years of age; and as he was born twenty years after his mother’s marriage—if we allow the shortest possible space for the interval spent at Succoth and Shechem—Deborah must have been nearly one hundred and sixty years of age. This again confirms the conclusion that Dinah’s dishonor occurred very soon after the arrival of Jacob at Shechem. (See Note on Genesis 34:1.)