Back To Bethel

Genesis 35:1-14

“And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.” (Genesis 35:1)

After his sons wiped out the city of Shechem, God instructed Jacob to return to Bethel, the House of God. It was a place where Abraham and Isaac had returned repeatedly, and where God had first revealed himself to Jacob. He was to again build and altar to the Lord there.

“Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.” (Genesis 35:2-3)

A sense of guilt and fear of reprisal by other Hittite cities or attack by other groups had focused Jacob’s attention once again on the Lord. He could no longer depend on the Hittites for protection and had to trust God. When the problems got bad enough so Jacob was willing to listen, God had told him to leave Padanaram, and when Jacob was ready to listen, God told him to go back to Bethel.

Laban’s grand father had been a brother to Abraham,, but his family had begun to worship other gods. Rachael had stolen Laban’s gods when they left Padanaram. Theough Jacob had surrendered to God at Penuel, and had built and altar and worshipped God at Shechem, they had continued to worship other Gods as well, and Jacob had ignored and tacitly approved it, if not participating in the idolatry. For the first time, he realized that those idols were preventing a proper relationship with the Lord and demanded they be put aside.

“And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.” (Genesis 35:4-7)

Having put away their idols and depending on God for protection, Jacob and his family went to Bethel as commanded. God protected them from retaliation by the surrounding Hittite and Canaanite groups. At Bethel Jacob built an altar and was again reminded of the his previous experience of meeting God there.

“But Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allonbachuth.” (Genesis 35:8)

Over a hundred years before, Abraham’s servant had brought Rebecca to marry Isaac. She was accompanied by some handmaids, one of whom was Deborah. She had joined Jacob’s family and her death at Bethel was a momentous occasion.

“And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him. And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel. And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.” (Genesis 35:9-13)

For the first time, Jacob was not hedging his bets by depending on other gods or his own efforts to get him by. God responded by revealing what he had wanted to show him all along. He repeated that Jacob was no longer the Supplanter, but the Prince with God, or Israel. He then went on to declare that he would receive the promises made to Abraham more than a hundred years before. Unless we trust God completely, we will never understand his working in our lives.

“And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.” (Genesis 35:14-15)

Once again Jacob sets up a pillar of stone for a reminder of his encounters with God. Sometimes we need such reminders.