Going Up To Bethel - Genesis 35:1-15
INTRODUCTION:
Two weeks ago we left Jacob in the vicinity of Shechem having just witnessed a horrible act of violence by two of his sons, Simeon and Levi, they had murdered all the males in Shechem while they were in pain from being circumcised and unable to fight. This was the revenge they took because the prince of the city had raped their sister Dinah. Instead of trusting God to deal with the sin of Shechem, they took revenge into their own hands and Jacob said that his household became a stench in the nostrils of the inhabitants of the land about them, the tribal relatives on the people of Shechem, and Jacob told his sons that if the Canaanites and the Perizzites of the land banded together and came against them in revenge for what they had done then Jacob and his household would be destroyed.
All this time that Jacob had been living near Shechem he was only about 30 miles away from Bethel where he had made his vow and yet he had not returned to that place, that place where God had spoken to him from heaven and promised to go with him. Jacob had named that place Bethel which means “House of God.” Yet he had not returned there since arriving back in the land of Canaan. This morning we are going to learn why and then we are going to see as Jacob begins to bury things from his past and looks forward to what God has for him for the future. This chapter has four graves, we will look at the first two this morning. First, let’s pray and then get into our passage of God’s Word.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 35:1-15 our passage of Scripture this morning. Please stand as I read God’s Word and follow along as I read.
Genesis 35:1-15,
“Then God said to Jacob, ‘Arise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.’ So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments; and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.’ So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem. As they journeyed, there was a great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. He built an altar there, and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled from his brother. Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; it was named Allon-bacuth. Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. God said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob; You shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name.’ Thus He called him Israel. God also said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from you. The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you.’ Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him. Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel.” (Genesis 35:1–15, NASB95)[1]
GO TO BETHEL (Genesis 35:1-7)
If Jacob would not have stopped in Shechem, if he had never bought property there, but would have gone straight up to Bethel, then what happened in chapter 34 would never have happened. But Jacob had to deal with some things in his life and with his household before he could go to Bethel. He should have done it on the other side of the Jordan where he had met with God in a wrestling match, which had changed his life, but it was only his life that was changed. Now it was time to make the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, the God of the company of Israel. It was time for Jacob to make a stand and declare that in his household God alone would be worshipped, God alone who had appeared to him at Bethel would be the God of Israel.
This chapter opens with God speaking to Jacob and telling him it is that time when he must make a stand, it is time for him to leave Shechem behind and go up to Bethel and build an altar and worship God in the place where He met with Jacob when he was fleeing from Esau more than 20 years earlier.
Jacob knows that now is the time that he must make a stand for God, he can’t take his household there to worship God, because he has not dealt with a problem in his family and that problem is idolatry. By now he knows Rachel has her father’s household gods and very possible those who were his servants and hired men were practicing idolatry, maybe some of his sons had been led into idolatry by their wives. In the plundering of Shechem they certainly made off with the gods of the people that lived there. Jacob announces to his family and to those that are with him, this includes the servants, the hired shepherds and herdsman, and the women and children of Shechem that had been captured by his sons, he announces that no longer will idolatry be tolerated in his household, he tells them to put away, to get rid of the foreign gods that they have been serving. From now on there will be only one God that they serve, the one true God that appeared to Jacob at Bethel and was with him in the day of his distress and has been with him wherever he has gone. Have you made that stand in your house and to your family? Today we do not worship idols like in Jacob’s day, but there is still idolatry in our families, anything that you place before your fellowship with God is idolatry. It could be wealth, it could be sports, dare I say it could be football, it could be leisure and the list could go on. Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19–21, NASB95)[2] What is your treasure, what is your idol? Is it time for you to make a stand against idolatry in your family, is it time to put away the foreign gods among you and declare that you are going to worship and serve God alone with all your heart? Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Jacob’s word sunk home because we read that they brought to him all the foreign gods and the rings that had been in their ears, most likely this referred to fetishes that they wore in the worship of their foreign gods. Jacob took all of these from them and my Bible says that he hid them under the oak that was near Shechem, a better translation is “he buried them under the oak near Shechem.” This is the first of the graves where Jacob buries something from his past, he is moving forward, the foreign gods are dead and buried no more a part of his life or of the lives of those in his household. Jacob also told them to purify themselves and change their clothes. In the Bible, especially the Old Testament, washing the body (purifying themselves) and changing their clothes symbolized making a new beginning. Like dirt, sin is defiling and must be washed away by the forgiveness found in Jesus Christ. Our old clothes typify the old life with its failures, but God in His mercy gives us “new garments” so that we can make a fresh beginning. In Christ we are clothed in the robe of His righteousness so that we might stand before God justified. Jacob’s household followed all of Jacob’s instructions so they might be ready to stand before God and worship Him upon reaching Bethel.
As they made their way the 30 miles up to Bethel we read that there was a great terror in the cities around them. This phrase “great terror” is a word that means a terror of God, it was God who brought the terror upon them so that they did not pursue or attack the household of Jacob, thus God preserved Jacob again from a conflict and destruction. They came safely to Luz which Jacob had renamed Bethel and he built an altar there that they might worship and call upon the name of the Lord. Jacob called the place where he built the altar El-bethel which means “The God of Bethel” or “The God of the House of God.” He named it this because it was here that God had revealed Himself to Jacob when he was fleeing from Esau. The proper response once we have put away our foreign gods, purified our hearts and have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ is worship, recognizing God for who He is: The Creator, the Redeemer, the Just Judge of all the earth, the Sovereign of all time and eternity. The only One who deserves our adoration and praise.
GRAVE AT BETHEL (Genesis 35:8)
In the middle of their worshipping we read in verse 8 that Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died. If you remember when Abraham’s servant went to Haran to find a wife for Isaac from among his relatives, the servant found Rebekah and brought her back with him to Canaan to become Isaac’s wife. Back in Genesis 24:59 it says, “Thus they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse with Abraham’s servant and his men.” (Genesis 24:59, NASB95)[3] Jacob would have known this nurse growing up, she would have been like a second mother to him. When she joined Jacob’s company we are not told, but after Jacob arrived in Canaan she must have traveled to Shechem and joined him. Since we do not hear any more about Rebekah she might have come to him with the news of his mother’s death. This nurse Deborah would have reminded Jacob of his mother and earlier days when life was simpler. Her death must have been a closing of that chapter of the past, and Jacob buried her below Bethel under an oak that was there, and he grieved her passing and named the oak allon-bacuth which in Hebrew means “the oak of tears” or “the oak of weeping.” Here we have the second grave of this chapter, often if we are going to make a stand for the Lord and live for Him with all our heart, if He is to become the treasure that we most value then we may have to part with some in our past that do not hold to our new stand of faith. The passing of Deborah from Jacob’s past represents that for us, and we will grieve losing some of those who were our friends, who may have been like family to us. We can, however, pray for them that they too may find the treasure that we have found in Jesus Christ.
GOD AT BETHEL (Genesis 35:9-15)
After mourning the passing of this dear woman Jacob returned to Bethel to worship and God appeared to Jacob here again, not in a dream as He had the first time, but in some visible form, possibly like He had appeared to Abraham back in chapter 17 when God made the covenant of circumcision with him. It was at that time that God declared to Abraham that He was God Almighty (the Hebrew name El Shaddai) and it was also the time that He changed Abram’s name to Abraham.
Much of the same language is used in what God speaks to Jacob. First, God reaffirms that Jacob will no longer be known as Jacob, but his name will be Israel. God confirms that Jacob is no longer the heel-grabber, the deceiver, but has truly striven with God and has overcome that old way of life by God’s grace. At Peniel when God first gave him the name Israel, God would not give His name to Jacob. Here like when He appeared to Abraham, God identifies Himself as God Almighty (the Hebrew name El Shaddai), it is by this name that the covenant made with Abraham will be fulfilled in Israel, by the power and might of God Almighty. God then repeats the covenant to Israel telling him that he will become a great nation, that kings will come forth from him, and the land of Canaan promised to Abraham, promised to Isaac, God says “I will give it to you and to your descendants after you.” The covenant still stands and God has reaffirmed His covenant made with Abraham now passed down to Israel. Then just as it was with Abraham in chapter 17 we are told that God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him.
Jacob’s response is much like the first time he saw God in his dream, he worships and he sets up a reminder of his meeting with God Almighty. Jacob set up a stone pillar and he worshiped God by pouring out a drink offering on it, this was most likely a bottle of wine and then he anointed the stone pillar by pouring oil on it and reaffirmed the name of this place Bethel because it was here that God had spoken to him. Do you have a Bethel in your life, have you ever set up stone pillars in your mind to remind you of times that God has spoken to you and it has made a change in your life, or it has brought your focus back to the true treasure of your heart, the Lord Jesus Christ? I think it is important for us to have Bethel’s and stone pillars in our lives that remind us of the promises of God in our life, to remind of those times when our fellowship with God was broken because of some idol in our life and we have gotten rid of the idol and we have purified our hearts and changed our clothes and come back to God in worship and our fellowship with Jesus Christ is restored. Jacob could now look toward the future and the promises that God had for him. There was still some sorrow ahead as God removed two more people from his life, we will look at that next week.
CONCLUSION:
As we look to the future and the glorious promises of God that are instore for us we should be as Paul says, steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. Our Scripture reading this morning from Titus 2 reminds us of this: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” (Titus 2:11–14, NASB95)[4] As we look for our blessed hope, the return of our Savior to take us home to be with Him, that should cause us to strive to live sensibly, righteously and godly by God’s grace and the indwelling Holy Spirit. I understand that sometimes our old flesh, our old nature can get in our way and we lose our focus and we become focused on something else and God must remind us that we need to go up to Bethel, we need to refocus, we need to put away the idols that are distracting us from God, we need to purify our hearts with the water of the Word of God and we need to remember that we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ and we need to return to worship, to renewed fellowship with God. Paul describes that renewal as presenting your bodies as a living sacrifice, I remember hearing one time that the problem with living sacrifices is they tend to crawl off the altar, we need to be putting ourselves daily, maybe hourly back on that altar. Listen to Paul’s words in Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1–2, NASB95)[5] How do we renew our minds and prove what God’s will is? By reading this (hold up Bible) by immersing ourselves in the water of the Word of God. The speaker at men’s retreat challenged us to read God’s Word more, to pick up God’s Word instead of the TV remote or the computer mouse when we can’t sleep. To use our leisure time to read God’s Word, instead of watching TV or reading novels or surfing the internet. Not that you can’t do those things, but do not do them to the exclusion of the Word. I made up my mind that I am going to read God’s Word more, I want to read through the Bible at least a couple of times a year. I want to know God’s word, I want to renew my mind, and I want to prove what God’s will is for me.
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[4]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[5]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995