Genesis 35:1-8
When reading the Scriptures, do you ever ask yourself this
question; how different am I from the one I’m reading about? Often I have this prideful attitude of
thinking, “How could that person not hear and obey what God is clearly
instructing them to do.” I mean
look at Jacob, he is running for his life from his brother Esau and on his way
to Haran he stops to spend the night and he has a dream about a ladder that is
going from the earth to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood above the ladder and
spoke to him, saying; “I am the Lord, the God of
Abraham your father and the God of Isaac.
The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of
the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and the east and to the
north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of
the earth be blessed. Behold, I am
with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this
land. For I will not leave you
until I have done what I have promised you.” (Genesis 28:13-17)
What does Jacob do, he gives the place a name, he calls it
Bethel, “the house of God” and he takes the stone that was under his head and
sets it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. And he also promised God that if God were
faithful to do the things listed above, he would worship Him and give God a
full tenth of what God has given him.
Now, let us go back to chapter 35 and see how he is doing.
Jacob needs to go fifteen miles south of Shechem to be in
the will of God; it is of interest that Bethel is located almost directly
between Shechem and Hebron and that his father, Isaac lived in Hebron. We must assume that he made this
journey to see his family and his father, who was now a very old man. It is also clear that Rebekah and
others of his servants had idols, and the false gods that they were putting
faith in had to be dealt with, before they could go to Bethel. It was only fifteen miles to be where
God wanted Jacob, much had to be done before they went from Shechem to Bethel,
and though it was only fifteen miles, it was about one thousand feet higher in
elevation, with many enemies between the two places.
Jacob did what he should have done many years ago, he listened
to God and did what God told him to do; “God said
to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you
fled from your brother Esau.” (Genesis
35:1) And as we read the other
seven verses, we observe Jacob being obedient to the voice of God and Jacob’s
confession to the faithfulness of his God. So Jacob told his
household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are
among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel,
so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my
distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”
If you hate it, when God speaks truth to you, like He spoke
to Jacob. Or you letting some idols into your life, maybe your children, your
comfort, or a job, keep you from going to Bethel? He has given us His promises and like Jacob we can confess; “to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and
has been with me wherever I have gone.”
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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