# 38 2023 Dev. Ge. 35:1.The House of God! Read all of chapter thirty five first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s story. Do you believe that this may also be part of our story, in our time? All passages are taken from the NIV.
Ge. 35: “Then God said to Jacob. ‘Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an alter to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.’”
Ge.35 God, absent in Ch. 34, tells Jacob to go back to where he met God, at the place where he realized that God was with him. Now Jacob realized that he was completely dependent on God. His sons had committed a great atrocity, under normal circumstances the people around Shechem would have retaliated. But God intervened, “the terror of God fell on the towns all around them…”
Vs.1 God sends Jacob back to Bethel to build an alter and to reconnect with Him. Initially, Jacob’s commitment to God was conditional, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God”. In Jacobs second visit to Bethel there are no conditions. It is good for us as well to go back, in our minds, to the time we first realized that God was with us, when we made a commitment!
Vs.2-5 “So Jacob said to his household and all who were with him (I assume including their captives) “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes…” They gave Jacob the pagan gods, and I assume Rachel’s household gods and all the gold rings in their ears, used as amulets in pagan societies at that time. Jacob’s initial commitment was conditional but on Jacob’s return to Bethel, Jacob wanted to consecrate his household and all the people with him. Although, Jacob’s sons had done a wicked thing, God did not allow Satan to wreck His plan of salvation.
Vs.6-8 Is a summary of Jacob’s return to (Luz) Bethel, he builds an alter and worshiped.
Vs.9-15 God appeared to Jacob, “I am God Almighty…” God renames Jacob; “you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel, (See note). God also gave Jacob the blessing and covenant with Abraham and Isaac; “be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants. The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.” This blessings and covenant mirrors the blessing on Adam and Eve, Ge. 1:17-30, reiterated after the flood, Ge. 9: 1-17. In Jesus Christ that blessing and covenant is extended to Christians today Eph.1: 3-16.
Vs.16-29 Jacob moves on from Bethel, heading for Mamre, where Isaac was, along the way, at Bethlehem, Rachel dies in child birth. Jacob moved on again near Migdal Eder, here Reuben defiles his fathers bed. With the birth of Benjamin the number of Jacob children are complete, twelve sons. Therefore, Jacob’s genealogy is included here. The chapter ends with Jacob coming home and with the death of Isaac. “ And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.” Jacob traveled a very crooked path, yet God walked with him every step of the way. As Christians, through thick and thin, God walks with us. Amen and Amen!
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