SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 35
IMPORTANT VERSE:
“Ge rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. (Genesis 35: 2)
“Then come, Let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” (Genesis 35:3)
JACOB RETURNS TO BETHEL (vs. 1-15)
Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”
So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him. “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. Then they set out, and the terror of God fell upon the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.
Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is Bethel) in the land of Canaan. There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.
Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So it was named Allon Bacuth. After Jacob returned form Pandan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel.
And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body. The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you. Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him.
Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel.
THE DEATHS OF RACHEL AND ISAAC (vs. 16-29)
Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you have another son.” As she breathed her last – for she was dying – she named her son Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin.
So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to his day that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb. Israel moved on again and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heagrd of it.
Jacob had twelve sons:
The sons of Leah: Reuben, the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun.
The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
The sons of Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali
The sons of Leah’s maidservant Zilpah: Gad and Asher.
These were the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.
Jacob came home to his father Isaac in Mamre, near Kiriath Arba (that is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. Isaac lived a hundred and eighty years. Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
THOUGHTS: (From Life Application Study Bible)
The people have idols as their god and as good luck charms. Some Israelites worshiped God but also had idols in their homes. Jacob ordered his household to get rid of their idols because he wanted nothing to divert his family’s spiritual focus. In Jacob’s day, earrings were often worn as good luck charms to ward off evil. The people in Jacob’s family had to cleanse themselves of all pagan influences, including reminders of foreign gods. In the same way, our faith will be ruined if we do not remove idols from our lives. An idol is anything we put before God. It can be thoughts or desires that stand between us and God.
God reminded Jacob of his new name, Israel, which meant “one who struggles with God.” Although Jacob’s life was littered with difficulties and trials, his new name was a tribute to his desire to stay close to God despite life’s disappointments.
Many people believe that Christianity should offer a problem-free life. But as life gets tough, they draw back disappointed instead, they should determine to prevail with God through life’s storms. Problems and difficulties are painful but inevitable. You must see them as opportunities for growth. You cannot prevail with God unless you have troubles to prevail over.
The oil used to anoint the pillar was olive oil of the finest grade of purity. It was expensive so using it showed the high value placed on the anointed object. Jacob was showing the greatest respect for the place where he met with God.
Reuben was the oldest son who was supposed to receive a double portion of the family inheritance and leadership among his people. But at the death bed of Jacob, all his sons assembled for the final blessing. Suddenly Jacob took away Reuben’s double portion and gave it to someone else because he slept with one of the wives of Jacob and dishonored Jacob in his own bed.
Sins’ consequences can plague us long after the sin is committed. When we do something wrong, we may think we can escape unnoticed only to discover later that the sin has been quietly bleeding serious consequences.
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