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1 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.” 2 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. 3 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.” 4 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. 5 Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them. 6 Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7 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. 8 Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak outside Bethel. So it was named Allon Bakuth. ~ Genesis 35:1-8
Today, we transition into Genesis 35 where after a ten year distraction from God in the city of Shechem, Jacob and his family are about to embark on a new journey with God. Whether we decide wisely or not this is what we as believers in the Lord Jesus are on, a daily journey with God. Even though, like Jacob, we all have dips and detours in our walk with God, I have found that these moments of plain foolishness are useful to God as He inculcates His culture into our souls. Through his utter failure and weakness Jacob was learning to let God be God in his life.
In v.1 of today's passage we read, "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.'"
Seven years earlier, way back in Genesis 31 when Jacob was living in Haran we read, "Then the Lord said to Jacob, 'Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you.'" After that the Lord spoke again to Jacob and said, "I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family."
In v.2-4 of today's passage we read, "2 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. 3 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.' 4 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."
God spoke to Jacob once again, even though Jacob had failed miserably at being the leader of his family. He probably thought that God was done with him, but He wasn't. Despite our circumstances or even our failure, if we walk with the Lord, following the direction He gives, we will not only grow in our faith in Him, we will grow in our intimacy with Him. After God had spoken to him again, Jacob returned to being the leader that he was meant to be.
When we leave a vacuum in the spot where we should be leading others, there is a strange strengthening in the flesh to lead us down his road of destruction and death. Returning to his spot of leadership, Jacob informed his family that they were to purify themselves and change their garments. Washing and changing of garments is metaphoric for repentance or turning away from evil and returning to God. The washing and the changing of our garments is something that is seen throughout the Bible in anticipation of meeting with God.
Jacob then informed his family that when they arrived in Bethel, he was going to build an altar. In saying this, Jacob was acknowledging the vow which he had earlier made to God. Time and again we’ve seen Jacob face a challenge and the Lord was there with him in his trial. The altar would yet again be a demonstration of his decision to follow the Lord out of his gratitude to Him.
In obedience to their father, Jacob's family yielded up their idols. This included even their earrings which in their culture had been consecrated to some god. The oak under which they buried their idol jewelry was the same terebinth tree mentioned back in Genesis 12:6, the tree under which Abraham rested. That tree pictures coming to the end of ourselves and yielding to God.
In v.5-7 of today's passage we read, "5 Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them. 6 Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7 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."
The "terror from God" was the fear that God had brought upon the people in the area who wanted to run Jacob down and kill him. Through this fear, God ensured that Jacob and his family would not be pursued as they traveled south 28 miles to Bethel. After these many long years, close to thirty, Jacob was finally returning to Bethel, the place where he had laid sleeping with his head on the stone as a pillow and had a vision of the Lord. He was all but alone when he was there the last time. Now, his second time there, Jacob had four wives, at least 12 children, servants, flocks of animals, and wealth.
God had kept His word to Jacob because everything that he had been promised was granted by the Lord. The angels who ascended and descended on the ladder had attended to him all along, and Jacob was divinely protected throughout it all. This must be the reason for the inclusion of the name of the city, "Luz." Jacob renamed Luz to Bethel. You will remember that Luz means “to turn aside” such as turning away from the wisdom of God. When the promise of God was made to Jacob, the town’s name was Luz. At this second return of Jacob to Luz, it is named Bethel, House of God. Jacob was again at that very same spot in the land of promise and the promise was fulfilled. And so, it was time for Jacob to fulfill his promise.
Oh, the tapestry that we have been given here. Jacob had to fail to get to this point in his life. God didn't make him fail but He allowed him to fail in order to be convinced that the God of the Bible is the true God. By proving Himself faithful to Jacob, Jacob decided that he would be faithful to God. All other gods had been removed from Jacob and now there was just one God in his life. That didn't mean that Jacob was all of a sudden perfect. No, Jacob would fail, but Jacob was learning that with God failure is not the opposite of success.
In v.8 of today's passage we read, "Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the terebinth tree. So the name of it was called Allon Bachuth."
Very few people’s death and burial are recorded in the Bible. But, here we have the death and burial of Deborah, Rebekah's nurse. Deborah means "Bee." A bee produces honey. Deborah was also a wet nurse, a woman who breast fed children. Both of these descriptions of Deborah are descriptors for the Word of God. Deborah was a picture of the faithfulness of the Word of God in our lives, only if we read it and let it read us. When we are careful to walk with the Lord and to be defined by Him, we will know His blessing in the most profound of ways, even through our failure.
