Return to and Departure from Bethel
April 18, 2024
Commentary
After the massacre in Shechem, Jacob returned to Bethel, in need of a decisive word from God. The Lord reminded Jacob of his forgotten vows. Along the way Jacob’s wives and children had picked up idols. Jacob decided to go to Bethel and build an altar to God who had been at his side and answered his prayers all these years when he was in trouble (v. 3). Therefore, Jacob said, “Put away the strange gods that are among you and change your garments.” He took the idols and buried them under a big oak tree (v. 4). While Jacob and his family were traveling, people wanted to follow and kill them, but God protected them (v. 5). God took them back to Bethel, where He had appeared to Jacob when he was running from Esau (vv. 6-7). After arriving back at Bethel Jacob built an altar as God had told him to do (v. 1). As before he promised Jacob many descendants (v. 11). He also added that kings would be included in his offspring. Through these acts, Jacob had shown is devotion to the Lord. People knew that he had been with God.
Then, in a tragic move, Jacob departed from Bethel (v. 16) after God had told him to go there and dwell (v. 1). Soon after, bad things started happening. Rachel, who was pregnant with her second child, went into labor and died after giving birth to Benjamin, Jacob’s youngest son. When Rachael died Jacob’s heart died with her. She was buried beside the road to Bethlehem (vv. 19-20). Following the loss of Rachael, Jacob’s oldest son Reuben slept with Bilhah, one of Jacobs’s wives, and he found out about it (v. 22). Jacob had twelve sons (vv. 23-26). Reuben, the eldest, lost his inheritance and birthright by this sinful act. Lastly, we read about the death of Isaac, who was 180 years old (vv. 27-29). His burial found his son’s Jacob and Esau at peace as they bury their father.
Application
God will not allow his children to live in sin and pursue a course contrary to His will without consequences. I must be seeking God’s way and not my way in my life day by day.
Genesis 35:1– 29 (NET)
1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up at once to Bethel and live there. Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3 Let us go up at once to Bethel. Then I will make an altar there to God, who responded to me in my time of distress and has been with me wherever I went.”
4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem 5 and they started on their journey. The surrounding cities were afraid of God, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.
6 Jacob and all those who were with him arrived at Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7 He built an altar there and named the place El Bethel because there God had revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother. 8 (Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel; thus it was named Oak of Weeping.)
9 God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan Aram and blessed him. 10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but your name will no longer be called Jacob; Israel will be your name.” So God named him Israel. 11 Then God said to him, “I am the Sovereign God. Be fruitful and multiply! A nation—even a company of nations—will descend from you; kings will be among your descendants! 12 The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you. To your descendants I will also give this land.” 13 Then God went up from the place where he spoke with him. 14 So Jacob set up a sacred stone pillar in the place where God spoke with him. He poured out a drink offering on it, and then he poured oil on it. 15 Jacob named the place where God spoke with him Bethel.
16 They traveled on from Bethel, and when Ephrath was still some distance away, Rachel went into labor —and her labor was hard. 17 When her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you are having another son.” 18 With her dying breath, she named him Ben Oni. But his father called him Benjamin instead. 19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). 20 Jacob set up a marker over her grave; it is the Marker of Rachel’s Grave to this day.
21 Then Israel traveled on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. 22 While Israel was living in that land, Reuben went to bed with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:
23 The sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, as well as Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.
25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, were Dan and Naphtali.
26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant, were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan Aram.
27 So Jacob came back to his father Isaac in Mamre, to Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. 28 Isaac lived to be 180 years old. 29 Then Isaac breathed his last and joined his ancestors. He died an old man who had lived a full life. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
Illustration: Backsliding is Miserable
It is a miserable thing to be a backslider. Of all unhappy things that can befall a man, I suppose “backsliding” is the worst. A stranded ship, a broken-winged eagle, a garden overrun with weeds, a harp without strings, a church in ruins–all these are sad sights. But a backslider is a sadder sight still. That true grace shall never be extinguished, and true union with Christ never be broken off, I feel no doubt. But I do believe that a man may fall away so far that he shall lose sight of his own grace, and despair of his own salvation. And if this is not hell, it is certainly the next thing to it! A wounded conscience, a mind sick of itself, a memory full of self-reproach, a heart pierced through with the Lord’s arrows, a spirit broken with a load of inward accusation—all this is a taste of hell. It is a hell on earth. (John Charles Ryle – Encyclopedia of 15,000 Illustrations)