Genesis 35:1–15 (ESV)
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.”
So Jacob said to 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.”
So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.
And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.
And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.
And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.
God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.
And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel.
And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”
Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him.
And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.
So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.
Sometimes the Christian life is like a boomerang. We set out, or are thrown out, and then God brings us back to the places we have been before. I think he does this because he is reminding us of the journey that we have walked with him so far. That is what is happening here with Jacob.
God calls Jacob back to Bethel, the very same place where He appeared to him years earlier when Jacob fled from Esau. When we read that earlier passage, Jacob made a promise to God that if God would prosper him while he was away from home, God would become his God. Now, after years of wandering, difficulty, betrayals, God’s discipline, and even an encounter of wrestling with God himself, Jacob now returns to Bethel and finds that the God who met him then is still faithful now.
Notice that the first thing Jacob does when he gets there. He, the family leader, calls his household to repentance. “Put away the foreign gods,” he says. The God who has walked with him is a God who deserves to be worshipped alone. I wonder whether there is an implication for us here too. Could part of the point be that if we want spiritual renewal in our lives, we too need to start with repentance? With putting away the old idols of the heart? True worship of the creator God cannot coexist with idols, and so Jacob buries those idols under the tree. Perhaps he would have been better off to destroy those idols so that they can never be dug up to be worshipped again.
Once this happens, once Jacob and his family leave their foreign idols behind, God goes in front of them and the terror of God fall on all the people around them. God then reaffirms the covenant promises he had made. He reminds Jacob of who he now is. He is no longer Jacob, but Israel. No longer deceiver, but the one who wrestled with God. Jacobs whole identity had been changed by his encounter with God. In fact it is through all the difficulties Jacob went through that his identity was changed, and it was not until God ultimately disabled Jacob in the famous wrestling match, that Jacob finally submits to God’s reshaping of his heart.
Now what we need to realise is that even though Jacob had changed, God was still the same. God is still the same faithful covenant keeping God. God had remained faithful even though Jacob had often been unfaithful. And so when God reminds Jacob of his covenant promises, Jacob responds in the only way he could: worship. He builds an altar, sets up a pillar, and pours out an offering.
So what about us then? What does this passage teach us? I think it teaches us first to remember that God shapes us in all kinds of different ways. It may be that he shapes us through trials, it may be that he shapes us through letting us beat the consequences of our sins, it may be that he shapes us through deep dark nights of the soul in which we wrestle with God. But we are the ones being shaped. He is the one who stays the same. Secondly I think this passage reminds us that even if our lives have drastically changed, our position before the covenant keeping God has not. If you are a believer today your sins past, present and future, have all been forgiven. You have been renamed by God himself in Christ Jesus. You are now called Christian. That is your new identity. We are a new creation and every time we go back to dig up our idols from under the tree, we need to remember, to return to who we really are in Christ. Our new identity can never change, but sometimes we need to remind ourselves of that.
Prayer
Father, we thank You that You are the God who renews Your covenant promises to Your people. Forgive us for the idols we so often cling to. Help us, by Your Spirit, to bury them once and for all, and to live in the freedom of being Your redeemed children. Thank You for Christ, in whom You have met us and given us a new name. In his name we pray. Amen