Worship I Can Only Imagine youtube/watch?v=0xwzItqYmII I Stand In Awe Of You youtube/watch?v=eCacla77PoY This Is My Desire youtube/watch?v=obi5ZGujiuU Renamed and Renewed Genesis 35:1–29 Everyone’s faith story is different. For some of us, the turn from death in sin to new life in Christ was swift and abrupt. Others continue to wrestle with uncertainty and doubt for years as God works in their lives to draw them closer to a relationship with Him. Many of us struggle our whole lives to balance our feelings of uncertainty and inadequacy with the certainty and sufficiency of faith in Christ. Jacob’s commitment to God seems to have been on again off again. He struggled to work through fears and doubts until the assurance of faith finally overcame his hesitation and became the guiding principle of his life. Throughout Jacob’s journey, he struggled to commit himself fully to God—qualifying his commitment with conditions that God must meet to prove His power in Gen 28. As Jacob prepared to return to Bethel, he finally acknowledged the sovereignty of God over his life and his household: The God of Abraham and Isaac became the God of Jacob. 1. Fulfilling a Vow (Genesis 35:1–4) A. God’s Faithfulness - After his sons had plundered Shechem, Jacob received direct orders from God: “Arise, Go up to Bethel and dwell there, and make an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from before Esau your brother.” His instructions allude back to Gen 28:10–22, when God first appeared to Jacob in a dream and spoke to him, repeating the covenant promise He had made to Abraham and Isaac. God had also promised Jacob that He would be with him and bring him back to the land he was in. At the time, Jacob was fleeing from his brother, who wanted to kill him. Jacob’s response to God’s words of promise betrayed his reluctance. He made a vow that was contingent on God doing what He had just promised to do: If God would protect him, provide for him, and return him home, then Jacob would call Yahweh his God. Now Jacob had reconciled with his brother and returned to Canaan a wealthy man with a large family. God had fulfilled all of Jacob’s conditions: He had protected him, provided for him, and brought him home to Canaan. By calling Jacob to go back to Bethel and build an altar, God was reminding Jacob that it was time to fulfill his side of the vow. B. Jacob’s Obedience - Jacob responded with complete obedience. Jacob alerted his household that they were leaving Shechem. But first, the patriarch gathered all the idols in the camp and buried them under a tree. The text does not tell us where these “foreign gods” came from, but some of them were probably Laban’s household gods, which Rachel had stolen on the flight from Haran. Jacob’s company also included the captives and plunder from the Shechem raid, which likely included idols. As he buried these other gods deep in the ground, Jacob officially renounced any other god in fulfillment of his vow to make Yahweh his God in return for bringing him safely back to the land. Jacob commanded his entourage to purify themselves and change their clothes in preparation for the meeting at Bethel. Then Jacob told his household that he would build an altar to the God who answered him in his distress. He was likely referring to his trouble with Esau, but Jacob had endured a lot of difficulty in his life. God had been with him at every step, even when Jacob was completely undeserving. 2. Reiterating a Promise (Genesis 35:5–15) A. God’s Promise - Jacob arrived safely at Bethel and erected an altar, as God commanded. Then he renamed the sacred place El-Bethel, “the God of Bethel” (literally, “the God of the house of God”). The narrator explains Jacob’s reason for the new name: “God had appeared to him when he fled before his brother.” When Jacob first named the place Bethel (“house of God”), he simply acknowledged that the place was sacred because God had been there. Now God has taken care of Jacob, and the place becomes much less significant than the God who met him there. God appeared to Jacob again, blessed him, and reiterated Jacob’s name change from Jacob to Israel. Then God affirmed to Jacob the same covenant He made with Abraham. He had promised Abraham land, a great nation, and even nations of descendants, and Jacob is the heir of that promise. Like he did on his first trip to Bethel, Jacob set up a pillar of stone to commemorate the place and poured oil over it. But this time, he also made a drink offering on the pillar. B. Jacob’s New Name - The name Israel, which likely means “God fights,” signals not only a change in name, but a change in the direction of Jacob’s life. Through this name change, Jacob, the patriarch who robbed his own brother of his birthright, became Israel, the eponymous head of a nation and kings. Although the two names, Jacob and Israel, are used interchangeably throughout the biblical texts, the name “Israel” usually refers to the descendants of Jacob. Yet the name is also used to refer to various other groups throughout the OT. It can denote all of God’s people as the “children of Israel,” the whole nation during the early monarchy, the northern kingdom during the period of the monarchy after Solomon, both the northern and southern kingdoms, and the land itself. For Jews, the name Israel came to carry connotations of the covenant, the theocratic nation of Israel, and the land given to God’s people. C. Israel: The People of God - The name Israel is also used in similar ways in the NT. In the Gospels, for example, an angel of the Lord instructs Joseph to return the infant Jesus from Egypt to “the land of Israel.” When Jesus sent out the 12 disciples, whose number represents the tribes of Israel, He instructed them to avoid the Gentiles and Samaritans and instead to go only to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” In Romans 9–11, Paul debates the identity of true Israel and its fate. And in the book of Revelation, the new Jerusalem is described as bearing the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel. All these uses of the name Israel in the OT and NT are rooted in the narrative of Jacob in Genesis, where God called him from a past of deception to a future as the head of God’s people. 3. The End of the Road (Genesis 35:16–29) A. Birth and Death - Jacob’s family then continued their journey, heading south toward Ephrath. En route, Rachel went into hard labor and gave birth to her second son. Her prayer at the birth and naming of her first son, Joseph (“May the LORD add to me another son”), is answered. However, after Rachel named the new baby Ben-oni (“son of my sorrow”), she tragically died. Jacob renamed his newest son Benjamin instead (“son of my right hand”), then buried his beloved Rachel. After the burial, the narrator calls Jacob by his new name, Israel: “Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.” He has finally transitioned in faith. B. Family Leadership - While the family camped near the tower of Eder, Israel experienced further hardship from his sons: Reuben, his firstborn, slept with his father’s servant-wife, Bilhah, the mother of Dan and Naphtali. The barren Rachel had given Bilhah to Jacob so that she could bear sons for him through her servant in Gen 30:3–8. Now that Rachel was dead, Reuben likely feared that Bilhah would become Jacob’s favorite wife instead of his own mother, Leah. But Reuben’s actions go further than simply securing his mother’s position. By sleeping with Jacob’s concubine, Reuben attempted to seize his father’s power. The narrator leaves a gap where we expect to find Jacob’s response to Reuben’s insolence. He tells us only that “Israel heard about it,” leaving us to wonder whether Jacob was indifferent (as he was in Dinah’s situation) or impotent before his eldest son. We only learn much later that Jacob was outraged. At the end of Genesis, when Jacob blessed his sons, his “blessing” of Reuben became a curse. By his actions, Reuben disqualified himself from leadership in the family, just as Simeon and Levi disqualified themselves at Shechem. The family leadership will fall to the fourth-born son, Judah. C. Coming Full Circle - In Genesis 35:27, Jacob finally reached his father’s house at Mamre, where both Isaac and Abraham had lived. Rebekah’s absence from the account suggests that she had died before Jacob arrived, never having seen her favorite son after he left home for Haran. When Isaac died, Esau and Jacob came together to bury him—showing that their animosity has passed. In this moment of tragedy, there is some peace. Jacob’s life had come full circle. He had finally returned to his father’s home, though now as a changed man. Despite the many pitfalls and wrong turns in Jacob’s faith journey, God had remained faithful to this flawed patriarch, showering him with blessings, protecting him, and extending to him the covenant promises originally made to Abraham, despite his shortcomings. As Jacob observed God’s longstanding faithfulness, he finally accepted the God of his forefathers as his own God. Jacob finally becomes Israel instead of Jacob, and thus becomes the namesake for the OT people of God. Finishing Strong - Jacob struggled throughout his life to commit himself fully to God. It isn’t until the last chapter of the Jacob narrative in Gen 24–35 that he finally embraced the God of his forefathers as his God. When he did this, he put away the idols in his household. Then he and the members of his household purified themselves and put on new garments. The act of putting away idols and changing garments illustrates what it means to repent. When Paul preached to the crowds at Lystra, he pleaded with the people to turn from their idols to the living God. He later exhorts the Ephesian Christians to “put off” their old habits and “put on” a new lifestyle that suits a new creation. Following God means turning away from a former way of living and embracing God’s way of living. It means embracing the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the only God. It means embracing Christ, and a relationship with Him, as the way and means to do so. Some of us are like Jacob in our faltering journeys of faith. Our commitment to God seems to come and go as we wrestle with fears or struggle for control. But the flawed Jacob kept his vow to Yahweh, and he stands as a testimony to God’s patient work in people. The comfort of Jacob’s story is that God remained faithful no matter what Jacob did. God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendants survived Jacob’s shortcomings because God is sovereign and gracious. God doesn’t give up on people or His plans.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Aug 2013 00:31:38 +0000
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