The Book of GENESIS
James J. Barker


Lesson 37
JACOB FINALLY RETURNS TO BETHEL

Text: GENESIS 35:1-29


INTRODUCTION:


  1. Jacob’s stay at Shechem was a time of spiritual declension and unfaithfulness.
  2. After the terrible events recorded in Genesis 34, the Lord said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God” (35:1).
  3. One commentator put it this way: "The thirty-fourth chapter of Genesis is God-less; the thirty-fifth is full of God. The former describes the Shechem life of the Hebrews; the latter their Bethel life. The contrast between a believer's and an unbeliever's life is scarcely more marked than the contrast between a half-hearted and a whole-hearted believer's life" (James Strachan, Hebrew Ideals: A Study of Genesis).
  4. Jacob certainly wasn’t following the Lord wholeheartedly. He had a bent toward backsliding, and yet we have seen over and over again that the Lord kept looking out for Jacob, kept interposing for him, etc.
  5. We see the grace of God beautifully illustrated in the life of Jacob. Second Timothy 2:13 says, “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”
  6. Jacob was often faithless, but the Lord was always faithful.
  7. Jacob was very worldly-minded, and was often out of touch with God, but God never left him alone.
  8. We see in Genesis 34, that a crisis had arrived in the life of Jacob, and we see in Genesis 35 that the Lord dealt with Jacob in discipline until he finally returned to Bethel, “the house of God” (35:1).
  9. It was over thirty years since Jacob had made his vow to return to Bethel, and Jacob did not keep his vow until after the terrible tragedy in Shechem, and the Lord said, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there” (35:1).

  1. JACOB’S REPENTANCE
  2. JACOB’S WORSHIP
  3. JACOB’S BEREAVEMENT

 

I. JACOB’S REPENTANCE

  1. Jacob was finally roused from his backslidden condition, and he immediately set about obeying the Lord’s urgent command (35:1).
  2. If our fellowship with God is to be renewed, whatever can be put right must be put right. And as long as we are unwilling to set right that which is wrong, there cannot be any real spiritual rest.
  3. So the first thing Jacob did was to call upon his household and tell them to put away “the strange gods” (idols) that were among them, to be clean (purify themselves), and to change their garments (35:2).
  4. Some here today need to be clean, and need to change their garments. Some need to change their immodest garments and their worldly garments, etc.
  5. And all idols must be destroyed (35:2). Even after Jacob’s wonderful vision at Bethel, where he saw a ladder reaching up from earth into heaven, and the angels of God ascending and descending on it, and the LORD standing above it – even after all that – Jacob slacked off and allowed his family to worship idols.
  6. And even after Peniel, where Jacob saw God face to face, Jacob slacked off and allowed his family to worship idols.
  7. Jacob was very hard working and industrious, but spiritually he was a slacker. But in Genesis 35:2, Jacob wants to get right with God.
  8. Jacob's appeal to his household at once elicited a whole-hearted response. They saw that he was in earnest, and they gave to him "all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all the earrings which were in their ears” (35:4).
  9. The strange gods and earrings were all handed over to Jacob, who then "hid them under the oak which was at Shechem" (35:4).
  10. Notice that Jacob buried them immediately.
  11. Idols must be put away immediately.
  12. When the apostle Paul was preaching in Ephesus, “many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts (magic) brought their books together, and burned them before all men” (Acts 19:18, 19a).
  13. These new believers did not procrastinate. They immediately burned their occult literature. Jacob immediately buried his family idols.
  14. In his commentary on the book of Genesis, W.H. Griffith Thomas said, “Shechem had been the place of spiritual trouble, and these causes of spiritual trouble were appropriately left behind there. It would not have been safe to have allowed them to remain a moment longer in the household. Surrender is the supreme secret and condition of spiritual blessing. As long as there is any mental or moral reservation, there cannot be any real satisfaction in the soul, strength in the character, or service for God. It is noteworthy that there are certain things in connection with the spiritual life that must be entirely given up and destroyed, for it is impossible to sanctify or consecrate them. They must be buried and left behind, for they cannot possibly be devoted to the service of God. It is this that gives point to our Lord's well-known words, ‘If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off’ (Matthew 5:30). There are things that have to be cut off and cannot be consecrated. Books have to be burned (Acts 19:19). Evil habits have to be broken. Sin must be put away. There are things that are beyond all reclamation.

The dearest idol I have known,
Whate'er that idol be;
Help me to tear it from thy throne,
And worship only Thee.”
— Willian Cowper

  1. Proverbs 16:7 says, “When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” We saw back in Genesis 33 how God supernaturally softened Esau’s heart.
  2. And we see here in Genesis 35 how “the terror of God was upon the cities” that were round about Jacob and his household as they traveled (35:5).
  3. So deeply impressed were the Canaanites round about them that there was no attempt whatever to hinder or injure Jacob and his family as they departed.
  4. The supernatural fear of God that came upon them prevented them from taking revenge on Jacob’s murderous sons.
  5. As long as Jacob remained in Shechem, there was no real witness for God; but now that he and his family were finally separating themselves from them, "the terror of God" came over the Canaanites.
  6. So with God leading him, and with great confidence, “Jacob came to Luz which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him” (35:6).

 

II. JACOB’S WORSHIP

  1. “And he built there an altar…” (35:7). Bethel means, “house of God.” Now, Jacob “called the place El-bethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother” (35:7).
  2. This name change is significant. Now it is the God of the place that is emphasized, rather than the place itself, and so Jacob called it El-Bethel, i.e. "the God of the house of God."
  3. The name of this altar is similar to the name Jacob gave to the altar he built back in Shechem – El-elohe-Israel, that is, “God, the God of Israel.”
  4. But unfortunately, that altar was basically meaningless for Jacob and his family since their worldliness was a direct contradiction of its testimony.
  5. The altar and its name had lost all spiritual power because of their compromise and worldliness. W.H. Griffith Thomas said, “If that altar had been of any real service we should not have had the awful story of the savagery of Jacob's sons (Genesis 34). It is scarcely too much to say that children brought up in an atmosphere of worldliness are the very hardest to impress with the realities of spiritual religion, even though they may attend a place of worship week by week. The life of worldliness during six days is far too powerful for anything that happens on the seventh day to counteract it” (Genesis).
  6. In Shechem the altar bore witness to God's relation to Jacob himself – "God, the God of Israel" (33:20). But at Bethel self is entirely lost and God alone is mentioned, "the God of Bethel."
  7. This is important because we see repeatedly in the book of Genesis that Jacob was very self-willed. Even after the slaughter of Shechem and his family, Jacob thought only of himself – not the innocent victims, not Dinah, not his other family members – he thought only of himself (34:30).
  8. But here at Bethel, Jacob got right with God, and instead of thinking of God in relation to himself, Jacob thought only of God, and God alone.
  9. The remembrance of God’s mercies in times of trouble, and distress, and danger is a great encouragement, and that is why Genesis 35:7 says, Jacob “called the place El-bethel,” because it was there that God appeared unto him, “when he fled from the face of his brother.”
  10. Jacob would never forget that day at Bethel when God appeared to him, “when he fled from the face of his brother” (35:7).
  11. God wants us to remember. All throughout the Old Testament, God told the children of Israel, “Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place…And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm…Remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt…And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness (Exodus 13:3; Deuteronomy 5:15; 7:18; 8:2; etc.).
  12. John Newton was an English sailor in the Royal Navy and later a captain of slave ships. He was gloriously saved and went on to become a pastor and hymn writer (“Amazing Grace” and “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken”). John Newton had these words from Deuteronomy 15:15 painted over his fireplace, “But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bond-man in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee.”
  13. God wants us to remember that we were slaves to sin.
  14. God wants us to remember that He saved us from hell.
  15. God wants us to remember His goodness to us. If it were not for the grace of God, we’d all be in hell right now.
  16. God wants us to remember. When our Lord introduced the Lord’s Supper, He said, “Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me” (I Corinthians 11:24).

Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget Thine agony;
Lest I forget Thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.

 

III. JACOB’S BEREAVEMENT

  1. There are three deaths recorded in Genesis 35 – Deborah, Rachel, and Isaac.
  2. No sooner had Jacob reached Bethel than Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died.
  3. Deborah is first mentioned in Genesis 24:59 in connection with Rebekah's coming to be the wife of Isaac. Her name is not mentioned there. “And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse” (24:59).
  4. Deborah’s name is mentioned only in reference to her death in Genesis 35:8, many years later.
  5. How, why, and when Deborah became associated with Jacob's household we do not know, for the Bible does not say.
  6. She may have joined Jacob in Padan-aram after the death of Jacob’s mother Rebekah, but the Bible does not say.
  7. Deborah was an important link with Jacob’s past, recalling his mother and his own earlier days, but now this link was broken, and Jacob was one step closer to eternity.
  8. “You know you are getting old when you have more friends in heaven than you do here on earth.”
  9. Deborah was buried under an oak tree there (Allonbachuth, “the oak of weeping,” Genesis 35:8).
  10. After the death of Deborah, we read, "And God appeared unto Jacob again…and blessed him" (35:9-15).
  11. The word "again" is significant. The Lord continually looked out for Jacob, interposed for Jacob, appeared to Jacob, and spoke to Jacob.
  12. All the time that Jacob was backslidden and far from God, he was not forgotten. God never left Jacob alone, but was working all the time in various ways to restore him.
  13. And so is it with you and me. When we start to backslide, it seems like we are left to ourselves, but it is not really so. God will never forsake His children. Now that Jacob had returned to Bethel, there was nothing between him and the Lord.

Nothing between my soul and my Savior,
Naught of this world’s delusive dream;
I have renounced all sinful pleasure;
Jesus is mine, there’s nothing between.

Nothing between my soul and my Savior,
So that His blessed face may be seen;
Nothing preventing the least of His favor;
Keep the way clear! Let nothing between.

Nothing between, like worldly pleasure;
Habits of life, though harmless they seem,
Must not my heart from Him ever sever;
He is my all, there’s nothing between.

Nothing between, like pride or station;
Self or friends shall not intervene;
Though it may cost me much tribulation,
I am resolved, there’s nothing between.

Nothing between, e’en many hard trials,
Though the whole world against me convene;
Watching with prayer and much self-denial,
I’ll triumph at last, there’s nothing between.
— Charles A. Tindley

  1. Jacob was far from God when he lived in Shechem. God is not mentioned in Genesis chapter 34, but God’s name is found many times in Genesis 35 (35:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, etc.).
  2. Now that Jacob had finally returned to Bethel, there was nothing between Jacob and God (35:9, 10).
  3. Backsliders may sin and wander, but God watches, and waits, and endeavors to win them back. God bears with us in tender love and over-ruling mercy, and gives us no real rest until He brings us back to a right relation to Himself.
  4. Jacob went to Succoth and he stayed at Shechem, but circumstances and the voice of God brought him back to Bethel.
  5. At Peniel (32:27, 28), God gave Jacob a new name – Israel, but Jacob was not referred to by this new name when he lived in Shechem.
  6. But now the name Israel was once again given (35:9, 10).
  7. The renewal of the naming represented the renewal of Jacob’s spiritual life. Jacob was repentant and restored and renewed.
  8. There was spiritual renewal and physical multiplication. “Be fruitful, and multiply” (35:11). From this time forth the multiplication of Israel was rapid. Jacob went down into Egypt with seventy souls, besides the wives of his married descendants, and two hundred and ten years later, Israel went out of Egypt numbering about one million, eight hundred thousand.
  9. Jacob’s family (the “Israelites”) became a great nation down in Egypt.
  10. In Exodus 1:9, king of Egypt said to his people, “Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we.”
  11. “And kings shall come out of thy loins” (35:11b) – King David, King Solomon, King Hezekiah, and many other great kings, leading up to the King of kings, and Lord of lords – King Jesus.
  12. At Bethel, the Lord confirmed to Jacob what He had already said to him years earlier at Bethel (35:12; cf. 28:13, 14). Same place, and same message.
  13. Maybe some here need to “go back to Bethel.”
  14. Jacob set up a pillar of stone in the place where God had talked with him, and upon this sacred place he poured a drink-offering, and he also poured oil thereon. (35:13-15).
  15. This is the first reference in Scripture to the drink-offering. The drink-offering is the complement of the meat-offering, and we see the drink-offering again in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.
  16. The second death recorded in Genesis chapter 35 is the death of Jacob’s wife Rachel, which is the first record of death at child-birth (35:16-20).
  17. Jacob and his household had not gotten very far when Rachel died giving birth to her second son, Benjamin. In her great pain and anguish (“hard labor” – 35:16, 17), she was encouraged by the midwife, who told her, “Fear not; thou shalt have this son also” (35:17).
  18. And as she was dying Rachel called the baby Ben-oni ("son of sorrow"), signifying the birth of a son even through her great sorrow.
  19. But Jacob, perhaps to cheer her and himself, named the boy "Benjamin," which means "son of my right hand."
  20. Back when she was childless, Rachel said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die” (30:1). God gave her two sons, and she died.
  21. The third death in this chapter is the death of Jacob’s father Isaac (35:27-29).
  22. The phrases, “As her soul was in departing" (35:18) and "gave up the ghost" (35:29) refer not to annihilation. This means the soul is about to enter into a new life in the presence of God.
  23. Our Lord said to the repentant thief on the cross, “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).
  24. The apostle Paul said, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (II Cor. 5:8).
  25. Paul said, “We are confident.” Do you have this confidence?
  26. Isaac was also "gathered unto his people" (35:29), which speaks of reunion with those whom have gone on before us.

What will it be when we get over yonder
And join the throng upon the glassy sea?
To greet our loved ones and crown Christ forever,
Oh, this is just what Heaven means to me.

  1. Between the death of Rachel and the death of Isaac is a brief reference to the sin of Reuben, Jacob’s oldest son (35:22).
  2. Not much is said about this sin, but verse 22 says, “and Israel heard it.”
  3. Many years later, Jacob referred to Reuben’s sin. He said in Genesis 49:4, “Reuben, thou art…Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.” Reuben “defiled” (polluted) his father’s bed.
  4. Genesis 49:4 says Reuben was “unstable as water.” Actually, all immoral people are “unstable as water.”
  5. Mental problems are often caused by sinful behavior. For example, a person with a guilty conscience is often moody and depressed.
  6. Psychiatrists report that many of their patients have severe mental problems because of adultery and addiction to pornography.
  7. Patrick Trueman, the president of Morality in Media, referred to pornography as “a public health crisis,” and said a new study by psychiatrists shows “the damaging psychological effects of pornography.” In other words, pornography addicts are “unstable.”
  8. Sinners are often unhappy, worried, guilty, and depressed, etc.
  9. The other day, a 21-year-old male fashion model danced around naked, shouting obscenities in Times Square. Then he plunged to the ground, narrowly missing an airbag that police had set up for him.
  10. Sin can make you crazy like that. Sin can make you physically and mentally sick. David said, “Neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin” (Psalm 38:3).
  11. There are many Scriptures which teach that sin leads to mental distress. And there are many illustrations of people in the Bible who literally lost their mind -- King Saul and King Nebuchadnezzar are two notable examples. “Unstable as water.”
  12. After the reference to Reuben’s sin, we are given a full list of Jacob's children, though the names do not appear in order of birth, but according to motherhood. The children of Leah and Rachel come first, and then those of Bilhah and Zilpah (35:23-26).
  13. Genesis 35 ends with the death of Isaac (35:27-29).
  14. As far as we know, after Jacob left home to go to Padan-aram, he never saw his mother Rebekah again. But after at least thirty years, Jacob was reunited with his father Isaac.
  15. "And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre...” (35:27).
  16. During the next thirteen years Jacob cared for his father, and then at the age of 180, Isaac died (35:28, 29).
  17. At the grave of their father Isaac, the two brothers, Esau and Jacob, met again (35:29b). Death is often a great reconciler. It has truly been said that death is a wonderful healer of breaches.

 

CONCLUSION:


  1. Bethel was only 30 miles from Shechem. Jacob stayed in Shechem for ten years. Jacob had been back in the land for ten years but he did not keep his vow and return to Bethel.
  2. Jacob did build an altar in Shechem but as I mentioned earlier it is possible to build an altar and it can be nothing but a meaningless kind of altar.
  3. Just as it is possible to attend church Sunday after Sunday and to hear the preaching of God’s Word and not be touched by it at all. It seems very strange but nevertheless it is true.
  4. But Jacob finally obeyed God and returned to Bethel, “the house of God” (35:1). Jacob got right with God (35:2, 3).

Back to the Bible, the true Living Word,
Sweetest old story that ever was heard,
Back to the joy-life my soul longs to know,
Bethel is calling, and I must go.

Back to Bethel I must go,
Back where the rivers of sweet water flow,
Back to the true life my soul longs to know,
Bethel is calling, and I must go.
— B.B. McKinney



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