seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Genesis 35:1 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,[a] 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.(b)
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,[a] 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.(b)
a. Genesis 35:7 El Bethel means God of Bethel.
b. Genesis 35:8 Allon Bakuth means oak of weeping
I bet old Jacob [Israel] woke up in the morning and went to bed at night worrying about what he was going to do. I bet he wondered if God would still listen to him if he called out to him. After all, God told him to go to Bethel in the first place, but Jacob [Israel] settled in Shechem. Things didn't work out so well for him there. His daughter was raped and his sons had turned to murderers. It's a good thing that God was the first to talk.
So, now that Jacob [Israel] was afraid that the other tribes around would hear about the murder of all the men in Shechem, he decided to get right with God.
On the way back to Bethel, Deborah passed away. That brings us to a time warp. Deborah was Jacob's [Israel's] mother's servant. She either came with them when Jacob [Israel] fled for fear of Esau, or Rebekah sent her later. At any rate she was no spring chicken. According to bible.org, it had been 30 years since Rebekah sent him away.
The commentaries seem to be a little preachy to me concerning these verses. It brings to mind a sermon I heard in Florida. That preacher was so fired up, the women didn't wear their jewelry to church for months!
I don't wear much jewelry. So this is what I choose to get from these verses. Jacob [Israel], the hardheaded sneaky liar in the dysfunctional family of Jesus threw down the idols and came back to God.
