Bethel

Genesis 35:1-15

After the wrestling match with the mysterious stranger, Esau finally arrives with his four hundred men. Contrary to Jacob’s fears of Esau’s anger and retaliation, Esau runs to Jacob, genuinely happy to see his younger brother. Esau too has been blessed with wealth and is no longer angry with Jacob. Jacob refused all offered help from Esau and promises to meet later in Seir. But Jacob still has no desire to spend any more time with Esau and proceeds to Succoth. Then he moves on to Shechem.

In Genesis 34, we read about sordid events surrounding Dinah, the daughter between Leah and Jacob. While she was visiting the women of the area, she is raped by Shechem, son of Hamor, who sold Jacob his land. Shechem ends up falling in love with Dinah and wants to marry her.

Hamor and Shechem meet with Jacob’s sons to negotiate an agreement where Shechem would marry Dinah. The sons of Jacob tell them that this could only happen if every male in the city is circumcised. If they would do that, then they would not only allow Shechem to marry Dinah, but they would become part of that community.  This sounded good to Hamor and Shechem and they convince the men of the city that this would be beneficial to them. They agree and all the males are circumcised.

Two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, had no intention of becoming part of the community nor letting Shechem marry Dinah. While the men of the city were still in pain from the circumcision, Simeon and Levi entered the city with a sword and killed all the males. Then the other brothers joined in and plundered the city, taking all the women, children, flocks and wealth.

We now come to this morning’s passage. God tells Jacob to go to Bethel and settle there. They were also to make an altar to God, who appeared to Jacob when he was fleeing from his brother Esau. Before going to Bethel and building an altar to God, Jacob has the people put away all the foreign gods, purify themselves, and change their clothes.

God put a terror upon all the cities around so that no one dared attack them on the way to Bethel, which at the time was called Luz. God appears to Jacob and blesses him. Jacob is to be called Israel from now on. God promises to give Jacob the land that He promised to Abraham and Isaac. He also promises to give Jacob’s offspring the land. In response, Jacob sets up a pillar where God had spoken to him and named the place Bethel.

The narrative then goes on to describe how Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin. It also tells of Reuben, the oldest son, sinning by sleeping with Bilhah, his father’s concubine. Then it tells of how Isaac died at the age of one hundred eighty years and how Esau and Jacob together buried him.

But before moving on to the story of Joseph, all of chapter thirty-six is devoted to Esau and his descendants. It even points out that several of Esau’s descendants become kings over their lands, before Israel ever had a king. Looking back, it is surprising how sympathetically and generously Esau is depicted. All the trickery and cheating are attributed to Jacob, the elected one, rather than Esau. It is a good reminder that when the narrative focuses on the line of Abraham that leads to the nation of Israel (and to Jesus Christ), it is not like He only cares about Israel.

Besides the unexpected focus on Esau, it is also curious that the whole sordid episode of Dinah is preserved, as well as the account of Reuben sleeping with Bilhah. We see that Genesis is not a whitewashed version of Israel’s past.

When God calls to Jacob to go back to Bethel, without being commanded, Jacob feels the need to cleanup before he goes there – Putting away idols, purifying themselves and changing their clothes. This most likely comes from the fact that Jacob’s sons had used circumcision, the sign of the covenant with God, to commit mass murder and plunder.  They needed to cleanse themselves before going on.

Once an altar to God is built, God reiterates the new name that is given to Jacob – Israel – As well as the promise of a great nation through Jacob.

What these last two chapters point out is that Israel cannot leave the promised land, but also, it cannot eliminate the other inhabitants. They will need to live among other peoples, and they will need to figure out how not to defile God’s name and how to be a blessing to others.

It is the same for us. Once we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, our lives need to show devotion to God and to the Lord’s commands of loving God and loving others. Among us will always be others who are not part of God’s kingdom. We too will need to figure out how to avoid defiling God’s name and at the same time be witnesses to those around us.

It can be difficult at times, since we are inundated with temptations of chasing after things that are not of God. We constantly sin through our actions, inactions, words and thoughts. Like Jacob and his people, we need to purify ourselves and go meet God. We need to acknowledge our sins, confess them and ask for forgiveness. God will then forgive and refresh us so that we can go about doing the Kingdom work for which we were created and saved.

Bethel was the place of promise and hope for Jacob. After committing a great sin against his father and brother, God promised Jacob that he would return safely someday to this place. After the atrocity done to the city of Shechem, Jacob once again needed to go back to Bethel where God would give him another fresh start.

For us, Christ and the work He did on the cross is what gives us God’s forgiveness, the promise of eternal life, and the vocation of doing Kingdom work. We will often sin and fail, but we can always go back to the promises of God. When we turn to Him, even after a grave sin, He will forgive us and refresh us, so that once again, we go about doing His work – To be witnesses to those near and far that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world.

(The above is a summary of the message shared by Shun Takano at our worship on 09/10/2023.)