GENESIS 35: 1-15
CAST AWAY OUR IDOLS
[Ezekiel 18:21-32]
Sometimes it takes massive impacting events that awaken us so that we begin seriously considering our need for revival. As we grow older and settle into the routine of life and become not much different from the average believer, the Lord mercifully sends or allows shockwaves with the hope of reviving our stale relationship with Him.
God first speaks to you through His Word and in your inner being. But if your won’t listen, then God has to speak to you through your life situation or circumstances. How much easier it would have been to have listened to the Word of God in the first place. But God’s love is so intense and so deeply desirous of our good that when we become deaf to His Word or fail to respond to it, He mercifully knows how to get our attention through the events of life. Of course He would rather have us to respond to His Word without this special prompting. But when all else fails and after a long period of patience, then God speaks to us as individuals and nations through the problems and tragedies of life. [Walter Kaiser, Jr. Revives Us Again. Broadman & Holman Publ. Nashville, TN. 1999. p. 31.] [These problems and tragedies we often bring upon ourself because of our refusal to heed God’s Word.]
Although God is not the author of evil, Satan is, He does allow horrible things to happen to us to alarm us with how serious life and our spiritual health and maturity really are. Such were the circumstances in which Jacob found himself in Genesis 35. The whole problem started in his family, this time it centered around his daughter Dinah by his first wife Leah.
Jacob had just moved back into the land of Canaan [though it had been ten years since his return and meeting with Esau and Succoth’s founding- 33:17] from Paddan Aram (Gen. 33:18) when Shechem, the son of Hamor, ruler of that area, saw Dinah, took her, and raped her (Gen. 34:2). This tragedy set off a string of events that would permanently alter the lives of all who were touched by them. Nevertheless, God was still in control, allowing His will to be worked out in spite of the violence and reprehensible evil involved.
Hamor came to Jacob to negotiate a marriage for his son, settle the bride-price, and to establish friendly relations, only to learn that there was trouble. Dinah’s brothers in particular were outraged at what had happened to their sister; “a thing that should not be done” (Gen.34:7). Hamor offered favorable terms, involving the offer of intermarriage between their families, but he had no understanding of the impossibilities this presented for a people who were not to be unequally yoked to unbelievers. But then, what real difference was there between unbelieving Shechemites and Jacob’s family? In practice their lives seemed too much alike.
Jacob had promised God some thirty years earlier, when he was fleeing the wrath of his deceived brother, Esau, that if God would be with him, watch over him, and return him safely to Canaan, then Yahweh would be his God, and he would serve Him. But like so many of us in these “foxhole” experiences, Jacob had forgotten his vow. Yet God had returned him safely to his land and had blessed him and had caused his life to overflow with the bounty of God’s goodness (Gen 28:20-22). How, we ask in amazement, could Jacob have been so ungrateful? Jacob had nothing but problems when he cried out for help. Was thirty years not enough time to remember and make good his vow to God? Perhaps Jacob thought himself a self-made man, that he did it himself. After all, had it not been by his own hard work, wits, sheer willpower and drive that he had become what he was?
But now Jacob had family trouble, and that was different. To make matters worse, Jacob’s self-made sons decided to take things into their own hands and pour vengeance on Hamor’s clan. First there was deceit: the sons pretended that all would be well if the men of Hamor would be circumcised; then Dinah could be given in marriage (Gen 34:13-16). Once evil is let loose there may be no stopping it, except through a genuine change in the lives of all who are affected. But in this situation Jacob still did not see the necessity for calling his sons or these heathen to repentance. It’s difficult to call others to repentance toward God if you have forgotten your promises to God.
The situation deteriorated further. The men of Hamor’s city yielded to the demand to be circumcised, totally unaware of what evil lay lurking in the hearts of Jacob’s sons. On the third day after this operation, while they were still in pain, every male in the Canaanite city, including Hamor and his son Shechem, was murdered by two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi (Gen. 34:25-26). None of this had the approval of consent or Yahweh. [Kaiser, 33.]
Only then did it begin to dawn on Jacob in how serious a situation his lack of godly family leadership had placed them. For when the looting and the stealing of all livestock and goods were over, Jacob rebuked his two sons, Simeon and Levi, who had reaped this violent havoc on the offenders: “You have [made] me a stench to... the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed” (Gen.34:30). Their only defense was to retort, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?” (34:31).
This atrocity and the seriousness of its repercussions forced Jacob to finally take action with His family and seek God’s intervention. He tells his family to “Cast away the foreign gods you have with you (35:2). This focal point of Genesis 35 is the basis for three reasons why Jacob, his sons and we ought to get rid of our idols.
I. Only the Cleansed Can Meet with GOD, 1-4.
II. Only GOD Can PROTECT IN DANGER, 5-8.
III. Only GOD can Change and Bless Us, 9-15.
The first reason to cast away our idols is because Only the Cleansed Can Meet with GOD. As Jacob waited in fear that other clans would take vengeance for his sons gross crime God give him an imperative to move in 35:1. Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
In the midst of Jacob’s bitter reflections and agonizing perplexities, the Lord urged Jacob to move his family approximately thirty miles south of Shechem to Bethel. Bethel [“the House of God”] was the very spot where Jacob had sought God in a moment of deep despair some thirty years before. Jacob had fled home after stealing his brother Esau’s birth-right. Here he had experienced the heavenly vision of a ladder, and here he had made his vow. In other words, God ordered him back to ground zero. It is too bad that it had taken a crisis to drive Jacob to this point, but it was better for him to have the crisis and to respond than to miss the blessing of God.
How important it is to fulfill the commitments we have made. Jacob’s deliberate delay had cost him much grief including the experience with his daughter, Dinah. [A similar lesson would later be repeated with Moses, who sinfully delayed in circumcising his son, due apparently to a family argument over the rite with his Midianite wife, Zipporah (Exodus 4:24-26).]
What a stern warning this is to us as well. Far too frequently we have no idea that there is a subtle and detrimental drift away from divine things in our lives or in our families until it is almost too late. Then events shock us to our spiritual senses and force us to take drastic and swift measures for the spiritual well-being of ourselves and our households.
Notice that God did not chastise Jacob for forgetting to build the altar like he had promised to do thirty years previously in Genesis 28:20-22. The rebuke is gently given in the words, build an altar to God who has been with you all these years despite your rebellion and all the trouble it has brought to you. There are so many evidences like this of God’s grace that remind us of our God’s merciful and faithful nature.
But now the savage cruelty of his son has forced Jacob to seek help and refuge in God once again. Even though there is great cost for not fully following God, the Lord is ready to receive their return to obedience. He will receive our long delayed return to obedience also.
Responding to God’s order Jacob finally takes action in verse 2. “So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments;”
There can be little doubt that the source of decay in this family could be traced back to the presence of foreign gods in their midst. Sometimes it seems so easy just to let some things be, but these little sins can become like foxes that burrow away in our lives until their appetite knows no limit and they have devoured us.
Idolatry is giving something or one the place in one’s heart that should be reserved for God alone. Be it in ancient form or contemporary, nothing can have first place along with the Lord of my life. Not my job, my hobby, my goals, my organizations, my leisure time, my recreation, my marriage, my family or even my church. Idols don’t have to be physical objects, they can be thoughts or desires. Like Jacob, we should get rid of anything that could stand between us and God. Unlike Jacob we should not wait till tragedy forces us to do so.
Nothing can more important that the Lord in your life. Anything placed above or even sharing first place with my relationship with the Lord means I have slipped into idolatry. God’s word to Jacob and Jacob’s word to his family and now to us is “get rid of them.” Then God urges us to “purify” ourselves and put off the old garments of the flesh and put on the new garments of life in Christ. This putting off worldly life and putting on the new life of Christ is also a N.T. command (Col. 3:9-10). Jacob may have been concerned about resentment if he had ordered the removal of these god’s before, now he has greater worries, life itself.
God still commands His people to remove every competing loyalty from our heart and to purify ourselves. Once outward gods are removed, inward purity becomes possible.
Once purified they are ready to follow and worship God as verse 3 states. “...and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”
After God’s gracious reminder Jacob recalls the promise he had made to God in the days of his distress. Jacob’s repentance, cleansing and return to following God cause him to realize God’s lifelong goodness to him and his forsaken duties. All this enabled Jacob to approach the altar of God once more. The Altar of God is the place of forgiveness and restoration for ruptured relationships. Yet even though Jacob had followed his own will Yahweh had still gone with him because of His covenant commitment despite Jacob not appearing to have merited such gracious treatment. (Gen. 28:15).
In verse 4 the family finally response to Jacob’s leadership. So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem.
The surrender and dedication of Jacob’s family was completed by the surrendering of their gods and earrings (which apparently served as charms, amulets, or talismans). Thus all superstitious reverences were abandoned and buried under the oak at Shechem, which , incidentally, may be the same oak near which Joshua later set up a stone of witness (Josh. 24:25-26).
We are surprised to see such ready cooperation by such a rebellious family. How could such ready obedience occur? The incident teaches us that when our spirit is right and zealous for the Lord we have great access to the hearts of others. Duties which are ordinarily difficult are rendered easy and successful when we have faith to execute them. [The life-crisis they all were in also helped.]
The second reason to cast away our idols is because:
II. ONLY GOD CAN PROTECT US IN SERIOUS DANGER, (5-8).
After their act of obedience God sends a divinely induced terror upon those seeking vengeance in verse 5. As they journeyed, there was a great terror upon the cities which were around then, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.
When God places His repentant people under His protection, they are safer than they would be if they were protected by a whole arsenal of military weapons. His people no longer need to be overly concerned about what their enemies might be planning. Neither do they need to keep up the pretense that good-for-nothing idols can save them. After Jacob’s household had purged itself of idolatry and returned to following the ONE true God, He sent great terror upon their new enemies. Once again the grace of God exceeded all the steps of faith taken by these men toward God. The Lord placed great restraints on the large and powerful would be vindicators and not one pursued them the thirty miles.
If only we and all the nations of the world could learn that our best defense does not primarily lie in our military hardware and preparedness but in a fresh visitation of the Spirit of God.
God brings them safely to His destination (28:15) in verse 6. “So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.
Moving to Bethel signified more than moving to a place of safety; it was also a place of reconciliation at the altar of God. This altar, built by Jacob, was the fifth altar built by the patriarchs, [Abraham had built altars near Bethel (Gen. 12:8) and Hebron (Gen.13:18), Isaac had built one in Beersheba (Gen. 26:25), and Jacob had also built one in Shechem (Gen. 33:20)].
Previously Bethel had been named Luz meaning “almond tree,” but the name, which Jacob had given to it thirty years earlier, had not yet taken hold. From now on it would be known as Bethel, meaning “the house of God,” because it was there that God had met Jacob with in the past, and it was there that sacrifices would be offered on the altar of God once again as we see in verse 7.
He built an altar there, and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled from his brother.
Two wonderful hallmarks of revival now appear in the text: the revelation of God and the place of sacrifice. Where would we be without a word from God and a means of reconciliation and atonement? It was the Lord Himself who took the initiative in communicating with man (even as He did when Jacob was thrown on his own resources and felt himself a stranger from the promises of God). And it was the Lord who invited Jacob to set up an altar. This place of death would be a picture of life to all who would claim the promise of God until Christ would come and personally do what no animal or human rite ever could do or promise to do. Only the word of acceptance by God combined with the authorized picture of what God would one day accomplish was the guarantee that stood behind this place of slaughter, as the word altar literally signified. The altar and the word of God - these were God’s means of reviving His people. And in that security, all danger was negligible, for greater was the Lord they now served than all the threats, weapons, armor, and armies of men.
The third reason to cast away our idols is because:
III. ONLY GOD CAN CHANGE US & BLESS US (9-15).
When God graciously grants a revival, a number of changes take place in our lives. Not only do we experience freedom from the fear of our enemies, as Jacob witnessed in the preceding verses, but we also experience a reorientation of our personality and character. This is indicated in Jacob receiving a new name in verses 9 & 10. “Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. (10) God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” Thus He called him Israel.
Here God gives Jacob a new name to indicate, and to remind him of, his new character and personality. Up to this point in life Jacob carried a name meaning “supplanter, trickster” or “he who grasps the heel (Gen. 25:26). This is the way he had craved his nich in the world. Ten years earlier at Peniel when he wrestled with God all night his name had been changed to Israel, the God ruled one, (Gen 32:28). At this time during this event Jacob was saved but though his heart was changed, the change had not been allow to work its way into his character. Jacob was still Jacob in attitude and action. Yet, family tragedy would now accomplish what a lifetime of struggling with God had not. The long divine pursuit of God was brought to fruition.
How much will it take before some people respond? How patient must God be? How long must He wait before we catch on and are revived and changed thoroughly? One thing is certain. When we put away our idols and purify ourselves under the mighty hand of God, the Lord changes our names, that is, our personalities, our characters, and our dispositions.
But there is more. God blesses him. Israel would now let God ruled his life. There is no greater blessing God can give anyone. When we put away our idols, the blessings of God, which lay dormant and only in seed form, come to us in an abundant harvest. Revival does not necessarily mean that these blessings are totally new. Often they are blessings we have already experienced. But now they come with a freshness, force and power, not known during the days of our lackluster, dull and equivocating walk with God.
God reveals Himself and His plan in verse 11. “God also said to him, “I AM God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, even kings shall come forth from you.”
The Lord thus reveals Himself as El Shaddai, a name used infrequently in the O.T. (48 times) [mostly by the patriarchs and Job who probably lived in the same era]. The name is a testimony to the effectiveness, sufficiencies and power of God to keep His promises or plan.
God now promises to make Jacob fruitful and multiply his descendants. The promise extends beyond Jacob, his family and the nation that would come from his loins to a whole community or congregation (gahal) of nations. This promise seems to indicate that Israel was commission to be a witness which would bring about other nations. The centerpiece of this promise is that royal descendants would be coming from him. Eventually this is fulfilled in the King of Kings coming.
Verse 12 references the promised land. “The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you.”
Once Jacob is restored, God confirms His promises. The place in which this promise or plan would unfold would be the promised land. Thus in a few short sentences God sums up and adds to the long range promises given to Jacob on earlier occasions.
With the promises of covenant blessings again in place God exits in verse 13. “Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him.
This implies a visible manifestation by God to Israel just as he had experienced years prior at Bethel and more recently at Peniel. It is also similar to the experience of Abraham in Genesis 17:28. With the promises of covenant blessings again in place God’s visible manifestation departs.
Verse 14 records Israel’s response. Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it.
The impact of this appearance to Jacob is commemorated for his descendants by the erection of a memorial altar or standing stone. It is always good to remember those times when we have met God in a new and wonderful way. He also went on to consecrate the spot where God had performed a reviving work of grace in his life by anointing the standing stone with oil and pouring out a libation or a “refreshment offering upon it.”
[This oil used to anoint the pillar was olive oil of the finest grade of purity. It was expensive, so using it showed the high value placed on the anointed object. Jacob was showing the greatest respect for the place where he met with God.]
In your Bible is A PLACE FOR births and marriages. It good to record those significant events not only so you don’t forget but so others can learn of their heritage. There are many other blank pages in the flyleaf of your Bible. I encourage you to use these pages to record significant spiritual events in your spiritual pilgrimage also. Record those times when God dealt with you in significant ways. These “memorial stones” will not only become a reminder of God’s faithfulness and your commitments, they will challenge those who come after you as they realize the depth of your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 15 records Jacob’s reaffirmation. “So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel.
Once again, Jacob named the spot Bethel, “the house of God” as he had in Genesis 28:19, after his vision of the ladder to heaven. The place fully deserved the name.
Jacob’s restoration is finally complete. He was now ready to fulfill God’s will for his life. Though He still had much to learn, he was beginning again with God.
CONCLUSION
Revival came to the house of Jacob because he was willing to get rid of the idols in his life. There is our challenge as well. Are we tied to the past, with its toys and ambitions that steal our hearts from loving God with everything in us? Do we have the courage to hear God’s word in our day? Will we with determination act to cleanse our life, our family of wrong priorities? Or will our families, churches, institutions, and nations continue to suffer because of our failure to come to grips with the most pressing spiritual need of the hour?
Our appeal to all believers everywhere is this; let us turn from our competing loyalties to the Living God, renounce all forms of wickedness, especially those involving idolatry, and act quickly before the love of God is forced to drive us to even greater calamities than we are currently facing in our lives and our society. Then we shall find the same great blessing that Jacob found for himself and his house.
