JACOB RETURNS TO BETHEL
After the study in chapter 34, you may have come to the conclusion that I made a blunder when I said that Jacob’s life changed at Peniel.
Actually, we did not see too much change in what took place in the thirty-fourth chapter. That is quite true, but there was a change that took place.
I hesitate to call Jacob’s experience at Peniel a crisis experience because I am afraid that this matter of a crisis experience has been overdrawn by a great many.
There are some folk who feel that if you don’t have a second experience, you just haven’t had anything.
The fact of the matter is that that’s not true. Some have a wonderful crisis experience, and I’m sure that many of us can turn back to that in our lives.
But there are those who cannot or do not and have never mentioned it as being something very important in their lives.
But when Jacob came to Peniel, a tremendous thing happened to him.
All the way from the beginning of the life of Jacob until Peniel, his life was characterized by the rise of self, the assertion of the flesh—that’s Jacob and nothing but that.
What really happened at Peniel was the fall of self. He went down like a deflated tire. He had been pumped up like a balloon, and he went down to practically nothing.
But actually, chapter 34 evidences that he was not yet walking by faith.
As soon as Esau had turned his back and started home, Jacob took his family down to Shalem. It is a tragic move. Jacob was still depending upon his own cleverness.
Dinah was raped, and Simeon and Levi, her full brothers, went into the city of Shalem to the prince who was responsible.
Although he wanted to marry her, they murdered him, and the sons of Jacob conducted a slaughter that would make a gang shooting in Chicago look pretty tame.
When they came home, Jacob said, “You have made my name to smell among the people of my land.”
Many expositors say that it was a tragic thing for Jacob to stop in Shalem, and I must say that I have to go along with that partially. But I have questions to ask:
Was Jacob ready for Bethel?
Was he ready for the experiences that God was going to give him?
No, I think that the tragic things that took place in chapter 34 were the result of a man who had been walking in the energy of the flesh.
There had been a deflation of self, but there was no discernible faith in God.
Because he did not have faith to go on to Bethel, he stopped at Shalem. These tragic things which took place in his life reveal that this man was not a leader in his own family.
He was not taking the proper place that he should have. He was no spiritual giant, by any means.
And to have those eleven boys to herd was really a job for which this man Jacob was not prepared.
After this tragic event, Jacob now is beginning to see the hand of God in his life, and now he makes the decision that he probably should have made beforehand.
Genesis 35:1-8 KJV
[1] And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth–el, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.
[2] Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:
[3] And let us arise, and go up to Beth–el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.
[4] And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
[5] And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.
[6] So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Beth–el, he and all the people that were with him.
[7] And he built there an altar, and called the place El–beth–el: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.
[8] But Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died, and she was buried beneath Beth–el under an oak: and the name of it was called Allon–bachuth.
Genesis 35:1 KJV
And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth–el, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.
Genesis 35:2 KJV
Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:
Genesis 35:3 KJV
And let us arise, and go up to Beth–el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.
Genesis 35:4 KJV
And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
Genesis 35:5 KJV
And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.
Genesis 35:6 KJV
So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Beth–el, he and all the people that were with him.
Genesis 35:7 KJV
And he built there an altar, and called the place El–beth–el: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.
Genesis 35:8 KJV
But Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died, and she was buried beneath Beth–el under an oak: and the name of it was called Allon–bachuth.
I hope that you have really enjoyed this post,
Please Leave All Comments in the Comment Box Below ↓
