Genesis 35

Bethel - Israel - Rachel

Chapter 35 seems to mark a transition point in the Genesis narrative, as God once again comes to Jacob to reveal His covenant mercy and love to him. Having met Esau in peace, Jacob is now in a position to resume his adventure of faith and to walk on towards the fulfilment of covenant blessings and promises.

Back To Bethel

It is at this point that God calls him back to Bethel. There God had met with him (chapter 28) and shown Himself as the God of the covenant and the God of all mercy and grace. There Jacob had heard many wonderful things, and had seen many wonderful things. Much had happened in the meantime. But now the call of God to Jacob is to go back to first principles.

It is often good for us to recall the past. It is especially good for faith to recall the past. The experiences we have enjoyed of God's grace, and the ways in which God's love has been made known to us - all of this is worth recounting time and time again. The call of God to us often is to retrace our pilgrimage, to make our way to the place where we encountered the living God and came to know his blessing and his love in our lives.

Jacob calls on his household to put away idols and strange gods, to purify themselves and to change their clothes. This was a time for reformation, for renewal, for turning. It was almost a conversion time. We sometimes forget that we may have many conversions. Peter was told "when you are converted, strengthen your brethren". It was a lesson we all need to learn, that having discovered something of God's faithfulness to us, in spite of our own sins and shortcomings and failings, we must move towards reformation and renewal in our relationship with God. The way of the cross is a way that calls us constantly to the examination of what we are and where we are. Are there idols we need to put away? Clothes we need to change? Habits we need to drop? Lifestyles we need to alter? We are called to renew our vows and our commitment to God, and to realise that he is our hope and our peace.

Listen to Jacob's attitude to Bethel: "I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone". What a testimony to covenant love and faithfulness, to God's determination to save, and to his continued and abiding faithfulness along life's way. Jacob called the place EL BETHEL - the God of Bethel, who was his constant and abiding friend. Blessed are those whose God this is!

Change To Israel

At Bethel God gave Jacob a new name. "Your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name". The meaning of 'Israel' is not clear. It seems to reflect the fact that Jacob, instead of being ruled by his own passions and lust, through deceit and guile, would now be a 'Prince of God', or 'Ruled by God'. Someone has suggested that he used to be "Isra-Jacob", ruled by himself, but now "Isra-El", ruled by God.

The blessing was in the name. God was showing Jacob that although he had used cunning, deceit and treachery to obtain the birthright and the name, God was to undertake for Jacob to give him all that he needed and to undertake for him. The repetition of the terms of the promise to Abraham show us here that God's promise is that he will be for Jacob all that he ever was for Abraham, and all that he has ever been for his people.

This is the essence of God's salvation in the Gospel. The Word of God is full of the covenant blessing that has been sealed to us in and through Jesus Christ. In Him the promises of God are sure.

But the great issue is - are we truly governed and ruled by Him? Do we respond to the blessings of the Gospel in obedience and faith? Do we know that there is for us no blessing like the blessing of complete commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ? Is he truly our Lord, or are we still ruled and governed by our own passions, our own desires, our own lusts and self-interest? Only in Christ can we be truly free from the dominion of self and be brought into the blessing of the dominion of grace.

The Death of Rachel

How often the dark line of sorrow is drawn around our enjoyment of blessing! Not long after having received an affirmation of covenant love and faithfulness, Jacob loses Rachel in death. Her death occurred as she was giving birth to her son. Because of the complications of the birth, she wanted to call her son "Benoni - son of my sorrow", but Jacob gave him the name "Benjamin - son of my right hand".

The right hand in Scripture is often used as a sign of favour, and of blessing. It is a symbol of special honour, of a special place. The naming of the child is an interesting commentary on how Jacob looked at his trials. He had learned that God can turn affliction into blessing - Benoni into Benjamin. He had himself been in trouble, undergone trial, faced difficulty, asked hard questions. But he had learned that there is a God in Heaven whose way is perfect, and whose work it is to turn the sorrow into joy, the pain into prayer, the affliction into blessing.

Jacob loses his wife and his father duirng the course of these travels. But he has God for his guide, his strength, his refuge, his hope, his peace and his salvation. Nothing matters to him but this. And to have this is to know that there is a God who is able to bless and who is able to save.

May we be safe within the covenant, just as Jacob was!