Genesis 35
McGeeCHAPTER 35THEME: Jacob returns to Bethel; God renews the covenant; Rachel dies at the birth of Benjamin; death of IsaacAfter 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 fleshthat’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 one question 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
JACOB RETURNS TO BETHELNow God is calling this man back to Bethel. After this sad experience, he is prepared to go. You see, he didn’t have faith to move out before, but Jacob now begins to take the spiritual leadership in his home.
Genesis 35:2
There are several things that Jacob tells his household to do. First of all, they are to “put away the strange gods that are among you.” We are almost shocked at this. You will recall that when Jacob fled with Rachel and Leah, Rachel slipped out with the family gods. Apparently, she had sat on them while riding the camelshe just crawled on top of the luggage that was on the camel’s back and sat down because these little images were underneath. Jacob did not know at the time that she had taken them. He was very honest when he told Laban that the images were not in his entourage at all. That may have been one of the few times he was truthful with Laban. He really had not known they were there. When they were discovered, I think that we would all assume that Jacob would get rid of them because he knew of the living and true God. In fact, he had had a personal encounter with Him. But he didn’t get rid of the images, and now we find that his entire family is worshiping these strange gods. For the first time, Jacob is the one to take the spiritual leadership, and he says, “Let’s get rid of these false gods, these strange gods.” The first thing they have to do is to put away that which is wrong. There are too many folk who six days a week are serving some other god, and on Sunday they try to serve the Lord. Many Christians, even fundamental believers, have their strange gods, and then they wonder why their service in church on Sunday is not a thrilling experience. My friend, you are going to have to put away your strange gods. I don’t know what yours might be. It could be covetousness. There is many a good fundamental businessman who is out after every dollar he can get. He gives more devotion to getting the dollar than he does to serving the Lord on Sunday. And then he wonders what is wrong with his spiritual life. If you are going to come back to Bethel where you met God at the beginning, then, my friend, you must put away those things that are wrong. Then Jacob says, “Be clean.” For the believer, that means confession of sins. You have to deal with sin in your life. You cannot come to church on Sunday and dismiss the way you have lived during the week that has just passed. After all, you take a physical bath and use a deodorant before you come to church, and yet there is spiritual body odor in our churches because there is no confession of sin, no cleansing. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1Jn_1:9). There must be the confession. He will forgive, but we must confess. “And change your garments.” In other words, get rid of the old garments. In Scripture “garments” speak of habits. We speak of an equestrian wearing a riding habit or of a football player wearing a uniformwhich is his habit. In like manner, the child of God should dress in a way to mirror who he is and to whom he belongs. Do you wear the habits of the Lord? Can you be detected in business or in school or in the neighborhood as being a little different in your life? You are wearing a habit. The day that Jacob went back to Bethel, he started living for God. Up to then, I don’t think he was. Now he says, “Let’s go back to Bethel"that’s the thing that we must do.
Genesis 35:3
Abraham and Isaac had made altars, and now Jacob will make an altarthank God for that. He will now have a witness for God. “Who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.” The thing that Jacob remembered is that when he was running away from home as a young man, homesick and lonesome, he had come to Bethel, and God had been faithful to him. God had said, “I will be faithful to you.” The years had gone by, and God certainly had been faithful to him. Now God says, “You’ve got to go back to Bethel. You have to go back to where you started. You have to begin there.” We need to recognize that the years we spend in living a shoddy, shabby Christian life are a waste of time, absolutely a waste of time. God called the children of Israel to get out of Egypt and into the land of promise. God appeared to them and told them to go into the land, but they didn’t go in. Forty years they wandered around, and then God appeared to Joshua and said, “Go into the land.” He picked up right where He had left off. They had wasted forty years. How many people are wasting their lives as Christians?
My, the tremendous spiritual lessons that are here for us! I don’t know about you, but some of us are just like Jacob, and that’s the reason this is so applicable to us today. Thank God that He says He is the God of Jacob. I love that! If He’ll be the God of Jacob, He’ll be the God of J. Vernon McGee alsothat’s wonderful!
This chapter is a great encouragement to us. Notice that Jacob is assuming authority in his home.
Genesis 35:4
Let me pause to say that earrings were associated with worship in that daythere is a great deal said in Scripture about that. The earrings identified them as idolaters, and so they are going to get rid of them. “Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.” Jacob got rid of them. They’re not stored awaythey’re buried. They must be put away because it is now going to be a new life.
Genesis 35:5
This place was called Luz before Jacob changed the name to Bethel, and the people in that day knew it as Luz, not as Bethel. We know it today as Bethel.
Genesis 35:7
Beth-el, meaning “the house of God,” was the name that Jacob had given to it before. Now he called it El-Beth-el, which means “God of the house of God.” This reveals spiritual growth in Jacob’s life. Now here is a very interesting sidelight:
Genesis 35:8
Since Deborah was with Jacob at this time, we assume that Rebekah had already died, and Scripture does not tell us when her death took place. Poor Jacob never saw his mother again. That part is not as tragic as the fact that she never saw him againshe had just sent him away for a little while, you know. The nurse apparently had brought a message of Rebekah’s death and had come to stay with Jacoband now she dies.
Genesis 35:9
GOD RENEWS THE COVENANTAll those years God had been trying to deal with Jacob. Now he picks up right where He had met him when he came to Bethel as a young man. Those years he spent down there with Uncle Laban, in many ways, were wasted years.
Genesis 35:10
“I am God Almighty.” Remember that that is what He had told Abraham.
Genesis 35:12
The Lord considers that pretty important property, by the way. This now is the third time He has promised them the landfirst to Abraham, then to Isaac, and now to Jacob. The Lord had to tell each one of these men about it two or three times; in fact, He told Abraham many times.
Genesis 35:13
Here is the first mention of a drink offering. In the Book of Leviticus, five offerings are given, but not a drink offering. In fact, no instruction is given about it at all, but it is mentioned. Evidently this is one of the oldest offerings, and it has a very wonderful meaning to the believer today. The drink offering was just poured on the other offerings, and it went up in the steam. Paul told the Philippians that that is the way he wanted his life to bejust poured out like a drink offering.
Genesis 35:16
RACHEL DIES AT THE BIRTH OF BENJAMINRachel had one son Joseph, but now she has a second son.
Genesis 35:17
What a wonderful thing this isnot the death of Rachel, but the way this took place. She says, “Call him ‘son of my sorrow,’” but Jacob looked down at him and said, “I’ve lost my lovely Rachel, and this little fellow looks like her, so I’ll just call him Benjamin, ‘son of my right hand.’” Jacob was partial to the sons of Rachel. Jacob’s love for Rachel was perhaps the only fine thing in his life during those years in Padan-aram when there was so much evidence of the flesh and of self-seeking. He loved Rachelthere is no question about that. He was totally devoted to her. He was willing to do almost anything for her, such as permitting her to keep the images she had taken from her father. I don’t think that Leah would have gotten by with itor anyone else for that matter. But he was indulgent with Rachel. She had given Jacob his son Joseph, and now she gives birth to Benjamin. And it was at the birth of her second son that she died. His life meant her death. It was a great heartbreak to Jacob. The other ten boys were no joy to him at all. God reminded him, I think, every day for twenty-four hours of the day that it was sinful to have more than one wife. He didn’t need all of them. However, God will overrule, of course. (And He overrules in your life and mine. We can thank Him for that!) But the facts reveal that God did not approve of this plural marriage. This is especially obvious in the treatment which Joseph received from his half-brothers. Jacob loved Joseph and Benjamin and, very frankly, the other boys were jealous of that. He should not have shown such partiality to Joseph because he had experienced the results of partiality in his own homehe had been the one whom his father had more or less pushed aside. He knew the trouble it had caused. Although I don’t try to defend Jacob, we can sympathize with him. He had lost his lovely Rachel, but he had Benjamin. While it was true that the boy was the son of Rachel’s sorrow, Jacob could not call him Benoni.
He was not the reason of his sorrow; he was the son of his right hand, his walking stick, his staff, the one he would lean on in his old age. It is important to recognize this because it will help us understand the great sorrow Jacob will go through later on. All of it will have its roots in Jacob’s sin. God does not approve of the wrong in our lives, my friend. We think we can get by with it, but we will not get by with itanymore than Jacob got by with it.
Genesis 35:19
She is buried there today. I have several pictures that I have taken of her tomb that is there.
Genesis 35:20
That is, it was there until the time Moses wrote this, but it is also there to this very day.
Genesis 35:21
In verses Gen_34:22-26 we have a listing of the sons of Jacob by his different wives. Actually, Joseph and Benjamin were the two boys that were outstanding. The others just didn’t turn out well. Again, this proves the fact that God does not bless a plurality of wives. The family of Jacob ought to illustrate that fact to us. Although Uncle Laban was responsible, of course, Jacob went along with it.
Genesis 35:29
DEATH OF ISAACI suspect that the death of their father Isaac was the only occasion which brought these two boys together in the years following Jacob’s return to the land. Have you noticed that this chapter is made prominent by death? First there is the death of Deborah, the maid of Rebekah. In this there is the suggestion of the death of Rebekah herself. Then there is the death of lovely Rachel. Finally, the chapter closes with the death of Isaac.