Gen. 35:1-15, Dwell at Bethel (2)

We are thinking about our relationship with God.  It is the equivalent of abiding in Christ (John 15:1-8).  Jacob first instructed his household to put away the foreign gods.  Notice what they did: they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the earrings which were in their ear (v4).  These things came from Padan Aram where Jacob had lived and built his fortune (being blessed by God); but they also likely came from the recent destruction of the city of Shechem (Gen. 34).  Earrings were common in the day, and were related to idolatry (cf Hos. 2:13). 

The ”earrings” might be important for us.  They were not the “gods” but were the accoutrements of idol worship.  When we think about idolatry in the heart, we know that we are in outward form what we are in the heart.  We can say, that whatever distracts us from Bethel, from communion with God, is evidence of idolatry.  Out families, our friends, our things, and so forth, when they distract us from time with God it tells us who or what is more important.  Don’t argue this point.  It’s common sense.

Notice what Jacob did with these things.  He hid them under the terebinth tree which was by Shechem.  Lest you think they were put there, and that later Jacob planned to return their and retrieve them, rest assured there is no evidence Jacob ever returned to Shechem.  He had gone south from there to Bethel, would continue on past Salem to the area of Bethlehem where Rachel would die, and then would go to be at Isaac’s side when he died, in Hebron.  Eventually, he would end up in Egypt, where God, through Joseph, would care for the family.  Shechem, where Levi and Simeon had destroyed all the men, was a place Jacob had left forever.

Jesus said it like this: No one can serve two masters … you cannot serve God and mammon (Mt. 6:24).  Paul said it like this: What agreement has the temple of God (i.e. house of God, Bethel) with idols?  For you are the temple of the living God (2 Cor. 6:16).  And again, Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry (1 Cor. 10:14).  Notice that: he said this to his “beloved,” to Christians.

Today, outside modern Bethel, is a traditional area where it is believed Jacob met God on two occasions.  There is a little hut, believed to have been erected by Moslems, in honor of Jacob and his dream-filled night.  There is also a rather amazing, old, gnarly oak tree, Allon Bachuth (v8, terebinth of weeping).  There is also a place identified as the location of the altar of idolatry erected by Jeroboam when the kingdom was divided after Solomon.  And, on the top of a building, there is an incredible view (if you happen to be there on a clear day, which almost never happens due to the agricultural haze) where you can see in all four directions, the land God gave to Abraham and Isaac, and to Jacob and his descendants.  Our Bethel is the place where, as God speaks to us through His word, we can remember His promises as well.  Let us frequently go, to dwell at Bethel!