Get Ready to Listen

Genesis 35:1-15

In response to God’s question, “Can You Hear Me Now?”  Jacob got alone with God and listened. Once he had listened he got rid of all the foreign gods in his household.

As Jacob left Laban’s house, his lovely wife Rachel stole some household idols from her father.

“Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the household idols that were her father’s” (Genesis 31:19 NKJV).

Laban discovered the theft along with the revelation that Jacob’s family had left his compound in Haran for regions unknown. Laban and his men went in hot pursuit of Jacob’s clan. He caught up with them at Mizpeh. Accusations reigned. Verbal protests and accusations flew.

Laban: “You have stolen my family idols.”

Jacob: “No way. Execute whomever has them.”

But unbeknown to Jacob, Rachel had the idols. She hid them under her camel saddle in her tent. When her father came into the tent to inspect, she lied.

Rachel: “Please don’t require me to rise, father. I’m on my period.”

The deception was complete. The idols remained hidden. Once at Bethel, God demanded that Jacob rid his household of all foreign gods. The 18^th century Methodist commentator on the scripture, Adam Clarke, suggests that these foreign gods could include Syrian gods, astrological charts, or gods taken in the spoil from Shechem.

Along with the riddance of idols was the command to remove earrings from Jacob’s family members ears. These ear rings may have had superstitious or religious significance related to idolatry. In a moment where God demanded that Jacob listen, He included a command to remove earrings from ears. In the ancient world, jewelry might be consecrated to some idol and warn as a charm to ward off evil spirits and provide magical charm. These earrings represented idolatrous beliefs that were obstructing the ears of Jacob’s family thus preventing their ability to listen to God.

The foreign gods and amulets were buried under a sacred tree so that no one would go back and dig them up again.   Jacob was serious about getting rid of idolatry. What idolatrous beliefs or practices are clogging your ears?  God is asking, “Can you hear me now?” The challenge for you and me is to remove our idolatry and abandon it permanently.

Jacob and his family were ordered to change their garments. This act of putting on a clean change of clothing represents purity. The Mosaic law would later require ritual purifications that represented inner and outer purity.

Once Jacob got alone with God and listened, got rid of all the foreign gods in his household, he returned to Bethel. There, Jacob built an altar to worship God. Jacob had returned to the spiritual place where he had first experienced God. Jacob renamed Bethel, which meant “house of God,” to El Bethel, “God of Bethel.” Jacob recognized that His encounter with God transcended time and space. It was no longer simply about a place, rather about the God of that place.

Once Jacob got alone with God and listened, got rid of all the foreign gods in his household, returned to Bethel, and experienced God again. God appeared to Jacob.

“Then God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Padan Aram, and blessed him. And God said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.’ So, He called his name Israel. Also God said to him: ‘I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.’ Then God went up from him in the place where He talked with him. So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel” (Genesis 35:9-15 NKJV).

God appeared to Jacob in order to bless Jacob. For the second time in Jacob’s life, God declare that he has a new name, Israel. At Bethel, God renewed the Abrahamic covenant with Israel. Jacob set up a stone pillar to mark the place where God appeared to him some 30 years earlier. Jacob made an offering to God. Jacob named the place Bethel.

I find it interesting that it took Jacob so long to get back to Bethel. Perhaps as many as 10 years transpired from his leaving Laban’s household to his return to Jacob. All that time, Jacob delayed the receipt of the blessing God intended for him. Although Jacob was reluctant to listen, God kept speaking all the while.