5. Jacob Returns to Bethel (Genesis 33:17-35:29)
by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
Audio (33:46)
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James J. Tissot, "Seduction of Dinah, Daughter
of Leah" (c. 1896-1902), gouache on board, Jewish Museum, New York. |
Jacob has met two adversaries on this journey, his
father-in-law Laban and his brother Esau, and God has protected him from
both. But there are dangers in Canaan, too.
The first place Jacob lives in Canaan after his return
is on the east side of the Jordan, a location known as Succoth.
"Jacob, however, went to Succoth, where he
built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why
the place is called Succoth." (33:17)
The place name Succoth (sūkkôt, the plural of
sukkâ, "booth") is so named because Jacob built shelters or booths for
his livestock there. He also built a house, since he apparently planned to
stay for a while. In fact, though this residence only takes one verse in the
Bible, he probably lived there for several years. Dinah is a child of about
seven when the family left Haran, but is perhaps 15 by the time of her
abduction in Shechem.
Now, after several years, Jacob and his family move to
Shechem, to the west of the Jordan in Canaan.
"18 After Jacob came from Paddan
Aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in Canaan and camped within
sight of the city. 19 For a hundred pieces of silver, he bought
from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he
pitched his tent." (33:18-19)
He is planning to stay here, too, as evidenced by the
fact that he purchases the land he will live on. Shechem had been a stopping
place for Jacob's grandfather, Abraham, as well.
"Abram traveled through the land as far as the
site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem.... The Lord appeared to Abram
and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.' So he built an altar
there to the Lord, who had appeared to him." (12:6-7)
Like his forebear, Jacob builds an altar there:
"There he set up an altar and called it El
Elohe Israel." (33:20)
Jacob is going by a new name now -- Israel -- given by
the Lord (32:28), so he names the altar "El Elohe Israel," which means "God
(is) God of Israel," recalling Jacob's vow made in Bethel:
"If God will be with me and will watch over me
on this journey ... then the Lord will be my God." (28:20-21)
Being so close to the city, it is natural for Jacob's
children, now teenagers, to develop friends in town, and to go into town
when they have finished their chores. Dinah often visits her friends in
town, and more and more she catches the eye of Shechem, the son of Hamor,
leader of the town. One day, Shechem follows his lusts, takes1
her, and rapes2
her. Yet, in spite of his violent act, he loves her and is eager to marry
her. He tells his father, "Get me this girl as my wife," that is, arrange a
marriage for me.
Word travels fast. It is distressing to see Jacob's
reaction -- silence.
"When Jacob heard that his daughter Dinah had
been defiled, his sons were in the fields with his livestock; so he kept
quiet about it until they came home." (34:5)
Jacob keeps quiet about it, meaning he doesn't rush to
find and help his daughter Dinah or to confront the young man or his father.
Jacob is about 104 years old at this point and probably frail. He waits
until his sons come home -- probably out of fear of the Shechemites.
As soon as they hear the news, the boys rush home
"filled with grief and fury." Shechem's father Hamor, leaves Dinah at
Shechem's house (34:17, 26) and, with Shechem and his other sons, come out
to Jacob's tent to seek terms for marriage between Shechem and Dinah. Hamor
asks Jacob to name whatever he wants for a bride price. We read no answer
from Jacob, only from his sons.
"We can't give our sister to a man who is not
circumcised," they say. They insist that all the men of Shechem be
circumcised for a marriage to take place. This might seem plausible. Even
though the Shechemites didn't practice circumcision, they had, no doubt,
heard of peoples who circumcised men prior to marriage.3
Hamor and Shechem, as members of the leading family in the town, convince
the other men to consent. But where is Jacob's voice in this? Silent.
Three days after the circumcisions, when all the men
are sore, Simeon and Levi, two of Dinah's full brothers (children of Leah)
-- probably joined by their servants -- attack the town surreptitiously, kill
all the men, and retrieve their sister. Then the other brothers loot the
houses and carry off the women and children as slaves.
Just before Jacob's death, in Jacob's blessing of his
sons, we find that this terrible sin has become a curse to them:
" 5
Simeon and Levi are brothers --
their swords are weapons of violence.
6 Let me not enter their council,
let me not join their assembly,
for they have killed men in their anger
and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.
Cursed be their anger, so fierce,
and their fury, so cruel!
I will scatter them in Jacob
and disperse them in Israel." (49:5-7)
Only now does Jacob speak -- out of fear. His sons have
broken the peace.
"30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and
Levi, ‘You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the
Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in
number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household
will be destroyed.'
31 But they replied, ‘Should he
have treated our sister like a prostitute?'" (34:30-31)
Jacob seems more concerned with peace than honor.
Derek Kidner observes:
"The appeaser and the avengers, mutually
exasperated, and swayed respectively by fear and fury, were perhaps
equidistant from true justice. They exemplify two perennial but sterile
reactions to evil."4
What should Jacob have done? Probably he should have
pressed a legal accusation before the elders of the town, contending that
the young man Shechem must be punished. Under the Mosaic Law centuries
later, such a crime would have been punishable by death (Deuteronomy 22:25),
though we don't know what law would prevail in this town at the time. Would
the town elders have consented to punish Shechem? We don't know. On the one
hand, Shechem is the son of the leader, but on the other hand, Jacob is a
wealthy man in his own right who has influence in the area.
Nevertheless, instead of taking Shechem to court, Jacob
is silent. The result is that he allows his sons to take matters into their
own hands and commit a horrible crime.
Q1. (Genesis 34) Why do you think Jacob is
so silent after the rape of his daughter? What should he have done
instead of being silent? What was right about the sons' reaction?
What was wrong? What threat does the family now face if they stay in
Shechem?
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But let's look at the situation from another
perspective for a moment. Let's say Jacob's family had reached an
agreement with the people of Shechem and begun to intermarry. How long do
you think Jacob's descendants would have retained their unique understanding
of Yahweh, the true God? Not long. Centuries later through Moses, God gave
these commands to the Israelites:
"And when you choose some of their daughters
as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their
gods, they will lead your sons to do the same." (Exodus 34:16)
"Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your
daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will
turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD'S
anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you." (Deuteronomy
7:3-4)
After the Israelites conquered the land under Joshua,
there was continual intermarriage with the Canaanites, the people of the
land. Chief among the offenders was King Solomon.
"King Solomon loved many foreign women besides
Pharaoh's daughter -- Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites.
They were from nations about which the LORD
had told the Israelites, ‘You must not intermarry with them, because they
will surely turn your hearts after their gods.' Nevertheless, Solomon held
fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three
hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.
As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his
heart was not fully devoted to the LORD
his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth
the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the
Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD;
he did not follow the LORD completely,
as David his father had done.
On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the
detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites.
He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered
sacrifices to their gods."
(1 Kings 11:1-8)
Intermarriage was never a racial issue, but a religious
one. The Jews were separatist and exclusivist because God intended them to
be. If there had not been a continual emphasis on Israel's uniqueness and
separateness (holiness), the faith God was trying to teach them would have
dissipated rapidly through syncretism (the combination of different
religions and religious practices).
It took many generations for God to teach his people.
He began through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -- and then through Moses and
Joshua, through Samuel and David, through the prophets.
How long does it take to infuse an entire nation with a
radical conviction about the One True God (monotheism), in sharp contrast
with the degraded polytheism of their neighbors? God is preparing his people
so he might reveal Christ to them and redeem them "when the time had fully
come" (Galatians 4:4).
We read the same command against intermarriage in the
New Testament. Again, this is not racial but religious.
"Do not be yoked together with
unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or
what fellowship can light have with darkness?"
(2 Corinthians 6:14)
"A woman is bound to her husband as long as he
lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but
he must belong to the Lord." (1 Corinthians 7:39)
The New Testament forbids intermarriage with
unbelievers. But what if you're already married to an unbelieving spouse? In
the early church, that was the case with thousands of people, especially
among the Gentiles.
There's no way you can undo the past, even if you've
made mistakes when you knew better. So confess it to God and make the best
of it. He can still bless you as you surrender your life to him now. And
there is hope for your spouse, too. Here's what the Apostle Paul taught on
the subject:
"12 To the rest I say this (I, not
the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is
willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.
13 And if a woman has a husband who
is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce
him. 14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through
his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing
husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are
holy.
15 But if the unbeliever leaves,
let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances;
God has called us to live in peace.
16 How do you know, wife, whether
you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will
save your wife?" (1 Corinthians 7:12-16)
We've explored intermarriage in the Bible. Now let's go
back to the story of Jacob and his sons and the rape of his daughter Dinah.
Jacob seems too willing to compromise and his sons too willing to act out of
anger. Which course, in this case, best accomplished God's will for Jacob's
family? Probably that of his hot-headed sons. What would have happened if
Jacob had just stood up and said, "No!" to the Shechemites on behalf of his
family and refused to allow Dinah to marry Shechem? I wonder.
At the crisis following the slaughter at Shechem, God
intervenes:
" Then God said to Jacob, ‘Go up to
Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to
you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.'" (35:1)
This isn't just an escape from the danger of staying in
Shechem. This is a renewed invitation to faith. Jacob sees it as a call to
holiness and separation, and so he commands his household and other servants
to purify themselves.
" 2 Get rid of the foreign gods you
have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3
Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who
answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I
have gone." (35:2-3)
Who would have foreign gods in Jacob's household? His
beloved wife, Rachel, for one. She had stolen her father's household gods
when they had fled from Haran years before (31:19). She had clung to the
false gods of her family.
Jacob's clan now included dozens of wives and children
captured from Shechem, all of whom had grown up believing in idols and
amulets. Some became family slaves, no doubt. Others may have became wives
for his sons -- we don't know. But apparently some of the Shechemite women
and children wore earrings and other jewelry which had religious symbols or
connotations. When they left Shechem to go to the house of God (Beth-el),
Jacob was determined that they make a clean break with idolatry and to lead
his suddenly-expanded household to trust in the true God Yahweh and in him
only.
"4 So they gave Jacob all the
foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them
under the oak at Shechem. 5 Then they set out, and the terror of
God fell upon the towns all around them so that no one pursued them."
(35:4-5)
I can hear echoes of Jacob's call to repentance
in Joshua's challenge centuries later to the people of Israel:
"Now fear the LORD
and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers
worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD....
Choose for yourselves this day whom you will
serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the
gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my
household, we will serve the LORD."
(Joshua 24:14-15)
"Purify yourselves and change your clothes," Jacob
commanded his household (35:2b). What do washing and putting on clean
clothes have to do with spiritual preparation? To Jacob's family it meant
that their father's God demanded cleanness and their best.
Before the covenant was ratified on Mount Sinai, the LORD
instructed Moses,
"Go to the people and consecrate them today
and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third
day...." (Exodus 19:10-11)
Throughout the Book of Leviticus, bathing and washing
one's clothes were ways one cleansed oneself from impurity and uncleanness.
We see the same symbol in the tabernacle:
" [Moses] placed the basin between
the Tent of Meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing,
and Moses and Aaron and his sons used it to wash their hands and feet.
They washed whenever they entered the Tent of Meeting or approached the
altar, as the Lord commanded Moses." (Exodus 40:30-32)
Water, of course, is a symbol of spiritual cleansing.
In the New Testament, the water of baptism is seen as a way to express
repentance and to find purity before God through cleansing from sins (Acts
22:16; 2:38; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Titus 3:5; Hebrews 10:22; 1 Peter 3:21).
Our old ways won't do. We must cleanse ourselves and
come before the Lord in holiness.
I can almost hear someone remark:
We cannot cleanse ourselves, only God can
cleanse us. We are saved by the grace of God, not by works.
But repentance is a requirement of salvation, isn't it?
When Peter's listeners were cut to the heart on the day of Pentecost and
asked what they should do, he told them,
"Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in
the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:37-38)
Man's part is repentance and washing (baptism);
God's part is sending his blessing of forgiveness, and that is the true
grace.
Q3. (Genesis 35:1-5) Why does Jacob's
household need spiritual renewal? Why is it important to get rid of
foreign gods? What do washing and putting on clean clothes
represent? What "foreign gods" do you need to throw away? In what
ways do you need to repent and lead a new, clean life?
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"6 Jacob and all the people with
him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7 There
he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there
that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother."
(35:6-7)
Jacob calls his household to prepare themselves
spiritually first. "Then come," he says, "let us go up to Bethel, where I
will build an altar to God" (35:3). In Bethel, Jacob built the altar, no
doubt with the assistance of his sons. With them he has fulfilled the vow he
made decades before in this very spot. It is a time of renewal and closeness
to God.
The narrator inserts here a blessing that Jacob
receives about this time:
"After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God
appeared to him again and blessed him." (35:9)
God confirms to him the name of Israel, which Jacob had
first received at Peniel (32:28). Then God reaffirms to him the Blessing of
Abraham that we studied in Lesson 2.
"11 And God said to him, ‘I am God
Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of
nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body. 12
The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will
give this land to your descendants after you.' 13 Then God went
up from him at the place where he had talked with him." (35:11-13)
Look at the elements of this blessing:
-
"I am God Almighty" (El Shaddai, 35:11b).
-
"Be fruitful and increase in number" (35:11c).
-
"A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings
will come from your body" (35:11d).
-
"The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will
give this land to your descendants after you" (35:12).
God identifies himself this time as God Almighty, El
Shaddai, a title God used first when he revealed himself to Abraham
(17:1), and repeats here, and in 43:14; 48:3; and 49:25. The name may be
linked to the word for "destroy, overpower,"5
but we can't be sure. However, "Almighty" is probably a good translation.
The command to "be fruitful and multiply" is
reminiscent of God's first command to Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:28). The
promises of a great people and the land are part of the blessing that
Jacob's father and grandfather had received before him.
"14 Jacob set up a stone pillar at
the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering
on it; he also poured oil on it. 15 Jacob called the place where
God had talked with him Bethel." (35:14-15)
Jacob responded this time as he had responded the first
time God had appeared to him at Bethel ("house of God"). He commemorated the
event by setting up a memorial stone to the LORD and anointing it. But here
he performs another act of worship:
"He poured out6
a drink offering on it" (35:14b).
This is the first time in Scripture that we see the
drink offering or libation poured out before the Lord. But later, in the
time of the tabernacle and temple, drink offerings were offered twice daily.
For example:
"With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah
of fine flour mixed with a quarter of a hin7
of oil from pressed olives, and a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink
offering." (Exodus 29:40)
In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul likened his
imprisonment and sufferings as "being poured out like a drink offering on
the sacrifice and service coming from your faith" (Philippians 2:17).
Jacob never built a physical "house of God" on this
site at Bethel. All he built was an altar and a pillar, and with them were
the memories of a sacrifice -- of a lamb, of oil, of wine -- and especially of
the presence and word of the Lord. It was a precious place to Jacob.
Many sermons have been preached on "The Forgotten Vow,"
blaming Jacob for not immediately fulfilling his vow before the Lord at
Bethel, but rather delaying it by years of sojourning in Succoth and
Shechem.8
Let's examine the evidence. Years before, Jacob had vowed before the Lord at
Bethel:
"If God will be with me and will watch
over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes
to wear so that I return safely to my father's house, then the LORD
will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's
house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth." (28:20-22)
In Haran, God had spoken to him:
"I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a
pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go
back to your native land." (31:13)
Only at the end of Jacob's sojourn in Shechem
does God call him specifically to return to Bethel:
"Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build
an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your
brother Esau." (35:1)
Is Jacob wrong for not fulfilling his vow sooner?
Here's my view:
- Immediate obedience. When God calls him in Haran to return "to
your native land," Jacob obeys immediately. Not until chapter 35 does God
specifically tell him to dwell in Bethel, and Jacob obeys immediately.
- Probable visits. Probably, in the intervening time, Jacob has
visited both his father Isaac in Beersheba and the site at Bethel where God
had appeared to him. We aren't told in Scripture, but I find it hard to
believe that he hadn't made both of these trips.
- Vows not mentioned. When Jacob does move to Bethel, we aren't
told that he is fulfilling his vows. When he built an altar in Succoth named
"God, the God of Israel," he had fulfilled the part of the vow that Yahweh
would be his God. How he fulfilled the part of his vow concerning making
Bethel the house of God or tithing we just aren't told. Vow fulfillment
isn't the context of the return to Bethel story.
- Silence of Scripture. Scripture does not condemn Jacob for not
"fulfilling his vow" sooner -- only preachers and commentators do. Where
Scripture withholds judgment, I believe we should also.
Chapter 35 records three deaths, and the sin of Reuben,
Jacob's firstborn.
1. Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, dies near Bethel
(35:8). This short mention tells us several things. First, Jacob had gone to
his father Isaac's home soon after Jacob had returned from Haran. (35:27
does not necessarily occur immediately prior to Isaac's death.) That
explains Deborah living with Jacob's family in Bethel. And while the account
mentions Deborah's death, it does not record Rebekah's. Jacob's mother
Rebekah must have died during the twenty years Jacob was in exile in Haran.
He had missed being with her at her death.
2. Rachel, Jacob's beloved wife, dies in
childbirth as the family is traveling south (35:16-20), perhaps on their way
to visit Jacob's father Isaac in Hebron. Rachel is Jacob's first love, and
now she dies bearing for Jacob her second son. As she dies, she names the
boy Ben-Oni ("son of my trouble"), but Jacob renames him Benjamin ("son of
my right hand"). Benjamin is the last child of his favorite wife -- and the
last son born to him that we know of. After Joseph is kidnapped, Jacob's "life is closely bound up with the boy's life" (44:30).
3. Reuben, the firstborn son, is found sleeping
with Jacob's concubine Bilhah (35:22), clouding the firstborn's claim to be
eventual leader of the clan. This was more than youthful passion, it was a
direct insult to his father. We don't read what action Jacob took, if any,
but Jacob's disappointment is clear in the prophecy he gives over Reuben
just before Jacob's death:
"Reuben,
you are my firstborn,
my might, the first sign of my strength,
excelling in honor, excelling in power.
Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel,
for you went up onto your father's bed,
onto my couch and defiled it." (49:3-4)
Q5. (Genesis 35:22) What is the
significance of Reuben's sin? In what way does it go beyond a sexual
sin? We're not told, but how do you think this affected the family
dynamics? Extra credit: Reuben has acted dishonorably here. In what
ways does Reuben act honorably in the future? (37:21-29; 42:22, 37)
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4. Isaac, Jacob's father, dies at the family
home in Hebron at the ripe old age of 180.
"He breathed his last and died and was
gathered to his people, old and full of years." (35:29)
Isaac's death marks the end of an era. Certainly Isaac
was a blessed man, to see God's promise of descendents begin to blossom,
with 12 grandsons, as well as a number of granddaughters. Esau and Jacob
together bury him, perhaps the last time they meet.
As I look at this passage, two elements stand out to
me. First, Jacob's calling his family to repentance and rededication. Jacob
has just "blown it" in handling his daughter's rape, yet he doesn't quit,
but calls his family with him to prepare for a new place with God.
Second is the sense of intimacy surrounding God's
appearance to Jacob. The language used to describe this appearance seems
startling in its directness:
"God appeared to him again and blessed him."
(35:9)
After the appearance, the Bible records,
"Then God went up from him at the place where
he had talked with him." (35:13)
What a privilege to have God talk with you, to have him
speak with you in particular! This is a privilege accorded to few in
the Old Testament. But we who are part of the New Covenant are all intended
to be recipients of this awesome audience with God. We have an access to God
-- a fact which is amazing.
"Let us then approach the throne of grace with
confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our
time of need." (Hebrews 4:16)
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We also have been called to an intimate relationship
with God through the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Spirit
leads us and within us cries, "Abba, Father ... while the Spirit himself
testifies with our spirit that we are God's children" (Romans 8:14-16).
Through the Spirit "we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16).
I encourage you to spend time with God often, daily.
Walk with him on a walk and tell him your thoughts. Sing to him, pray to
him, listen to him. I've found that God does guide my thoughts if I
seek him. But very occasionally he will speak to my heart with such clarity
that I know it is he. His words are usually short and to the point, but are
so nourishing and helpful. They are like tent-pegs fixed in the ground,
which anchor my tent on a windy day.
"Then God went up from him at the place where
he had talked with him." (35:13)
Talk to us, too, O Lord.
Prayer
Father, our failings and sins weigh on us. We, like
Jacob, need to be visited afresh by you. Come to us again in your fullness.
We put away our gods. We repent before you. Come, Lord Jesus. In your holy
name, we pray. Amen.
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