Genesis 35
After reading about the tragedy that happened in the land of Shechem yesterday, this chapter feels like a relief. If you didn’t notice, God isn’t mentioned once in the all of chapter 34, but today He is mentioned so much! In fact the chapter starts off with God addressing Jacob to pack up and move to Bethel to make an altar to God and Jacob responding to His command. Jacob even reminds his family to ‘put away foreign gods’ and explains that they will be making an altar to “the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone’ (vs. 2,3).
God protects Jacob and his family as they travel through the cities until they reach Bethel. This is another reminder that God is keeping His promise to be with His people. From Abraham, to Isaac, and now to Jacob and His family, we have seen this promise to God unfold.
Then we read about God appearing to Jacob and blessing him. This feels confusing because we just read about this in chapter 32 when Jacob walks away from his encounter with God with a broken hip. This could be a second incident, but most likely it is the same incident referenced twice. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel for a noteworthy purpose. God promises Jacob that He will bring a large nation shall come through him. This is the same promise that God made to Abraham and Isaac. Later on we will learn that this nation that God is promising will be referred to as Israel. God wants to make sure that Jacob knows his new name and is living into it. God reminds us of the same thing. Through His word, prayer, and community, God is constantly reminding us to live into our new identity in Christ.
Although this chapter carries a lot of sadness with the death of Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, Rachel dying in childbirth, and Isaac dying of old age, it ends with a reminder of hope. Jacob and his brother Esau bury their father together. God reconciled their relationship in chapter 33 and now they are brought together again over the death of their father. Despite all that they have done, God continues to use them for His glory and He wants to do the same for you.
