Jacob’s Homecoming

Transcript

GRS 9
3/16/1986
Jacob's Homecoming
Old Testament Survey
Genesis 31-35
Gil Rugh

The book of Genesis in your Bibles. Genesis and the 35th chapter. Let me encourage you to be reading these chapters. If you’re not familiar with the content, then much of what we do in overviewing and highlighting these sections will be lost to you. But if you’ll take the time to read the Word and familiarized yourself with the content of what is here, then I think as we go over it and review it together you’ll find that it’s being solidified and fixed in your mind.

Jacob has been living with his father Laban for some 20 years now. He’s had a family, wives and children and now it’s God’s intention to take Jacob back to the land that He has promised Him as an inheritance. He’s been living in the region of Haran where his father-in-law Laban dwells. Remember, Jacob went there to secure a wife and also escape the wrath of Esau. Now after 20 years, seems like a long time, 20 years, God now wants him to return to the land of promise. Chapter 31 of Genesis is going to record Jacob leaving Laban, and you might just title the chapter “Jacob leaves Laban”. That’s what the chapter is about, the parting of the ways of Jacob and Laban. And there are really two major divisions in the chapter. Jacob’s departure is recorded in the first 21 verses, and then Jacob’s confrontation in verses 22-55. It’s gonna be a departure from Laban and then a confrontation with Laban which will result in the final break. It’s gonna be clear through this entire section that through all the hardship, through all the heartache, that Jacob has experienced over these 20 years, God has been preparing him for a deeper and stronger relationship with Himself. And that comes as tremendously encouraging to me. Jacob belongs to God. He enjoys a covenant relationship with God. And through all the difficulties and all the trials, God has been at work and now He is prepared to restore Jacob to the land of promise.

The chapter opens up with Jacob hearing the words of Laban’s sons saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s. What belonged to our father he has made all this wealth. From what belonged to our father he has made all this wealth. Remember what had happened. When Jacob wanted to leave in chapter 30, Laban talked him into staying and there was an agreement. Jacob would get to keep all the striped and spotted in the flocks. And Laban thought that was a good deal, because it was unusual to have the striped and the spotted. What happened is God worked supernaturally and the strong of the flock produced spotted and striped and Jacob became a wealthy man over these years. And that creates jealousy. Because now the sons of Laban look and say Jacob is prospering. He’s taking our father’s wealth. For they see everything that Jacob has as belonging to them because it came out of their father’s herds and flocks. Jacob senses the hard feeling and the animosity that’s there, and he plans his return. Now in connection with this God appears to Jacob again and in verse 3, “Then the Lord said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your father and to your relatives, and I will be with you.’” Now you see what’s happened. The circumstances have worked out to go contrary to Jacob, but that was in the plan of Jacob to prepare for God’s message: “Leave and return to Canaan.” So the two things together, the animosity and now the word from God cause Jacob to prepare to leave, and those preparations are recorded beginning in verse 4. What Jacob does is call for Rachel and Leah to come out into the field and meet him where he’s keeping his flocks. Here he can talk with them relatively privately. And he rehearses the fact, down through verse 8, that their father has dealt unfairly with him over the years. In verse 7 of chapter 31, “Your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times.” So he rehearses for them unfaithfulness and unfairness of Laban, and yet here Jacob credits God with faithfulness, “Yet God did not allow him to hurt me.” You see how Jacob can see? As frustrating as these 20 years have been, as Jacob looks, he can see that God has been with him and protecting and keeping him. That does not mean it was easy. These have been frustrating years for Jacob. But God was working it for good. Then he rehearses in verse 9 and following that God told him to go back to Canaan. And he reiterates how he came into all the herds and all the flocks. In verse 10, “It came about when the flock were mating I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream ‘Behold, the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled and mottled.’ Then the angel of God said to me in a dream, ‘Jacob.’ I said, ‘Here I am.’ ‘Lift up your eyes. See all the male goats which are mating striped, speckled, mottled. I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of Bethel where you anointed a pillar. Where you made a vow to me. Now arise, leave this land, return to the land of your birth.’” You see what he’s doing. He’s making sure that his wives are ready to go with him. And that they have not been influenced by the family conflict. You see, it’s been God’s hand who’s given me the flock. It’s been His work to give me this increased inheritance, if you will, from the father, their father. And it’s now God’s instruction to return to Bethel. And that’s in chapter 28, verses 18 to 22, where Jacob had the dream of the ladder or stairway to heaven. Then he set a pillar up and anointed it with oil, promising if God returned him to the land, he would worship him there. That would happen on his way to Haran. Now 20 years later God tells him to go back to the land of promise and to Bethel. Rachel and Leah, word of positiveness here. I think this is the only time we have recorded they agree about anything. And they agree they ought to leave. And they don’t have any real endeared feelings to their father Laban either. They said they’ve taken the money that was used to purchase us; he’s taken it and used it for himself. He’s not concerned about inheritance for us. So they conclude in verse 16, “Do whatever God has said to you.” I take it that’s a good word from them and you can see God working that they should agree on this in spite of their animosity.

Then in verses 17 to 21 all the preparation Jacob does quickly in getting ready to leave. Verse 19, Laban had gone to shear his flock. Rachel goes in and steals the household items and then they leave while Laban is away. Now these household items become an important factor and we wonder they are called teraphim. Household idols is probably a good translation. Why would Rachel steal them from her father? And Laban will be concerned about their absence. Couple of explanations are given. Some see them associated with fertility. The reason being that they found many of these little household idols are teraphim and they are usually goddesses, nude goddesses with exaggerated sexual features which cause some to believe they were thought to bring fertility. And of course Rachel has real concerns about her ability to bear children. So they may have been viewed as guaranteeing fertility in the family. So she would naturally desire this for herself. Some also see them associated with the right to inheritance. They were the household gods and so the possession of them went to the possession of the household. And so this is her way of getting back her father cheated her out of her husband by giving her older sister to Jacob first and now he’s not giving her any possessions or inheritance. She may have thought that she deserved something, and so by having these household items she would be able to lay claim to certain possessions when it came time for inheritance. So in other words, when Laban died she would be able to present the household gods and say, “I have a right to a portion of this inheritance.” Jacob doesn’t know anything about this. Rachel does it in secret. Then they leave. And note in verse 20, “Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he was fleeing.” You know the thing that amazes me about these Old Testament characters and now Jacob especially is how their character goes around the manifestation of their character. Here is Jacob who has a word from God in verse 3 who has been told by God what has been happening as God worked on his behalf, and then instructed by God to go back to Bethel, go back to Canaan. He’s going to do that, but he’s still got to resort to his old ways, he’s still Jacob the deceiver. He still has to do it in a deceitful way. He’s going to run off with everything he can while Laban’s gone shearing the flock. Well, in verse 22, after 3 days, word gets to Laban. You know what’s happened? Jacob has gathered up your daughters, all the herds that were his that Laban still thought were his own, and left. Well Laban’s not going to stand for that. So he gathers his kinsmen in verse 23 which would be a small army, and he takes off after Jacob. And he overtakes him after 7 days in the hill country of Gilead. Now Jacob had really been making some time. When you consider he had his wives, his children, all his possessions and there they went on camels, we are told, and they made it to the East side of the Jordan River. That’s where the hill country of Gilead is. On the eastern side of the Jordan River. Laban overtakes him there. But you know God’s looking out for him. So Laban catches up to him. Verse 24, gonna get a night’s rest before he really comes up and takes care of Jacob and God appears to Laban in a dream and said to him, “Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.” And that sort of puts Laban in his place. I don’t know what he had in mind, but evidently it wasn’t good, because God intervenes on Jacob’s part and says, “You be careful. Don’t say anything good and don’t say anything bad to Jacob.” Well, that’s going to tone Laban down a little bit, he’s going to huff and puff, abut he’s not going to do anything. And to speak good or bad, that was a proverbial expression. You’ll find it a couple of other times in the Old Testament, and in other words, Laban wasn’t to do anything to get Jacob to return. He wasn’t to do anything to Jacob, and he wasn’t to either force him to come back or he wasn’t to try to talk him into coming back. In other words, you leave Jacob alone. And that’s exactly what Laban’s going to do. He’s not going to say anything to try to talk to talk Jacob into coming back or put any pressure on Jacob. He’s just going to rant and rave a little bit. So he does come, he talks Jacob, verse 26, “What have you done by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword?” See he wants to put Jacob in as bad a light as possible. You’ve just been like a kidnapper. Why did you flee secretly and deceive me? Did not tell me, and I love this, so that I might have sent you away with joy, songs, with timbral and with the lyre. And you didn’t allow me to kiss my sons and daughters. Now you’ve done foolishly. Note what he says, “It is in my power to do you harm.” Well, humanly speaking, yes, but Laban knows no and he acknowledges that. “But God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.’” Then he brings up the issue of the stolen idols. The end of verse 30, “Why did you steal my gods?” I always sort of get a kick out of that statement, “Why did you steal my gods?” Really great gods when they get stolen off your shelf while you’re sleeping or when you’re out of town. Jacob doesn’t know anything about it. You know what he says? I didn’t take your gods. Whoever has your gods, we’ll execute them on the spot. Now you imagine Jacob didn’t have any idea what’s going on. So Laban conducts a search to all the tents, through all the possessions. He comes to Rachel’s tent, and what she’s doing, she’s sitting on the camel’s saddle. She hid the idols under the saddle. It was customary regardless of age, children stood in the presence of their parents. And I may try to institute that in my own home. As acknowledging respect, and it didn’t matter how old you were. This wasn’t just little kids did this, everyone, at whatever age, stood in the presence of their parents as a sign of respect, but she says, ‘It’s my time of the month, so you’ll forgive me if I don’t get up.’ What she really is doing is covering the idols. She’s learned a little bit of deception from her good husband Jacob. Well, Laban can’t find the idols, so now it’s Jacob’s turn to lay into Laban. You know Jacob’s built some courage now. I mean, Laban’s already told him that God said I can’t say anything to you good or bad. I have the power to harm you, but God says I can’t. so now Jacob had a chance to get his dander all worked up in verse 36, “Then Jacob became very angry, contended with Laban; and Jacob answered and said to Laban, ‘What is my transgression? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me?’” You have checked for your gods and you didn’t find it, you found it put it out here between us, otherwise shut up, that’s paraphrased. Verse 38, “These twenty years I have been with you.” Now you see what it was involved with being a shepherd, that was not an easy life he didn’t, you know, he took responsibility for miscarriage, he didn’t eat any of the flock, when a wild animal killed it, he took responsibility for it, Laban didn’t cover that loss. Note the end of verse 39, “You required it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night.” You see what Laban had done. There are no excuses, Jacob, every single animal you are accountable for and any on that’s gone, you pay for. And he was out there day and night in verse 40 in the cold and in the heat. “These 20 years,” verse 41, “I have been in your house. I served you 14 years for your two daughters.” Seven years apiece, remember. “Six years for your flock.” So these flocks were Jacob’s. Remember the agreement? He could have them. Six years he toiled to have this certain offspring of the flock. “You changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac, had not been for me, now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He rendered judgment last night.” You see what’s behind all this. Jacob has courage now. He sees God intervening again on his behalf. Now wouldn’t you think? We’re not done with the deceptions of Jacob. I think while he’s finally come to realize it, not yet. Sort of like us. God works in our behalf and we are really pumped up and excited, but it seems like then we lose something, we forget. Well, at any rate we’ve got a conflict to be resolved. And so Laban proposes a covenant because he’s still concerned about the idols. He’s also concerned about Jacob. If he has the idols he may come back and try to claim an inheritance later. Secondly, he knows he’s been unfair to Jacob. Maybe when Jacob gets back to Isaac, he has a brother Esau back there, they’ll marshal forces, come back in and you know, attack Laban. So Laban says, “We ought to have a covenant.” And Laban initiates the covenant because he’s the one who’s afraid here and he knows God’s on Jacob’s side. So he can’t do anything so he’s got to do something he feels to protect himself from Jacob. So a covenant is established. The covenant at Mizpah as we usually know it, or refer to it, because of the title given in verse 49 there are three names given, but the one in verse 49, “Mizpah” because “may the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another.” Mizpah means “watchtower” the Lord be the watchtower to watch over and with. This is really a covenant of deceit. I used to have a chain and Marilyn wore half of it and I wore half of it and it was cut in a jagged thing and it had this agreement in it till I realized this was a covenant of deceit. May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another. That’s not saying I’m praying the Lord will look out for you when we are apart. No it’s saying, may the Lord watch over you, you sneaky, crafty, stealing thief. That’s what he’s saying. May the Lord watch out so you don’t come sneaking back. You are a deceiver and take any of my stuff. That’s the covenant at Mizpah and verse 55, after they have some eating and feasting in connection with the covenant, early in the morning Laban rose, kissed his sons and daughters, blessed them, Laban departed and returned to his place. Laban disappears now from the Biblical scene. He’s been an important person. Both for a wife for Isaac now for wives for wives for Jacob this is also the last contact the patriarchy, the patriarchal families, the families of the patriarchs will have with their relatives and family in Mesopotamia. So the role has been completed going back there for wives so they don’t intermarry with the Canaanites. Now they are large enough and they will have their own wives provided by God from their own families.

Chapter 32. I titled this “Jacob Wrestles with God” because that’s how the chapter concludes, and to me that’s the major event in the chapter. Could also call it Jacob becomes Israel because here is where God is going to change the name of Jacob to Israel. This is the turning point in Jacob’s life. God’s going to bring him to the end of his own strength and the result will be Jacob will cast himself upon God and find his strength in God. The first 21 verses are taken up with Jacob preparing to meet Esau and the verse 22 to 23, Jacob wrestles with God. So Jacob prepares for Esau and wrestles with God. First 21 verses, Jacob prepares for Esau. Remember when Jacob left 20 years ago, Esau was waiting for a chance to kill him. Jacob doesn’t know what to expect as he returns. Again, God in mercy intervenes for Jacob. In the first two verses, angels meet Jacob on the way. Think of all the time that Jacob has these special, supernatural confrontations. Now here to prepare him for his return to Canaan, God in mercy sends angels to meet him and that will reinforce him. But you know what Jacob does now? Reverts to his plans. Now what am I going to do to make Esau accept me and like me? He sends messengers, Tell Esau Jacob’s returning. The messengers come back and say, Well, we told Esau, he’s on his way with 400 men. Well, Jacob is sure. 400 men? That’s a little army. That means Esau now thinks he can come and kill me. And so what Jacob does is in verse 9 he turns to God in prayer. To me this is one of the highlights of Jacob, now he does have some plans. He divides his family and camp into two camps, thinking, well, if Esau destroys one, the other will be saved. After he lays out his plan, then he goes to God in prayer. And a great prayer, just note. Verse 9, he reminds God of His command and His promise,
O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who didst say to me, ‘Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will prosper you.’” I take it that’s a good place to begin. Now he’s rehearsing what God has said, and commanded, I’m going back to Canaan, lord, because you told me to, and remember You told me You would prosper me in Canaan. Then the second thing he does is acknowledge his own unworthiness and God’s great faithfulness in verse 10, “I am unworthy of all the loving-kindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant.” That’s a good reminder for Jacob. He is unworthy. “With my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies.” When Jacob came on his way across the Jordan to Haran, all he had was the staff he was carrying, now he’s coming back a rich and mighty man. He acknowledges that’s a testimony to God’s faithfulness. Then in verse 11 he asks for God’s mercy and deliverance, “Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me, the mothers with the children.” Then he continues, “I want to base this request on the covenant promises you have given. You say, ‘I will prosper you, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’” That’s one of the great prayers of the Bible. And God will honor that prayer. Now, you say wow, boy Jacob’s really making progress. Now, we got, I prayed, it was a great prayer, I met with angels, now I gotta get my plan in motion. How he’s got to decide how he’s going to soften up Esau, so what he’s going to do is make a line of great presents. Going to send certain kind of animals and they’ll meet Esau as he comes, then after a space Esau will meet another group of animals and presents, the another group, what it’s all intended to do is soften Esau up. So he’s going to have so many wonderful presents from Jacob, when he gets to see Jacob he wouldn’t have the heart to do anything to him. So Jacob still can’t let go, and just trust God. He’s got to tell God, but then fall back on his own devices. Now as he prepares for that meeting before the night before he’s going to have that meeting with Esau, he sends the people on before him and he waits in the camp that night. He wrestles with an angel, and this is a key time in Jacob’s life and it’s recorded from verse 22 down to the end of the chapter. Just jot down Hosea 12 verses 3 and 4. In Hosea 12 verses 3 and 4 this incident is rehearsed, in summary obviously. There we are told that Jacob wrestled with the angel and prevailed. There we are clearly told it’s an angel. Here in Genesis we are told in verse 24 that Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him. Well that man is an angel and I think that the indication is that the angel is the angel of the Lord, the preincarnate Christ, because look at verse 30. Jacob named the place Peniel for he said I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved. So Jacob sees in wrestling with this man, this angel, he has been wrestling with God. So you put that together and this angel would be the angel of the Lord, the preincarnate Christ, because he is identified as God here. And you’re familiar with the account. Jacob wrestles with him through the night. Then in verse 25 the man does not prevail against him so he touches the socket of his thigh and Jacob’s thigh is dislocated. So obviously he has no strength anymore. He can’t wrestle. He can’t push with his legs, he’s incapacitated. So what’s Jacob left to do? He just grabs onto the man and won’t let go. And when the man of the angel says verse 26, “Let me go for the dawn is breaking,” he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” Now you see Jacob here. That’s what’s indicated. God in effect has taken away all of his strength and all Jacob can do now is hold on, but he is holding on. He is unwilling to let go unless he gets a blessing. That’s a testimony to the tenacity of Jacob and his character in realizing the importance, he’s come to realize, perhaps he didn’t at the beginning, but he does now, that this is a supernatural being. And he needs the blessing of God. So the angel asks him in verse 27, “What is your name?” Now remember, a name was a revelation of character. And when he asks him what is your name? He not wanting that for information, obviously, but he is calling to Jacob’s attention, what his character is. When Jacob says, “My name is Jacob”, he’s bringing before Jacob the fact he is a deceiver, a supplanter. So it’s a reminder to him of what he has been. And now the Angel of the Lord changes him name and says in verse 28, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel.” One who fights with God. “For you have striven with god and with men and have prevailed.” Jacob had wrestled with God, come to his own strength, the end of his own strength and held on until God gave him the blessing. So he had wrestled with God and prevailed, prevailed in the stand from the standpoint he could beat the angel obviously not, all the angel had to do was touch his thigh and that was the end of the battle for Jacob. But he had prevailed in that he had wrestled with him, come to the end of himself and hung on no longer battling, just holding on, claiming a blessing. That’s where God wanted to bring him. Because hadn’t it been God’s intention to bless him anyway? Hasn’t He promised to bless him? So you see how God has worked to bring Jacob to the place where Jacob is seeking that blessing above everything else. So his name is called Israel and that will become the name of the people who descend from Jacob. Israel. The people who have fought with God and prevailed. They are the people who have come into the place of blessing with God. Those who wrestled with Him and now have been blessed by Him. That could only happen when Jacob came to the end of his own strength. You know as long as Jacob could battle, he battled. But when he lost any strength when his hip is dislocated, all he can do then is hang on and ask God to bless and when he’s out of his own strength and just hanging on for God to bless, then he’s in a place where God can bless. He asks the angel his name. Then Jacob asked him, verse 29, “Please tell me you name.” I like the way it’s put, “But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’” I like it, it’s almost like I asked the questions. I ask you your name, you don’t ask me my name. And what Jacob is really asking for is for a revelation of his character. You can just jot down Judges chapter 13, verse 17 and 18. You remember Menoah, the father of Samson, is confronted by this same angel of Jehovah, the angel of Jehovah and he says, “What is your name?” And the angel of Jehovah says, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?” It is surpassing, goes beyond explanation or understanding. Remember Isaiah says his name shall be called wonderful counselor. So in other words, my character goes beyond understanding and Jacob realizes that he has been wrestling with God . And so he names the name of the place Penial, I have seen God face to face. Penial means the face of God. And yet I have lived. And Jacob leaves there now limping. And you’re reminded that Israel did not eat that portion of the animal in recognition of what had transpired here when Jacob was brought to the end of himself.

Chapter 33 records the reconciliation of Jacob and Esau and rather brief and to the point when they do meet, verse 4, “Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.” So Esau has been prepared by God and he is happy to see Jacob. The animosity is gone. And they have a conversation. Then it comes time to go on the way and in verse 14 Jacob says, “Please let my Lord” (he’s addressing Esau) “pass on before his servant.” You get the idea Jacob is almost groveling here a little bit. “I will proceed at my leisure according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my Lord at Seir.” Seir being the dwelling place of Esau and what you have here is Jacob is resorting to his own deceitful ways again. So his name has been changed. The one who has prevailed with God, but that doesn’t mean that there is nothing of the old Jacob left. And here it comes out again. He resorts to his old deceitful ways. You know why? He has no intention of going and meeting Esau at Seir. You know what happens? As soon as Esau leaves, verse 17, “Jacob journeyed to Succoth.” Well you know what is, Succoth is north, Seir is south. He says, “Esau, you go ahead to Seir and I’ll catch up when I get all my family and everything there.” So Esau leaves and goes south to Seir, as soon as he’s gone, Jacob takes off north to Succoth. See he’s resorted to has own deceitful ways, deceptive ways, couldn’t bring himself to be honest and open and trust God. He’s afraid of Esau, afraid that maybe Esau will change his mind. Is there any danger that God is not going to take care of Jacob after all that he’s been through? There is not a chance. And Jacob still has to learn you have to trust God without reservation. Same way we do. I amaze myself sometimes at how quickly I can fall back on my own ways. Come up with my own solutions. No matter how many times the Lord’s worked, I think, “I’ve gotta work this one out.” I don’t really have to, all I’ve gotta do is allow the Lord to work, and I’m sure He can accomplish it. It’s so easy for me to lapse back into my own strength which is no strength. What happens is, Jacob goes to Succoth and then he proceeds in verse 18 to the city of Shechem. Now he really should be on his way to Bethel. That seems to be God’s indication. That was his intention in chapter 28, that he would come back and worship God there. God had reminded him of that fact, but now Jacob is settling down in Shechem, in Canaan, in the promised land, but perhaps not at the appointed place and this is going to be a disaster.

This is one of the low points in the Book of Genesis when you come to chapter 34. You want to summarize the chapter, you could just call it The Rape of Dinah. That’s what the entire chapter revolves around, the rape of the daughter of Jacob. Living among the Canaanites has its own dangers, especially if he is not in the place where God wanted him. Sensitive to God’s work and God’s purposes. First 17 verses record the details around the rape, and then verses 18 to 31 record the revenge. So rape and revenge is what the chapter is about, and both are ugly. The rape is ugly, and the revenge is ugly. In fact, it is going to result in some of the sons of Jacob being disinherited for the revenge that they do mete out on this occasion. Well Dinah is mentioned in verse 1, Dinah the daughter of Leah. She is probably somewhere around 16 years of age if you go back and compare all that has happened, when she was born, and the time line that Jacob talks about. Seems to be somewhere here around 16 years of age. She goes out among the daughters of the land, mingles with the girls of Shechem. Problem was the son of the king of Shechem who was named Shechem sees her, likes her and takes her by force. And that is recorded in verse 2. Verse 3 tells us he does have a deep attraction even though he has forced her sexually. He would like to have her for his wife. Now things have gotten a little twisted here. First he rapes her and now he wants to arrange to marry her, but that’s what happens here. Jacob hears about it and he does nothing in verse 5. He’s silent. When his sons come in the field, from the field he tells them. Verse 7 is a significant verse. “Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel.” This is the first use of the name Israel as a title for the nation. A disgraceful thing has been done in Israel. And here the title Israel, the name Israel is used in the context of the nation. By lying with Jacob’s daughter. Such a thing ought not to be done. It was a defiling thing. Now what happens is Shechem and his father Hamor try to arrange a marriage and they say intermarry with us and we’ll intermarry with you and what we have will be yours and what you have will be ours. We’ll be one big, happy family. So that’s what they try to do. Now Jacob’s sons have a request, a requirement in response to this request. The requirement is you have to get circumcised. I mean, we’re a circumcised people. That’s part of our covenant with our God. And so we couldn’t intermarry with you unless you would observe circumcision, but if you observe circumcision, no problem. So they talk about that in verses 13 to 17, but if you won’t get circumcised, we’ll just pack up and go on our way. Well, they agree to circumcision, so verse 18 to 31 talk about the revenge and you see that the intentions of Hamor the king weren’t entirely honorable. Obviously, it didn’t start out honorable; it started out with a rape. But here even he tells the men of his city, the people of his city in verse 23, “Will not their livestock and their property and all their animals be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will live with us.” In other words, if we agree about this, we’ll just absorb them and take over all their stuff. Well, the sons of Jacob didn’t intend to live with them. So when the circumcision’s carried out and as a result of the circumcision being sore and incapacitated, the two sons of Jacob by Leah, Dinah’s brothers, come in with a sword and slaughter all the men in the city. They carry out their own revenge. Simeon and Levi, in verse 25, killed every male and then they take all the spoil and all the women of the city as the spoil of this conquest and return to Jacob. Jacob didn’t know about this until after the fact. Then verse 30, “Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ‘You have brought trouble on me by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and my men being few in number, they will gather together against me and they’ll attack me, that’ll destroy me, there won’t be anything left.’” What about the promise of God? See Jacob, he failed to exercise leadership, back at the beginning of this event when in verse 5 he kept silent, he didn’t do anything, now what are we to do in light of this? He does nothing. So his sons take it on their hands, they didn’t handle it properly, and Jacob rebukes them, just jot down chapter 49 of Genesis verse 5 to 7. Because of their uncontrolled violence, this act of passion that went beyond simply punishing the one who was guilty of the rape as Genesis 49 indicates, they are passed over when Jacob passes on blessings to all of his sons. Simeon and Levi are passed over. So they will suffer for this even though we can so well we understand. Well, they went beyond the bounds and Genesis 49 indicates it was a matter of their own violent, uncontrolled passion. So in their own sense they were no better than Shechem, who had raped Dinah, because they go off on an uncontrolled splurge of violence and revenge. And they have created a false covenant with Shechem to create a situation where they can carry this out. So they have become deceitful and broken the covenant to do this.

Chapter 35 Jacob returns to Bethel. He’s finally back to Bethel. That place of blessing before God. “Then God said to Jacob,” verse 1, “’Arise, go to Bethel.’” You think Jacob wasn’t’ ready to leave? He has to move him along. God needs to bring the difficulties in our lives. Sometimes we’d settle down and never do anything. I get too comfortable. So sometimes difficulties come in because now I’m open. God, what do you want to do with me? Doesn’t that often happen when you’re in a time of turmoil of crisis in your life? Isn’t that when you say, “Lord, what do you have for me?” That’s when I’m really open. When things are going so well, and I’m comfortable, and everything’s fitting together, my attitude is more, “Lord, I’m not open to make any changes right now, thank you.” But when God says “Go to Bethel,” Jacob is ready to get out of there, because he’s afraid. So it’s return to Bethel. Verse 2, “Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Put away the foreign gods which are among you.’” There needs to be some housecleaning Jacob didn’t necessarily know about the idols of Rachel, maybe he had come to know by now, but there are foreign gods that have been collected. Laban was an idolater. And Jacob’s family had grown up in that environment. And evidently when they left they had brought their false gods. Now Jacob says, ‘We’re going to Bethel. Everything has to be cleaned out.’ The false gods have to go, and that’s where Rachel’s idols go too, they put on new garments, and putting on the new garments portrayed purification. I’m putting off the old things. I’m putting away the old things. Now I’m preparing to meet and worship the true and living God. The earrings I don’t think is a condemnation of wearing earrings particularly, they’re in the context of the foreign gods. God again intervenes on Jacob’s behalf. In spite of all the problems in spite of just what’s happened at Shechem. Verse 5, “As they journeyed, there was a great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.” Don’t have to worry about the Canaanites. The terror of the Lord was on them, they were afraid of Jacob. Even though they outnumber him. Doesn’t matter, the terror of the Lord was upon them. And Jacob comes to Bethel, note verse 9, Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, dies, and then at Bethel, note verse 9, “God appeared to Jacob again. He blessed him.” And now the Abrahamic covenant is reconfirmed. We had it in chapter 12, we had it in chapter 15, we had it in chapter 17, chapter 22, chapter 28, now here we are again that covenant is reconfirmed. “God said to him ‘Your name is Jacob; your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.’ Thus He called him Israel. God said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come forth from you. And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you.’” Jacob responds like he did back in chapter 28, verse 18-22. He sets up a pillar and he anoints it with oil, worshipping God again at Bethel. We’re going to have the passing of Rachel and Isaac at the close of the chapter. Rachel is going to pass with the birth of Jacob’s last son. The twelfth son, Benjamin, will be born. They are going to journey away, and ultimately Jacob is going back to visit with his father Isaac. As they journey Rachel begins to give birth and she dies in childbirth. Before she dies she names the son that is born the son of my sorrow, Ben-oni. Jacob renames him Benjamin, “Son of my right hand.” It is a son of sorrow for Rachel, but it is a son of blessing to Jacob. It’s going to be another son from Rachel his favored wife. The twelfth son, and the patriarchs are now complete, the 12 sons of Jacob and you’ll note up in just before verse 23, the end of verse 22, “Now there were twelve sons of Jacob” and the number 12 will become symbolic of the entire nation now. So we’ll speak about the 12 and that number 12 becomes important in Old and New Testament alike to note completion. So we’re gonna have 12 tribes in Israel. We’re gonna have 12 apostles. In revelation chapter 21 verse 12 and 14 what are we gonna have? We’re gonna have 12 gates in the New Jerusalem. That number 12 becomes the picture of the completeness. And now the patriarchs are complete. There will be no more tribes in Israel. Al the tribes now will develop out of these 12 sons. But there is an unfortunate, an unhappy occurrence in verse 22. Reuben, the eldest son of Jacob goes in and has sexual relations with the concubine Bilhah, the concubine of Jacob. I say what in the world is Reuben doing? Why would he do this? Well it may have been as the eldest son he is trying by a pagan way to assert himself now as the patriarch of the family. And that would happen by taking the wives or the concubines of the father, you demonstrated that you now had replaced him. For this, Reuben forfeits his birthright, that becomes important. The birthright is now forfeited by Reuben. So when you get to the end of the Book of Genesis, chapter 49, verse 3 and 4, the birthright will not be passed through Reuben because Jacob says that he lay with his concubine. So he forfeits the birthright here just like Esau forfeited it, he sold it, so here Reuben forfeits the birthright by this act of immorality. Look over in 1 Chronicles quickly as we conclude. 1 Chronicles. This incident is mentioned. Tremendous significance some events have in our lives, the results of which cannot be undone. They can be forgiven, but the results of it cannot be undone. Reuben can be forgiven but he cannot become now the inheritor of the birthright. So in 1 Chronicles chapter 5, note verses 1 and 2, “Now the sons of Reuben the first-born of Israel,” now note, “for he was the first-born, but because he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given to the sons to the son of Joseph, the son of Israel, so that he is not enrolled in the genealogy according to the birthright. Though Judah prevailed over his brothers from him came the leader, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph.” We’ll see this later on in Genesis. Remember when it comes time for the blessing instead of laying his hands on Joseph, Jacob will lay his hands on the two sons of Joseph. You know what he’s doing? He’s giving him the double portion of the birthright. Remember, the oldest got a double portion? Well, instead of laying his hands on Joseph, he’s going to bless the two sons of Joseph. That’s another way of giving Joseph a double portion. Passes, he gives the blessing to his other sons, to Joseph he gives a double portion because Reuben is not getting any. He forfeited the birthright and that birthright comes of the double portion comes now through Joseph although the blessing of the king of Israel will come through the tribe of Judah and that will be seen as the chapter the Book of Genesis develops. There’s a reunion down in verse 27 after the 12 sons are mentioned, of Isaac and Jacob, then Isaac dies at 180 years of age. You ought to note in verse 29, Isaac, at the death of Isaac, Jacob and Esau are again reunited for the burial of their father, so they do have contact in the land. So we’re not told everything that goes on, just the highlights. Here Isaac who has been now in the background and Jacob has been the key figure, but you wonder what’s been going on in his life all these years. Now at 180 years of age, he dies. Jacob is now back in the land. The one who is the object of God’s greatest blessing. The Abrahamic covenant has been reconfirmed to him. His name has been changed to Israel as one who has prevailed with God. Back in the land, back in the place of blessing. But you note the heartaches and the trials and the difficulties still go on. It’s one of the things I find encouraging as a reminder that here he can be back at Bethel, back in the land, obeying God, and yet there are difficulties, there are trials. There are tragedies going on, yet he is the object and subject of the blessing of God. We need to be reminded of that. We say Lord, I’m trying to serve you, Lord I’m trying to do what you want me to do. Lord, I’m trying to be faithful. Why aren’t things easier? Well, one doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the other. The fact that Lord, I’m being faithful and obedient, fine, the Lord will bless, but blessing does not mean easy. Blessing does not mean absence of trial. Blessing does not mean absence of sorrow. Blessing does not mean absence of difficulty. That encourages me as a believer. I can be in the place of blessing. I can be the object of God’s special affection and attention and be going through what we call deep waters and great trials. Jacob did. But the blessing is settled upon him. God’s hand is upon him. And He’s going to protect him from some trials. The terror of God was on the Canaanites, they wouldn’t attack him. Even though he’d just gone through great family crisis, then he goes to another great family crisis, but the hand of God is with him. To keep him and guarantee that he’ll realize that He’s promised.

That’s true for us as believers. Take heart. Difficulties are there? Am I obedient, am I submissive. Praise God for His blessing even in the midst of trial. Aren’t you glad He’s sovereign? Where would Jacob have been? He wouldn’t have made it a day if it depended on him. And we’re just like him. Praise God that our arriving at the appointed goal depends upon God’s sovereign faithfulness and not upon ours. Let us pray together.

Father, how we praise You for Your great faithfulness. Lord, we’re reminded of that again in Your gracious dealings with Jacob. Lord, thank you for your faithfulness to him, even for the changes that You brought about in his life to make him Israel, the man who prevailed with God. What great mercy and great grace manifested in your dealing with him. Father, I pray that we might be encouraged as we are reminded that You are sovereign, You’re in control, Your hand is over us to protect us, to keep us, and Father to allow those trials to come into our lives which are necessary to mold and shape us that we might inherit the blessing that You have for us. We praise You for it in Jesus’ name. Amen.