Place Revisited

Quick recap of Wednesday’s post: In Genesis 12:6-7 we learn that Shechem is the very first place in Canaan to which God brought Abram, and it was here that God restated his promise to make Abram a great nation. In Genesis 33:18-20 we learned that Shechem is the place of safety that Jacob returns to after his long absence in Paddan Aram, and here he built an altar and called the place El Elohe Israel (God, the God of Israel). Then in John 4:4-6 we discover that Shechem is the place that Jesus, the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham, comes to offer salvation to the woman at the well. [New tidbit: I forgot to mention before that Shechem is also the place where Joseph’s bones were buried. Again a promise fulfilled here from Genesis 50:25 . . . “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”]

But there is something more I noticed in my study, and I just want to share it. It’s about Jacob. First God brought him to Shechem, a reminder of where he came from, his position in God’s plans and how that gave him value.

The initiation of the next move was a terrible event. Dinah, daughter of Leah and Jacob, goes “out to visit the women of the land.” She is unprotected and put herself into a dangerous situation. She draws the attention of Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area. She is abducted and raped, and kept by Shechem while he and his father attempt to arrange a marriage. Simeon and Levi (Dinah’s brothers) retaliate by using trickery to wipe out all the men of that city and then take all their women, children and wealth (and, of course, save Dinah). Jacob is furious because Simeon and Levi’s trickery has left the family vulnerable to attack if the Canaanites and Perizzites join forces in retaliation.

In Genesis 35, God tells Jacob to move his family to Bethel, settle there and build an altar to God. Then Jacob tells his family to get rid of their foreign gods, purify themselves and change clothes. Obviously, Jacob had aligned himself with God (El Elohe Israel – back in chapter 33) but NOT his family. He was still not taking charge of his responsibilities as head of his home which may have been why Dinah got into the trouble she did and why Levi and Simeon thought they should handle the situation and proceeded as they did. But NOW he steps forward and sets a standard for his family. So in 35:4 Jacob buried all the foreign gods and the rings in their ears under the oak at Shechem. Then they set out for Bethel, and no one pursues them for terror of God.

So why Bethel? If God could protect them on the journey to Bethel, He could just as easily have protected them in Shechem. But Bethel is a special place in the life of Jacob, and I believe God wanted Jacob back there. Back in Genesis 28:10-22, Jacob is fleeing Beersheba after he has tricked his father and angered Esau. At sunset he stops to rest, sleeps on a stone and dreams of the stairway with the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

Genesis 28:13-15
And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. (14) Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (15)Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”

This confirmation of the covenant is crucial to Jacob because of the deceitful way in which he received the birthright and blessing. Now the promises are not his because his grasping hand managed to close around them first, but the promises are his because God says so! Jacob makes a pillar of his pillow, pours oil on it, and names the place Bethel (House of God).

Genesis 28:20-22
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on. (21) so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. (22) And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

So why Bethel? God brings Jacob from a place of safety based on promises made to Abraham (Jacob’s position in his family; his inherited promise) to Bethel, the place of Jacob’s personal promise. This place will remind Jacob of his own encounter with God, his own intimate, personal relationship with I AM.

We all must have our own intimate relationship with God. Of course, there must be an initial salvation experience to begin the experience. We can only connect with God by way of the cross. But even after we have begun the journey, we still stand alone before God. That’s the purpose of our “daily bread,” intimate, personal contact with God. God loves us so much, and He wants us in a “place” where we are constantly reminded of and aware of that love. Family is important to God. Fellowship with the church family is part of who we are as believers. It helps to define us – brothers and sisters is Christ. But the personal relationship is more important. God has promises that He’s made to YOU. It’s personal, and it’s intimate; and sometimes God has to remind us of that.

Genesis 35:11-12
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. (12) The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.”