Genesis 35

Genesis 35

After all the chaos with Laban, Esau, and Dinah, Jacob is finally able to head to Canaan. From the start God had promised that he would eventually make it back to the land of Canaan, but with all of these setbacks, you have to know that Jacob was probably wondering when it was going to happen. That might even be one of the reasons why he doubted God at times or went backwards in his faith. We do the same thing all the time. We know that God is leading us in a certain direction in life, but we do not know any of the details. As a result, we begin to doubt, thinking that all the obstacles along the way are God’s way of punishing us or backing out of His promises. Sometimes these trials are to strengthen us, especially in our faith, so that we will learn to trust Him more. We must realize that there is a purpose for every “setback” that might occur in those times of waiting in our lives, but also know that God will see us through, just as He did for Jacob.

Genesis 35 is a chapter where it finally seems as if Jacob gets it. After speaking with God once more, discovering that he is now headed to Bethel as the final leg in his journey, he commands all those with him to get rid of their foreign gods. This is another sign that Jacob and his family were struggling with trusting God, for they had developed their own gods. But now it was obvious to Jacob (and eventually to the others) that there was only one God worthy of their worship, and that God was the only one that they were going to serve. It was when Jacob finally understood this that God set him up as the next great father of the nation of Israel, for his name was changed to Israel at this time. God promised that his family would dwell in the land of Abraham and Isaac and that from his family would come a great nation, God’s nation. With his 11 sons (at the time), Jacob was seeing the beginnings of the fulfillment of God’s promises.

Not far from Bethel, one last trial entered Jacob’s life. As his 12th son was born, completing what would one day be the 12 tribes of Israel (in a way), his wife Rachel died. Benjamin was the last of these sons, but he came in the death of his mother. Once more, this could have cause Jacob to falter, to turn from God. Thankfully, Jacob had finally grasped the importance of following the Lord, and He did not allow this final trial to challenge his faith. Then, as he finally made it to Bethel, he experienced one more death, the death of his father Isaac. I think it is neat that Esau was there at that time, and that the two of them buried him together. After all the difficulties they had growing up, maybe they had finally gotten over it all (especially with their previous encounter) and were on good terms once more. Life will always throw us hard situations, and we have to learn to deal with it. It may not always be easy, but just like Jacob, we will always have God with us to help us through. Let us never question God’s presence when those difficult times come.

Matt