The Final Leg of the Journey
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Today we continue through Genesis and get to the point where Jacob travels to the place where he is supposed to. In the previous chapter we saw that he settled short of the land he was to return to and he looked to assimilate with the people in the land. This led to his daughter being raped and his sons killing every man in the city. This was a chapter that was full of sin and none of it was handled correctly.
This chapter now opens with God commanding him to go to Bethel, the place where God first appeared to him and the place that he said he would return. As we travel through this chapter we will see the preparation for the worship, the protection of God, the confirmation of the covenant, and in the end we will see how this is all marked by loss and hope.
Lets pray and then we can dive in.
Cleansed for worship
Cleansed for worship
God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.
God commands him to go and fulfill his vow. It is at this point Jacob begins to purify the people with him and to get rid of their false Gods. This is an act of purification and is a turning point in the story. They are going from a wandering family to a distinct set apart people.
The people of God are always called to be a set apart people and that goes for us too. In the New Testament it tells us in Colossians 3.9-10
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
We are to put off the old self. When we are saved we are made new and we should seek to be rid of the old person. This new person is is renewed in knowledge after God. This means that we learn more about who God is through his word and we are shaped to be more like him through our learning. This is the picture that we are given about living as a set apart people for God.
Covered by God’s power
Covered by God’s power
And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.
In this verse we see the protection from God on the family. If you remember in Genesis 34.30 Jacob said
Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.”
Previously Jacob did not comment on the morality of what his sons did. He did not do anything really in that chapter and then his only complaint is that the people of the land were going to come after him because of what his sons did.
The thing that he did not factor in though is the protection of God. This divine protection underscores that Jacob’s safety and future do not rest in his own strategies or strength, but in the sovereign care of the God who has called him. The journey to Bethel becomes a visible demonstration that the promises of God are upheld not by human fear or calculation, but by divine faithfulness.
Confirmed by God’s word
Confirmed by God’s word
God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. And 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 from your own body. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”
We now see the confirmation of the covenant upon Jacob. His name change is reaffirmed and he receiver the covenant that we have seen through Genesis. What is this covenant?
One interesting thing about this and where it differs is in the command to be fruitful and multiply. Where have we seen this before? It was given to Adam and Noah as a command. It was then given to Abraham and Isaac and a promise, they were told that God would make them fruitful and multiply them. It is now back to a command because the time to become a nation is upon them.
Marked by loss and hope
Marked by loss and hope
Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.
While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it.
Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant: Dan and Naphtali. The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.
And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
This last section has a lot of loss but also contains hope. Rachel dies in labor as she gives birth to Benjamin. She had two sons, Joseph and Benjamin. Then Reuben has sex with his fathers concubine while his dad knows about it. Then it ends with the death of Isaac who has been out of the story for a while. Isaac is buried by Jacob and Esau showing that their reconciliation is true. In the midst of this too we see the list of all of Jacobs sons.
The loss is obvious, Rachel and Isaac die then Reuben commits this sin. The hope in this though is seen in the continuation. Esau does not kill Jacob after their father dies, they bury him together. His original intention was to kill him after this death but we can see that their relationship has truly been restored. Then we have that list of sons. This is the list of the tribes of Israel, this is a major part of the fulfillment of the promises that have been made. There is hope for this family still yet.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Threaded through these events is a deeper theological reflection on purity, blessing, and sorrow. Prior to Jacob’s return to Bethel, he had called his household to put away their idols and cleanse themselves, a summons that finds a poetic parallel in Psalm 24:3–6
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
He will receive blessing from the Lord
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah
The psalm asks, “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?” and answers, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart.” The language resonates strongly with Jacob’s story. The psalm’s warning against “deceit” recalls a key theme in Jacob’s life, marked by deception and its consequences. The “holy place” reflects Jacob’s encounter with God at Bethel, and the call to “seek his face” mirrors Jacob’s wrestling at Peniel, where he said, “I have seen God face to face”. The goal of all Jacob’s striving was blessing, yet the psalm makes clear that such blessing is tied to holiness and integrity before God.
At the same time, the text does not present a life of blessing as a life free from sorrow. Within a few verses, Jacob loses Deborah, his mother’s nurse, his beloved wife Rachel, and his father Isaac. He also endures the heartbreak of Reuben’s grievous sin. These moments remind us that even those who walk under God’s covenant promises still experience the deep pain of death and moral failure in this world.
Yet it is precisely through this brokenness that God’s redemptive purpose moves forward. With Reuben, Simeon, and Levi disqualified, the spotlight falls on Judah, not because of his moral superiority, Genesis 38 makes clear that he too is deeply flawed, but because of God’s sovereign choice. From Judah will come the promise of kingship and rule, culminating in the declaration that “the scepter shall not depart from Judah”. Ultimately, however, the hope of seeing God’s face and standing in His holy place does not rest in any human descendant of Jacob. It rests in the God of Jacob Himself, who takes on human flesh. Only in Christ are the demands of Psalm 24 finally met. He alone possesses clean hands, a pure heart, and undivided loyalty, and it is His righteousness, received by faith, that justifies and brings sinners into God’s presence. By that same faith, even Gentiles are brought into the people of promise, sharing in Jacob’s spiritual inheritance and looking forward to the “city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God”.
