Genesis 35.14-15-Jacob Responds to Theophany and Divine Promises
Sunday October 8, 2006
Genesis: Genesis 35:14-15-Jacob Responds to Theophany and Divine Promises
Lesson # 217
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 35:1.
This morning we will continue with our study of Genesis 35.
By way of review:
In Genesis 35:1, we read the account of God commanding Jacob to go up to Bethel and fulfill his vow to make an altar to worship Him there.
Then in Genesis 35:2-7, we read of Jacob obeying God’s command to return to Bethel and build an altar to Him there in fulfillment of the vow he made to God thirty years before.
Also, we read in Genesis 35:8 the account of the death of Deborah who was Rebekah’s nurse.
In Genesis 35:9-13, we saw where the preincarnate Christ appeared to Jacob and reconfirmed the change of his name to “Israel” and reconfirmed the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant.
In Genesis 35:14-15, Jacob responds to the theophany and divine promises by constructing a limestone pillar and renewing the name of Bethel.
Genesis 35:1, “Then God said to Jacob, ‘Arise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.’”
Genesis 35:2-3, “So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.’”
Genesis 35:4, “So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem.”
Genesis 35:5, “As they journeyed, there was a great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.”
Genesis 35:6, “So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.”
Genesis 35:7, “He built an altar there, and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled from his brother.”
Genesis 35:8, “Now Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; it was named Allon-bacuth.”
Genesis 35:9, “Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him.”
Genesis 35:10, “God said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob; You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name. Thus He called him Israel.’”
Genesis 35:11, “God also 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.”
Genesis 35:12, “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.”
Genesis 35:13, “Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him.”
Genesis 35:14, “Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it.”
Genesis 35:15, “So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel.”
Genesis 35:14-15 records Jacob responding to the theophany and reaffirmation from the Lord regarding his new name “Israel” and the reconfirmation of the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant just as he responded the first time the Lord appeared to him thirty years prior when he was leaving Canaan to see Laban.
Genesis 28:16-22 records a five-fold response from Jacob whereas Genesis 35:14-15 records a four-fold response.
In both instances, Jacob responds to the theophany and divine promises by erecting a stone pillar, pouring oil on the pillar and naming the place of the divine revelation Bethel.
The first time the Lord appeared to Jacob at Bethel, Jacob spoke and made a vow whereas the second time he does neither.
Genesis 35:7 records Jacob fulfilling this vow by building an altar, which he never did the first time since he had no animals with him to sacrifice whereas the second time the Lord has prospered him with large flocks.
The second time the Lord appeared to Jacob at Bethel, Jacob pours a drink offering on the stone pillar, which he never did the first time.
Jacob’s five-fold response to the first time the Lord appeared to him at Bethel and his four-fold response the second time were acts of worship in that he had “reverence” and “respect” for God and was in “awe” of Him and expressed his “wonder” towards Him.
Psalm 68:35, “O God, You are awesome from Your sanctuary. The God of Israel Himself gives strength and power to the people. Blessed be God!”
Worship is adoring contemplation of God as He has been revealed by the Holy Spirit in the Person of Christ and in the Scriptures and is also the loving ascription of praise to God for what He is, both in Himself and in His ways and is the bowing of the soul and spirit in deep humility and reverence before Him.
Psalm 95:6-7, “Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.”
Genesis 35:14, “Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it.”
“Pillar” is the noun matstsevah (hb*x@m^) (mats-say-vaw), which denotes a single upright stone pillar set up as a monument and a memorial to mark the spot where the Lord had appeared to him and made promises to him.
Jacob erects a stone pillar as a monument to mark the spot where the preincarnate Christ had appeared to him and made promises to him just as he did thirty years before when he left Canaan to go into exile in Paddan Aram with Laban (See Genesis 28:10-22).
However, the first stone pillar did “not” accompany an altar, which Jacob builds a second time in obedience to the Lord’s command recorded in Genesis 35:7.
Also, Jacob never poured a drink offering on the first stone pillar but he does so when he constructs the second pillar.
Jacob did not build an altar the first time since he had no animals with him to sacrifice and only had his staff with him when he made the trip to Paddan Aram according to Genesis 32:10.
The fact that Jacob constructs this pillar implies that this is “not” a rededication of the first one he built thirty years before since if the first one was still standing there would be no need to construct another one.
This is the third and final time that we see Jacob erecting a pillar to memorialize an event.
We have noted already the first and third pillars and the second pillar was erected by Jacob according to Genesis 31:45 as a witness to the oral contract between him and his uncle Laban and called it “Galeed,” which is the Hebrew term for “witness heap.”
“Drink offering” is the noun nesekh (Es#n@) (neh-sek), which is derived from the verb nasaskh (Es^n*) (naw-sak), which also appears in Genesis 35:15 and is translated “poured out.”
Genesis 35:14 records for the first time in the Bible someone employing a “drink offering” to worship God.
Notice that the “drink offering” is poured on the limestone pillar rather than the altar since the altar has to do with the sacrifice of Christ whereas the pillar dealt with Jacob’s dedication and devotion to the Lord.
The “drink offering” was originally established in Israel as an appropriate form of worship (Exodus 29:40-41; Leviticus 23:13; Numbers 28).
Although Jacob is the first person recorded in the Bible to present a “drink offering” to the Lord, it was not until after the Exodus from Egypt that the laws governing the “drink offering” were established.
The “drink offering” is not mentioned in the five Great Levitical offerings since the sole emphasis of these offerings is upon the Person and Work of Christ.
The procedure for the “drink offering” is simply outlined in Numbers 28.
The liquid normally employed for a “drink offering” was wine (yayin, Ex. 29:40; Nm. 15:5, 7, 10), or other fermented drink (shekar Nm. 28:7) and on at least one occasion water was “poured out to the Lord” (2 Sm. 23:16; 1 Chr. 11:18).
The “drink offering” was not to be consumed by the priest but rather was to be offered to the Lord.
The “drink offering” presented by Jacob, and prescribed by the Lord through Moses for the children of Israel in Numbers and Leviticus emphasized the believer’s dedication to the Lord since it was not to be consumed by the priest, but rather offered totally and completely to the Lord as a sweet aroma.
The fact that the “drink offering” was not to be consumed by the priest but rather was to be offered to the Lord emphasizes the believer’s giving of himself completely to God in order to fulfill His will.
The fact that the “drink offering” was not to be consumed by the priest but rather was to be offered to the Lord implies that the believer must deny self, sacrifice self in order to fulfill God’s will.
You find yourself only by losing yourself in His will.
Luke 22:42, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
Luke 9:23-24, “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.’”
John 12:24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
John 12:25, “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.”
John 12:26, “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.”
The Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself to the Father as a sacrifice, and because of giving Himself to the Father, He also gave to us and so it is to be with us.
Ephesians 5:2, “and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”
It is in giving ourselves wholly to the Lord that we best give ourselves to others since we are not called to serve mankind but rather we are called to pour out our lives as a drink offering to the Lord, and in that sacrifice to Him, our service to mankind will come forth.
2 Timothy 4:6, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.”
2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.”
2 Timothy 4:8, “in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
When he speaks of having fought a good fight and having kept the faith, he is actually saying, “I've been poured out to my Lord!”
Paul, the apostle of sacrifice and self-denial, stood before his Lord in the closing days of his ministry as an empty vessel.
2 Corinthians 12:15, “I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls.”
Paul had given up the world in order to concentrate on doing God’s will.
Galatians 6:14, “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Believers rob God of His “drink offering” by living for self and loving the cosmic system of Satan rather than pouring out their lives to Him.
1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
Genesis 35:14, “Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it.”
Just as he did after his first encounter with the Lord, Jacob pours oil on top of the limestone pillar, which was an expression of his dedication, devotion, consecration and gratitude to the Lord and recognition of the gracious promises that the Lord made to him (See Genesis 28:18; Exodus 30:25-29; Leviticus 8:10-12).
The “oil” poured on the limestone pillar by Jacob represents the Holy Spirit because of oil’s power to sustain and fortify with energy.
Therefore, the anointing oil of the Old Testament was a symbol of being empowered by the Spirit of God for the duties of the office to which a person was consecrated (Lev 8:12; 1 Sam 10:1,6; 16:13-14; Isa 61:1).
Therefore, “oil” poured on the limestone pillar by Jacob represents the Holy Spirit who would empower Jacob and his descendants to fulfill the six promises that the Lord made to Jacob that are recorded in Genesis 35:9-13.
1 John 2:27, “As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”
“Anointing” is the noun chrisma and is a synonym for the indwelling of the Spirit who provides the believer the spiritual capacity or power to understand the Word of God and apply it for the purpose of producing in the believer Christ-like character.
Genesis 35:15, “So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel.”
“Bethel” literally means, “house of God” and is approximately ten miles north of Jerusalem and only thirty miles away from Shechem and according to Genesis 28:19, it was originally called “Luz,” until Jacob changed the name to memorialize his encounter with the preincarnate Christ.
If you recall, the first time that the Lord appeared to Jacob, he names the place “Bethel,” and as we see he does it again after encountering the Lord the second time, which seems redundant on Jacob’s part.
However, Jacob was alone in his first encounter with the Lord but he has his family with him and many servants and the Shechemite women and children the second time around.
Therefore, those who were believers were sharing in Jacob’s worship of the Lord and for those who were unbelievers in his entourage, namely, the Shechemite women, Jacob’s worship of the Lord would be as a witnessed to them.