Genesis 33 & 34

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Genesis 33:1-20

“And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. 2 And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost. 3 And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. 4 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept. 5 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children God hath graciously given thy servant. 6 Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. 7 And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. 8 And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord. 9 And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself. 10 And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me. 11 Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it. 12 And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee. 13 And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die. 14 Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir. 15 And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord. 16 So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. 17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. 18 And Jacob came to Shalem [“Shalom” i.e. Jerusalem], a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padam-Aram; and pitched his tent before the city. 19 And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for an hundred pieces of money. 20 And he erected there an altar, and called it El-elohe-Israel.”

Introduction

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED537]

“We’re journeying through the life of Jacob, and Jacob is one of the great humans of the Scripture that we love. We love David because of his imperfection, in some ways, because he fell and God still loved him, still called him a man after his own heart, and many of us find the frailty and the weakness in our own spiritual constitution, and we say ‘If God could love David and continue with David, Lord there’s grace and there’s room for me.’ We love Peter because of his failings, because he was the great human, and great thinker, and great mind, and no doubt a great student of the Scripture. But we see the great humanness of the man, and we love him for that reason. And Jacob is just another one of those great humans, that the Scripture makes no apology for, brings before us, allows us to see God in his love and faithfulness and his open dealing with this man. We have watched him for many, many years now. And God takes us through a series of scenes in the life of Jacob. We see him early on lying, being true to his name, Heal-Catcher, Jakob, a liar, a scoundrel. Then we see him all of a sudden through trouble listening, at the Ladder, at Bethel, as heaven is opened. We see him in Padam-Aram, learning, God is dealing with him. We see him at Jabbok, limping, and that’s where we are with him now, he’s a broken man, he is limping. We will see him one more time at the end of this Book, leaning on his staff, prophecying over his sons, God doing such remarkable work in his life. And all the while, even in the most human of experiences, even when he feels like he’s being betrayed, God sovereignly working. At the end of his life he will look back and say ‘God has shepherded me all of these years,’ even in his Padam-Aram experiences, as Laban was outsmarting him, as he worked seven years for Rachel because he loved her so dearly, she was beautiful, physically attractive, Laban laying Leah next to him. Leah was the mother [multiple great, great, great grandmother] of the Messiah, the mother of Judah, and henceforth the mother of Jesus, the multiple grandmother of Jesus as it were, necessary for Leah to be figured into the equation, and Jacob would have never done that himself. And God in his providence allowing that to happen through a scoundrel named Laban. And one day he will look back, hindsight is always 20/20. Now after 20 years of these kinds of things, we have followed him to Jabbok where he has wrestled with God, he has seen the face of God, he is broken, he is limping. But Esau still lies ahead of him, and chapter 33 picks up the journey in that place.

Jacob Meets Esau

It says “And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.” (verse 1) Sounds like a movie, the showdown, his twin brother after all these years. And with him, 400 men. Now Jacob is going to immediately change his name from Israel back to Jacob again. God just wrestled with him and said ‘You’re no longer going to be called Jacob, but Israel, ‘governed by God.’ But even as believers, when we’re in a tough situation where it’s hard to trust God, we so readily switch back to Jacob, it’s in all of us. Oh yes, we trust God, we believe in Jesus, he died for us, we trust him for eternity, we trust him for inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, fadeth not away, we trust him for those huge things, but something happens to us today, and there’s an inclination in us immediately to go back to our own resources and our own scheming. And he is Jacob, he looks up and here comes Esau, and of course, 400 guys coming with him, this just can’t be good news. So “And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.” He puts his plan into action, he divides up the family, “And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.” (verse 2) Isn’t this a nice guy? Bilhah and Zilpah and their sons [4 sons] he puts first to meet Esau and the 400. And he says, Leah and her children after that [6 sons and one daughter, Dinah], and then last of all he puts Rachel, whom he loves the most, and Joseph. Now this is going to cause problems, this preference, it will tell us in chapter 37 “And when his brethren saw that their father loved him” Joseph “more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.” You know, the favouring of the one son above the others in the family is something that has been passed from Abraham favouring Isaac, and then to Isaac certainly favouring Esau, and Jacob is favouring Joseph. And now he puts, imagine this, ‘This could be a day of slaughter, so I think I’ll put the handmaids and their kids first, I’ll put Leah and kids second, and then I’ll put the one I really like and little Joey last.’ But then to commend him, in verse 3, it says “And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.” He, Jacob, went in the front, there was a part of his heart that has definitely become a shepherd, he’s leading his little flock here. So what it’s saying is, as he’s approaching Esau, he bows down, then he gets up and walks closer, he bows down again, and he gets up and walks closer, bows down. This happens seven times. Here’s Esau and 400 guys, they’re either on camels or horses, this is a rough crew, and then here comes Jacob, as he’s coming, bowing down and bowing down. And verse 4 says, “And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.” And you and I know the story, I don’t know what Jacob’s thinking after those five words, “Esau ran to meet him.” Man oh man, what a scene. We have no excuse. You might be mad at somebody in this room, you may have thought they were the biggest scoundrel in the world, and they jipped you off and ripped you off of your birthright and something you deserved, and it was their hand that got involved in your life and made you miserable. Look, it may take 20 years, it’s what it took these guys, but here they come together and there’s weeping. Jacob approaches humbly, he’s wrestled with God, he’s limping, he’s a broken man now, he’s changed. And they weep and they embrace, these brothers. They’re a little over a hundred years old [by Pastor Joe’s reconning] at this point in time, still pretty spry. And I imagine the conversations, ‘You weren’t here, Jake, mom died, Rebekah, while you were gone. Your name was on her lips at the last, she loved you so much. Dad’s now in Hebron, he’s about 153 years old now, we lost track about 35 years ago, 153, 154 he don’t remember, we don’t remember.’ You know, just what were the conversations like, there was a lot to catch up on. And it says “And he, Esau,” now a lot of this is from Esau’s perspective, “And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children God hath graciously given thy servant.” (verse 5) please notice, “which God hath graciously given thy servant.” Man is he getting things in perspective. “Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.” (verses 6-7) Now Joseph is a toddler, it seems that he’s very young, he was the last one born before they left Padam-Aram, he’s two or three tops. “And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord.” (verse 8) and it’s almost a repentant attitude, ‘Let’s have restitution, the last time I saw you I ripped you off, you left mad because I took the birthright, but receive this of my hand,’ “And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself.” (verse 9) and it’s literally in verse 9, “I have much” he says. “And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.” (verse 10) he knew in the culture that if Esau received his gift, that peace would have officially been made, and beyond that point there’s no room in the culture for hard feelings, by Esau accepting. And he says something interesting here, ‘You know, I’ve seen your face, though I have seen the face of God,’ he’s immediately thinking about the wrestling, ‘LORD, you wrestled with me all night, you broke me, and I wouldn’t let go, and you turned and you blessed me and said that my blessing would be in Israel instead of being Jacob. And now here I am before Esau, who I was so afraid of, and he’s embraced me and kissed me, LORD, seeing him, seeing his gentleness and his forgiveness is just like seeing your face again,’ he says to Esau ‘this is though I’ve seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.’ “Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it.” (verse 11) Now something very interesting happens here. Back in verse 9 Esau said to Jacob ‘I don’t need these gifts, I have enough,’ and that word “enough” in the Hebrew is literally “much,” down in verse 11, Jacob says ‘God hath graciously blessed me,’ Esau doesn’t say anything about God, he says “I have enough,” but Jacob says ‘He hath graciously blessed me because I have enough,’ and when he says “enough” it’s a different Hebrew word, it means “all things,” sometimes it’s translated “everything.” He says to Esau ‘Please receive this gift, God has graciously blessed me, and I have all things.’ God had said ‘You’ll be a prince, you have power with God and with men, you have prevailed,’ God has pronounced the blessing upon him, he says ‘I have all things. You have enough, you have much, I have enough, I have everything, I have all things.’ “And he took it.” “And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.” (verse 12) ‘Let’s go, we have a lot to catch up on, I’m sure you want to get down and see dad, let’s go together, move on from here, let us take our journey together.’ “And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die.” (verse 13) Now it seems that he’s saying ‘If they should be overdriven one more day,’ they had been fleeing from Laban, ‘If they be overdriven one more day, all the flock will die.’ So the question always with Jacob is ‘How much of this is he really being considerate of the situation, saying, you know, ‘We’ve driven these herds, the kids are young, I just can’t move at the pace you’re gonna want to move at,’ or is he looking to get separate from Esau? “Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure,” and then he says “until I come unto my lord unto Seir.” (verse 14) So he promises him ‘I’ll catch up, I’ll come to you at Mount Seir.’ Now it’s very interesting, because there’s a rabbinic tradition that this is a prophecy of the children of Israel when they escape during the time of Jacob’s trouble to Petra, ‘I’m gonna catch up to you, I’m finally going to get to Mount Seir, you go ahead of me.’ It’s just a tradition, it’s free information, I don’t know if it’s true, I thought I’d throw that out, dug it up somewhere as I was reading. Maybe Jacob is thinking ‘I just got away from Laban, I don’t need to get tied up with one more unbeliever, I need a rest.’ You know, it is enjoined upon us in Scripture, we are to demonstrate the love of Christ, we are to be kind to unbelievers, but we are not to be yoked to them. We are to be kind to unbelievers, not looking down our nose, not being holier than thou, we’re to be gracious with them. But the Scripture is clear, we are not to be yoked to them, fettered to them in some way. Maybe Jacob is making a wise decision here. “And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord.” (verse 15) ‘Let me leave some of the 400 guys with you to make sure you’re safe.’

Jacob Journeys To Succoth Instead Of Bethel, Builds A House

“So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.” (verses 16-17) Now, if you could get a map you could appreciate this, Esau heads back down to Mount Seir, which is over 100 miles south of there, east of the Jordan River in the area of Edom, Petra. He takes off, says ‘OK,’ and Jacob says ‘I’ll catch up with you.’ He heads south. As soon as he’s over the hill out of sight it says Jacob goes to Succoth which is about a mile, mile and a half north of Jabbok which he’s just crossed over. So Esau heads south, as soon as he’s out of sight Jacob heads north and goes back across the Jabbok to this area Succoth, which is where God had told him back in chapter 31, he had said to Rachel and Leah, ‘The LORD said unto Jacob,’ it says ‘Return’ when he’s in Padam-Aram with Laban, ‘Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee.’ Jacob doesn’t go, he goes to Succoth, which is on the other side of the Jordan River, it’s not in Canaan, and heads north of Jabbok, it’s a beautiful area, but he makes a U-Turn when Esau gets out of sight, and he goes to this area called Succoth. Now look, it says “and built him an house,” Now this is the first one out of these guys, Abraham, we’re told in chapter 13 was overloaded with silver and gold, I’d like to experience what that’s like just for a few days. But Abraham didn’t build a house, because he was looking for a city whose builder and maker was God [what city? See Revelation 21:1-23]. Isaac, like his father Abraham, dwelt in tents. Jacob had been dwelling in tents, and now for the first time we hear one of the forefathers, one of the Patriarchs, he builds himself a house. He’s got lots of money, he’s very wealthy, ‘Everybody else does it, why shouldn’t I?’ ‘Everybody else is settling down,’ he builds himself a house, and he made booths, stalls for his cattle, “therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.” which is “booths.” So, we see him doing something very interesting here. Now, when we go to the Book of Hebrews, it says ‘that by faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should afterwards receive for an inheritance obeyed, and he went out not knowing whither he went, by faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs according to the same promise.’ So in the Book of Hebrews the Holy Ghost makes no mention, draws no attention to Jacob’s failing here, and goes right to the fact that they dwelt in tents, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Here’s Jacob for the first time saying ‘Let me build a house,’ it’s an interesting picture, because he’s still not coming. Here’s a guy whose wrestled with God…he’s limping, you would think, wouldn’t you, if you wrestled with God all night, in the morning you knew it was God, you thought ‘I’ve seen the face of God,’ you’d think by then Uncle means Uncle. Jacob’s got a few clauses in the Uncle contract. ‘Well I said Uncle, but what I really meant was kind of Uncle.’ And he settles in Succoth now, now we don’t know why he’s not crossing over the Jordan going in to Canaan, he’s gotta be there, verse 18 says “And Jacob came to Shalem [“Shalom” i.e. Jerusalem], a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padam-Aram; and pitched his tent before the city.” Now there, it says that he comes into the area of Shechem, now he’s in Canaan, finally. But evidently he’s in Succoth 8 to 10 years. We can only tell by the age of the kids. It seems that Dinah, the daughter of Leah, from back in chapter 31 I believe, just happened to mention ‘Oh ya, Leah had a daughter named Dinah,’ which means “judgment.” It doesn’t elaborate there, but we’re going to find out now in this scene why that was stated, and why it was important. But she was about 6 to 8 when they came to Succoth, and we’re going to find out in this scene she’s a young woman, and she’s pursued by the prince of the land. So they must have been in this area of Succoth 8 to 10 years. Doing what? Detour. You know, 20 years and then he wrestles with God, then he takes another 8 or 10 year detour on the way. And now it says Jacob came to this area of Shechem, and it says finally when he’s in the land of Canaan, where he’s supposed to be going is Bethel, he’s gotta go through all kinds of trouble before he really gets to where he knows he’s supposed to be, which is in the land of Canaan when he came from Padam-Aram, “and pitched his tent before the city.” (verse 18c) Now he’s back in a tent again, which is good. “And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for an hundred pieces of money.” (verse 19) Now however that was weighed, there was no coinage until the Persians much longer after this. But he buys this parcel of ground in Shechem where he digs a well, so God allows him to buy the ground, because when we get to John’s Gospel, we’re going to need to find out about Jacob at Secor, the Lord at Secor, Jacob’s well. So all of this would play out. He purchases this piece of ground, he digs a well here, that is still by the way, flowing with water, still very deep in the West Bank today. So he digs this well on this piece of ground, “And he erected there an altar, and called it El-elohe-Israel.” (verse 20) or “the God of Israel.” Now, God doesn’t tell him to build an altar there, God tells him to come back to Bethel, he’s kind of coming halfway, there’s halfhearted obedience here, he finally crosses from Succoth into the Promised Land, doesn’t go to Bethel, he’s about 15 miles from Bethel at this point in time, and Bethel’s about a thousand foot higher in elevation. But he settles here again now. He makes a stop here, and in some way trying to satisfy his own conscience, he builds an altar that God didn’t ask for, he comes up with a new name, instead of the God of Bethel it’s now the God of Israel where he erects this altar here, and some kind of worship.”

Genesis 34:1-31

“And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her. 3 And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. 4 And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife. 5 And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come. 6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him. 7 And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter; which thing ought not to be done. 8 And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife. 9 And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you. 10 And ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein. 11 And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give. 12 Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife. 13 And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister: 14 and they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us: 15 but in this will we consent unto you: if ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised; 16 then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. 17 But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone. 18 And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor’s son. 19 And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter: and he was more honourable than all the house of his father. 20 And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying, 21 These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for the land, behold, it is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters. 22 Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. 23 Shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us. 24 And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city. 25 And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males. 26 And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went out. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field, 29 and all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house. 30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. 31 And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?”

Dinah & The Slaughter At Shechem

“Chapter 34 says, “And Dinah” now she’s 17, 18 around there, “the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.” (verse 1) Now we got some trouble here. First of all he’s not supposed to be there, he’s supposed to be headed back to Bethel, he should have been at Bethel a long time ago. Instead he’s in the area of Shechem. We’re going to find out in this chapter, his kids are out of control. Now I don’t know, it’s a pretty dysfunctional family when you got four wives and 12 boys and how many girls, you’re playing favourites, you’re picking one over another, there’s a chance you’re gonna get killed, you send some of the kids forward, you keep your favourites back, there’s a lot of tension that builds in this family, a lot of strange things. But Dinah now, she is a 16, 17-year-old girl, 18 maybe, decides, she’s a country girl, she’s from Padam-Aram, here she is near a city. Now Jacob needs to get hit on the head with a hammer as far as I’m concerned. Because if Dinah’s my daughter, she’s not going into Shechem to hang out and see what’s going on there. And if you’re a 16 or 17-year-old girl here and your father’s strict, and he loves the Lord and he’s strict, I’m on his side. We’ll still be friends though. She decides she wants to see what the daughters of the land do. She’s supposed to be a daughter of another heritage, a daughter of heaven, a daughter of Promise. She decides she wants to see what the daughters of the land are like. “And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.” (verse 2) Prince charming, evidently. We’re not told all the details of the process. Did they hang around for awhile? Did he say ‘Everybody does it’? Did he say ‘Ya, this is our custom here’? ‘Let’s go watch MTV, let’s do this,’ and so she ends up, evidently, at the final point against her will, he violates her, he has sex with her, the prince. And on the other side, you can imagine Dinah, 16, 17 all of a sudden in some big fancy palace or some posh place, the prince is paying attention to her. There’s a side of that where Jacob should have been the covering and looking out for his daughter, and she ends up in this situation. Now this is Shechem, “And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. ” (verse 3) he spoke to her heart. So there’s something about this guy Shechem, he actually genuinely falls in love with this girl, and he’s gracious to her, he’s speaking to her heart. “And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife.” (verse 4) sounds a lot like Samson, ‘Go and get me that Philistine girl,’ ‘arrange the dowry, make the arrangement, Dad, I want her,’ and he’s keeping her there at the house. “And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come.” (verse 5) there’s that old song “Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah,” was born out of this chapter here. And Jacob held his peace, until the boys come home, Hoss, Adam and Little Joe get back, he didn’t say anything until “the boys” are home. “And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him. And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter; which thing ought not to be done.” (verses 6-7) the older sons are in their mid 20s now, Joseph is still very young, maybe 13 there somewhere, but these guys, they’re very wroth, they’re angry “because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter; which thing ought not to be done.” What was carried out was a disgrace. They had bought property from those in Shechem which meant that they were due a certain level of respect. If they sold them the land they had the right to be there without being violated like this. So there’s all kind of cultural taboos here in this scene, besides the fact, ‘we’re God’s chosen, God gave this land to Abraham and our father Isaac, this should never have happened.’ “And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife. And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you.” (verses 8-9) And some of Jacob’s sons are marrying age here, and the temptations are being laid out. “And ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein.” (verse 10) Here’s the bait, that had they have intermingled with those in Shechem, where would the Messiah have come from? The tribes would have been diluted instead of being separate, and God says the 12 tribes of Israel are people that he kept separate from all of the other people of the earth, and here is this temptation. [Comment: God demanded that his people Israel remain separate from those who had pagan religions. But when a Gentile accepted the God of Israel that was different. Rahab the harlot, a Canaanite, entered into the lineage of king David and then the lineage of Christ, so did Ruth a Moabitess, and they were both Gentiles. The separation clause in God’s law applied to those who held pagan beliefs, not so much that they were Gentile, but that most Gentiles were pagans, practicing pagan worship.] You know, take our daughters, give us your daughters, stay here, dwell in the land, trade with us and get rich, and all of those things that every day come across our path, ‘Yes, she’s not a believer, look how beautiful she is, he’s not a believer, but he’s more Christian than those Christian guys in church, and look at this, you can get wealthy, it’s good business, you can get settled,’ and all of those things that would cause you and I to lose our separate position that Christ has asked us to have, in the world but not of the world. “And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give.” (verse 11) ‘Ask me never so much, dowry, I will give it, but give me the damsel to be my wife.’ So he loves her, he wants to marry her. “Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife.” (verse 12) “And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully,” they’re all chips off the old bock here, they’re all little Jacobs “and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister:” (verse 13) Now evidently when Hamor and Shechem are saying ‘Ask anything, we’ll give you anything,’ the boys brainstorm, and they come up with this scheme about circumcision, they must have huddled real fast. They have no respect for circumcision or the Covenant. You know, people that are liars and deceivers are bad, but religious deceivers are the worst. You can watch them on TV if you don’t know what I’m talking about, and there’s a lot of good ones out there too, but they’re there. You don’t need a whole lot of discernment to figure out who those guys are. They spoke deceitfully, “and they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us:” (verse 14) It’s amazing that they brainstorm that fast and immediately came up with this plan. “but in this will we consent unto you: if ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised; then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone. And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor’s son.” (verses 15-18) ‘Let’s just get it done, dad., let’s not wait, I’m ready’ he’s in love, man, you know, love is blind and worse. “And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter: and he was more honourable than all the house of his father. And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city,” now they must have to brainstorm a little, because they must have had to explain all this to the guys in the city, “and communed with the men of their city, saying, These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for the land, behold, it is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters.” (verses 19-21) ‘You want the good news or the bad news first,’ they don’t do that, they just give them the good news. “Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. Shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us.” (verses 22-23) ‘That’s all they want,’ and they must be thinking ‘Oh great, the prince has got a crush on Dinah, now the whole town’s gotta be circumcised, this is wonderful.’ [but greed wins out over common sense here, folks] “And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city. And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore,” that’s an understatement, I’m sure, there’s no antibiotics, no antiseptic, this is happening with a stone or with some type of a homemade sword, by the third day the infection has set in, there’s a process, on the third day, when they were sore, “that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males.” (verses 24-25) Now Simeon and Levi are sons of Leah, and were the older brothers of Dinah, it was their blood sister from their mom that had been raped or violated. “And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went out.” (verse 26) now this may be the other sons getting involved, we’re not told when Simeon and Levi go into the city, do they go in, just the two of them? or do they take some of the armed servants with them, but they slaughter all of the males of the city which are laid up with infection, they’re in pain, they’re certainly in no fighting condition, and they slaughter them. “The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister. They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field, and all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house.” (verses 27-29) Man, if you do something out of bitter revenge, these sons of Jacob are as cruel as any Assyrian that would come down on Israel and Judah centuries after this, this is unimaginable what takes place here. They even took their wives and their little ones, and they spoiled all that was in the house. “And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.” (verse 30) Well, Simeon and Levi have certainly sinned here, and they blasphemed making this deal about circumcision, but it would not have happened if Jacob was not at Shechem, if he had been at Bethel where he should have been. Yes they had troubled him, but he had set the stage by not being where God told him to be. And all the way at the end of his life, when he is pronouncing a blessing upon his sons, prophecying, he said “ Simeon and Levi are brethren, instruments of cruelty are in their habitations, O my soul, come not thou into their secret, unto their assembly my honour be not thou united, for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and I will scatter them in Israel.” (Genesis 49:5-7) And Simeon as a tribe ends up absorbed by Judah, and Levi ends up with no inheritance in the land, becoming through God’s grace the priestly caste. Hard to imagine what it would mean for a father to go through a situation like this where your daughter is raped, two of your sons become mass murderers, there is still a huge amount of human emotion here. These are not just Bible characters, these were humans, fathers and sons and daughters. “Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?” (verse 30-31)…this is utter failure, complete compromise, Jacob is not where he should have been, he’s not where God told him to be. All the way back in Padam-Aram God said go back to the land of your forefathers, and to your kindred. He should have found Isaac, he should have come back to his family, he knew he was supposed to return to Bethel, and all the way. Half-hearted obedience is full rebellion as far as God is concerned, half-hearted obedience is just full rebellion, and it is a place for trouble to be born. And I know, because I am a human being. And I did something half-hearted in 1972 or around there, just kidding. Look, half-hearted obedience, and we can offer that to God so easily every day. We can build an altar where God never asks us to build an altar, and it can be very sanctimonious and it can look very religious, but God’s not asking for any of that. And the remarkable thing is, here’s 30 years after he left the land, 20 years later God wrestles with this man to break him, God not giving up on him. This is 10 years later now. Now his sons are murderers, his daughter’s been raped, he’s not back where he’s supposed to be. He’s terrified now that the tribes in the land are going to come to slaughter his family, but he’s ready to listen.

Genesis 35:1-8

“And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an alter unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. 2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: 3 and let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. 4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. 5 And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. 6 So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. 7 And he built there an altar, and called the place El-bethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother. 8 But Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allon-bachuth.”

How Do We Get Back To Bethel?

“Isn’t it interesting, God says to him ‘Come on back to Bethel, to the house of God.’ You know, sometimes we think that when we mess up royally, when our kids are out of order, our house is a mess, God’s going to get us. When we mess up royally, when our kids are out of order, our house is a mess, and we think ‘God’s gonna get us, he’s done with us, he doesn’t want to talk to us, doesn’t want anything to do with us, he’s gonna let us simmer in the pan until we’re screaming for mercy,’ and God’s not like that at all. He initiates here, and he says ‘Jacob, arise and come back to Bethel.’ How remarkable to me as I look at that. “And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an alter unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.” (verse 1) That’s Number 1. Number 2, “dwell there” ‘pitch your tent there Jacob, there are some things you need to learn there, there are some things that need to go on between us, pitch your tent there at Bethel, the house of God.’ “and make there an alter unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.” Now here’s the interesting thing, ok, and Hebrew scholars, people wrestle with this. It says as the verse begins, “And God said unto Jacob,” and then we enter into Jacob’s thoughts, and we almost get the voice of God now from Jacob’s side, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there, and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.” ‘Hey, remember there was another time you were running, you were afraid,’ it tells us here it was God speaking to him, take note of that. Because there are plenty of times in our lives I believe that God will speak to us, put an impression on our heart, put something in our thoughts, and we don’t even realize it’s him. Jacob starts to think ‘Go up to Bethel where you first encountered God,’ it doesn’t say ‘where you first encountered me,’ God is speaking to him, but he puts it into Jacob’s thoughts, ‘Go on up there, dwell there, that’s the place where you met with God when I was fleeing from my brother,’ and God putting it in his thoughts and speaking to him and drawing him. And how often does God speak to us that way and sometimes we don’t even know it? It would be Jeremiah that would say, you know, he had this thought ‘Your cousin Hananeel is going to come to you and try to sell you this field,’ and Jeremiah, then it says ‘Hananeel then came to Jeremiah and said ‘Buy this field from me,’ then Jeremiah said ‘Then I knew that it had been the LORD that was speaking to me previously then.’ Man, that’s a great encouragement to me. Because so often something will happen, and then I’ll go ‘Oh, wait a minute Lord, that was you, that was you.’ And here, it says God is speaking to him, but we almost get Jacob’s thoughts, ‘Go up to Bethel, dwell there, make there an alter unto God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother,’ back to your first love, whatever was the place, you know, you first encountered the Lord. You know, ‘restore unto me the joy of your salvation.’ Revelation chapter 2, the church of Ephesus, come back to your first love, Bethel was the place where he first encountered God, Bethel was the place he promised to return to, Bethel was the place that God called him back to. “Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:” (verse 2) Look, maybe this evening, you feel at a distance from the Lord. That happens in my life sometimes. Maybe you’re saying this evening ‘You know at one point I had a greater zeal, I just had something burning in my heart, and I just feel like I’ve cooled. Where did I loose track?’ You know, one scholar I read today said ‘You know basic things we believe can be like rusty hinges, if you don’t oil them and use them, they kind of lock up. They’re still there, and they’re still true, but they need to be oiled by God’s Spirit, they need to be used.’ What do we do when we’re in a place like that? ‘I feel so far away,’ I hear that from people in the congregation all the time, ‘I feel so far away, I don’t feel like he’s close to me, I don’t feel like he’s there.’ What do you do when that happens? We know this, when you don’t feel him, he’s standing right next to you not wanting you to feel him, we know that, because he said he’d never leave us or forsake us. So that’s where he is when you don’t feel him, next to you not wanting you to feel him. But what do you do, how do you get back to Bethel? He says three things here, put away the strange gods from among you. Now evidently they had acquired idols, Rachel, probably had not even given up the teraphim, something that Jacob should have taken care of. Now you and I don’t today worship little statues, we don’t, we’re not idolators in that sense. But the worship of Astarte was pornography, it was sexual. The worship of Baal was the discovery channel, tree-huggers, worshipping the spotted owl, worshipping nature [not really, Baal worshippers were sacrificing their babies, burning them alive on a brazen statue of Baal, so Baal worship would correspond to our plague of abortion, now legalized, come on, Joe, get your pagan gods straight]…The worship of Mammon, it’s a national pastime, money. The worship of Baccus, alcohol. Idolatry, let me tell you something, in your marriage, if you’re saying ‘Well I would submit to my husband if he loved me the way Christ loved the Church.’ Well sometimes we erect a little idol called “the perfect marriage,” ‘and if that’s what I had, I would do my part, but because I don’t, it ain’t safe.’ Well wait a minute, what’s that have to do with Lordship? That’s worshipping at another alter. Anything you put in the place of obedience and Lordship, all marriage problems are Lordship problems. I know, I have a wife, I have a license for it and everything. And whenever I have a problem it’s a Lordship problem, it’s something that I need to get straight with Jesus. First thing when we want to get close, how do I find my way back? It’s not geographical, you don’t need a map, it’s a heart issue. First of all, put away all the strange gods, foreign, get rid of them. The first commandment is “I’m the LORD thy God, thou shalt have no other gods before me,’ it doesn’t mean ‘Before me in line,’ like ‘I’m going to be number 1 god, then you can have 2, 3, and 4,’ it’s ‘no other gods in my presence, in my view, no other gods before me.’ Put away all of your strange gods. Secondly, it says “be clean, and change your garments.” ‘Well if I could do that I wouldn’t have the problems,’ wait, there’s lots of instruction. And I would tell you, the main way to be clean is right here [I assume he’s pointing to his head]. And look out, because familiarity can breed contempt. ‘We’ve been studying the Bible for years,’ David says ‘Whereof shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed unto thy Word, I’ve hidden thy Word in my heart that I might not sin, not my head, but my heart, that I might not sin against thee.’ Jesus said in John 17:17, ‘Father, sanctify them through thy truth, thy Word is truth.’ Jesus said in John 15, verse 3, ‘You are clean through the Word that I have spoken unto you.’ Put away strange gods, come back to the Word of God, and change your garments, change your garments. You know, Joshua stood there, and Satan accused him, and it says the LORD came and took off his filthy garments and put new garments on him, garments of praise, garments of joy. How do I get back? It’s not geographical, it’s a heart issue. First of all, get rid of all the strange gods. You’re not being obedient somewhere or you’re not letting him be Lord somewhere, he doesn’t want to be 90 percent Lord. Again, I love my wife, what if she was faithful to me 90 percent of the time, ‘Honey, I only sleep with one out of ten men beside you.’ What kind of consolation would that be? But we want to come to Jesus that way, ‘Hey, you have 90 percent of my heart.’ How is he supposed to be consoled with that? Put away the strange gods, give him all of your heart, that’s what he wants. Be clean, he tells you how, it’s an open book test, it’s not complicated. Change your garments, be clothed with the righteousness that he provides. ‘And let us arise and go up to the house of God,’ that’s always a great thing, you need to be in church, let’s go up to the house of God, to Beth-El, the house of God. But something very important in Jacob’s perspective, “and let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.” (verse 3) “And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.” (verse 4) Now it’s good when your family’s willing to do that [like the strange god of Halloween, or celebrating Halloween, which must be one of Satan’s favorite holidays]. “all their earrings which were in their ears;” they were amulets, “and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.” So before they leave Shechem on their way to Bethel they bury all of their idolatry. “And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.” (verse 5) Why? Because they deserved it? Why? Because they had AK-47s, because they had Apache helicopters, because they were scary? They didn’t pursue them because God put terror on the hearts of the inhabitants of the land. And here’s the thing, if you make up your mind to come back to the Lord and draw close, nothing will get in your way. If it is in your heart to come back to the Lord, and to be close to him again, there is no restraint, nothing will get in your way, God put terror in the hearts of all of their enemies, they didn’t even come out and try to stop them from taking one step towards the LORD. It says ‘When a man’s ways please the LORD, even his enemies will be made to be at peace with him.’ So here it says, “they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him.” (verse 5b-6) “Luz” the original name of the area, it’s interesting, Luz means “departure.” “And he built there an altar, and called the place El-bethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.” (verse 7) ‘Finally, 30 years later, he built there an altar and he called the place El-Bethel, because there God appeared unto him when he had fled from his brother.’ You see Jacob now has not just come to Bethel, to the house of God, he’s come to El-Bethel, he’s come to the God of the house. And as Christians, you and I in a Christian culture, where we have Christian music, Christian concerts, and Christian bookstores, Christian coffeeshops, and Christian this, and Christian that, Christian dating services (I hope none of you are involved with), you know, Christian everything, there gets to be a Christian culture, and sometimes when we come to the house of God we don’t come to the God of the house. And it’s taken 30 years for Jacob to come back to the house of God, and push through that to get to the God of the house, El-Bethel, “the God of the house of God” he calls it, as he worships there. What a remarkable, remarkable journey, all the while God being faithful, all the while God keeping his hand on Jacob’s life, all of the while God working, doing remarkable things, remarkable. He built there an altar.

Deborah, Rebekah’s Nurse Dies

Now, “But Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allon-bachuth.” (verse 8) (We’ll probably have to come back here, it’s not a good place to stop the journey.) “Allon-bachuth” or the Oak of Weeping. Wait a minute, where did Deborah show up from? Where do we get her from? Well all the way back, you don’t have to turn, you can believe me, in chapter 24, when Eleazar was sent by Abraham to Padam-Aram to get a wife for Isaac, when Rebekah said ‘I will go with the man,’ ‘And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse. And Abraham’s servant, and his men, and her nurse.’ That was Deborah, she’s over 130 years old, some scholars feel she’s a 150 years old here. She had raised Jacob. And somewhere after Jacob came back probably to the area of Shechem, Rebekah’s dead, but Deborah comes to the camp. And his fondest memories are tied to her, as a little boy, as Deborah cared for him and for Esau. It’s an interesting chapter, because there’s four burials, one of idols, and three of people, and three funerals in the chapter. And Jacob is getting older, and God is cutting the ties of earth. In none of these deaths is God trying to defeat him, to break him, to discourage him. It is reenforcing his pilgrim nature. Rachel’s going to die, and Isaac’s going to die before we get through the chapter. And Jacob then will pass off the scene, worn down by God, smooth like a stone from a rock tumbler, until we see him show up again in the end, when he comes down to Egypt, and we’ll see him leaning then on his staff and prophecying over his sons, a remarkable sage and saint of God, worn down by the years of God’s faithfulness, love and grace. But here, he begins to worship the God of the house, and God slowly then removes now first Deborah, clipping earthly ties, memories, things that no one else could have ever talked to him about, removed. And God does a very strange thing in our hearts, the loss of a parent, the loss of a spouse, the loss of a family member. Next week as we move on, we’re going to see Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin by the side of the road. In one sense what crueler blow could there be as it were? And in the end of the chapter we find Esau and Jacob at the tomb of Isaac their father, who passes off the scene. But we have followed Jacob, at this point, from Bethel, the house of God, 30 years ago, to El-Bethel, the God of the house. How do we come back, this evening? If you feel distant from God, the context of this is complete failure, complete compromise. It isn’t that he had to perform perfectly before God was going to be gracious to him, his heart turned again in the right direction, his life was a disaster, and God spoke and said ‘Come on, come on back to Bethel, dwell there, build an altar there.’ Put away the strange gods, be clean with the Word, change your garments, come back to the house of God, and more importantly, to the God of the house. What a great set of instructions, what a great roadmap as it were, when our hearts are cooled, when we feel distant, we remember that he doesn’t break a bruised reed, doesn’t quench a smoking flax. I’m going to have the musicians come, we’ll lift our voices, we’ll sing a last song. And I encourage you this evening, first of all if you don’t know this God, make your way up here afterwards, we’d love to pray with you, give you a Bible, some literature to read. But if you feel distant tonight, and you feel like the embers need to be stirred, and the fire in the alter of my heart needs to be rekindled, Lord, do it tonight as I lift my heart and my voice. If you don’t need any of that, pray all your prayers for me, because I find that longing within myself. Let’s stand, let’s pray together, let’s lift our hearts and our voices…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Genesis 33:1-20, Genesis 34:1-31 and Genesis 35:1-8, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]