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January 24th
Our Bible reading is in Genesis chapters 35,36,37.
God spoke to Jacob again.
He said, “Get up and go...”Which implied...”Jacob, you and your family have been here in Shechem long enough. My purpose for you now lies in Hebron, where your father is.”
Some commentators concentrate primarily on Jacob’s activity...And pretty much say, “Don't follow Jacob’s example. Much trouble came to him and his family because “he stayed in Shechem too long.”
Fellow follower of Christ, believer in and reader of the Bible, always remember, the Bible is God’s story. When we read, we must always frame man’s activity by God’s activity...FIRST!
Instead of first seeing Jacob’s trouble as something he brought on himself, by his poor judgments, let us first see what God was up to in and through the trouble that was Jacob’s to bear.
God had more lessons to teach Jacob and his children...lessons that would protect them and lessons that would forever guide them and their descendants to Him.
*And God chose trouble for His classroom there in Schechem.
“Now get up and go...God said to Jacob. “Go to Bethel and dwell there. And make an altar there to the God that appeared to you as you fled from your brother Esau.”
God was getting Jacob and his family back together...in Mamre/ Hebron. There would be more trouble to bear on this trip. God was calling Jacob and His family to the altar in Bethel...the place where Jacob first encountered the God of heaven and earth...remember the ladder?
The family would dwell there for a while, maybe a few months. Living in Bethel would give them some rest and some spiritual perspective. And then it was time for them to leave.
After 40 miles and more than a week’s difficult travel through the Judean mountains, not quite to Ephratha (Bethlehem)...Jacob’s wife of 20 years, Rachel, died in childbirth...Jacob’s first love...for whom he worked 14 years...for her hand in marriage. That would be hard.
And then, not long after that challenge, Jacob and his family would finally reach their destination after 5 years. Finally, after 25 years, Jacob would see his father again. And then the Bible says, Jacob’s father, Isaac, died. At least Jacob got to be there and say goodbye to his dad. But that was hard too.
Not many months later, after perhaps the hardest year of Jacob’s life, his sons stood before him with a bloody robe. “What is this? Isn't this the robe of my youngest son? Has an animal ravaged his body? He has been devoured.”..This, Jacob said before he tore his robe and began to mourn for days. That was hard.
God was up to something in the life of Jacob and his family...something that would shape their life message forever. And what God was up to
“is the rest of the story...”
And By the way...Jesus Christ, God the Son, came from the lineage of this bunch. And in Christ, we are in the lineage of their faith walk with God. It really gets interesting from here. Let’s keep reading.
Have a great day.
