God’s Unmerited Favor to Jacob the Trickster

Bible Passage: Genesis 35:1-7 & 9-15

I. God reminded Jacob about the vow he made to Him when God extended unmerited favor to Jacob (35:1 God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau)—

1. Gen 28:16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place … How awesome is this this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven”
2. Gen 28:20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear, so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth”
3. When Jacob got back from Padan Aram after twenty years, he seemed to have forgotten his promise to God and Bethel event
4. Jacob almost got settled in Shechem (cf. 34:18-20)
5. He pitched his tent and built an altar for God in Shechem and called it “El Elohe Israel” (34:19-20)

II. God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and build an altar there to God” (35:1b)

1. At Shechem where Jacob had almost settled, he could not live peacefully

a. Dinah was raped by Shechem (cf. 34:2)
b. Jacob’s sons deceitfully killed many Shechemites

2. God reminded him that he had a vow he made when he was running away from his brother Esau (35:1c)

III. Jacob obeys God and demonstrates spiritual leadership to his large family (35:2-3)

1. So, Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him (35:2a)
2. “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you” (35:2b)
3. “Purify yourselves” (35:2c)
4. “Change your clothes” (35:2d)
5. “Then come, let’s go up to Bethel” (35:3a)
6. “Where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone” (35:3b)

a. They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears (35:4a)
b. Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem (35:4b)
c. Then they left for Bethel (35:5)

IV. Jacob began a new journey in Bethel, (35:6)

1. Jacob and all the people with him came to Bethel in the land of Canaan (35:6a)
2. A new beginning with an altar and called it “El Bethel” (35:6b)
3. God appeared to Jacob again (second time) just as He revealed to him at the beginning of his journey (35:9-12)—after a full circle, a new journey begins (had he stayed in Shechem, he probably would not have had such spiritual experience)

a. “I am God Almighty” אֱלֹהִ֜ים אֲנִ֨י אֵ֤ל שַׁדַּי֙—the One Who is able to bless in abundance (all that you need, I have)
b. “Be fruitful and increase in number”—Another Great Commission follows Jacob’s obedience

i. It is God El Shadday who is going to make Jacob “to be fruitful and increase in number”
ii. It happened when he separated himself from others and pledged his allegiance to the God of Bethel

c. God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but your name will no longer be called Jacob; Israel will be your name” So God named him Israel
d. Jacob means “cheater”—by telling his name, he confessed who was

i. Heal grabber
ii. Stealer of someone’s birth right
iii. Deceiver of his dad
iv. Trickster in his father-in-law’s house
v. With his original character, Jacob would not re-enter Canaan, which is going to be the Promised Land

e. Israel means “the one who strives with God” or “God fights”
f. Then God said to him, “I am the Sovereign God. Be fruitful and multiply! A nation—even a company of nations—will descend from you; kings will be among your descendants!
g. The land I gave to Abraham, and Isaac I will give to you. To your descendants I will also give this land
h. God turned Jacob into Israel—a nation (28:14b: All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring)

4. Despite his deception and trickery, God met Jacob in Bethel and made a covenant with him (28:10-15 )

a. The story of Jacob is not about how good, righteous, and religious Jacob was
b. But it is all about God who sovereignly chose Isaac and worked through his sinful, messed up life
c. So that, he will not take credit for his life, but worshipfully attribute everything to God—it’s a preview of the Gospel

5. Through harshness of life over many decades, God protected Jacob with His covenant faithfulness in his journey from Beersheba to Padan Aram and back to Shechem-Bethel (31:42)
6. God brought Jacob to a full circle by bringing him to Bethel where his journey started (35:1)—Bethel reminded Jacob of many things

V. Jesus the True Bethel

1. John 1:51 you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man
2. Jesus meets the Jacobs—sinners who do not deserve any merit
3. Those only deserve death and eternal punishment
4. More like what we read in Ephesians 2:1-10

a. Verse 5 even though we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you are saved!
b. Verse 6 and he raised us up together with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
c. Verse 7 to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus
d. Verse 8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 2:9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast
e. Verse 10 For we are his creative work (masterpiece), having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them

Takeaway:

Through confession and repentance, put away those things that are incompatible with your relationship with God (make a new start)