1
¶ And God said unto Jacob, 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. 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.
Jacob’s tribe consists of not only himself and his
wives, one of which had stolen her father’s household idols, but their
children, servants, and their Canaanite captives. There would have been quite a
mix of idols and gods among them. God calls a halt and intends to shake all
these things out. He orders Jacob to build an altar to Him, where Jacob had
vowed to serve God in return for His protection in chapter 28.
18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and
took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and
poured oil upon the top of it. 19 And he
called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz
at the first. 20 And Jacob vowed a vow,
saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and
will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 So that I come again to my father’s house in
peace; then shall the LORD be my God: 22
And this stone, which I have set
for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will
surely give the tenth unto thee.
God had reminded Jacob of this event when He told
Jacob to leave Laban with his family.
Genesis
31:13 I am the God of Bethel, where thou
anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get
thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.
For not the last time a leader that God has selected
will tell his people to put away their foreign (strange) gods. Jacob is
sanctifying his people for God, setting them apart for God’s purpose.
Genesis
18:19 For I know him, that he will
command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way
of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham
that which he hath spoken of him.
Joshua
24:15 ¶ And if it seem evil unto you to
serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which
your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of
the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve
the LORD.
Deuteronomy
7:25 The graven images of their gods
shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on
them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an
abomination to the LORD thy God.
This is a recurrent theme in God’s ministry of
reconciling man to Himself. Notice verse 4. Not only the images that Rachel and
probably many of the servants had in their possession but also their earrings
were given and buried out of their sight. Jewelry played a part in ancient
worship. Earrings were not merely ornamentation for both men and women but
were, scholars tell us, sometimes amulets and charms to protect the openings of
the face and head from entry by evil spirits. They were clearly part of the
idol worship of the ancient world, the spiritual system that developed after
the Flood. If you have difficulty seeing
that side of facial jewelry just look at the hundreds of occult earrings on a
website like Etsy.com. Some verses of note regarding men and women wearing
earrings and of a possible link to their occultic practices are;
Exodus
32:1 ¶ And when the people saw that
Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves
together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before
us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
we wot not what is become of him. 2 And
Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of
your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 3 And all the people brake off the golden
earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 4 And he received them at their hand, and
fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they
said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of
Egypt.
Judges
8:24 And Gideon said unto them, I would
desire a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his
prey. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) 25 And they answered, We will willingly give
them. And they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of
his prey.
Here is this passage in chapter 35, though, we have a
very clear indication that something linked the earrings to the household gods
that must be put away. Oak trees also play a part in ancient worship.
Ezekiel
6:13 Then shall ye know that I am the
LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars,
upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green
tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to
all their idols.
The reference to changing their garments also bears
some note. Changing garments signified a change of heart and clearly has a
religious significance.
Zechariah
3:4 And he answered and spake unto those
that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto
him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will
clothe thee with change of raiment.
Revelation
19:8 And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the
righteousness of saints.
And Jacob’s fears did not come to fruition. The towns
by which he and his family passed were terrified of them and made no effort to
attack them.
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