Mon.’s Devo - Jacob’s Travels

Read: Genesis 35:1-36:43; Matthew 12:1-21; Psalm 15:1-5; Provers 3:21-26 Jacob told all his family and servants to get rid of their idols because they were going to Bethel where God had spoken to him and there they would build an altar to the Lord. (I wonder if Rachel got rid of the idols she stole from her father’s house.) Jacob took these idols and buried them under a great tree near Shechem. This tree appears time and time again throughout the Bible story. The oak tree was deemed a consecrated tree, to bury these idols at its root was to deposit them in a place where no hand would venture to disturb the ground. They continued on to Bethel where Jacob built an altar. God appeared to him and reemphasized to him that his name was not Jacob the Supplanter anymore but Israel, the one who, along with his descendants, would rule as God on the earth. He gave him the land he had given to Abraham and Isaac. Jacob set up a pillar to mark the place God had spoken to him then poured wine over it and anointed it with olive oil. He named it Bethel meaning “house of God”. He traveled to Ephrath (“fruitful”) where Rachel went into labor and died delivering Benjamin. Benjamin means “son of my right hand”. Ephrath became named Bethlehem where God’s right hand son was born. On to Migdal-elder (“tower of the flock)” where Rueben had sex with his father’s concubine, Bilhah. Bilhah had been the mother of Dan and Naphtali. This was a terrible sin and showed that Rueben, Jacob’s first-born had no respect for his father. The first-born is a picture of our being born of the flesh. We will die in our sins unless we are born again (second-born). Jacob returned to live in the land with Isaac, his father. This land was Hebron which became a city of refuge. Esau’s line is given and it is the bad seed with could not produce any good fruit. His descendants became the inhabitants of Canaan that God would tell Joshua to completely kill and get rid of. The ones who remained alive only brought curse and sin upon the earth. Jesus came and offered to all freedom from the bondage of sin. In Matthew, Jesus gave a great demonstration to show what would happen when God’s people get hungry enough. They will break the law to get fed. What good is the law if you are dying? Jesus showed them how nonsensical their laws had become. They would deny a person healing because its process would break their man-made laws. We have laws right now in our land that go against common sense and we comply because we have put our trust in sinful lawmakers and politicians who only have their pockets in mind. We have to break man’s laws to follow God’s when man’s laws defy God’s. Jesus didn’t stop healing because it upset the government of the day. He knew God’s government and it was the government he was following. Lord, thank you that You are our security and You will keep our feet from being caught in a trap. Give us discernment for today.