Wed.’s Devo - Back to Bethel

Read: Genesis 35:1-36:43; Matthew 12:1-21; Psalm 15:1-5; Proverbs 3:21-26 God told Jacob to got to Bethel and make an altar to God. This was the same place God had appeared to him when he ran from Esau. Jacob told all the people who were with him to get rid of their foreign gods and purify themselves and change their garments. They were going to Bethel to meet with God. (I wonder if Rachel got rid of her father’s gods.) Jacob hid them in beneath the terebinth tree near Shechem. *** As the journeyed the people of the land were afraid of them because of their God. They reached Bethel where Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse died. They buried her under the terebinth tree below Bethel. They named the place Allon Bachuth which means “terebinth of weeping.” *** God appeared to Jacob again and blessed him. He charged him to go by his new name, Israel. He told him to be fruitful and multiply because he would become a company of nations and kings. He gave him the land he had given to Abraham. Then God left and Jacob set up a pillar of stone and poured a drink offering and oil on it. He called the name of the place Bethel. *** Jacob left and when he was almost to Ephrath, Rachel labored in childbirth and was dying. As she was passing away they told her she had had a son. She named him Ben-Oni meaning “Son of my sorrow” but Jacob changed it to Benjamin, meaning “Son of the right hand.” Jacob set a pillar on her grave. *** Reuben went in and lay with his father’s concubine, Rachel’s maid, Bilhah. This would cost him the right of the firstborn. *** Jacob finally made it to Isaac at Mamre which was Hebron. That was where Abraham and Sarah were buried. Isaac died there and Jacob and Esau buried him in the family burying place. He was 180 years old. *** Chapter 36 is the genealogy of Esau who with his three wives had 14 chiefs. His descendants were the Edomites who lived in Mount Seir. *** In Matthew, the Pharisees were trying to nail Jesus and his disciples on their laws. First it was reaping on the Sabbath, then it was healing on the Sabbath. Jesus had an answer for both. God delights in doing good rather than imposing laws. *** Jesus knew that the Pharisees were planning to kill him so he left. He told his followers not to make him famous fulfilling what Isaiah said about him. He would declare justice to the Gentiles but would not make himself known in the public eyes. *** Lord, may we make you famous. May you arise and your enemies be scattered. May we see beyond the letter of the law into the spirit of who you are.