Chapter 35 of the book of Genesis. As we continue on in our story concerning Jacob, as we've been studying through this book, we have been able to look now at quite a bit of their lives. In fact, we won't spend too much more time on Jacob. Chapter 36 is actually about Esau and his family, and there's a whole lot of dukes that are listed there. And then in Chapter 37, there will be Joseph's story begins, and he'll take kind of center stage Here from chapter 37 on through the end of the book, we'll see a little bit about Judah's shame that will come up there in chapter 38. And all of these brothers, sadly, there's a portion of their lives where their sin is brought to the forefront here. is bringing it to our understanding. And it's important for us to see that history about these brothers. Because, as she indicates, with every people group, every generation, we have people that we honor in our past and in our history. And it's very easy for us especially after time passes, to only remember or only see the good things about them and not realize they were frail and fallen and sinful just like we are. And so it's important for us to be mindful of that. And the reason that's important, especially for Israel, it would be very easy for Israel, and even though they were given many examples of Abraham sinning, They would still revere him to a place of almost godhood. They pointed to that where Abraham stood when the Lord came and was talking with him. I mean, that's what they would go back to. Or Moses, they would do the same thing to Moses. And of course, what the Lord has done in the record here is He reveals to us, look, all these people are wicked sinners just like we are. It's just God chose to use them for His purposes to bring to pass what He's written to pass. And so we see these snippets. concerning their lives, these twelve sons of Jacob, and we get that little bit of understanding about their own sin and their own wickedness. In fact, we'll see one even tonight here in chapter 35, and it's all—don't give you really anything else other than he sinned. Just let you know He's a sinner too. And so that is just to inform us these are not people to be revered to the sense that we would worship them or lift them up and put them on a pedestal. These are just people. God is the one we worship. And it is that same God that has used these sinners. It's the same God that uses us sinners today to accomplish His purpose and His will in this world. Because God is the one that deserves to be praised. He's the one that deserves to be lifted up. He's the one that we are to put on a pedestal, not any man, not any of us. God has accomplished these things. He has worked these things. He's worked them specifically for us through Christ Jesus our Lord. He's the one that we are to lift up, not any man. by sinful man. And so these examples are given to us over and over again throughout these studies concerning these different men that we read about here. Of course, this event that we read about on Sunday night there in chapter 34, of course, where Dinah was defiled by Shechem The second desire is to marry her and Jacob Calici, for his sons decide what, or he lets them decide. And Levi and Simeon said, well, what you need to do is you all need to be circumcised like we're circumcised. And if you all are circumcised, then we'll allow you to marry Donna, and we'll enter into this contract between you and our families to be joined. So they said, okay, that's what we'll do. And so every male of that city of Shechem were circumcised, and on the third day, After that circumcision, while the men were yet very sore from that surgery that they had, Simeon and Levi go in with their swords and murder every man in the town. Take their wives and their children as slaves and take anything of worth that the city is checking back. and showed their sins, showed their wickedness, showed what their vengeance would bring. Of course, Jacob said, you have made me sick. You've made me sick among these people. And so God would use this to move Jacob where Jacob was supposed to be because Jacob was where he was at because he did not obey. He set out in obedience, but after having met Esau, it was like there was a great burden lifted off of him. He didn't feel no worry to be anywhere, and so he settles there in Shalem. And settling in Shalem there was not where God told him to go. And so God comes to him again here in Deuteronomy chapter 35 and redirects Zedek to go where He told him to go. So it says here, beginning in verse 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 blest from the face of Esau thy brother. 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. 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.' 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 Shepherd. And so here, God tells Jacob, it's time for you to go now and get home and do what I told you to do and get back down to Bethel. And Bethel was the place, you remember, where Jacob slept there in chapter 28 as he's running from Esau. And the first night there after leaving home to escape Esau's wrath, Jacob stops here in this place. And it was here that he dreamed of a ladder or a stairway that reached from earth to heaven, and Jesus is that stairway. That's what his dream was in purpose for him. And there were angels going back and forth, those ministry spirits going back and forth along that ladder, working a real job, bringing it to the earth and so on, going back and forth there. And Jacob had this dream, and in that dream, God would speak to Jacob and declare he is... If I go back to chapter 28, let's look here at a couple of verses. In verse 13 of chapter 28, God speaks to him in this dream. And he says, And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father. God of Isaac, the land whereon thou wast, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed." And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. And in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Of course, the Lord speaks to him, gives him the covenant here. And then in verse 20, down through verse 22, we read there where Jacob names the place there, verse 19, names the place Bethel, which means house of God. and he names it that and it was called Luz before but now it is Bethel and then he vows a vow here in verse 20 down to verse 22 it says in Jacob vowed a vow saying if God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give you bread to eat. And Raymond put on, or in how we would read that today, is he said, since God has done all of this for me, so that I come again to my Father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God. He's done all this for me. He's my God. He's the one I'm going to serve. He's the one I'm going to follow. He does this, and I believe it. He has done this, and he is now my God. I will serve him. I will follow him. And this stone, he says in verse 22, a sign is 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. So he names this place now Gethsemane. And so he's here, God tells him to go. So he tells his family, get up, we're going to go now. You've run us out of this place. And so we've made a statement to the people around us. God tells us to go to Bethel now, so we're all going to Bethel. For whatever reason took place in Jacob's mind, Jacob realized, whether it was because of the things his brother or his sons had done, or whether he realized his own disobedience and shouldn't have been there in the first place, that's not where God told him to be. Whatever the case may be, Jacob realized there were some things in his life that weren't where they were supposed to be. And so he tells his family, every idol that you all have, any household idols that you've got, any amulets to your gods that you're worshiping other than the God of heaven, bring those to me. We're going to get rid of those things. We're not going to have those on our persons any longer. We're not going to carry those things with us back into the promised land. And so he demands that they bring all these things to them. And remember, when they left Laban's house, that's one of the first things that we're told that Rachel did. She steals her daddy's household bibles and brings them with her and hides them. She doesn't let Jacob know that she's got them until later, but she hides them from her father and steals those and brings those with her. Those gods were very important to her. And so it must have been the case for many of the rest of them. earrings that were amulets to their particular gods that they were worshipping and hanging on to, good luck charms, if you will, that they were, oh well, if God's heaven ain't going to do this, maybe this God will do this for us or maybe this God will do it for us. So they were hanging on to this idolatry that they brought from Syria. And Jacob says, no, we're not going to enter into the place where I have made the covenant with the Lord. We're not going to go back there with all of this junk. So y'all bring it to me now and we're going to get rid of this." And he takes all of it and buries it under an oak tree there next to the city of Shechem. And so they willingly gave it and he willingly buried it and left it there and would not take it with them as they would continue on. their journey. So it says there in verse 5, 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. Why would those cities pursue after them? To get revenge for what they had done to Jacob. After stealing all the males there in the land, taking women and children hostage, stealing all the things of worth there from the city, it would only make sense that those other cities round about Shechem would come out against Jacob and his son. But God put a fear in them that they did not come out. They were afraid to come out and try to. bring that revenge, that vengeance upon Jacob and his sons. And so they did not follow, and they were able to continue on their journey in peace and safety there to come into Bethel. And it says, verse 6, Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. So they made it safely to the place where God had instructed him to go from the beginning. It lasts now. After 10 years, he finally comes into the land where God told him to be. And verse 7 says, He built there an altar called the place El Bethel, or the God of Bethel, or the God of the house of God. He builds an altar there for the Lord. Because there, God appeared unto him when he fled from the face of his brother. And so that is where God first spoke to Jacob. That's the place where really we see a change in Jacob's life. that he is assured of his place before God, even though all of his life before then he was using trickery and he was doing his best to connive his way to a position of power. Here's where he realizes God is the one that has had all of this in control all the while. He's the one that is washed over. He's the one that's hit. He's the one that fulfilled the promises. He's the one that's going to do exactly what he said he was going to do. And so this is the place where Jacob first met God, and this is where this had a real impact in changing Jacob's life. And as he comes around now, these 30 years later, coming back to this place now, he realizes the impact here that God has truly had on his life and what God has kept him from and what he has given him and all the blessings that he has enjoyed. So here he builds this altar, as the Lord instructed him to do. This is the place where God had appeared to him, and so he would build this altar there. But it tells us that while they were here, Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died. And she was buried beneath Bethel, under an oak, and the name of it was called Elon Bakuth. Elon Bakuth, which means the Oak of Weeping. The Oak of Weeping. And that just gives us again another landmark. But when the children of Israel, when coming into the land, remember Moses is writing this for the children of Israel as they have left Egypt and are on their way to the promised land. He's writing these things down. He's telling them these particular landmarks. How did Moses know where these landmarks were? He had never been to the land of Canaan before. He had never been to the land of Canaan, and yet he's telling them where everything's at. How would he do that? Because God told them where they were at. God is the one that instructed them to write these things down. God is the one that told them where these landmarks were, you see. So what that tells us is God was putting these landmarks in the places where they were at. He was the one controlling all of this, all the wheels that were gigged, all the amethysts that were set up, even the oak of weeping here that was left there so that when the children of Israel would come into the land, and remember Moses didn't get to even come into the land when they got there. He had to die outside of the land. And so the children of Israel are entering without Moses, but they have the writings. And they can enter into the land, and entering into the land they can see all of those landmarks. They have that map that Moses had given them as he wrote these first five books of Scripture for them, so that they can go once they enter into the land and say, oh, that's it, that's it. Moses is telling us about, oh yeah, there's that cave where Abraham's buried, and oh yeah, there's that oak of weeping where Deborah is buried, and oh yeah, there's that well that Jacob digged, and here's the place where Jacob met the Lord out here in Bethel. They have all of those landmarks now written and given for them as God is preparing them to come into the land. And so we're given just these little snippets here as Moses is writing. Oh, yeah, by the way, there's an oak tree there. That's where Denver was buried. Along that roof there, the oak will weep, and you'll recognize that when you get there. Moses, of course, in writing this, did not recognize that he would not be going in there to see these things himself, but would be preparing people to go in to see these things, to see these sites. where they were left for them as markers, as roadmaps for them to enter the land. In verse 9 it says, God appeared unto Jacob again, and he came out of Pedernarum and blessed him. And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob. Thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And he called his name And, of course, that word Israel, as we've looked already, means he fights or persists with God, and particularly in prayer, holding on in prayer is what it is in reference to David. So he's no longer the supplanter. He's no longer the conniver. He's no longer the trickster, but now he is the one who persists with God. And so this, again, is speaking of his wrestling with the Lord in chapter 32 when he wrestled with the Lord there in Penuel. And so he tells us there, verse 11, God said unto him, I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins. and the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac to thee I will give it, and that I cede after thee will I give the land. And so God declares he is the Almighty God, and he again reiterates this promise to Jacob. The promise he gave to Abraham, the promise he gave to Isaac, is the same promise he's given to Jacob. And he said in verse 13, and God went up from him in the place where he talked with him. So he again promises Jacob all of these things that he's given the promise Abraham to Isaac, and to Jacob previously, he reiterates that promise again. And so verse 14, Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone, and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon, and Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him Bethel. It says, And they journeyed from Bethel, and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath, which is known to us as Bethlehem. That's who we find in Micah, Bethlehem, Hebron, that's where that name Ephrath is. Rachel prevailed. It was here that Rachel would have her last son and Jacob's youngest son, Benjamin. She was in great prevailing here. She had a hard labor. The Bible tells us there in verse 16. Verse 17, it came to pass when she was in hard labor that the midwife said unto her, Fear not, thou shalt have this son also. But it would cost her her life. And it came to pass as her soul was in departure, that she died, that she called his name Denoniah. which means son of sufferer, or son of my sorrow. But his father renamed him, Jacob called him Benjamin, which is son of my right hand. That's a whole lot better name than son of my sufferer. He renamed him son of my right hand, Benjamin. And Rachel died and was buried in the way that he cried, which is Bethlehem, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave. That is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day. Once again, here's another landmark. You get down to Bethlehem, you're going to see a pillar there that's Rachel's grave. And you'll know where Rachel is buried. And so, it tells us there in verse number 21, Israel Gerner spread his tent beyond the Tower of Edar. The Edar was a watchtower, and it was between Bethlehem and Hebron. So this watchtower is already there, and so he spread his tent there beyond the Tower of Edar, and 10,000 Israels built in that land. that Reuben went and lay with Gilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard it. Now here's one of those examples. We don't give any explanation. It doesn't go any further than that in this chapter. It just simply says Gilhah was one of David's wives. She was the servant or the concubine or the handmaid of Rachel. And Reuben, his oldest son, goes and lays with Gilhah And Israel heard about Jacob and knew what had taken place, but he doesn't get a response about it here. And then it tells us his sons. The sons of Jacob were twelve, and the sons of Leah, Reuben, David, Percival, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel, Joseph, and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, Dan, and Naphali, the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, Gad, and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him and paid an heir. And Jacob came unto Isaac his father, unto Mamre, unto the city of Arba, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. And the days of Isaac were an hundred and four-story years. Isaac, at last, comes to 180 years old. Remember at 137, they thought he was going to die. That was when they left home and went to stay with Lazarus, get away from Esau. He was afraid that Esau was going to kill him. They were expecting Isaac to die then, but here he is, 180 years old. when Isaac dies here, it says, Isaac gave up the ghost and died and was gathered unto his people, became old and full of days, and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. So we have here the death of Isaac, the son of Abraham at 180 years old, And we see there, even in his death, the promise of life, for he was gathered with his people. Now, I was looking at that and I thought, well, is he talking about His spirit departing and coming into the presence of God there, or is it simply talking about... because you see that sometimes in burial, where somebody will be buried, they'll say that they gathered him with his people, but that's next in the verse. So this is talking about his life. This is about him giving up the ghost here and coming into the presence of his brethren, coming into the presence of his family. being old and full of days, because it tells us that he saw Jacob buried. So there we find his burial. Of course, he would be buried in the cave of Mach Galah, where Abraham and Sarah were buried before him. And so, we've come to the end here of chapter 35. Now, I want you to consider, go back with me there and look when it speaks of Reuben's sin there in verse 22, that he laid with Bilhah. Again, we're told of his sin, but there's no response from Jacob here. He knows it, but he does not respond. His response to him will come in chapter 49. Go there and look as Jacob is blessing his sons here. This is after he finds out Joseph is still alive. This is at the end of his life, and he is blessing his sons with their blessings. It doesn't sound very much like a blessing, but he gives it to them. It is, however, for Judah a blessing, even though he still scolds him a little bit. Notice verse 3 of chapter 49. Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. He sent some good things about him. Son, you're my firstborn. You're my strength, he says. The excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. But you're unstable as water. Unstable as water. Thou shalt not excel. Because thou lentest us to thy father's bed, then defiledst thou it, he went up to my couch." He said, you're my firstborn. You're the example of my strength. If you're unstable with water and you will not get the blessing of the firstborn. Now he doesn't find this out now until the end of Jacob's life. He doesn't find that out until the end of Jacob's life. You can imagine, he probably thought all along, I've got to wait with that. I've got to wait with that. Zechariah said, no you didn't. And so Reuben loses the position as first born as far as the blessing was concerned. But now notice what he goes on to say. Simeon and Levi, that's his second son, Simeon and Levi are brethren, instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou and divide their secrets unto their assembly, mine honour. Be not thou united, for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they dig down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and shatter them in Israel. They don't get the blessing of the firstborn. What about Paxton then? Who was in Paxton? Verse 8, Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies. Thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's wealth from the prey, my son. Thou art called up. He stood down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion, who shall rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes. And unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Here Judah is given the position, that's first of all, the position as firstborn. And in giving him that position as firstborn, Jacob prophesies here that it will be through Judah that Messiah will come. That it will be through him that the Lion of the tribe of Judah shall come forth. And it will be through him that the gathering of the people The gathering of the people shall be in the cross of Jesus, in His head. And so here Judah receives the blessing of the firstborn because of Reuben's sin, because of Simeon's sin, because of Levi's sin, and these things are all brought out here as Jacob gives this blessing and he gives that position of firstborn to Judah. Now, the first king of Israel, the first king of Israel, the one that was huge, Nebuchadnezzar, when he did the staking, following him would be David and every king after him of Israel would come from the tribe of Judah until Shiloh comes. That's Christ Jesus. When he died, he's the last king. He's still King, and He is the coming King. Let's go to Him in a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we thank You again for this day. Father, we thank You for this message. Father, these scriptures that we have before us, we pray that You help us to understand these things, that we have application for our lives. and we would serve you in, apply them to us, that we might rejoice in these things you've prepared from ages old to bring to pass, that we might see these things, Father. As we study your words, we see these things around us even in this world, and we see indeed how you've prepared all things and worked all things according to your will. Father, go with us now as we spend these few minutes in our common business. We pray that you help us to do so decently and in order before you this time. We ask these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Now, we'll call the church to order for our regular lovely business session. And we'll begin with the reading of last month's hymn for the Roberts.