Home thoughts from abroad.wordpress.com

I have to say that out of all the things I have to do in my role, writing up the ‘minutes’ of meetings is not the most inspiring. Yet I do recognise the importance of good record keeping. Recently I have had reason to see this even more, as I have needed to return to the earliest recorded minutes of our church. I have been surprised by what I have found there. It is remarkable how much a person can forget! I have found myself grateful for the faithful recording of what took place.

Well, we’ve been here before, and no doubt we will be again. Passages such as Genesis 36 may not be the easiest to read. But they remind us that records, lists, accounts etc are important. God is a God of order, not of chaos, and historical records have their place in doing everything ‘decently and in order.’

^“16 Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. ¹⁷ And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, ‘Don’t despair, for you have another son.’ ¹⁸ As she breathed her last – for she was dying – she named her son Ben-Oni.But his father named him Benjamin.¹⁹ So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰ Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb.²¹ Israel moved on again and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. ²² While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it.Jacob had twelve sons:²³ The sons of Leah:Reuben the firstborn of Jacob,Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun.²⁴ The sons of Rachel:Joseph and Benjamin.²⁵ The sons of Rachel’s servant Bilhah:Dan and Naphtali.²⁶ The sons of Leah’s servant Zilpah:Gad and Asher.Someone observed, ‘Death is the ultimate statistic. One out of one dies!’ These were the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.²⁷ Jacob came home to his father Isaac in Mamre, near Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. ²⁸ Isaac lived a hundred and eighty years. ²⁹ Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.”NIV

Truly, in life we are in the midst of death. But what is also true is that life goes on for everyone else, and people who may see each other little at other times (maybe never see one another) often come together for a funeral (29b). Bereavement is such a potent human experience, and it can bring people together, if only for a few hours.

I found both of these quotes helpful, and I hope you do too

‘Three deaths are recorded in chapter 35, for death is one of the facts of life. Jacob’s obedience to God did not prevent him from experiencing trials. He lost a friend, Deborah; a favourite wife, Rachel; and then his beloved father.’ Warren W. Wiersbe, ‘With the Word’, pp.39,40.

‘From Bethel to Bethlehem is not far. The one, the ‘’house of God’’; the other, the “house of Bread.” We need them both if we are to bear up under the repeated shocks of life, such as the death of the old nurse Deborah, the death of our beloved Rachels, the sins of our children, and the breakup of the old home. Well is it for Jacob that he had got right with God before these repeated waves broke upon him.’ F.B.Meyer: ‘Devotional Commentary’, p.28.

PRAYER: Lord, may I seek to be so right with you, and so rooted in you, that I am anchored when the storms of adversity threaten to toss my little life around.

^“9 After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram God appeared to him again and blessed him. ¹⁰ God said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.’ So he named him Israel.¹¹ And God said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants. ¹² The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.’ ¹³ Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him.¹⁴ Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. ¹⁵ Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel.”NIV

‘’Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it’’ (14)

Once again we can marvel at the mercy of God towards Jacob, and be encouraged for ourselves. The changing of a person’s name (in a Biblical context) points to the changing of their nature (10). This was, and is, a sovereign work of God, unearned and undeserved.

So God renewed the covenant with Jacob (11,12).

But note what Jacob then did (14,15). He marked it! He responded in worship, and in so doing he marked the sacred ‘’place where God had talked with him’’ (15).

God is continually speaking – in the ‘book’ of nature; but especially in the Book of books, Scripture. (Within this Book, He speaks to us predominantly in Jesus). But although God is always speaking, do you not find that, like Jacob, there are special moments in which God comes to you in (it seems) extra powerful ways/ He shows you things. He reveals truth to you. Maybe He gives you direction. You don’t want to lose that. Capture it. Make sure you mark it in some way.

I mentioned recently that I keep a diary/journal. Just before writing this piece for today, I looked at my entries for this time last year. I came across this prayer I had written on 29^th March 2020:

‘’Lord, as we come into a period where it is expected that the pandemic is going to intensify, I pray you will have mercy, and cut short these days of tribulation. May many lives (and souls) be saved, in Jesus’ Name. Teach us to pray Lord. Teach us how to pray. Please douse the flames of this virus and put out the fire-for your glory. May many come to know you in these days.”

It’s still a relevant prayer I think. As I read through the old pages, I’m glad that I have been able to memorialise certain moments with God, however poor my efforts.

Don’t waste any encounter with God. Worship Him with your whole life poured out before Him like a drink offering. ‘Capture’ what He says. Mark the moment…

…and whatever He says to you, do it!

“Then 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.’² So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. ³ Then come, let us go up to Bethel, 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.’ ⁴ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. ⁵ Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.⁶ Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. ⁷ There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel,because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.⁸ Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak outside Bethel. So it was named Allon Bakuth.” NIV

‘’…God, who answered me in the day of my distress…’’ (3)

I’m sure you have noticed that we have only moved one square on the board from the past couple of days. But verse 8 introduces a new theme – that of bereavement. Before this chapter is over, Jacob will have experienced three significant losses.

Note: getting right with God; sorting things out at home; taking care of spiritual business, is not necessarily a route into an easy life. The hymn-writer could say, ‘Days of darkness still come o’er me, sorrows path I often tread…’ I began to read the book of Job this morning in my daily Bible readings. Although not every believer will suffer as intensely as Job, or lose so much, some certainly do. What we can say with full Biblical authority is this: being a believer does not grant you immunity from suffering and loss.

In days of darkness, however:

…we can remember how God answered prayer in past difficulties (3) – how He has never abandoned us;

…we should seek to hold on to everything God has ‘’revealed’’ of Himself to us in times gone by (verses 1,7). Someone said, ‘Never doubt in the dark what God has shown you in the daylight.’

‘Days of darkness still come o’er me, sorrows paths I often tread, but the Saviour still is with me, by His Hand I’m safely led’’.

PRAYER: Thank you Lord that you will be with us wherever we go (3).

“Then 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.’² So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. ³ Then come, let us go up to Bethel, 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.’ ⁴ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. ⁵ Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.⁶ Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. ⁷ There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel,because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.”NIV

It is the sheer mercy of God that He would speak to Jacob again, and give him guidance, after the mess of chapter 34.

One or two things stand out to me as I read this passage:

• Go where God tells you to go. If God lays a particular place on your heart you will know it. (I don’t mean simply somewhere you enjoyed while on holiday and you took a passing fancy to living there! Not, of course, to say that God will never call people to live in their favourite holiday destinations. But I suppose you always have to check your motives);
• Do what God tells you to do. In Jacob’s case this was to ‘’build an altar’’. But Jacob knew that before he built that altar there were things that needed to be dealt with in his ‘’household’’ (2). He called for deep repentance and purification. ‘’Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar…’’(3). ‘Let’s deal with what we need to deal with first’, said Jacob. What has God been telling you to do? Perhaps He’s been speaking to you for a long time? Why the delay? Do it today – if you can, and if you know it’s the right and wise thing to do.

In this story look what they did – Jacob and his family. They dealt with their idolatry and pursued holiness (2, 4). There is a time for ‘getting rid’ of things which are holding us back and blocking the flow of God’s power, and ‘burying’ them. This we do in the light of that great altar of the Cross;

But look also at what God did (5). There was a manifestation of His power.

Yet what came first?

“Then 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.’² So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. ³ Then come, let us go up to Bethel, 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.’ ⁴ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. ⁵ Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.⁶ Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.”NIV

‘’Go up to Bethel…’’ (1,3,7)

For all of us, there are times when we need to go back in order to go forward. We have to return to times and places where God met us personally and powerfully. We may do this in memory. Or maybe it is by diary. For years I have kept a diary/journal. One year later, I try to, week by week, review what was happening, what I was experiencing, what I was reading or writing, ‘this time last year’. Mostly it’s mundane. But more often than you might imagine, I find myself going ‘’up to Bethel’’. Something previously recorded impacts me now. I re-live a meeting with God and its implications.

We may return to ‘Bethel’ by memory, diary, or even by geography. For some people, a kind of pilgrimage to a particular place becomes important. I knew a dear, godly, elderly gentleman, who, as a special anniversary of his conversion approached, said, ‘I would like to go and just sit in the little chapel where I was converted and give thanks to the Lord for saving and keeping me all through the years.’ How God worked that out for him is a remarkable story in itself. Suffice it to say for now that it didn’t seem likely to happen.

Today, I need to remember the little boy of 7/8 years, sitting on his bed and just feeling the intense joy and reality of Jesus. I still am that little boy before God. The passing years, and the burdens we carry can swamp us, and cause us to forget the sheer joy and wonder of knowing God.

What do you need to remember?

⁸ But Hamor said to them, ‘My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. ⁹ Intermarry with us; give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰ You can settle among us; the land is open to you. Live in it, trade in it, and acquire property in it.’¹¹ Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, ‘Let me find favour in your eyes, and I will give you whatever you ask. ¹² Make the price for the bride and the gift I am to bring as great as you like, and I’ll pay whatever you ask me. Only give me the young woman as my wife.’¹³ Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob’s sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor. ¹⁴ They said to them, ‘We can’t do such a thing; we can’t give our sister to a man who is not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵ We will enter into an agreement with you on one condition only: that you become like us by circumcising all your males. ¹⁶ Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We’ll settle among you and become one people with you. ¹⁷ But if you will not agree to be circumcised, we’ll take our sister and go.’¹⁸ Their proposal seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. ¹⁹ The young man, who was the most honoured of all his father’s family, lost no time in doing what they said, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. ²⁰ So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city to speak to the men of their city. ²¹ ‘These men are friendly towards us,’ they said. ‘Let them live in our land and trade in it; the land has plenty of room for them. We can marry their daughters and they can marry ours. ²² But the men will agree to live with us as one people only on the condition that our males be circumcised, as they themselves are. ²³ Won’t their livestock, their property and all their other animals become ours? So let us agree to their terms, and they will settle among us.’²⁴ All the men who went out of the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male in the city was circumcised.²⁵ Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. ²⁶ They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem’s house and left. ²⁷ The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where their sister had been defiled. ²⁸ They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields. ²⁹ They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses.³⁰ Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ‘You have brought trouble on me by making me obnoxious to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.’³¹ But they replied, ‘Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?’”NIV

‘’You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land’’ (30).

‘The Shechemites submitted to the sacred rite, only to serve a turn, to please their prince, and to enrich themselves, and it was just with God to bring punishment upon them. As nothing secures us better than true religion, so nothing exposes us more than religion only pretended to. But Simeon and Levi were most unrighteous. Those who act wickedly, under the pretext of religion, are the worst enemies of the truth, and harden the hearts of many to destruction. The crimes of others form no excuse for us. Alas! how one sin leads on to another, and, like flames of fire, spread desolation in every direction.’ Matthew Henry.

Sadly, it seems Simeon and Levi had learned much from watching their often deceitful dad.(There was a double-deception being attempted by the way. Hamor was attempting to trick Jacob and his sons too. But that’s another story).

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10:3,4a:

‘’For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.’’

 Sadly, this was not true of Simeon and Levi, and even on his death bed, Jacob still had the bitter memories of what these boys had done (Genesis 49:5-7). As Tom Hale points out, children cannot blame their parents for their own sins. Jacob surely had some responsibility for the way his children turned out, but on their father’s death-bed, Simeon and Levi were faced with their personal responsibility for what they’d done.

Christians are meant to smell of Jesus – to carry the ‘’aroma’’, the fragrance of Christ into the world (2 Corinthians 2:15,16). Someone has spoken of ‘our unconscious influence, impregnated with the fragrance of Christ.’ It is sad, even tragic, if by our worldly ways we tarnish our witness and leave only a nasty ‘’stench’’ behind. We are called to higher things and better ways in Christ.

PRAYER: Teach us Lord to live honourably in this world, not resorting to deceit or trickery. Help us to live in a straightforward way so that we gain a good reputation, and by so doing glorify your Name. May our witness be sound.

“Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. ² When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and raped her. ³ His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. ⁴ And Shechem said to his father Hamor, ‘Get me this girl as my wife.’⁵ When Jacob heard that his daughter Dinah had been defiled, his sons were in the fields with his livestock; so he did nothing about it until they came home.⁶ Then Shechem’s father Hamor went out to talk with Jacob. ⁷ Meanwhile, Jacob’s sons had come in from the fields as soon as they heard what had happened. They were shocked and furious, because Shechem had done an outrageous thing in Israel by sleeping with Jacob’s daughter – a thing that should not be done.”NIV

…and this ‘further thought’ on yesterday’s passage comes from the wonderful devotional writer F.B. Meyer:

‘Jacob was tempted by the fat pastures of Shechem, without care or thought of the character of its people, and he lived to bitterly rue his choice. How many religious parents have made the same mistake! They first encamp near the world, pitching their tent doors in that direction; then they buy a parcel of land, and finally their children contract alliances that end in shame and disaster. He who came of a pilgrim race, and to whom the whole land had been given by promise, bought real estate right next to Shechem, one of the worst cities in the country.

Like Lot, Jacob bid high for wealth and worldly advancement, risked the highest for the lowest, and was saved as by fire. Poor Dinah! Yet she was more sinned against than sinning. Jacob had put her in jeopardy by his selfish policy…’ ‘Devotional Commentary’, pp.27,28.

Meyer perhaps reads slightly more into the text than I might be prepared to say, but there is such an important principle in his words: our choices have consequences – yes, for ourselves, but also for our families. If we parents do not model for our children the priorities of the kingdom – seeking it first, prizing it above all other interests and treasures, we should not be surprised if our worldliness rubs off on them.

“Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. ² When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and raped her. ³ His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. ⁴ And Shechem said to his father Hamor, ‘Get me this girl as my wife.’⁵ When Jacob heard that his daughter Dinah had been defiled, his sons were in the fields with his livestock; so he did nothing about it until they came home.⁶ Then Shechem’s father Hamor went out to talk with Jacob. ⁷ Meanwhile, Jacob’s sons had come in from the fields as soon as they heard what had happened. They were shocked and furious, because Shechem had done an outrageous thing in^[a] Israel by sleeping with Jacob’s daughter – a thing that should not be done.”NIV

‘’They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had done a disgraceful thing in Israel…’’ (7a).

 ‘We are not told why Jacob chose to stay near Shechem rather than moving on. However, as the next chapter will show, his lingering in Shechem was to bring him and his family a great deal of trouble.’ Tom Hale: ‘Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.180.

‘Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom and lost his daughters (19:30ff.), and Jacob moved too close to Shechem and lost Dinah. She was the daughter of Leah (30:21); which explains why Simeon and Levi became so angry (35:23).’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.39.

This is a sad, shameful and strange passage. It is sad and shameful because it involves the terrible violence of rape. (Maybe because he was son of the local ruler, Shechem thought he could have anything – even any woman – he wanted. Perhaps he was a ‘spoiled’ boy.) It is strange because it appears that in Shechem’s case lust turned to genuine love. In Biblical times, marriages were arranged by the parents. (They still are in many places). So Shechem asked his dad to tie up the deal (4,6).

Jacob remained strangely tight-lipped initially (5), but when his sons found out, they were incandescent with rage over this violation of their sister. Even though Shechem now wanted to marry Dinah, this didn’t make up for what he had done. Sex before marriage was considered wrong (it is condemned throughout the Bible) and rape was even worse. Their sister had been defiled; the family’s honour had been tainted.

One of the ancients said, ‘Anger is one of the sinews of the soul, and he who lacks it hath a maimed mind.’ There are things that should bring us tears and move us to wrath. But as someone wisely observed, ‘Anyone can be angry. But to be angry with the right person, at the right time, for the right reason, and in the right way – this is not easy.’