A Bad Dad & the Gracious Father
Jacob never had a great relationship with his father. He was clearly not Isaac's favorite as Esau was. Perhaps that led to his own form of terrible fatherhood when he comes back into the land of Canaan.
Jacob stops at Succoth to find business and trade. He's made a financial, not spiritual decision here. God spoke to Him to return where he came from. That was Bethel. But Jacob turned north and ended up in Shechem. Then perhaps one of the hardest chapters in the Bible occurs. Dinah, Leah's daughter, is out with the women of the city when Hamor the Hivite defiles (rapes) her and then desires her as his wife.
Jacob hears of it and doesn't respond. In fact, Jacob never gets upset about the ordeal at all. Simeon and Levi do. This is their sister and they won't stand for it. They shrewdly make a deal with the men of the city to form an alliance. They bait all the men to circumcise themselves (ouch) in order to have Dinah and further intermarriages. On the third day after their procedures the boys take swords and go to town killing and plundering. It was both vengeance for their sister and an opportunity to pillage the town.
Jacob once again looks really bad here. This guy gives us all hope for God's grace. He makes so many mistakes. From letting his daughter go into the city alone to hang with pagans like Hamor to not speaking up with Hamor's father or seeming offended at all. In fact, the only time Jacob gets upset over the whole ordeal is AFTER Simeon and Levi slaughter the town. Jacob's outrage is telling in the second to last verse of the chapter:
Genesis 34:30 (ESV) Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.”
Jacob is not concerned for his daughter. Jacob is looking out for himself and his status among people who clearly do not serve the Lord. What shameful behavior.
And YET... after all of it has finished, God comes to Jacob and speaks again.
Genesis 35:1 (ESV) God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
Genesis 35:2–3 (ESV) So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”
I like this about Jacob. He leads by example in this: When God saves, he lets everyone know it. He knows personally that only by God's grace has he gotten where he's gotten. Here he testifies and worships in front of all those who know him.
That's something any sinner can do!
Jacob stops at Succoth to find business and trade. He's made a financial, not spiritual decision here. God spoke to Him to return where he came from. That was Bethel. But Jacob turned north and ended up in Shechem. Then perhaps one of the hardest chapters in the Bible occurs. Dinah, Leah's daughter, is out with the women of the city when Hamor the Hivite defiles (rapes) her and then desires her as his wife.
Jacob hears of it and doesn't respond. In fact, Jacob never gets upset about the ordeal at all. Simeon and Levi do. This is their sister and they won't stand for it. They shrewdly make a deal with the men of the city to form an alliance. They bait all the men to circumcise themselves (ouch) in order to have Dinah and further intermarriages. On the third day after their procedures the boys take swords and go to town killing and plundering. It was both vengeance for their sister and an opportunity to pillage the town.
Jacob once again looks really bad here. This guy gives us all hope for God's grace. He makes so many mistakes. From letting his daughter go into the city alone to hang with pagans like Hamor to not speaking up with Hamor's father or seeming offended at all. In fact, the only time Jacob gets upset over the whole ordeal is AFTER Simeon and Levi slaughter the town. Jacob's outrage is telling in the second to last verse of the chapter:
Genesis 34:30 (ESV) Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.”
Jacob is not concerned for his daughter. Jacob is looking out for himself and his status among people who clearly do not serve the Lord. What shameful behavior.
And YET... after all of it has finished, God comes to Jacob and speaks again.
Genesis 35:1 (ESV) God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
God will not give up on his sons. That's for sure. He doesn't let Jacob's own stupidity destroy him. And without Jacob even looking, God repeatedly shows up to lead the way.
If Jacob does have something going for him, it is his responsive heart to God's voice. He doesn't have a Bible. He doesn't have a church or a pastor to turn to. He's got the voice of the Lord. And when God speaks, he responds well... Notice here:
Genesis 35:2–3 (ESV) So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”
I like this about Jacob. He leads by example in this: When God saves, he lets everyone know it. He knows personally that only by God's grace has he gotten where he's gotten. Here he testifies and worships in front of all those who know him.
That's something any sinner can do!
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