Residuals
Notes
Transcript
Residuals
Genesis 35:1-29
Does anyone know what residuals are?
Residual income is income that you continue to receive after the completion of the income-producing work. Examples of residual income include royalties (movies, music, television shows), rental/real estate income, interest and dividend income, among others.
And that is what is happening in Genesis 35. There has been a positive change in Jacob’s life but we see the residuals coming in from his previous sin.
Chapter 35 is completely different from chapter 34.
Chapter 34 doesn’t mention God, and is full of lust, murder, deceit, and wretchedness—but this chapter is filled with God. His name appears ten times, plus once as God Almighty, El Shaddai, plus eleven times in the names Bethel and Israel.
Happily, chapter 35 records Jacob’s turnaround and newfound obedience, but it also chronicles the sad residuals. Yet even in this, there is hope because God had become the center of Jacob’s life.
Call and Obedience
Call and Obedience
Some thirty years before, when God met Jacob at Bethel during Jacob’s flight from Esau and encouraged him with a vision of angels ascending to and descending from Heaven on his behalf, Jacob had vowed,
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,
so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God,
and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”
This vow was followed by a twenty-year layover in Mesopotamia serving his Uncle Laban, at the end of which time God reminded Jacob of his obligation to leave Laban and return home.
But following his escape from Laban, Jacob willfully spent a decade doing as he pleased, first dwelling outside the promised land and then, when he did cross over into Canaan, settling in prosperous Shechem instead of traveling the twenty miles further to Bethel.
This “I’ll do it my way,” halfway obedience brought tragedy. The catastrophic results (the rape of Dinah, the desecration of Israel’s most holy sign—circumcision, the massacre of the Shechemites, the degradation of his own children) rendered Jacob a stench in the land—and, most significantly, ready to hear God’s voice.
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.”
It was a call to a religious pilgrimage, as the use of “go up” suggests. The pilgrimage was to conclude in the building of an altar at Bethel, which was the site of Canaanite worship, and by doing so declare the name of the true God. The intent was to drive a stake into the heartland of Canaanite worship.
So, Jacob, now right with God, stepped up and took charge, giving explicit instructions.
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.
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.”
The purification was done by ritually washing their bodies, much as was done later by Israel at Sinai. Jacob’s command to change clothes (unique in the Old Testament) dramatically symbolized the transition from one state to another. Definitely, the symbolism may have been universally understood in the ancient world, because that is what Pharaoh had Joseph do when he entered his service.
And here Jacob’s command to Israel to change clothes likely is where Paul got the metaphor for the changed life, urging believers “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life … and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22–24).
From Shechem, Jacob and his people would pilgrimage to Bethel as a new people.
Their obedience was apparently immediate and full.
So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.
The earrings were not everyday jewelry but amulets and talismans engraved with pagan symbols. Most likely the earrings were largely from Shechem’s booty. Archaeological digs in other parts of Palestine have yielded crescent-shaped earrings that celebrated the moon god. In any case, a hoard of pagan idols and paraphernalia was unceremoniously buried under the terebinth tree at Shechem as God’s people—washed, purged, and reclothed—set out for Bethel.
Pilgrimage and Worship
Pilgrimage and Worship
Remember that after the massacre, faithless Jacob had scolded his sons for their actions, not because they were immoral, but for fear that their terrible deeds would bring the Canaanites down upon them
And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.
And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him,
and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.
And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.
“A terror from God” fell on the Canaanites, like the fear that later fell upon Canaan as Israel under Joshua prepared to cross the Jordan.
So it was that Jacob’s family and flocks, recently enlarged at the expense of the Shechemites, passed by in divine peace. At Bethel “he built an altar and called the place El-bethel.”
Jacob then worshiped at the altar, offering sacrifices and a tenth of everything he had to God. At last Jacob was in the place where he was supposed to be—worshiping with a heart that was right with God.
Now, with the patriarch in Bethel, God began a transition to a new generation with the death of Deborah.
Deborah’s 180 years bridged the lives of the first two patriarchs, “and her death reminded the people of the era that ended with the return of Jacob to Bethel” (Ross). Change was in the air.
Blessing and Consecration
Blessing and Consecration
The obedience and worship of Jacob and that of his people was followed by a theophany and a blessing direct from the mouth of God. The event was parallel to what had happened to his grandfather Abraham when he was given the covenant of circumcision.
God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.
And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel.
And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.
The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”
Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him.
There are four parallels.
First, just as Abram’s original name (“exalted father”) had been changed to Abraham (“father of a multitude”), now Jacob’s given name (“deceiver”) was changed to Israel (“fights with God”). In both cases the name-giving symbolized the transformation of the patriarch’s character and destiny.
As Abraham became the father of a multitude, and Israel strove and prevailed with God—not in his strength but in his weakness. And here, with the change of Jacob’s name to Israel (which originally had been done on the other side of the Jordan at Peniel), he was now rehabilitated, confirmed, and validated by God himself in the promised land!
Second, the first use in the Bible of God’s name El Shaddai (“God Almighty”) was used in confirming the promise to Abram. El Shaddai signifies God’s power and sovereignty. It describes the God who makes things happen by means of his power and might. He’s the one who fulfills every promise. And it is El Shaddai, “God Almighty,” who now blessed Jacob!
In the third, El Shaddai blessed Jacob in terms similar to those used to bless Abraham in respect to fruitfulness, a nation, kings, and the land:
Abraham had been the first to learn that kings would come from him, and now Jacob heard the same. A thousand years later the founding of a line of kings in the Davidic dynasty began the fulfillment of this promise, which would ultimately be fulfilled another thousand years later in the coming of Christ.
Jacob had just heard the most categorical, most dramatic affirmation of the promises he would ever hear!
In the fourth parallel to Abraham’s experience, the theophany ended as “God went up from him,” as he had done with Abraham.
And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.
So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.
The fact that the consecration ritual went beyond the original some thirty years earlier by adding a wine offering indicates Jacob was rehabilitating the pillar and investing it with new meaning. This was Bethel, “the house of God.” And Jacob understood it with a depth and devotion that he was not capable of in his youth.
Jacob’s experience of expanded understanding is common to all of us. As new, inexperienced Christians we learned some new truth, and it did us much good. Then years later, after the ups and downs of spiritual life, we reflect on the same truth—but with a far deeper level of application and understanding. Once again at Bethel, Jacob’s understanding that it was “the house of God” penetrated the depths of his being and informed his way of life as never before.
A different Jacob was rising.
God’s promise—that he would never leave Jacob until he had done what he had promised—remained unbroken.
God had kept his word despite Jacob’s self-focused scheming and halfhearted obedience. A constant grace rained upon him—most often as a gentle mist and sometimes as a violent downpour. Grace had etched and watered his stubborn soul—and now he had grown. But life was passing quickly.
Birth and Death
Birth and Death
For all Jacob’s tendencies, Rachel had been the unchallenged love of Jacob’s life. From the beginning he had been wild about her, single-handedly moving the stone from the well’s entrance so she could water her sheep, volunteering to work seven years for her hand—and then laboring seven more years! He had shared the pain of her barrenness. And the unexpected joy of Joseph’s birth had been so good.
How sweet it was when she conceived again, and especially because it took place in the promised land! Though she was well along in her pregnancy, neither she nor Jacob expected any trouble when they pulled up stakes to travel south to Hebron where Isaac lived. But somewhere, just a few miles north of Jerusalem, tragedy fell.
Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor.
And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.”
And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.
Rachel was dying, and she knew it. Having another son, brought little comfort, and as Rachel died, she named him after her misery, Ben-oni (“son of my sorrow”). But Jacob, who knew the power of a name, thought better and called him Benjamin (“son of the right”)—the right-hand side being the favored side, thus celebrating his beloved Rachel. Benjamin would become a favored son.
But a bitter irony always hung over the sad event. In her barrenness, Rachel had called out to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” and now it was the gift of children that killed her.
So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem),
and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day.
Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.
Jacob’s sorrow was deep. When he lay dying in old age he said, “As for me, when I came from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan on the way” (48:7). Jacob lived in grief to his dying day.
Sin’s Residuals
Sin’s Residuals
As it was, Jacob’s past unfaithfulness meant that all his days would be full of trouble—sin’s residuals. And this plain report of incest was at the top of the residuals:
While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.
It may seem that Jacob’s oldest son’s incest came out of nowhere and was a sin of passion. Neither is true. Reuben’s sin had its motivation in Jacob’s favoring Rachel’s children at the expense of the children of Leah, his unloved wife. We’ve already seen how Jacob’s lack of concern for the honor of their sister Dinah fueled her brothers’ anger.
Here Reuben sensed that with Rachel’s death, her servant Bilhah would become Jacob’s favorite over his mother Leah.
So, Reuben seduced her to ensure that she could not rival Leah’s position. The result of Reuben’s liaison with Bilhah was that she was accorded the status of “living widowhood,” just as happened to David’s concubines when his son Absalom defiled them (cf. 2 Samuel 15:16; 16:20–23).
And as Sarna points out, there was more because Reuben’s incest was also a claim of authority over his father’s inheritance. Near-Eastern custom held that the possession of the concubines of a man’s father or vanquished enemies validated succession. That’s why Saul’s son Ish-bosheth was angry when Abner seduced his father’s concubines and why Abner had to defend his loyalty (2 Samuel 3:7, 8).
The same rationale lay behind Absalom’s taking his father’s concubines. Reuben’s sin, therefore, centered in his attempt to ensure his mother’s position by nullifying Bilhah and to wrench power from his father.
Reuben lost.
The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s couch, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel, so that he could not be enrolled as the oldest son;
Jacob’s anger toward Reuben burned until the end of his life, as his final words to Reuben attest:
“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.
Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father’s bed; then you defiled it—he went up to my couch!
What bitter residuals.
Apparently, the residual bitterness extended to the entire family, as dramatized by the listing of Jacob’s twelve sons according to their matriarchal origin rather than according to birth order:
The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant: Dan and Naphtali.
The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.
There was animosity between Jacob and Leah’s sons, and between the sons of Rachel and Bilhah and the sons of Leah and Zilpah. This would culminate in a plan to murder Joseph, which was avoided only by his sale into Egypt. Ugly residuals.
With a third death, the generation passed on:
And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned.
Now the days of Isaac were 180 years.
And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
Isaac’s estranged sons joined together to inter him in the ossuary at Machpelah beside the remains of his wife Rebekah and his parents Abraham and Sarah. Sarah’s Laughter was laid to rest.
Due to sin’s residuals, Jacob’s long life would have many unexpected turns—the apparent death of Joseph, his sons’ trip to Egypt, the custody of his beloved Benjamin in Egypt, Jacob’s forced trip to Egypt, his death in Egypt, and the return of his remains by Joseph to Machpelah. The residuals kept coming in.
But there was also great grace in Jacob’s life. Joseph, the son Jacob would receive back as if from the dead, would be used to bring about the deliverance and salvation of his people. This Joseph, unlike his brothers, would lead a celebrated, exemplary life. In fact, he is seen as a type of Christ. There in Egypt a people would be formed who would come out in an exodus.
God would say to them:
‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;
and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
The life of Jacob is about a God who delivers his sinful people and fulfills his word in the residuals of sin. Jacob’s life calls us to repent of our sin and obey God’s call and direction in our lives. That patriarch’s life assures us of the triumph of grace.
Some sins bear lifelong residuals. An ethical sin, perhaps in business, though repented of, can bear lifelong residuals. A Christian may enter into an relationship that destroys his marriage. Though he may later repent, the family residuals will follow him to his death.
But there is always grace. God is written large all over this culminating chapter that records Jacob’s repentance and obedience. And more, God’s grace triumphs in sin’s residuals.