Good morning,
Jacob the deceiver, has been deceived. God commands him to leave Laban and go home.
On the way, he has an encounter with the angel of God, and his life is radically changed.
Jacob comes to God with a humble and repentant attitude. God blesses him, changes his name to Israel, and reminds him of the covenant He made with Abraham and Isaac. Jacob builds an altar to God and a pillar where God spoke to him.
This week we will study this transformation.
Jacob builds an altar to the God of Israel (His God, ref Gen28:20-22)
Genesis 28:20-22 And Jacob vowed 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 raiment to put on,21 So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God:22 And this stone, which I have 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.
Genesis 33:18-20 And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city.19 And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for an hundred pieces of money. And he erected there an altar, and called it El Elohe Israel. V 20 (The God of Israel)
Jacob builds an altar. He remembers the One who blessed his journey. He worships the Lord and changes the name of the place to “El Elohe Israel” which means, “The God of Israel”. He claims (accepts) and now worships God as the God of his people. Jacob now not only embraces his new name, Israel, but also sees that as a name for what will become a nation.
For us an altar would be a place of remembrance. It is a place where God met us and a commitment was made. Jacob’s was Bethel. Where is ours? It may be the place we committed our lives to Christ. It may be the place God called us to minister for Him. It may be a place where God wrought a great victory in our lives. We all have one.
Thank God often for that place of remembrance.
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001
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