Genesis-118-Bethel, El-Bethel, Bethel

The Word of God: Genesis 35:6-15

“So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. And he built an altar there 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. 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. 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.” Amen.

 

Jacob’s Spiritual Slump and the Call to Bethel

Last week, we looked at two facts hidden in Genesis 35 that are easy to overlook. The first is time. Over 10 years had passed, but we can easily miss that span of time while reading through just a few verses. During that period, Jacob lived in Succoth and Shechem. We can see that his spiritual slump did not happen overnight. God had surely set up signposts for him repeatedly, but he either did not see them properly or passed by them.

 

Then one day, an event finally occurred where God set up a clear signpost right before his eyes, and Jacob had to stop there. The command God gave him and the message he heard from God remained the same: “Go up to Bethel.”

 

Another thing we easily missed was idolatry. Although we read a brief story about Rachel taking her father Laban's household idols (teraphim), Jacob's household still had idols more than ten years later. This shows what kind of spiritual state Jacob and his family were in. Therefore, when God told him to “go up to Bethel,” that journey was a path of casting away idols, purifying oneself, and changing one's clothes. And finally, it was the path of building an altar there.

 

The Journey from Paddan-aram to Bethel

Jacob had built an altar in Shechem as well, so why did God tell him to build an altar again in Bethel? Today's main text, verse 9, records, "Jacob came back from Paddan-aram." Paddan-aram was the northern region where Laban lived, a place Jacob had left more than ten years before. Yet the Bible does not say he came back from Shechem, but from Paddan-aram. This is intended to compare the two journeys by connecting them with the path from Shechem. When Jacob went to Shechem, God did not say he moved from Succoth to Shechem, but that he moved from Paddan-aram to Shechem.

 

In this way, the Bible compares the journey from Paddan-aram to Shechem with the journey from Paddan-aram to Bethel. The first journey seemed peaceful on the surface, but it led to a spiritual slump and eventually a path of ruin, where he faced a terrible event. On that path, Jacob's family experienced unbearable shame, and he was physically and spiritually exhausted and filled with fear. However, the path from Paddan-aram to Bethel was the one God had originally intended. This path's beginning was clearly not a good one. It was a difficult road, a path he took to Bethel with great failure, a path filled with fear instead of peace.

 

But in the end, this journey became the path where God declared a blessing upon Jacob. The reason for this is singular: God was guiding Jacob on that path. So Jacob finally arrived at Bethel. The first thing he did upon arrival was build an altar. After building it, the Bible records that he called the place ‘El-bethel.’ 'Bethel' means 'House of God,' and 'El' means 'God.' So, ‘El-bethel’ becomes the strange name, 'God of the House of God.'

 

The God of the House of God, El-bethel

Think about it. If we were to name a place, we would give it a meaningful name like 'House of God,' 'Place of Rain,' or 'Place where many people live.' But Jacob names this place 'El-bethel,' 'God of the House of God.' This peculiar name is not merely a geographic designation. It clearly shows what Jacob is doing right now. He is not creating a new name but is seeking the ‘God of Bethel,’ the ‘God of the House of God.’

 

This means Jacob is remembering an event from over 30 years ago. He had not forgotten the time he met God at that very place, when he was in the greatest crisis of his life, fleeing from his brother Esau. And now, 30 years later, he is facing another crisis. He has failed, and he is filled with fear that he might be captured and killed by the Canaanites. Although God protected him, his heart was still filled with fear.

 

But this time was different. Instead of sleeping with a stone for a pillow, he seeks ‘El-bethel,’ the ‘God of the House of God.’ He calls out to God and prays earnestly. "Did you not appear to me here before, when I was fleeing from my brother? Therefore, Lord, please appear to me once more. Open a way for me to live." By calling out 'El-bethel,' Jacob is yearning to meet the God who saved him and appeared to him. He is calling upon the 'God of Bethel' through that name.

 

The Unexpected Appearance of Death

So what should come next? Having named the place 'El-bethel,' one would expect God to appear and say, “Jacob, I will save you. I will be with you.” But when we read from verses 6 and 7 to verse 8, something very strange happens.

 

“And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel; so he called its name Allon-bacuth.”

 

Jacob is clearly pleading with God to give him a way to live, but what appears as an answer to his plea is the completely unrelated story of a death. This narrative seems to have no place in the story. However, if you have read Genesis 35, you would know that it contains three stories of death. The first is Deborah's death, then Rachel's, and finally, Isaac's. Why are these stories of death included with Jacob's story? This is a very intentional detail.

 

Deborah’s Death, Jacob’s Life

The journey to Canaan does not end in Bethel. Just as Abraham went through Shechem and Bethel and ended up in Hebron, Jacob should have gone to Hebron where his father Isaac was. However, he stayed at the entrance to Canaan, in Shechem, for over 10 years. Just as he managed to get his mind straight and follow God’s signpost to Bethel, he called out to God for a way to live, but death came to him instead. This is the surprising structure the Bible presents to us.

 

Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, appears for the first time by name in this passage and is never mentioned again. The only thing we know about her is that she was Rebekah’s nurse. She was not mentioned when Rebekah got married and came to Isaac, but now her name appears for the first time. We can infer that she was a faithful and loyal woman who had been with Rebekah since her time and then with Jacob. Furthermore, there is a scene where Jacob mourns for her. After burying her under an oak tree, he called the tree's name ‘Allon-bacuth,’ which means 'Oak of Weeping.' 'Allon' means 'oak tree,' and 'bacuth' means 'weeping' or 'tears.'

 

We can infer how precious and loved this woman was to Jacob. Why is her death recorded at this specific point in time? Her death is not of great importance to the flow of the Genesis story, nor is there any explanation of its result. Even the death of Rebekah, Isaac's wife and Jacob's mother, is not recorded in detail. But here, we read that Jacob wept bitterly. This is a very intentional record.

 

Deborah's death is mentioned because she was a woman who was with Jacob throughout his entire life's journey, starting from Rebekah. Jacob’s weeping was not just for the death of a beloved nurse. Seeing the death of Deborah, who had walked his entire life's difficult path with him when even his mother and father could not, Jacob was weeping for his entire life's journey.

 

God’s Heart that Holds Our Tears

Though Deborah’s life is not recorded in the Bible, she walked the same path of hardship as Jacob. When I read this verse and the Oak of Weeping, I think of Psalm 56. Though it is a psalm of David, its confession is not different from Jacob’s and is also our confession.

 

"You have kept a record of my wanderings. You have put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?"

 

Just like the psalmist, Jacob is confessing before God that his entire life has been a journey of tears. He realizes that all of his tears were being collected in God’s bottle. Jacob’s life was not in any other place, but in the heart of God.

 

Thus, the place where he built an altar became a place of death, a place of sorrowful weeping. And that very place became a place of God's compassion and mercy.

 

God’s Unchanging Promise

Why? Because God called out to Jacob there. He heard the sound of the gospel that he had heard over 10 years ago. “Jacob, your name is Israel.” This is the first time God directly calls him “Israel.” It is not a statement saying, "Your name will be Israel," but God calling out, “Israel!” This is the first time he called him by his new name. “Jacob, you are Israel. And Israel, did you not cling to me and weep?” Remember what the book of Hosea says? It doesn’t say Jacob clung to God and won. It says he clung to God with supplication and tears. Tears appear there too. Through that, you became the one who has won.

 

At 'Allon-bacuth,' the Oak of Weeping, the Lord calls Jacob 'Israel.' “I know your tears, and they are in my heart. Did not those tears make you a victor, earning you the name Israel?” The name Israel, given to Jacob ten years ago, appears again. But a much deeper story unfolds. It’s not just from ten years ago, but from over 30 years ago. Jacob hears that gospel again. “I am God Almighty (El Shaddai).” God Almighty, you shall be fruitful and multiply. The covenant that I made with Abraham and Isaac will be fulfilled in your life and in your descendants. Even if countless nations and peoples in the land of Canaan try to kill you, and even in the face of any life’s hardships, tears, or a seemingly hopeless situation, the Lord says, “I not only know your tears, but I have held your tears in my heart, in my bottle, and I have been with you.” This is not just God repeating a promise to you. The Lord declares this gospel: “I made that promise to you, and I spoke those words to you. And for over 30 years now, I have been with you, I have kept that promise, and I have led you to this place. And I am the God who will lead you forward. My will shall be fulfilled in you and your descendants.”

 

Jacob had heard this story before. Perhaps we, too, ask this of God every time we come before him: “God, is there something else besides the cross? Is there something hotter than the cross? Is there something stronger than the blood of Jesus Christ?” Lord, my heart has become too hard and stiff. The cross and the blood of Jesus are not enough to break my heart. Lord, even when I hear the Word, my heart remains cold and hard. Even when I hear your voice, when your Word is before me, and when you confess your love to me, our hearts remain cold. Lord, is there nothing else? The Lord will say the same thing to you. When the gospel you heard 10 years ago, 30 years ago, and 40 years ago echoes in your ears again, what will he say? “I am the God who not only proclaimed it to you but also accomplished it with you. I have guarded you, I have been with you, and I have held your life in my heart.” Jacob may have grown forgetful, but God did not forget. God kept the promise and says again, “I will keep that promise.” The Lord kept the gospel and saved us according to the gospel. And he will save us according to the gospel. “I will fulfill this gospel in you.” It is the same gospel. It is the same immeasurable grace. It is the same voice of the unchanging God. He is the same God who speaks to you today with the same grace and immeasurable love. You, and Jacob, and all of us, are summoned by God to the past—10 years ago, 30 years ago—and to all our history. And there, we hear God's confession of love.

 

But it is not just a 'confession.' It is not a past-tense statement like, "I loved you." It is not an apathetic story like, "I really liked you 30 years ago." This confession is, "I have been keeping the promise I made to you without fail. I am the God who fulfills that promise. I know your tears, I know your life. I know how many times you tried to leave me, how you lived according to your own will, and how you constantly forgot who I am and what I am like, pursuing what you wanted for yourself every moment. But I have held your tears, your life, and your wavering existence in my heart." The God who has been keeping that promise takes you, just like Jacob, back 40 years. God leads his hand to the place where Jacob first met God and holds him, no, holds you, and says, "I will call your name here. Israel, my beloved." For me, the moment God calls him Israel feels like a verse from the Song of Solomon. Doesn't the Song of Solomon say, "My beloved speaks and says to me: 'Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.'"

 

Life with God

I find verse 13 of this passage so amazing. “Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him.” You may think many things as you read this, but what I am interested in is the first part: ‘in the place where he had spoken with him.’ The English Bible says, ‘where he had spoken with him.’ Not ‘spoken to him.’ God spoke not ‘to’ Jacob, but ‘with’ him. Unfortunately, although we read about God’s voice in the Bible, Moses did not record what Jacob said to God. What did Jacob say to God at that time? The Bible does not record it, but we can know it very clearly. Because of the God who took away his tears and held his pain and his life in his heart, his pain must have finally turned into gratitude, and his past must have become not just a scar but a source of emotion. Did the place where he stood not become a place of satisfaction through God? He spoke with God. Looking back at his life, this very moment must have been one that made his heart tremble.

 

It Is My Blessing to Be Near God

Psalm 73 is a psalm of Asaph, but it is also a psalm of Jacob and of us. Wasn't he trembling before God in this way?

 

“My heart was embittered, and I was pierced in my heart. When I look back at my life, at every moment when I lived even with so much of God’s grace, love, and protection, my heart was embittered and pierced. I was so foolish that I knew nothing. I didn’t even know that God was with me, or that His hand was there. I was like a beast before You. But You are always with me, so You have held my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. With You I have nothing to desire in heaven or on earth. Though my body and heart may fail, God is always the rock of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.” Amen.

 

The Expansion of God’s Kingdom

How about you? What did you come here to see? You came to worship the Lord in a building in a corner of Gardena, a place where countless people who still do not know God live their lives as they please. What did you come to see? God’s comfort? God’s encouragement? What did you come to see?

 

“Who have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. Though my body and heart may fail, God is always the rock of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.” Amen.

 

Is your life as sad, painful, and bitter as Jacob’s? Or perhaps is our life one where we were so foolish that we didn’t even know God’s hand was there, thinking we were so great and living until now? Is it not us who have found comfort in the fact that we occasionally remembered the Lord, praised him, and thought of him, and have come this far? Whose words are these? "I was like a beast, but You remembered me and loved me, and put my tears in Your bottle, so it is my blessing to be near You."

 

Therefore, Jacob calls this place 'Bethel' again—the 'House of God'. This is the house of God's love, the place where His kindness and His mercy are given. There, God does not call me by my own name, but by a new name. The name God gave, my son, my daughter, my child! And He says, "Be fruitful and multiply." To be fruitful means to bear fruit. God is now beginning a new creation with you who have a new name.

 

You are not just people who come to church and receive comfort in your hearts. You are people who have received a new creation and are now creating God’s kingdom with God in this new creation with a new name. "Behold, the old has passed away; behold, the new has come." The kingdom of God belongs to these new people. There, you expand the kingdom of God.

 

“Be fruitful and multiply.” Plant the banner of God’s glory in your life. Plant God’s reign in your heart, in your greed, in your thoughts, in our families, in our church. This is the land God promised us. Canaan was not a land Joshua conquered, but a land God gave him. Your family is not a place you will conquer in the future, but a land God has given you. Plant God’s name there. Plant the banner of God’s glory there. This is the place God gave you, and this church is not anyone's but God’s church. Since the Lord gave it to us, if there are any dark places we can think of, any places that do not align with God’s will, any places where we feel God’s rule is lacking, we must plant the banner of God’s glory there. In your heart, in your greed, in your stinking garbage, plant God’s banner. Plant there the banner of the blood of Jesus Christ, the banner of the cross's glory. Restore the image of God and pass on life by remembering the banner of the kingdom of God to all those who are dying around us right now. The Holy Spirit is still seeking our lost family and the Lord’s people, and He will cause them to be born again and restore them to the image of God.

 

A Life that Responds to the Call

You are the people who are in that place, who have received that calling, and who find your tears in the heart of God. The Lord has never forgotten you and will summon you again. “Did I not accompany you? Is your life not mine? Am I not everything to you? Therefore, do not fall away from me, but walk this path with me.” This is the eternal path of God and the voice of the Lord. “My beloved, my beautiful one, arise and come away to the kingdom of God.”

 

A Prayer

Loving Lord, how shall we respond to you who have called us? You who have taken away my tears, what shall I walk with you with? You who have taken away my past and my pain, what shall I say under the cross? You who have become my all, where am I heading now? Am I going towards my greed, or am I going towards you through all of this?

 

We ask that you help your beloved people to recover the image of God so that they may preach this gospel that they are meant to preach and expand your kingdom. Lord, if we are still dwelling in Shechem, caught up in selfishness and comfort, we ask that you reach out your hand and speak to us. “My beloved, my beautiful one, arise and come away with me. Let’s build my kingdom together.” Lord, please speak to us. We are here.

 

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.