The God of Bethel (Genesis 31:11-13)

We could describe the words of this passage as a spiritual testimony because Jacob is revealing to his wives what he had been told in a dream. The background to them being his wives is rather murky, and we know that they have been competing with one another throughout the marital arrangement. Surely, this message shows that God is a God of grace since he has plans that involve them although they are undeserving of it.

 

The Angel of God and the God of Bethel

The title ‘The God of Bethel’ is a well-known one, perhaps because of the paraphrase connected to it called ‘O God of Bethel’. As far as the Bible is concerned, the title only occurs in this passage in Genesis 31, and one of the interesting details connected to it is that it is said by a being described as ‘the angel of God’. Is it significant that he is not described as ‘an angel of God’? It is how the heavenly visitor described himself when giving messages to Hagar after she and her son Ishmael were exiled from the home of Abraham.

 

Some interpreters say that the angel was only a created being who was passing on a message from God. While that could be the case, it is not a deduction that one can make from the account itself, because in the account the one speaking in the vision merely says that he is the God of Bethel. Personally, I would say that it is another instance of the Son of God meeting with one of his people.

 

Years later, when Jacob was blessing the sons of Joseph, he used these words: ‘The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys’ (Gen. 48:15-16). In those verses, he is not referring to two Gods and a created angel. Rather, he is referring to the same divine person in three ways. His God is the covenant God of his fathers, his God is the one who shepherded him all his life (a statement that suggests we should be careful about suggesting Jacob was converted as an adult), and his God is the redeeming Angel who rescued him from evil (maybe including the evil planned by Laban).

 

When God speaks about himself, he can use concepts to help us understand his message, or he can use people, or he can use places. For example, he can call himself El Shaddai, a title that indicates he can provide because he cares. Or he can call himself the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a reminder that he is the God who enters into a covenant relationship with people. A third way in which he describes himself is to refer to a place where something significant occurred. He calls himself here the God of Bethel, and in doing so he was referring to a location where something special occurred with Jacob.

 

The point of such names is in what they mean. ‘The God of Bethel’ means that he is the God of the house of God. Obviously, the name had a particular significance for Jacob because of his earlier experience there. But what does it mean for us? There obviously was not a building at Bethel that could be described as a house of God. Yet, what goes on in a house illustrates what can take place in God’s presence.

 

A house is a place of fellowship and the angel of God here, who I take to be the Son of God, delights in meeting with his people in a location described as a home. Indeed, Jesus speaks about him and his Father coming to dwell in those who obey him. A house is a place of service where each family member fulfils his or her roles, and serving Jesus is a basic and comprehensive feature of wherever he dwells. In Old Testament times, the place of worship was called God’s house, and wherever God dwells should be a place of adoration of the Lord. There are several ways in which a house points to what Bethel experiences should be like.

 

This encounter

As he did on earlier occasions when he met with individuals, the Angel addressed the person by name. If I speak to a person by name, it suggests I have an interest in him, especially if I use his first name. Jesus, when describing the work of a good shepherd, says that he calls his sheep by name, and such is the power of his voice that his sheep do what he demands. The Angel addresses Jacob, and Jacob obeys.

 

The Angel reveals that he is the God of providence when he said to Jacob, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled.’ Jacob had implemented a strange scheme for getting sheep that he planned to have as his own as distinct from those of Laban. Theologians ponder how his scheme worked, but here we have the answer. The Angel brought it about, so revealing that he has creatorial power. And what else is providence but the constant actions of the Creator.

 

Yet as the God of providence, the Angel was involved with Jacob in another way when he adds, ‘for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.’ What was Laban doing to Jacob? He continually denied Jacob what he was due. Who could ensure that Jacob would get what he was due? Who would restore to Jacob what was denied him, which was one of the roles of a redeeming Goel? The Angel of providence, who thought about the needs of his deprived servant Jacob.

 

The Angel also reveals that he recalls the expressions of devotion made by his people. He reminded Jacob of the way he had anointed a pillar and made a vow in response to the great promises God had made to him at Bethel. Now he had come to Jacob to keep his promises. We should not imagine that God forgets our past acts of devotion – they gave him pleasure and, as Malachi reminds us, they are all recorded in his book.

 

In revealing his awareness of Jacob’s earlier expression of devotion some two decades previously the Angel describes himself as the God of Bethel. He does not say that he was the God of Bethel. Instead, he says, ‘I am the God of Bethel.’ We should always note when the Lord uses a present tense when describing himself because they are reminders that he is the unchanging One, the consistent One. In New Testament words, the Angel reveals that he is Jesus, the same yesterday, today and forever. The blessings of Bethel are still available for Jacob.

 

Having described himself as the God of providence and the God who remembers, the Angel then mentions that he is the God with a purpose for his people. Of course, he only has a purpose because he is in control of providence and because he remembers (never forgets) what he has promised. So, the Angel says to Jacob, ‘Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’

 

If we want to put it this way, Jacob at that moment was with his relations but he was not with his kindred. His kindred were those who had the same purpose as him and they lived in the land of Canaan. They were the people that he belonged to; they no longer valued the land where he had been with Laban. God had kept his promise to bless Jacob, but future blessing would be known in the land of promise.

 

Applications

Our God is the God of providence. Providence is his activity, his use of time for his own purposes. Paul does not say that God can work all things for our good. Rather, he says that God works all things for our good.

 

Our God in the present recalls our earlier expressions of devotion and commitment to him. One question that arises would be whether he prefers our earlier responses to our current responses. He recalls in the Old Testament the commitment shown to him by the generation that captured the land under Joshua and contrasted their devotion with those he was complaining about. And we have the solemn rebuke given by Jesus to the church in Ephesus, ‘You have left your first love.’