Purified

DEVOTION

GENESIS

PURIFIED

Gen 35:1-5

35:1 Then God said to Jacob, "Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau." 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3 Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone." 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. 5 Then they set out, and the terror of God fell upon the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.

NIV

Why has it taken Jacob so long to have all the people under his authority to rid themselves of all their foreign gods? Which people were they who had these gods? It was not just Rachel who has stolen her father’s gods. Now they had taken all the woman and children from the city of Shechem after killing all the men to avenge Dinah. They plundered all the homes, so there may have been foreign gods among this plunder. Some of the maidservants and manservants, we are told, were Syrians and those may have brought along some of their gods when they were taken into service. Whatever the case, Jacob, now hearing God, declares it is time to rid the clan of all foreign gods and have but one God. They are also to purify themselves changing their clothes. What a lesson in this act. First we need to make sure we do not have any other gods in our household. What things or thoughts can serve as foreign gods to us? Many material objects can serve as gods. Our homes, cars, boats, RV’s, clothes, shoes, travel and yes, gold, money itself. But hobbies which take up our time can become gods if we are not careful. Yet even our thoughts, our desires, our dreams are subject to being a sort of god. Anything we place value on can serve as a god if we allow it to consume our thoughts and/or our lives. Weight control, exercise, diets, good health, our bodies in general can become gods. The list of do’s and don’ts can become a god, living under the law as it were. We are to rid ourselves of all this which can serve as a god and change our clothes. This is more or less a change in our heart, a change in our attitude, a change in our lives. God declared:

Ex 20:3

3 "You shall have no other gods before me.

NIV

Jacob was making sure there were none in his household and we need to make sure there are none in ours. Then as he set out to follow the directions of the Lord everywhere he traveled on his way to Bethel, the fear of God fell upon all the towns around him so they would not pursue him. His sons had just killed and plundered this city of Shechem and Jacob was concerned about the people of that land joining forces to attack his household, his clan. Although we have not killed anybody and plundered all that was theirs, the world would attack us, it does attack us with its ideologies and its materialistic concepts. We need to know the terror of God is before us. He can bring terror in their hearts so they do no influence us in any way, as long as we are following his directions and building an altar to him and him alone in our hearts. The world cannot touch us, if we are worshipping our God with all our heart, our mind, our strength and our spirit. It is when we lose sight of this, the world feels free to attack. When our heart is divided and our mind is distracted, our strength is misused, our spirit is weakened. Let us forever keep purified in Christ, clothed in our white robes, following the directions of our God.