Jacob Returns to Bethel

God told Jacob to go up to Bethel and live there. He was to make an altar to the God who had appeared to him when he fled from his brother Esau. Jacob then told his household and everyone with him to put away their foreign gods, purify themselves, and change their clothes.

Jacob said they would go up to Bethel, where he would make an altar to the God who answered him in his distress and had been with him on the way. So they gave Jacob their foreign gods and the rings from their ears, and he hid them under the oak by Shechem.

Then they travelled on. A terror from God fell on the cities around them, so those cities did not pursue Jacob's sons. Jacob came to Luz, also called Bethel, in the land of Canaan, with all the people who were with him.

At Bethel Jacob built an altar and called the place El Beth El, because God had revealed himself there when Jacob fled from his brother. Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried below Bethel under the oak, which was named Allon Bacuth.

God appeared to Jacob again and blessed him. God said that his name would no longer be Jacob only, but Israel. God Almighty promised that Jacob would become fruitful, that nations and kings would come from him, and that the land given to Abraham and Isaac would be given to Jacob and his offspring.

Then God went up from the place where he had spoken with Jacob. Jacob set up a stone pillar there, poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it. He called the place where God had spoken with him Bethel. What do you notice Jacob's household had to leave behind as they returned to worship God?