Genesis 35

Returning to Bethel: When God Calls Us Back to the Basics

Genesis 35 picks up right after the chaos of chapter 34—and honestly, it doesn’t give us much emotional relief. The family is still fractured, sin is still loud, and consequences are still unfolding. But right away, God speaks. He tells Jacob to move, to return to Bethel, the place where God first met him when he was running for his life.

That detail matters. Bethel wasn’t a random location; it was sacred ground. It was where Jacob encountered God with nothing but a walking stick and a promise. Now, years later, after manipulation, violence, fear, and compromise, God calls him back—not to shame him, but to remind him.

Jacob responds by leading. He tells his household to get rid of foreign gods, purify themselves, and change their clothes. This is more than housekeeping. It’s repentance. It’s Jacob finally living into a vow he made years earlier: Yahweh alone will be our God.

Idols Then and Now: What Competes for Our Worship

Most of us don’t have carved idols on our shelves, but Genesis 35 still presses on us. Idolatry isn’t just ancient behavior—it’s a human condition. At its core, idolatry is anything that takes God out of the primary seat of our hearts and minds.

We were created to worship. The question is never if we will worship, but what we will worship. Our attention, affection, time, and imagination always drift somewhere. Sports, politics, money, comfort, phones, even church or Christian leaders—any of these can quietly become functional gods.

Jacob’s call to “get rid of the idols” forces us to do an audit of our own lives. What do we give the most time to? What shapes our emotions the most? What do we turn to for comfort, identity, or security? Loving the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength isn’t a one-time decision—it’s a hundred small choices every single day.

Changed Clothes and Changed Identity

Jacob also tells his family to change their clothes, which might sound minor until we realize what it represents. This is about a shift—from uncleanness to cleanliness, from old patterns to a new way of living. External change follows internal transformation.

This is identity work. When we remember who we are, our behavior begins to align. We don’t obey in order to become God’s people; we obey because we already are. Jacob, for once, leads with clarity and conviction. These changes are non-negotiable because worshiping Yahweh is non-negotiable.

God then reaffirms Jacob’s new name—Israel—and restates the covenant promises. Nations, kings, fruitfulness. What God promised Abraham and echoed in creation itself is still unfolding. This is one unified story, moving steadily forward, even when the characters stumble.

Grief, Consequences, and the Long Obedience

Genesis 35 doesn’t shy away from pain. Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin. Her story ends in heartbreak and irony, and yet Jacob refuses to let her son be defined by affliction. Names matter, and Jacob speaks hope into grief.

Then comes one of the most jarring lines in the chapter: Reuben sleeps with his father’s concubine. It’s stated almost casually, but the implications are enormous. This is rebellion, a grasp for power, and another fracture in a family already splintered by favoritism and jealousy. Sin always has consequences, and Genesis never tries to soften that truth.

The chapter closes with Isaac’s death and the quiet image of Jacob and Esau burying their father together—an unexpected moment of peace. And then we zoom out. Over 200 years have passed since God first made His promises to Abraham. What feels like slow progress to us is still faithful movement in God’s story.

Genesis 35 reminds us that life with God is not a sprint. It’s a long obedience in the same direction. There will be chaos, loss, failure, and waiting—but God is still holding fast. As we keep turning our hearts toward Him, we find that He patiently invites us to participate in what He has been doing all along.