The God Who Walks With Us and Names Us

Genesis 35:1-12

God Blesses and Renames Jacob

^35:1God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” ²So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. ³Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” ⁴So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.

⁵And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. ⁶And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, ⁷and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. ⁸And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.

⁹God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. ¹⁰And 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. ¹¹And 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. ¹²The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”

(ESV)

Thought:
Here we enter the final chapter of Jacob’s narrative, soon it will move to focus on Joseph. But first must come the conclusion of Jacob’s story. First, Jacob finally commands everyone in his household to bury their idols, no longer will any in his house worship them, only God alone will be worshipped. Then come these two seeming repetitions.

First, Jacob has returned to Bethel, where he received a vision of God’s promise to him. He called it Bethel, which means house of God, because he said God dwells in this place. But now he calls it El-bethel, el means God, and so it means “the God of the house of God”. Interesting name but it has a deeper meaning. During that first vision in Genesis 28, Jacob was awestruck by the fact that God was in that place but he had not realised. But now after his 20 year sojourn in foreign lands he sees God has been with him always.

The defining thing about bethel, was the location, but the God that resided there and had followed him everywhere he went. It is like us as we look back in hindsight on our lives and can see that God wasn’t in one place, but he was walking with us and working in our life the whole time.

Secondly, he is renamed Israel again, which he had already been renamed to in Genesis 32, so why the repetition? In Genesis 32, the renaming from Jacob to Israel spoke to his transformed character, from someone who deceives to someone who wrestles with God.

But now the context is not about the individual, Jacob, but about his place as father of the nation of Israel. He is not just one who wrestles with God, but he has given birth to the nation who will wrestle with God. Or better put, as he has become God’s chosen person, so he has given birth to God’s chosen people.

The first incident confirmed that God will wrestle with his people, he will cling to them and not let go until he has finished what he has declared he will do. The second is the confirmation of that promise not just for Jacob but also for all his offspring

Reflection:
As I go about my day, I need to remember that God has not met me only in certain moments or places—He has walked with me the whole way. Like Jacob, I often see God’s presence more clearly in hindsight. Today I need to apply this by trusting that His promises still stand, and that the identity He has given me in Christ is not just personal but part of His larger work in His people.

Prayer:
Father, thank You for walking with me even when I fail to notice Your presence. Help me put away anything that competes with You, and teach me to live out the identity You have given me. Strengthen my faith in Your promises and remind me that You are forming not just my life but Your people. Amen.