The Land, the Tent, and the Altar

The Land, the Tent, and the Altar

Well this morning we have only a few verses to consider. Of course last week we began Chapter 33 almost to the very end and this morning we're looking at verses 18 through 20. So three verses that may seem rather insignificant, but the more I've considered them and perhaps was encouraged to consider them in light of In light of what's ahead.

I've realized just how significant they are. So I hope we can spend some time appreciating that together this morning by focusing on Three themes that we see three issues that we see within these three verses that being the land the tent and the altar.

Jacob's Reconciliation and Spiritual Transformation

Now last week we.

Saw this great moment of reconciliation between Jacob and his estranged brother Esau. Esau may not have originally had good intentions for Jacob. You don't you don't write raise up 400 men to go march toward your long-lost brother.

You had vowed to kill. Unless you have some less-than-noble intentions, but it seems that the Lord has delivered Esau and Esau knows that he has been spared. He's been spared not only from his brother, but from the Lord himself whom he wrestled the whole night in the end of chapter 32 so we've considered Jacob and how he saw the face of God and was reconciled to his God and now He's been reconciled to his brother.

And so he says enigmatically. To have reconciliation with you to find favor in your sight Esau is like looking into the face of God. Now last week. I mentioned this widespread view. Really? I am in the minority here rather uncomfortable place to be thankfully John Gill who I Highly respect one of the great commentators of the Old Testament.

Lines up with what I'm seeing. I mentioned a very widespread very popular view that after this great moment of reconciliation. When Esau is encouraging Jacob to come to seer to spend some time with him and Jacob seems to imply Oh, yeah, I will but you know, I have to take care of the kids take care of the flocks.

You know, it's been a long journey my hips killing me. But for the most part it seems that Jacob just ghosts him it's just kind of like see not doing that and then he goes to suck off and and as we have in our verses this morning from suck off to check him and the widespread view is that this is the The old nature coming to the fore even after this great deliverance this great encounter with God.

Here's the slithering Jacob going right back to his old manipulative ways Deceiving his brother and and there's no shortage of Sermons and commentaries that basically treat suck off as the beginning of Jacob's backslide.

Now you'll get no No disagreement from me that in the intervening years and they would have been years that Jacob is in Shechem. There is a level of compromise and corruption in the family of Jacob. We're gonna see that next week in chapter 34 and and then the resolve the answer to that in chapter 35.

But what I'm what I'm hoping to show you this morning is that this is no spiritual misstep. This is not the beginning of Jacob Backsliding that the way the whole of this chapter flows is to show just how much grace has triumphed in the life of Jacob.

It's claimed Again against this view it is claimed that God had told Jacob to return to Bethel. Bethel was a little further south of where he is and suck off and so Esau's heading southward and Jacob sort of stays and moves a little bit to the west and and the commentaries the sermons that say he's Backsliding or taking a misstep argue.

God had told him to go to Bethel. And so already he has half-hearted Obedience and and we only see the beginning of compromise. What they're referring to is chapter 31 verse 13 God says I am the God of Bethel where you anointed the pillar where you made a vow to me now arise get out of this land and Return to the land of your family.

Now you'll notice that God never instructed Jacob to return to Bethel. God simply said I am the God of Bethel. God said the the one that revealed to you that vision by night the the one whom you saw at the top of that staircase in glory.

The one who made a covenant with you to be your God to be with you to protect you and bring you back safely. I am that God and now the time has come these 20 years of hard labor of being Untwisted by my grace even as you're being twisted by Laban's treachery.

These 20 years have come to their end and now it's time to be reconciled to Esau now. It's time to take the mantle of the covenant that I've made with you. I'm the God of Bethel he's saying remember what I covenanted to you and Remember the vow you made to me but notice the only instruction get out of this land return to your land.

That's the instruction. So the first thing to say here is Jacob is not taking a misstep. He's not losing faith. He's actually obeying God. He's returning to the land. We're gonna see that emphasized in verse 18.

The whole flow of this chapter is showing that God's grace has done a perfect work in the life of Jacob. So perfect that it's no longer possible for him to be called Jacob. He's a new creation. He's an entirely new man, it's been a hard-fought battle, but he gives God the glory now He has been named Israel even as God's work in the life of Abram by the time Abram had triumphed by faith.

No longer would he be called Abram, but Abraham no longer Sarai, but Sarah no longer Jacob, but Israel. The whole flow of this chapter are the lessons learned after Jacob has prevailed with God. After God has delivered Jacob and it ends with worship in the land in the promised land.

And.

So we want to have a really sharp break Between the triumph of this chapter and the tragedy of chapter 34, which we'll come to next week. My concern here is to say Jacob is not backsliding. He's not misstepping.

He's not walking in disobedience He's actually doing the opposite of that. We've just seen Jacob saying I have enough I'm so content with the Lord and his presence in my life and his purpose for me that you can have this blessing that I saw that I Twisted away from you when we were young brothers.

You can have that blessing back. I have enough and as he limps from suck off towards Shechem He's limping in spiritual strength and in godly humility. Now the time that we have I want to give a brief a brief glimpse of the significance of Jacob entering the land.

This might be review coming out of Genesis 12 and that's okay. It's not burdensome to hear these things again. In fact, it's necessary as Paul could say Read the reading verse 18 then Jacob came safely To the city of Shechem which is in the land of Canaan when he came from Paddan Aram.

The Significance of the Land in Redemptive History

First thing to notice is this little adverb safely then Jacob came safely To the city of Shechem. This is the first clue that this is not a step of disobedience. But rather a step of faith that Jacob is understanding something of the significance of what God had commanded him in chapter 31.

This picks up the language of Jacob's vow from 28. This is at Bethel right at Bethel. Jacob made a vow saying if God will be with me and Will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and clothes to wear.

So that I come again to my father's house in peace. Then the Lord shall be my God and this pillar shall be God's house. So that's Jacob's vow at Bethel in chapter 28 and chapter 31 God says I am the God of Bethel the God you made a vow to.

Now it's time to go to the land of your family and Here we see this little phrase if you'll be my God You'll keep me so that I come again to my father's house in peace now. The translation doesn't help us here, but it's the same word in Hebrew.

It's Shalom here in peace and Shalim which is just the the adverbial use that we have before us in verse 18 of chapter 33. We could read it this way. Then Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem. So here's this little hint that Jacob is is purposely Consciously fulfilling his vow to God you've been my God.

You've kept me in this way that I'm going and now you've brought me back to the land of my father's. You've brought me back into the land and the same way I made a pillar to worship you at Bethel. We see at this chapter's end.

I'm making an altar to worship you again. You are my God. So all of the language of the vow in chapter 28 is repeated here at the end of chapter 33. God has been faithful to keep Jacob in the way and along the way.

He's humbled Jacob. That's what he said. He's grasped the grasper. He's Untwisted the twister and to such a degree that his name is now Israel. So then the other question is why Shechem? Well, if we follow the popular sentiment Shechem is a trade city fat cattle.

It's booming and you know, all of a sudden he's compromising. He's taking a step toward wealth and prosperity. And and it's gonna cost him so much in the life of his family in the next chapter. This Shechem is just it's just the desire like Lot had for Sodom.

No, no, no. No, I can't read it at all that way. Why Shechem? He has just gone from saying I have enough you can need to have the blessing back. See 20 years of practical slavery under Laban all the wealth that I've gained.

It's yours. I want you to have it. I have enough. How does he go from that to saying? Oh Shechem looks like a really good place to gain. How does he go from I have enough to having such discontent discontentment that he refuses to go to Bethel and he dwells in Shechem, I don't read it that way at all.

So why Shechem? Well if he's consciously fulfilling the vow That he had made to God at Bethel part of that vow is taking up the language of God's covenant with Abraham. When Jacob fulfills his vow and he enters into the land of Canaan He's consciously taking the Abrahamic Covenant into effect.

He is now the heir of this covenant of Abraham. He's now walking in Front of underneath the God of Abraham Isaac and now Israel. So why Shechem? Jacob is consciously retracing the steps of Abraham. When God called Abram Out of the land of the Chaldeans when God called Abram and he left her on.

He left the land of his relatives. He first entered into Canaan and dwelled in Shechem. So Jacob is not taking a sidestep and he's not led by his flesh to go to Shechem. He's led by the prospect of what he now is.

God is his God and he has enough and now it's time for me to walk in the faith of my father's. It's time for me to dwell in Shechem as Abram dwelt in Shechem so he's retracing the steps of his godly grandfather and Again, just like his godly grandfather.

There's going to be an ungodly influence in the in his life and the life of his household and that's going to lead to the Tragedy of chapter 34 and then from Shechem God will say it's time to go to Bethel.

Just like Abraham went from Shechem to Bethel. So the first thing to see is Jacob is Consciously repeating the activity of Abraham when he entered into the promised land. Jacob came in peace safely To the city of Shechem which is in the land of Canaan.

Now.

It is hard for us to convey how important the land is as A theme in Scripture. On the one hand, it's very hard for us to appreciate how significant this.

Territorial.

Dimension of the land would have been to the ancient Israelite mind to the mind of the contemporaries of Jesus and Far more significant when the temple was standing in the land. It's hard to convey that Importance.

I think it's somewhat watered down for us. It's very hard for us to appreciate the significance of that God-given territory on the one hand. But on the other hand, it's very hard to escape the influence of modern distortions about the land.

That have made I think errors in emphasis and have also had all sorts of unfortunate effects in the in the political situations in that land. One reason we miss the deep connection is just from our translations.

Our translations are Our tools right. Every translation is a betrayal in some sense. We often have very different concepts to land and earth. This is something I brought out in Genesis 12. When we read the land we can think of a specific Geographical region.

When we hear earth we tend to think of the globe, but this is a modern distinction. It would have been the same word with potentially the same connotations. Land or earth and then the land of or the earth of whatever region you want to speak of there's no difference.

In fact, there's this deep connection between the land. So when we hear something like God made the heavens and the earth. There'd be no difference between that or God made the heavens and the land. You see again the significance of this word earth land.

We don't want to think of a globe in the land of something different. Now the reason this is important is because of where? Genesis and the story of Abraham Isaac and Jacob fall in light of God's Redemptive work from the very beginning of scriptures to its appointed end to the vision We have of what will be in other words from God's creation.

To man's fall and rebellion against God to the very beginning in Genesis 3 15 of God's promise that he would bring Redemption that he would undo the fall that he would conquer man's rebellion and restore his dwelling place in the land.

With his people. That is the the story of scripture in ten seconds. So the land as Owen Martin reminds us is the place where God's creatures his image bearers know him. Live under his lordship and fulfill his purposes in what he's created.

That is no different at the beginning of Genesis than it is at the end of Revelation. That there is a land a place in which God dwells with his people who are made after his image. So that they will fulfill his purposes.

Within what he has made the importance of the land then does not begin with the Abrahamic Covenant. It begins all the way back in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve as a result of their sin lost the land were cast out of the dwelling place of God.

And if we miss that connection between the beginning of Genesis and Jacob re-entering the land then we're going to distort all sorts of things. Long before.

Israel.

Ever lost the land due to their sin and were brought out in exile were reminded that Adam and Eve lost the land and were sent in exile due to their sin and yet God brought them back. Just as God brought Jacob back the one who had been exiled from the house of his father due to his sin now he Returns.

Now he's brought back in peace to the land. And what does he do when he enters the land? He worships the Lord God. That's how significant this passage is before us. There's so much I want to say on this point, but there's somewhere we're going and I want to connect the land to worship.

But at least let me say this because we're coming up to it in the next point. The significance of the land was not lost upon Jacob and yet it was not made more Than it was ever meant to be. When I say Jacob is repeating the footsteps of Abraham I mean that in more ways than one not only is he literally following the path of Abraham physically But he's also following the path of Abraham spiritually.

He re-enters the land as the place of God's dwelling presence. But when he enters that land he does not make that land as the ultimate hope. He does not say this is now where the city must be built. But like Abraham as we'll see He puts his faith in a city whose builder and maker is God.

When he enters the land he does so as a pilgrim as a sojourner as his father's did. Blessed are you we read in 1st Chronicles 29 Lord God of Israel our father forever and ever yours Oh Lord is the greatness the power the glory the victory the Majesty all that is in heaven and In earth in the land is yours yours is the kingdom.

Oh Lord. You are exalted as head over all both riches and honor come from you and you reign over all in your hand is power and might. In your hand it is to make great and to give strength. Now therefore our God we thank you.

We praise your glorious name, but who am I? Who are my people that we should be able to offer so willingly as this for all things come from you and of your own. We have given you we are aliens pilgrims before you as were all our fathers.

When the Israelites were in the land if they were to look at the land the way that Abraham Isaac and Jacob did they would Have this confession we are aliens. Pilgrims in this land as were all of our fathers our hope is not in this land but what in this land points to a dwelling place with God that has Foundations a place that we will dwell securely and eternally with our God.

These Hebrews 11 these all died in faith Not having received the promises, but having seen them far off. Far off from Jacob far off from Israel and Yet they were assured of them. They embraced them. They confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth on the land.

For those who say such things declare plainly they seek a homeland and Truly if they had called to mind that country from which they came out Haran pad and Aram Egypt. They would have had opportunity to return but now they desire a better that is a heavenly country.

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God. He has prepared a city for them. So we see the significance of the land for Jacob, which I'm saying We need to turn the volume upon we need to have deeper and more sensitive appreciation for but at the same time There are certain ways of looking at the land that are popular today that we need to actually avoid.

That actually make the land more than it is meant to be more than it would have been for Abraham Isaac or Jacob. Earlier, we read the writer of Hebrews explaining that Abraham dwelt in the land as if it were a foreign country.

He comes out of a foreign country. Into the land this is meant to be the homeland. You you think he's gonna bust out whatever the flag of Canaan looked like and sing. This is my land. But he dwells in it like it's a foreign country.

Apparently he wasn't looking for this as the land and then Stephen says in his great sermon from Acts 7 God gave him no inheritance in it not even enough to set his foot on. Which is to say that he was not looking for the inheritance in that land at that time.

He was looking for the inheritance to come. The inheritance that would come through the seed that God had promised him. The seed that had been promised all the way back in Genesis 315 the seed that would come and crush the slithering serpents head the seed that would come to be heir of the earth of The world.

And if we miss the translation in Hebrew Paul gets it in Romans 4 in Greek That he would be the heir of the world. So then the fulfillment of the land promises Must be viewed as arising from this fulfillment of God's people awaiting The land that God will give them.

The city that God will build which John depicts as a city whose builder and maker is God a city which is the temple a new heavens in a new earth which descends upon us in The Old Testament we could see it this way.

In the Old Testament God created the place and then he put his people in it literally planted. He creates the Garden of Eden and then he plants his people in it. So place and then putting the people in it.

But in the New Testament God creates his people and then creates the place for them. And that's the error that we are. He has made us new creations he has made us pilgrims and sojourners and we await to be put in the place of his designation.

A City that he will build where he will dwell with us and we will see him face to face.

And that is why.

Paul could say That those who belong to Jesus are Abraham's seed heirs according to that promise. That's our inheritance. We're heirs of the promises that God has given here to Jacob promises of the land.

Jacob is as we are waiting by faith for the fullness of this promise to come. No wonder that Jesus could say in John a Abraham rejoiced to see my day. Jacob rejoiced to see that day. He could see it. He was glad.

Jacob Imitating Abraham's Pattern of Worship

Now why am I saying so much that he's walking in the spiritual path of Abraham? Well, it comes really out of verse 18. And if we miss it, it's emphasized by repetition. Remember in Hebrew you you emphasize something by repeating it this is verses 18 and 19 and he pitched his tent before the city and He bought the parcel of land where he had pitched his tent.

From the children of Hamor Shechem's father for 100 pieces of money. So this is why he's retracing not only the steps of Abraham, but the faith of Abraham. What Jacob does here not only in entering the land and dwelling in Shechem is imitating Abram.

But also quite literally imitating Abram from Genesis 12 verse 8 pitching his tent and then building an altar. Abram's own living quarters, which were impermanent they were cast as a tent are in contrast to the construction project of God's worship a Permanent altar where God will be served and so just like Abram pitches a tent.

It's temporary but builds an altar. Jacob enters Shechem. He pitches his tent which is temporary but builds an altar. To show that the worship and service of God will remain. But he himself dwells as a pilgrim in this land.

And again, we're reminded of the contrast between the Babel builders of Genesis 11. The Empire builders of our own day we see that the patriarchs were very different because they were seeking God's face and they were walking in God's way and.

So we see the capstone of Jacob walking in the faith of Abraham in verse 20 He erected an altar and he called it El Elohe Yisrael God the God of Israel. There's a few different ways to look at that you have L repeated L L and then you have a Construct Elohe Yisrael his new name.

So it's quite literally God God of Israel. This could be what we call an equative phrase. So God is the God of Israel or the God of Israel is God. It's probably most likely.

There's also a gloss of.

The God of Israel is mighty. It's a it's a Latin that comes out of the Septuagint and it's also in the Latin vulgar. Calvin seems to favor that one. I think it's better to say the God of Israel is God and Again, this is picking up the language of the vow at Genesis 28.

If you will keep me in the way if you will protect me and provide for me you will be my God. And here he fulfills his vow and he builds the altar and he says the God of Israel is God. He's essentially saying you are my God you have fulfilled what you promised me and Therefore I worship you.

Jacob enters the land just like Abram. He pitches his tent just like Abram. He builds an altar just like Abram. He declares to the pagan worshiping Canaanites just like Abram that there is one true God and that he must be worshipped.

It was at Shechem that God gave his promise of this land to Abram. Before that it was just the direction to come out of his father's house into the land. I will show you when he comes to Shechem. He says look around you look north look south look east look west all this land.

I'm giving to you walk about it. See it. No, I'm giving it to you and When Abram enters the land wherever he goes and dwells even for a moment. He takes the time to build an altar and he starts marking this territory by the worship of God.

It's a defiance against the Canaanite society of the time. It's a declaration that God has dominion over this place and is therefore to be worshipped. And so we read of Abram in Genesis 12 there he built an altar to the Lord and he called on the name of the Lord.

And we're reminded of this phrase to call upon the name of the Lord is to go back to the Sethite line. Remember this division after the fratricide of Abel the one who had worshipped God in a fitting way his blood speaking better things.

And then Seth was the one that God's redemption was working through and it was that Sethite line. Where we read men began to call upon the name of the Lord. In other words, these sons of Adam began to worship God.

Corporate worship instituted worship all the way back in the days of Seth. The only other time we have that kind of language instituted another description of the altar before Abram is in Noah coming out of the ark building an altar calling upon the name of the.

Lord.

Continuing that line of Sethite worship and Then with Abraham building these altars calling upon the name of the Lord and now Jacob as his heir building an altar Calling upon the name of God. Do you see this thread of continuity?

And God has been winnowing out throughout all the the burgeoning growth of humanity a people that will know him and serve him and worship him in spirit and in truth. This was corporate worship.

Jacob.

Jacob would have had his maidservants his family members his household around him. His children over these years would have been growing up into those awkward teenage years. When he first came to suck off so many of them were four five six eight nine ten.

But now they're growing. And they're at this altar and shechem and they're worshiping and we're gonna see Compromise in the next chapter as they get older and as the influence of Shechem permeates their lives, but but we don't want to impugn the character of Jacob at the end of chapter 33.

As far as he concerns there is one God worthy of worship. It is the God of Israel the God who made this covenant. The God who is strong and mighty the God of Israel is God and that brings us really to our whole emphasis.

Which we'll do by application this morning. When God brings Jacob back into the land and as we've said we're keeping in mind this greater Rhythm of God's redemption of Adam and Eve being brought out of the land of God's dwelling due to their sin.

Abram being called into the land of God's dwelling due to God's grace. Jacob who is Israel being cast out due to his sin. But now graciously brought back and again this will Pete as Israel's quite literally dragged out.

But graciously brought back and so you get again this imagery of sins. Casting us from the presence of God's dwelling and yet God's grace. Bringing us back and all of that is connected by the significance of the altars.

The Purpose and Meaning of Worship

It brings us to see the significance of God's worship. That the reason that God has singled out a people to know him the reason that God has set aside a special possession. The reason that God has called people out of many tongues and many tribes is to be set apart for his worship.

We are not saved. Because we're so lovely. We're not saved set apart. Sanctified made like unto him because he just couldn't help himself. He was so unhappy and incomplete without us. He is eternally blessed.

He is utterly satisfied in himself and needs nothing to be who he is. He is always content always satisfied with his own glorious attributes. And so then why save us? So that he can bring us into the delight of his worship that we can experience something of his own Self-delight that we can be brought by his love in to this glorious privilege of worship.

I Love what Thomas. I think it was Thomas Goodwin. I always mix up. There's so many Thomas's that are Puritans. But he said worship is the highest act that we can do religiously. Worship to praise God is the highest act and he reasons this way some might say prayer that that prayer is that bridge between This earth and the earth to come that that prayer is the vessel between Heaven and earth itself that that prayer makes us more like unto our Savior.

And then Goodwin would say ah. But worship makes us like unto the angels in praising God. We experience something of the reason we were made. Borrowing from the Westminster Shorter Catechism. To enjoy him.

That's why we were made. If I had to shorten what it means to glorify and enjoy him I would just use the word worship. We were made to worship. What is worship? Worship is essentially the giving of glory or praise or honor to God.

And we're gonna be unpacking this in the broadest sense of the word according to George Swinnick. Godliness is worship in the broadest sense. Godliness is worship the giving of glory praise and honor to God.

That's one of many possible definitions. Worship comprehends all this is George Swinnick all. That respects man all that man owes and all that man gives to his maker. It's the tribute that man pays to the king of kings.

We acknowledge therein his sovereignty over us our dependence upon him. All that inward reverence and admiration. All that outward obedience and service to God. Everything that that word godliness enjoins is included in that one word worship.

So three applications as we consider the significance of worship. Why first of all why? Worship, why do you worship. The first and most important thing to be said about worship? Is that it is to honor God.

The first and most important thing to be said about worship is that it is to honor God. If we do anything short of honoring God, we are not worshiping. We might come to a place that is called a worship center.

We might come at a time where there's something called a worship service. We might do the very things that we call worship. But if God is not being honored I assure you we are not worshiping. God is not being worshipped where God is not being honored.

But at the same time and this is the sort of beauty of answering the question why do we worship. In honoring God God is pleased to give something to us. I love what CS Lewis says. This is from his book reflections on the Psalms and he never read that he spent some time admitting his struggle as a young believer who was still going to services and yet very much struggling and as he was reading the psalms struggling with how.

For lack of a better term vain God seemed to be. He said, you know the things that God. Requests of his people we would we would see as false devices. Things to be disturbed by in other people this desire to be praised to be admired to be spoken of you know to be seen.

You know if someone else comes out in that way we find that somewhat off-putting. We sort of had this what I could call an Australian reflex. Australians are notorious for being no respecters of persons.

I have a Professor dr. Pennington who always laughs because he says, you know, there's such a cultural divide. I go to Singapore and I'm the Honorable Reverend. Dr. Pennington and you know I'm spoken of very solemnly and then I fly down to Australia and I'm Penzo.

All right, Penzo come up here in lecture, you know, no respecter of persons, but here's God in the Psalms and he's saying, you know. Speak of me. Declare my testimonies. Look at my wondrous works and deeds.

You know glorify me praise me. Give me give me your all give me do adoration. And C .S. Lewis was struggling with this wrestling with this how can that be good when it's so awful in us. But then he began to recognize that it's because of God's supreme value that it's only right.

That he be worshipped that in fact, we are always engaged in worshipping things that are of value. When we find something of value we cannot help but. Express its goodness express its wonder try to get others to see it to testify about it sing its praises.

Now if that's true of earthly things that we deem relatively valuable, how about the the infinitely valuable God and. So he began to work this out in this book reflections on the Psalms and he also recognized that in worshipping We actually receive something he says it's in the process of being worshipped that God communicates his presence to men.

The command to praise is not just so that God can receive something honor that he is due. But it's actually bound up with the very giving of God himself. We've certainly seen that haven't we? If anything God gives himself before we're even led to worship that was that's what Jacob experienced in Genesis 28.

He was just trying to catch some sleep on that stone. God opened up this glorious vision that brought Jacob to a place where he felt compelled to worship. We receive Something in our worship and it's part of the reason why we worship.

The danger is that we only come here in order to receive. We don't come here to honor God first and foremost. In other words, we take away the objective of worship and in its place put the benefits. We come for the benefits of worship.

I'll be encouraged for the week. You know, I haven't seen some people in a while, you know, it'll feel good. I know I'm supposed to you know, I'll receive some instruction. There's some questions. I have it'll be good to fellowship.