Returning to Bethel: Obedience, Identity, and the God Who Keeps Going
- Stacey Ellertson
- Apr 12
- 5 min read
A walk through Genesis 35 and what it means for us today
There is a moment in every believer's life where God calls them back — back to a promise, back to a place of surrender, back to who they were always meant to be. Genesis 35 is that moment for Jacob. After years of wrestling with God and men, after deception and exile and grief, God speaks clearly: "Go up to Bethel and settle there." And this time, Jacob obeys without hesitation.
This chapter is one of the most theologically rich passages in the entire patriarchal narrative. It is a chapter of transformation, of loss, of covenant renewal — and it is a chapter that speaks directly into our own walk with God.
From Deceiver to Obedient Servant
Jacob's early story is defined by cunning. He grasped his brother's heel at birth, deceived his father Isaac for Esau's blessing, and manipulated Laban's flocks to his own advantage. The name "Jacob" itself means heel-grabber — one who supplants or deceives. Yet the man we meet at the opening of Genesis 35 is markedly different.
When God commands Jacob to go to Bethel, he responds not with calculation but with action. He commands his household to put away their foreign gods, to purify themselves, and to change their garments (v. 2). He takes spiritual leadership of his family — something the old Jacob would have leveraged for personal gain. This is a man who has been genuinely changed by his encounters with the living God.
"So 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.'"
Genesis 35:2 (ESV)
The text also notes that "a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob" (v. 5). God protected what Jacob could not protect on his own. This is the fruit of obedience — not the absence of danger, but the presence of God in the midst of it.
A Name That Defines a Destiny
At Bethel, God reaffirms the name change first given at the Jabbok ford in chapter 32. Jacob is now called Israel — "one who strives with God" or "God prevails." This is not merely a biographical detail. In the ancient world, a name was identity, calling, and destiny fused into one word.
God does not just rename Jacob. He reissues the covenant: "Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body" (v. 11). The name change signals that the old Jacob — the one who tried to secure his future through his own schemes — has given way to Israel, the one through whom God will build a nation. The covenant does not rest on Jacob's character. It rests on God's character.
Theologically, this is crucial. God chose a deceiver, wrestled him into submission, renamed him, and then used him as the foundation stone of a people who would carry the promise of the Messiah forward through history. The name Israel becomes the name of the entire covenant people — a permanent reminder that what God builds, He builds in spite of human frailty, not because of it.
Stones, Pillars, and the Importance of Remembering
Twice in this chapter, Jacob erects a pillar — a stone monument — to mark where God had met him (vv. 14–15). This practice runs through the entire book of Genesis, and it reflects a theological conviction: significant encounters with God deserve to be marked, remembered, and returned to.
These monuments were not about superstition or idol worship. They were acts of witness. Jacob pours a drink offering and oil on the stone and calls the place Bethel — "house of God." He is declaring: God was here. God spoke here. God is real and He keeps His promises.
In an age of short memory and distraction, there is something deeply countercultural about this. The practice of setting up memorials — whether physical or liturgical — is a spiritual discipline of anchoring the present in God's faithfulness in the past.
Life Continues, and So Does God's Plan
Genesis 35 does not end on a triumphant note. It ends with a cascade of grief. Deborah, Rebekah's beloved nurse, dies and is buried under an oak (v. 8). Rachel, the wife Jacob loved most, dies in childbirth — giving her son the name Ben-Oni, "son of my sorrow," before Jacob renames him Benjamin, "son of my right hand" (vv. 16–18). Then Reuben sins grievously against his father (v. 22). Then Isaac dies at one hundred and eighty years old (v. 29).
The chapter that opens with covenant renewal closes with burial after burial. And yet the text does not skip past any of it. Scripture is honest about suffering in a way that is deeply pastoral. Life does not pause for grief, and God's purposes do not collapse under the weight of our losses.
The covenant marches forward even through death, betrayal, and heartbreak. God's plan does not require ideal circumstances — it only requires His own faithfulness.
Benjamin's birth — born of Rachel's death — will one day produce the tribe from which the Apostle Paul descended. The God who numbers our tears is also the God who writes the next chapter.
Practical Applications from Genesis 35
Genesis 35 asks us a direct question: Are there foreign gods we need to bury before we return to Bethel? Comfort, reputation, control, security — these can function as idols just as surely as carved images. Jacob's first act of obedience was an act of household purification. Ours may need to be the same.
The name change reminds us that God is in the business of redefining us. We are not the sum of our worst decisions or our most entrenched habits. In Christ, we are given a new name — beloved, forgiven, co-heirs of the promise. That identity is not earned; it is given by covenant.
The pillars call us to practice intentional remembrance. Write down what God has done. Mark the moments where He showed up. Build rhythms — through Scripture, prayer, and the Lord's Supper — that anchor you to His past faithfulness when the present feels uncertain.
And when life keeps moving through loss — as it always does — trust that the God who watched over Jacob's grief watches over yours. He does not abandon His covenant when His people bury the people they love. He keeps building, keeps calling, keeps leading toward the promise. His plan has never depended on our circumstances being easy. It has always depended on His character being faithful. And that, Genesis 35 assures us, never changes.
Blessings,
Pastor Stacey
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