Genesis 35
God told Jacob to move to Bethelverses 1-5
And God said unto Jacob
Arise – go up to Bethel – and dwell there
and make there an ALTAR unto God
WHO appeared unto you when you fled from the
face of Esau your brother
THEN Jacob said unto his household – and to all that were with him
Put away the strange gods that are among you – and be clean
and change your garments – and let us arise – and go to Bethel
and I will make there an altar unto God
WHO answered me in the day of my distress
and was with me in the way which I went
And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand
and all their earrings which were in their ears
and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem
And they journeyed – and the TERROR of God was upon the cities
that were round about them
and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob
God meets Jacob in Bethelverses 6-15
So Jacob came to Luz which is in the land of Canaan – that is Bethel
he and all the people that were with him
And he built there an ALTAR – and called the place El-bethel
BECAUSE there God appeared unto him
when he fled from the face of his brother
BUT Deborah – Rebekah’s nurse died
and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak
and the name of it was called
Allon-bacuth [oak of weeping]
And God appeared unto Jacob again
when he came out of Paddanaram and BLESSED him
And God said unto him – Your name is Jacob
your name shall not be called any more Jacob
BUT Israel shall be your name
and HE called his name Israel
And God said unto him
I am God Almighty – be fruitful and multiply
a nation and a company of nations shall be of you
and kings shall come out of your loins
The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac – to you I will give it
and to your seed after thee will I give the land
And God went up from him in the place where HE talked with him
and Jacob set up a pillar in the place where HE talked with him
even a pillar of stone – and he poured a drink offering on it
and he poured oil thereon
And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him
Bethel [house of God]
Rachel dies while giving birth to Benjaminverses 16-20
And they journeyed from Bethel
and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath
and Rachel travailed – and she had hard labor
And it came to pass – when she was in hard labor
that the midwife said unto her
Fear not – You shall have this son also
And it came to pass – as her soul was in departing (for she died) that she
called his name Ben-oni [son of my sorrow]
BUT his father called his name
Benjamin [son of my right hand]
And Rachel died – and was buried in the way of Ephrath
which is BETHLEHEM
And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave
that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day
Reuben defiles Jacob’s wife Bilhahverses 21-22a
And Israel journeyed – and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar
and it came to pass – when Israel dwelt in that land
that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine
and Israel heard it
List of Jacob’s sonsverses 22b-26
Now the sons of Jacob were twelve
the sons of Leah – Reuben – Jacob’s first-born
Simeon – Levi – Judah – Issachar – Zebulum
the sons of Rachel
Joseph – Benjamin
the sons of Bilhah – Rachel’s handmaid
Dan – Naphtali
the sons of Zilpah – Leah’s handmaid
Gad – Asher
these are the sons of Jacob
who were born to him in Paddan-aram
Isaac dies at 180 years oldverses 27-29
And Jacob came unto Isaac – his father unto Mamre
unto the city of Arba which is Hebron
where Abraham and Isaac sojourned
And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years (180 yrs)
and Isaac gave up the ghost – and died
and was gathered unto his people
being old and full of days
and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments. (2891 “clean” [taher] means to be bright, to be pure, sound, clear, unadulterated, uncontaminated, purge, or purify)
DEVOTION: Before we meet God, what should we do? Here we have Jacob instructing his family to put away all their strange gods. They were to purify themselves. They were to change their clothes.
Jacob wanted them to be ready to meet God. He knew that strange gods were not acceptable to God. He buried the strange gods. He also buried their earrings. He knew that they were to have a ceremonial cleansing before going into the presence of God. They were also to change their war clothes into washed clothes that were good to wear in the presence of the LORD.
There is a change in the way Jacob and his family was going to worship God. They were no longer going to be divided in their worship. They were going to worship God alone. No more false gods. Remember that Rachel stole the gods of her father before they left for Succoth. No more being contaminated in the presence of God. No longer were they going to wear things that were dedicated to other gods. Jacob wanted all the strange gods gone. He wanted his family to be purified. He wanted his family to put on new garments.
In the New Testament, Christians are described as “new creatures” in Christ. We are told to renew our minds. We are told that we have the mind of Christ. We are going to think differently. We are going to act differently. In this church age we are to be immersed in water to signify that we have changed families. We are no longer in the family of Satan but because of our choice to follow Christ we enter the water to show a change. We exit the water with the representation of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. We die to self. We are buried with HIM. We are raised up out of the water signifying a new life in Christ. It is an outward sign of an inward change.
Our worship has blessings. God visited with Jacob. God promised Jacob blessing for his family and those in the next generations. If we live the way God wants us to live, HE can bless our family and us. Does this mean that they never had a hard time again? NO!! When we are blessed of God that means that HE is with us in the good times and the bad times. We need to examine our lives to see if there are any other gods in our lives. Then get rid of them. Then God can bless us!!!
CHALLENGE: When we go into the presence of God on a daily basis do we go with a purified mind? Do we realize that we are in the presence of God even at home and at work? God wants our total commitment with no foreign or strange gods in our life.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 5 And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. (2847 “terror” [chittah] means fear, an alarm that immobilizes one to action, be in panic, or overwhelming feeling of anxiety)
DEVOTION: The children of Israel had killed a whole community of men and taken the women and children and possessions of the people of the city with them on their trip to Beth-el.
They were traveling to the house of God through enemy territory. They had to travel a distance where they needed the protection of God from the people of the area.
God put in the hearts of those who were willing to avenge the death of Shechem and all those in his city a genuine fear that caused them not to even think about going after Jacob.
The fear of the LORD is a fear that should influence us to not go against HIS commands. Our hearts should be sensitive to HIS leading. Our hearts should be sensitive to HIS judgment of those who disobey HIM.
We find here that even those who were not followers of HIM were afraid to go against HIS people. God is ultimately in control of every human beings actions when it come to their relationship to HIS people. HE sometimes allows those who are negative toward HIM to be used of HIM to judge HIS people when they sin. It sounds strange but HE has made it a practice to get the attention of HIS people.
The prophets had questions regarding God’s use of heathen nations to judge HIS chosen people. It was true then and it is true now. God can use heathen nations to judge a nation that is being disobedient to God. Most nations are not concerned with Christian principles but the ones who are and leave these principles can expect the judgment of the LORD.
HE has the power to influence not only people in judgment but the elements of the world like earthquakes, flooding, fire and storms to get the attention of those who think HE is still not in control of this world. HE is longsuffering but that doesn’t last forever!!!
CHALLENGE: Those who are followers of the LORD should understand HIS power and use it to live righteous lives even in an unrighteous world. HE still influences heathen nations today in their treatment of believers!!!
: 13 And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him. (1696 “talked” [dabar] means to express in speech, commune, pronounce, utter, declare, converse, command, promise, warn, threaten, or sing)
DEVOTION: God took Jacob back to a place where HE first talked with him. HE wanted to show Jacob that HE was committed to helping him. HE wanted to reestablish HIS promises to Jacob. HE wanted Jacob to understand that the relationship to HIM was real.
Once HE was done reassuring Jacob by changing his name to Israel again. That meant that Jacob was no longer a subtle but a servant of the LORD. Israel means one who has triumphed with God or one who prevails with God.
Jacob or Israel was chosen by God to lead a nation. He was chosen of God to inherit the land. He was chosen of God to have kings come out of his future generations.
God confirmed this with him and wanted him to understand that God was involved in his life and the life of his children for many generations.
Jesus came to tell us the same about our relationship with God. HE died so that we could have a relationship with HIM that could last for generations if we trained our children properly in HIS Word.
The Bible is giving us a love letter from God to our generation. The New Testament gives us the plans of God for our world today. We are to spread the Word and trust HIM to honor our effort.
Each one of those who are HIS followers has a gift from HIM to be used to reach our world for Christ. If we allow HIM to use us we can affect the next generation. We have to answer the question: Are we allowing God to direct our steps like HE directed the steps of Jacob?
CHALLENGE: Is HE still speaking today through the Word of God and the ministry of the Holy Spirit?
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath which is Bethlehem. (1035 “Bethlehem” [Beyth, Lechem] Bethlehemjudah, city in Judah, birthplace of David, house of bread, or house of God)
DEVOTION: Here we have the first mention of Bethlehem. Most people know that this means the “house of bread.”
Rachel died and was buried there with a pillar to mark her grave. She was Jacob’s favorite wife. She had two children: Joseph and Benjamin. They would be important later in our reading of the Word of God.
The priests knew that the Messiah was going to be born in Bethlehem because the prophets foretold of this happening. So God picks not only people but places to become important in HIS plan for HIS people.
God is a God of detail. All the details in the Word of God are given for us to understand better how God works in history. HE wants us to know that we can have questions but we need to look for the answers as we read HIS word. The Holy Spirit helps us understand what HE expects of us and also what HE expects of those places HE has picked for special blessings.
Our nation has been a place of special blessing for many years. Other nations have been places of special blessing from the LORD. The only way for a nation or a place to be blessed of the LORD is for them to honor HIM.
We need to honor HIM first in our life and then in our home and then in our local church. HE wants us to show the world that HE is working HIS plan and we are part of it. Our church needs to manifest the presence of God each Sunday.
Proper teaching needs to be given each Sunday in the places where God has put HIS witness.
CHALLENGE: The New Testament warns that if a church will not present the truth HE can come and remove it.
:29 And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. (4191 “died” [muwth] means 1 to die, kill, have one executed. 1a (Qal). 1a1 to die. 1a2 to die (as penalty), be put to death. 1a3 to die, perish (of a nation). 1a4 to die prematurely (by neglect of wise moral conduct). 1b (Polel) to kill, put to death, dispatch. 1c (Hiphil) to kill, put to death. 1d (Hophal). 1d1 to be killed, be put to death. 1d1a to die prematurely. [Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship].)
DEVOTION: Isaac finally died, although not at the time that his sons had thought that he was going to die. God had given him at least twenty extra years to live so that he could see Jacob come back from Mesopotamia. What did he think of day after day when Jacob was gone?
While none of us are perfect parents, Isaac and Rebekah had plenty of time to think through their mistakes and regret them. They continued to wonder if they would ever see Jacob again. And they were continuously sorry over the family of Esau and his foreign wives. Had their competition over their sons and each having a favorite contributed to the dysfunctional relationship between the twin sons?
God sometimes graciously gives us the opportunity to correct our mistakes. Probably this was the case with Isaac as well. He must have quite a number of conversations with Esau first (while Jacob was gone) and with Jacob after he returned. While we are not told what Isaac might have said, we can speculate about how he might have asked Jacob’s forgiveness (after Jacob asked him forgiveness for his deception) and tried to restore the relationship between his two sons. Unfortunately, we see that some of the damage was still done in the competitive atmosphere which existed in Jacob’s family among his siblings.
If God has given you extra time in your life to see your children grown up into adulthood and raise their own children, be thankful. It is appointed unto men once to die, and then comes judgment. So we can still use the time we still have in our earthly lives to count for eternity.
CHALLENGE: Start investing in your children today, whether young or old. You never know when the Lord is going to take you home. (MW)
DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
God talked with Israelverse 13
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
God talked with Israelverse 13
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
Jacob plans to build altar to Godverses 1, 3
in Bethel
Worship requires:verses 2-3
Put away other gods
Clean yourself up
Put on a change of garments
Go to a location
Sacrifice: altarverses 3, 7
Jacob builds altar in BETHELverse 7
Pillar set up where God talked to Jacobverse 14
Drink offeringverse 14
DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Abrahamverses 12, 27
Isaacverses 12, 27-29
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
God (Elohim)verses 1, 3, 5, 7, 9-11, 13, 15
Terror of Godverse 5
God appears second time to Jacobverse 9
God blessed Jacobverse 9
God Almightyverse 11
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead – God/man, Messiah)
God appearedverses 7, 9
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Esauverses 1, 29
Brother of Jacob
Buried father Isaac with Jacob
Shechemverse 4
Luz in Canaan (Bethel)verse 6
Abrahamverses 12, 27
Isaacverses 12, 27-29
In Hebron
160 years old
Died
Tower of Edarverse 21
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Strange godsverses 2, 4
Earringsverse 4
Reuben lay with father’s wifeverse 22
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Cleanverse 2
Answer in day of distressverse 3
Presence of the LORDverses 3, 9
Blessedverse 9
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Jacobverses 1-29
Bethel
Built altar in El-bethel
Blessed of God a second time
Jacob renamed Israel (2x)
Be fruitful and multiply
Company of nations out of Israel
Kings out of Israel
Sons of Jacob not pursuedverse 5
Deborah – Rebekah’s nurse died (Isaac)verse 8
Oak tree named Allon-bachuthverse 8
Land promised to Israelverse 12
Rachelverses 18-20
Gives birth to Benjamin
Dies
Birth of Benjaminverse 18
Bethlehem mentionedverse 19
Reubenverse 22
Lay with Bilhah
father’s concubine
List of children of Israelverses 22b-26
Sons of Leah
Reuben = firstborn
Simeon
Levi
Judah
Issachar
Zebulun
Sons of Rachel
Joseph
Benjamin
Sons of Bilhah
Dan
Naphtali
Sons of Zilpah
Gad
Asher
Born in Padan-aram
Jacob comes to Isaacverse 27
in Mamre (Hebron)
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
Deborah diedverse 8
Buried at Bethelverse 8
Rachel diedverses 18-19
Pillar on Rachel’s graveverse 20
Isaac diedverses 28-29
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QUOTES regarding passage
35:6–8. Arriving back in Bethel (which used to be called Luz, 28:19), Jacob built an altar there as God had told him to do (35:1). Meanwhile Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, Jacob’s mother, died. This death seemed to indicate that another stage in the patriarchal narratives was ending. The naming Allon Bacuth (“oak of weeping”) commemorated the weeping over this old nurse, buried under an oak tree. Interestingly Jacob’s wives’ idols were also buried under an oak, back in Shechem (v. 4). (Ross, A. P. (1985). Genesis. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 84). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
Jacob worshiped God (vv. 6–8). God had promised to bring Jacob safely back to Bethel (28:15), and He kept His promise, as He always does (Josh. 21:45; 23:14; 1 Kings 8:56). Jacob kept his part of the agreement by building an altar and leading his household in worshiping the Lord. Once again, Jacob gave a new name to an old place. “Luz” he had renamed “Bethel, the house of God” (28:19); and now “Bethel” he expanded to become “the God of Bethel.” It wasn’t the place that was important but the God of the place and what He had done for Jacob.
The Jewish people considered many places to be special because of what God had done for them there, places like Bethel, Mount Sinai, Jerusalem, the Jordan River, and Gilgal. Perhaps all of us have places that are especially meaningful to us because of spiritual experiences we had there, but a “holy site” must never take the place of the Holy God. To visit a special location and try to recapture old blessings is to live in the past. Let’s ask God for new blessings and a new revelation of Himself!
We don’t know when Rebekah’s maid Deborah (24:59) became a part of Jacob’s household, but her presence in the camp suggests that Jacob’s mother was now dead. Deborah had stayed with Isaac until Jacob drew near to Hebron, and then she went to be with the boy she had helped to raise years before. Was she the one who broke the news to Jacob that Rebekah was dead? Jacob’s tender treatment of this elderly servant is an example for all of us to follow. (Wiersbe, W. W. (1997). Be authentic (pp. 69–70). Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Pub.)
Ver. 8. But Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, &c.] That is, when, and quickly after they were come to Beth-el; a nurse of Rebekah’s came with her to Canaan, when she married Isaac, and is generally thought to be this Deborah, which is not improbable, Gen. 24:59 though she might have more nurses than one, as great personages sometimes have, and then it will not be so difficult to answer the objection made here; that Rebekah’s nurse, whom Jacob is supposed to leave in Canaan when he went to Padanaram, should now be in his family when he returned from hence; since the reply would be, that that nurse and this Deborah were not the same; but supposing them to be the same, which is most likely, this is accounted for several ways: according to Jarchi, who had it from an ancient writer of theirs, Rebekah sent her to fetch Jacob home, according to her promise, ch. 27:45 but it is not very probable that she should send a woman, and one so ancient, on such an errand: rather, this nurse of her’s, after she had accompanied her to Canaan, and stayed awhile with her there, returned to Haran again, and being very useful in Jacob’s large family, and having a great respect for them, returned again with them, and which she might choose in hopes of seeing Rebekah once more, whom she had a strong affection for; or, when Jacob was come into the land of Canaan to Shechem, he might send for her from Hebron to be assisting in his family; or going to visit his parents, which he might do before he went with his whole family to them, might bring her with him to Shechem, who travelling with him to Beth-el died there: her name signifies a bee, as Josephus observes: and she was buried beneath Beth-el; at the bottom of the hill or mountain on which Beth-el stood: under an oak; of which there were many about Beth-el, 1 Kings 13:14; 2 Kings 2:23, 24 and it was not unusual to bury the dead under trees, see 1 Sam. 31:13 and the name of it was called Allon-bachuth; the oak of weeping, because of the weeping and mourning of Jacob’s family at her death, she being a good woman, an ancient servant, and in great esteem with them. The Jews have a tradition that the occasion of this weeping, or at least of the increase of it, was, that Jacob at this time had the news of the death of Rebekah his mother; so the Targum of Jonathan, “there tidings were brought to Jacob of the death of Rebekah his mother, and he called the name of it another weeping;” and so Jarchi. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 1, p. 230). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
35:5 a great terror. A supernaturally induced fear of Israel rendered the surrounding city-states unwilling and powerless to intervene and made Jacob’s fear of their retaliation rather inconsequential (34:30). (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
35:5 God protected Jacob’s family as they traveled. The Hebrew term for terror is related to the verb meaning “to be shattered” or “to be dismayed” (for examples of the use of this verb for divine judgment read Is. 7:8; 30:31). (Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible commentary. Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.)
5. What can be more gratifying, than to see how the Lord provides for his people, even in the very hearts of their enemies. What a cluster of scriptures might be gathered in proof of it; see Malachi 3:11. Isaiah 54:14–17. Deut. 7:10. Exod. 34:24. (Hawker, R. (2013). Poor Man’s Old Testament Commentary: Genesis–Numbers (Vol. 1, p. 153). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.)
FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
Because Vashti refuses to dance for King Ahasuerus, she is removed as queen.
INSIGHT
In Ezra and Nehemiah, we learn how God watches over the Jews who return from captivity. Esther tells us how those who remain in exile–scattered through the East–are marvelously preserved. Though the name of God does not appear in the book, His hand is clearly manifest throughout. The significance of the “narrow escapes” cannot be dismissed as coincidental. Ahasuerus demands that his queen appear before the party. She refuses. The stage is now set for God’s miraculous plan of deliverance for His people.
(Quiet Walk)
A FALSE VIEW OF THE KINGDOM
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. Luke 18:11
Let me touch on an aspect of a false view of the kingdom of God. I refer to those who confuse Christianity with a kind of morality only. There are so many people who think of Christianity as if it were but a collection of vetoes and prohibitions and restraints. That was the trouble there in Rome. You should not eat this, you should not eat that, and all those other observances. And there they were, experts about these particular things. “No,” says the apostle, “Christ did not come from heaven to earth for that reason; that’s not Christianity!”
And we can interpret that at the present time in this way: It is to think that you make yourself a Christian by the way in which you live; that if you do not do certain things you are a Christian, but that if you do them, then you are not. So you do not do these things, and then, of course, you can criticize others; you can feel that you are better than they are, and so you look down upon them.
That was the trouble with the Pharisee we read about in Luke 18: “I thank God I am not like other men. I fast twice in the week; I give a tenth of my goods to the poor. How good I am! Not like this miserable publican, this sinner fellow!” But that is not the kingdom of God; that is the precise opposite. But how common this idea is! How many people think of Christianity today as something that is purely negative, something that always makes demands of you, that tells you that if you are going to be a Christian you have got to stop this, that, and the other. And it goes no further and never tells you what Christianity gives you. So Christianity is confused with morality.
A Thought to Ponder: Christianity is confused with morality.
(From The Kingdom of God, pp. 72-73 by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
Resurrection in the Old Testament
“Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.” (Isaiah 26:19)
Some have argued that the doctrine of a bodily resurrection was unknown to the Israelites of the Old Testament. In fact, this denial was a cardinal doctrine of the sect of the Sadducees at the time of Christ (Matthew 22:23).
Our text, however, makes it clear that this promise has always been known to the people of God. Long before Isaiah’s time, Job had said: “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And…in my flesh shall I see God” (Job 19:25-26). After the time of Isaiah, the promise was still known. “Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). Such promises were not referring to some vague “immortality of the soul,” as taught in pagan religions, but to resurrection of the body!
First, however, the Creator must become man, die for the sins of the world, and defeat death by His own bodily resurrection. In our text, in fact, Christ is saying that Old Testament believers would be raised “together with my dead body.” This was literally fulfilled when “the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many” (Matthew 27:52-53). Then, when Jesus first ascended to heaven (John 20:17), He led the souls of those who had been in “captivity” in the grave with Him into heaven (Ephesians 4:8). All who have trusted Christ in the Christian era will likewise be raised from the dead when He comes again. He has defeated death and has promised, “because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19).
(HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
Recently, in the midst of our national conversation about race, justice, and statues, left-wing activist Shaun King tweeted: “Yes, I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down. They are a form of white supremacy.”
Though it isn’t clear whether King was claiming that Jesus is a form of white supremacy or statues that depict Jesus as a white European are forms of white supremacy, King did get one thing right. Jesus was not a white European. Jesus would have looked like a First-Century Middle Eastern Jew. Because He was one.
And that He was, is no incidental or accidental part of the redemption story. Throughout Holy Scripture, God reveals Himself as a God of time and place. In Galatians, for example, Paul tells us that God orchestrated the incarnation at just the right time and in just the right place in human history.
Having the right picture in our minds of what Jesus may have looked like doesn’t seem to be that important to God (after all, if that were important to God, He may very well have chosen a time and place that was post-flash photography), but understanding the world in which He lived, the time and place in which He entered human history, that’s important.
For modern Western Christians, that time, that place, and that culture can seem mysterious and even inaccessible. That’s why I’m grateful for the outstanding new book by the late Ravi Zacharias and his co-laborer at RZIM, Abdu Murray: Seeing Jesus from the East: A Fresh Look at History’s Most Influential Figure.
The idea for this ground-breaking work on culture, apologetics, and the life of Jesus originated the late apologist and former Muslim Nabeel Quereshi. After his untimely death, Ravi Zacharias, who is originally from India, asked Abdu Murray, whose family originally came from Lebanon, to help carry the project through. As he recently told me on a webinar, the fact that first Nabeel and now Ravi are with Jesus and see him with full clarity, is an especially meaningful thing for Abdu who hopes this book will help Western Christians better see Jesus by understanding His Eastern roots. Like Ravi, Abdu is particularly skilled at connecting dots between culture, personal stories, and timeless Truth.
Tragically, even as our culture comes to grips with the importance of culture and background in our national conversations about race and history, so many who are committed to tearing down or vandalizing statues of George Washington and even Ulysses S. Grant, can only see through their 21st century eyes. The lack of context and their lack of understanding of cultural artifacts and history are profound blindspots. In the same way, our lack of understanding of the cultural artifacts and history of the middle Eastern context of Jesus’ life and ministry is a blindspot too.
In Seeing Jesus from the East, Ravi and Abdu explain how certain underlying norms of Eastern culture, including the role and purpose of stories and symbols, the power of the “honor and shame” mentality that pervades the East, the meaning and rewards of sacrifice, the role of teachers and prophets within a wisdom-oriented culture, and – my favorite – the use of parables, are all critical to understand if we are to comprehend the full biblical witness about Jesus Christ.
Seeing afresh the accounts of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, or, His transfiguration and confab with Moses and Elijah, or his parable of the day workers with the insights that would jump off the page to someone from the east is not only instructive. It’s inspiring.
Even more it underscores a critical theological insight of Christianity that is not found in other religions. In every other religion, God or the divine is understood either in terms of immanence or transcendence. Either God is outside of time and, in a sense, aloof to the human condition (as in Islam), or the gods are within the world, part of it like we are (as in Hinduism). Only in Christianity does the timeless, transcendent Creator of all also immanent to human beings and within human history.
“I hope that people who read this who are from the West,” says Abdu, “will see that He is not this imperialistic God of the Westesrners to control brown people … and those from the East [will see] that He is not a western god, He is a God who bridges both.”
You can receive a copy of Seeing Jesus from the East with a gift of any amount to the Colson Center during the month of July. Not only will you receive a tremendous resource, but you will enable the Colson Center to continue to equip thousands of other believers through daily BreakPoint commentaries, our ever-growing library of What Would You Say? videos, and our virtual training conferences such as Truth Love Together.
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