Genesis 35Genesis 35A messy story finishes

with faith and blessing   

Closing out the Story of Jacob

1.Getting our Bearings

1.Chapter 35 – A messy story finishes with faith and blessing

1.Encouragement from Jacob

1.Closing Thoughts

1. Getting Our Bearings

• Jacob’s Family Tree

• The Land

• The Story

Jacob’s Family Tree

Abraham’s Birthplace

Promised Land

Home of Abraham’s Family

THE LAND

ACT 1: Birth & Conflict w/ Esau

ACT 3: Jacob & Laban

To Haran & Padan-Aram

ACT 2: Travel to Haran

ACT 5: Evil in Shechem

ACT 4: Travel Back to Canaan

The story of Jacob

Beersheba

ACT 1: Birth & Conflict w/ EsauACT 1: Birth & Conflict w/ Esau

ACT 2: Travel to Haran•God appears to Jacob

ACT 2: Travel to Haran•God appears to Jacob

ACT 3: Jacob & LabanACT 3: Jacob & Laban

ACT 4: Travel Back to Canaan

•God appears to Jacob

ACT 4: Travel Back to Canaan

•God appears to Jacob

ACT 5: Evil at ShechemACT 5: Evil at Shechem

25,2725,27 2828 29-3029-30 31-3331-33 3434

The Story of Jacob

Chapters:Chapters:

2. ACT 6: (Ch. 35) - A messy story finishes with faith and

blessing

God Reaches out to Jacob

Chapter 35:1

Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and live there; and make an altar there to God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”

2. A messy story finishes with faith and blessing

Jacob responds with Faith and Action

READ Chapter 35: 2-7-Immediate Response-Jacob acts as Priest to his household-Gets rid of the foreign Gods and Idols-Purification ritual & Change of Clothes-Worship of the God “who answered me in my distress”

-This is a different man than the Jacob of Chapter 34

2. A messy story finishes with faith and blessing

Jacob is Blessed by GodREAD Chapter 35: 9-12-Almost Identical to Genesis 17: 1-8

- El Shadai “God Almighty”- Abram -> Abraham; Jacob -> Israel- Promises Nations, Kings, Land

Comparison with Previous Encounters

Back to his Instincts

Genesis 35: 16-22

•Jacob does not stay at Bethel

•Problems arise

•Rachel dies in Childbirth

•Rueben sleeps with Bilhah

•Jacob resorts to passivity

Jacob’s Blessing

Genesis 35: 23-26

3. Encouragement from Jacob

•God takes faith over behavior all day long

•God is with us even as we continue to struggle with the same issues over and over

•Family behaviors are hard to overcome, yet Jesus came to redeem us from them

The character of Jacob

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What Jacob Inherited

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God is in the business of redeeming us

1st Peter 1:18-19

18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. 

Closing Thoughts

Your relationship and standing with God is based upon faith, not behavior

What instincts have you inherited from your family that weigh you down… that you can lay at the feet of your Redeemer fore healing?