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Daily Devotions

Genesis

Genesis 
Day 
Day 237

"Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can declare all His praise?" Psalm 106:2

Text: Genesis 31:1-55

CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS OF THE GOD OF BETHEL

It is most interesting to see the phrase “Angel of God” equated with “The God of Bethel”. There is no question at all, as to who this “Angel of God” was! Jacob was most privileged to have none other than the Lord Jesus talking to him! (Christophanic expressions in the Old Testament were rare and thus even more valuable when recorded).

That this “Angel” was not one of the regular angels who attend to God in heaven is clearly evidenced in the Biblical text. Let us consider the following statements.

1. Claim of Godhood

No angel would dare to claim “Godhood”. The only person who dared was thrown out of heaven! This Angel declared, “I am the God of Bethel”.

2. “You made a vow to Me”

This statement is also of great value. Vows by its very nature invoked God’s Name! Vows were made to One who is Divine. One does not make foolish ones by invoking the name of another creature God had made!

Did Jacob remember what he had said to the God of Bethel?

“Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me,
and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat
and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house
in peace, then the Lord shall be my God.'”
GENESIS 28:20-21

Jacob had declared that he would own the God of Bethel as his personal Lord God! Had he not been specially kept and protected all these many years in the land of the East? It was time that Jacob fulfilled his vow to God!

3. A clear-cut command

There was no mistaking the authority behind the instruction. The Angel of God was not giving a suggestion to Jacob when he said,

“Now arise, get out of this land,
and return to the land of your family.”
GENESIS 31:13b

It was as Lord and God that the instructions were given! If Jacob were to fulfil his vow, he would have to obey the instructions of this God!


OVER TO RACHEL AND LEAH

The two sisters appeared to have been able to live in peace with each other as the years went by. How would they respond to what Jacob had said to them concerning their father? Their answer was what Jacob must have longed to hear.

“Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, ‘Is there still
any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?
Are we not considered strangers by him?'”
GENESIS 31:14-15