January 24 Daily Devotional

Genesis 33–35

Jacob came to Shechem in the center of the land of Canaan and there he set up his tents. He bought some land here and built an altar and worshipped God. He felt very thankful to God for the blessings God had given him and for the protection he had experienced in the many dangers he encountered. At the foot of mount Gerizim he dug his own well, great and deep—the well where Jesus sat and talked with a Samaritan woman many centuries later, and the well that may still be seen. Even now the traveler who visits the Holy Land and comes to that place may drink water from Jacob’s Well.

Later Jacob moved to Bethel at God’s command, and built another altar in memory of the promise that God had given him when he slept at that place while fleeing from his brother. God again appeared to him, and once more told him that he should no longer be called Jacob but Israel. Israel means, as we have heard, “The one who wrestles with God.” From that time on he is some­times called Jacob and sometimes Israel. And all who come from Israel, his descendants, are called Israelites or the children of Israel.

From Bethel Jacob and his family moved southward toward his old home at Hebron, where his father still lived. Before he arrived at Hebron a sad thing happened. Rachel his beloved wife died, leaving a tiny baby boy whose name was called Benjamin. Jacob buried her at Bethlehem and set a pillar upon her grave. The traveler in the Holy Land, going from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, will not neglect to see Rachel’s Tomb on the roadside near Bethlehem. Now Jacob had twelve sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulon, Joseph and Benjamin. He had one daughter. Her name was Dina.

Isaac at this time was a very old man, and for many years he had been expecting to die. No doubt he rejoiced when Jacob re­turned from his long sojourn at Haran. For many years he had to go through a dark valley—being deprived of his eyesight. But in faith he looked up to God and found comfort in his promises. He finished his earthly pilgrimage at the age of one hundred and eighty years. “He was gathered to his people” the Bible says. He was gathered to the believers that had finished their course before him, sharing the rest that is prepared for the people of God. Esau and Jacob buried his body in the cave of Machpelah, where Abraham and Sarah and Rebekah were buried.