Bethel revisited.
I. JACOB'S JOURNEY TO BETHEL.
1. The occasion of the journey. The crime of his sons had made it necessary that Jacob should leave Shechem and its neighborhood; but it is doubtful if in the circumstances Jacob would have thought of going to Bethel without an express invitation from Heaven, which, however, he got.
2. The object of the journey. This was stated by the Divine communication which Jacob received to be the fulfillment of the vow which twenty years before he had made to erect an altar on the spot where he enjoyed the vision of the ladder and the angels. Vows do not lose their obligatory character by lapse of years. Men may, but God never does, forget the promises which are made to him. Hence the counsel of the Preacher (Ecclesiastes 5:4, Ecclesiastes 5:5).
3. The preparation for the journey. The removal of the strange gods—
4. The experience of the journey. Wherever the travelers went they found themselves unmolested, and the cities round about them alarmed, and afraid to pursue. The terror of Elohim was upon the people of the land, and thus the care of Jehovah was around his saints.
5. The completion of the journey. Jacob and all the people that were with him came to Luz in the land of Canaan, which is Bethel. Many journeys are begun that never end. Some that promise well at the outset are overwhelmed in disaster before they terminate. It is only he who keeps Israel that can preserve a good man's going out and coming in.
II. JACOB'S RESIDENCE AT BETHEL.
1. The building of an altar. This was on the part of Jacob
2. The death of Deborah.
3. The appearance of Elohim.
4. The erection of a pillar. The old column having probably been thrown down, this was
5. The renaming of the place. The name given twenty years previously is renewed, Bethel (Genesis 35:15), with a slight modification, El-Bethel (Genesis 35:7), to connect it with the altar just erected.
Learn—
1. That good men sometimes require to be reminded by God of their duty.
2. That acts of Divine worship should be preceded by heart purification and life reformation.
3. That God is perfectly able to protect his people when they are walking in his appointed paths.
4. That good men when serving God are not exempt from the afflictions of life.
5. That faithful servants should be tenderly cherished by their masters when old, decently buried when dead, and lovingly remembered when entombed.
6. That God never forgets either his promises or his people.
7. That God should not be forgotten by those whom he remembers.
HOMILIES BY J.F. MONTGOMERY