Jacob's Altar 

God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”  So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments.  Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”  (Genesis 35: 1 to 3) 

Jacob was distressed after his sons, Simeon and Levi, committed the atrocity against the city of Shechem.  He also was afraid that the Canaanites and the Perizzites would gather themselves to attack and destroy him and his household.  So, God asked Jacob to go to Bethel to dwell there and build an altar.  Bethel was where Jacob dreamed of a ladder on earth that reached to heaven and the Lord stood above it while he was fleeing from Esau.  In Bethel Jacob made a vow to God as below. 

So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.  He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.  Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.” (Genesis 28: 18 to 22) 

Because of the vow, God asked Jacob to return to Bethel to dwell and build an altar for worshiping God.  In Bathel, God blessed Jacob as described below. 

God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.  And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel.  And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”  Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him.  And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.  So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel. (Genesis 35: 9 to 15) 

Jacob set up a pillar in the place twice and called the place Bethel twice.  He also was called Israel twice, once at Peniel and once at Bethel.  This might be the reason that Israel was divided.  This might be God's will to divide Israel into two kingdoms in the first place.  Indeed, after King Soloman, Israel was divided into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah.  Ever since, there have been two worship places for Israelites, one at Bethel and one at Jerusalem.  This was true until Jesus met a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well at Sychar as described below. 

The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.  Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”  Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4: 19 to 24) 

There could be two kingdoms and two worship places, but there could be only one altar.  The altar meant to sacrifice God's only begotten son.  Men would bring divisions, only Jesus Christ could bring unity as he promised below. 

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. (John 17: 20 to 23) 

Through Jesus Christ, we would not only be saved but also become perfectly one, not only among us but also with Jesus Christ and his Father in heaven.  This is promised by Jesus Christ, nobody could deny it or take it away from us.  Emmanuel. 

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