Contemplative Bible Reading

Genesis 35:2-2 (New International Version 2011)

² So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. ³Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” ⁴ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. ⁵ Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.

This is just, just too odd. Let’s begin in verse 3: Jacob will build an altar to God because God has saved him in a day of distress. God has also been with Jacob wherever he had gone. Jacob is worshipping the LORD God.

Now let’s surround verse 3 with verses 2 and 4: Jacob’s large family is carrying foreign gods, and Jacob knows it. Carrying foreign gods? What? Don’t they…? Didn’t they…? This is amazing.

Maybe Jacob’s family knew that these gods were lumps of clay, stone, or wood. Maybe they didn’t worship these gods. Maybe the gods or idols were decorative. The gods could have been polished, adorned with stones, colorful – something decorative and pretty in a time and place where few things were like that.

My guess is the family  had collected these souveneirs while traveling. The little gods were momentos. My guess may be far too charitable.

So let’s fast forward a few dozen centuries. Do we have foreign gods hanging around in the house? I don’t think so. Could someone claim that I worship Winchester (the old gun company)? I do have recreations of Winchester posters hanging on the walls of my office. Does it appear that I worship Winchester? I don’t think so.

My earlier guess about the foreign gods probably was too charitable. Why else would Jacob co