Bethel

      The title of this week's Sabbath reading portion is Va-yeitze, meaning, "And he left". The title speaks about the moment when Jacob had to leave his home and parents because his brother, Esau, threatened to kill him. The reading begins in Genesis 28:10: "Now Jacob went out (yasa - go out, go forth, come out of, proceed toward something with a purpose or for a result) from Beersheba and went toward Haran." Haran was the place of his mother Rebekah's family where she told Jacob to go until his brother's anger had cooled. Jacob didn't know at the time that he would be away from home for twenty years.

     After Jacob left his home, "...he came (paga - meet, reach, make intercession, entreat, encounter, to reach the mark, to strike upon, pain, inflict, to strike a covenant, to assail with prayers) to a certain place (root word qum - rise, arise, stand, endure, be proven, to persist, be fulfilled, ordain, establish, ratify, confirm, build, set up, bring on the scene) and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took (laqah - take, receive, married, fetch, seize, take a wife) one of the stones ('eben/bana - a stone used to build, a natural stone, plummet, headstone, slingstones/to build, establish, build up, repair, obtain children) of that place and put it at his head, and he laid down in that place to sleep." (v. 11).

     We can say, perhaps, that Jacob not only came to a physical place, but, because of the meanings of the Hebrew words in the above verse, Jacob also came to a spiritual place. It was a spiritual place of intercession and covenant, but also a place where these things are established and built. There is a stone connected to both what is being entreated or interceded for, and what is being fulfilled or completed.

     As Jacob slept, he had a revelatory dream of a ladder which was set up on the earth, and reached up into heaven with angels of God ascending and descending that ladder. Jacob saw the LORD standing above the ladder who spoke to him and said: "I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad...and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you." (v. 13-14, see also Mt. 28:18-20, Heb. 13:5-6).

     This was a very powerful revelation, as the LORD spoke directly to Jacob in his dream, and Jacob saw the movement of the angels between heaven and earth in order to fulfill God's will. Jacob also recognized the importance of what he experienced: "Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, 'Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.' And he was afraid and said, 'How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!' Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar (masseba/nasab - image, pillar, garrisons, monument, altar/to station or stand  [see also Eph. 6:10-18] in an upright position, establish, erect), and poured oil on top (ro's - head, beginning, chief, top, summit) of it. And he called (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) the name of that place Bethel (bet-el [2x]/bayit - "house of God"/house, dwelling, habitation, family, descendants as an organized body, palace, temple); but the name of that city had been Luz (meaning "almond tree", former city of the Hittites located on the border of the Israelite tribe of Benjamin) previously." (v. 16-19).

     The stone became the anointed head stone over a pillar that was built from it, and Jacob pronounced the place's name as the House of God, or the Temple of God. This is the same way in which the Messiah/Christ (the anointed One) Jesus built His assembly of believers, both Jew and Gentile. It is not a physical place, but a spiritual place built upon the revelation that He, Jesus, is the Messiah/Christ, the Son of God (see Mt. 16:13-19). He is the Head Stone or Chief Stone (see ro's above) of this House of God which is being built from Him. Jesus also described the authority and power that would be given to this spiritual place being built from Messiah/Christ: "And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." In the same way that Jacob "saw" a ladder that connected heaven and earth, the spiritual building being established or built from the anointed Head Stone of Messiah/Christ connects heaven and earth. As Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He included in the prayer to the Father in heaven: "Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." (Mt. 6:9-15). Again we see in this prayer that was taught by Jesus Messiah/Christ the idea of a direct connection between heaven and earth through prayer or intercession (see paga above) in establishing the will of God, and not our own will. Jacob was terrified and reverent in the face of this revelation at Bethel. Do we understand what has been entrusted to us as this spiritual House of God?

     The apostle Paul wrote of this spiritual House of God, which we are: "Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." (Eph. 2:19-22).

     Paul wrote this to a group of believers in Ephesus, a city dedicated to, and revolving around the temple of the Roman goddess of Diana the huntress that was in its midst. We will see more about the spiritual battleground that tries to destroy the pillar (see masseba/nasab above), the spiritual House of God built from the anointed Stone of Christ.

     The apostle Peter also wrote to the believers of Asia Minor who were being persecuted for their faith in Jesus about the living Stone who is Jesus, and the spiritual House of God that they were being built into: "Coming to Him (Jesus) as to a living stone, rejected by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ..." (see 1 Pet. 2:4-10).

     The story of Bethel is not complete without mentioning its cautionary history. We can understand the spiritual danger that encompassed Bethel because of its great spiritual significance in the life of Jacob. Bethel would later belong in the territory of the Israelite tribe of Benjamin. The ark of the covenant was kept at Bethel at one time also, and the LORD was worshipped there. (Judges 20:27). Both Elijah and Elisha, the prophets of Israel traveled through Bethel. However, when the nation of Israel became divided, the northern kingdom of Israel, also referred to as Ephraim in scripture, went to war against the tribe of Benjamin in the south, they took Bethel away from Benjamin and it became incorporated into the northern kingdom. After the split of northern Israel from southern Israel, which was called Judah, the king of the north, Jeroboam made two calves of gold at Bethel, and also Dan, and told the people, "Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt." (1 Kings 12:26-29). Bethel is also mentioned in the Book of Amos the prophet. The Word of the LORD by the prophet told His people to seek Him and live, and not to seek Bethel. An unquenchable fire would devour Bethel the LORD said because of the idolatry there. (Amos 5:4-7). The priest of Bethel, Amaziah, told the king of Israel to forbid Amos to prophesy in the northern kingdom because of his prophecies of judgment there. (Amos 7:10-17). How sad the story of Bethel became in their idolatry. The "House of God" built upon the head stone anointed by Jacob worshipped the golden calves of the false god, Ba'al. 

     There is no mention of Bethel in the New Testament. However, there is mention of the House of God in Jerusalem, the Temple, which Jesus rebuked and cleansed from the idol of wealth, money-changing, merchandizing and profiteering. The House of God, both physical and spiritual, will always be a target for the corruption of false gods and the lusts of man because of the Name of God and the anointing that it represents.

     Paul wrote to the rich church at Corinth about the danger of uniting the spiritual House of God with darkness and idolatry: "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial (apistos - unbelieving, faithless, without trust in God, disbelieving, infidel)? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 'I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people." (2 Cor. 6:14-16). The danger of corruption still exists for the House of God in the form of the believers in Messiah/Christ Jesus.

     However, in another portion of this Sabbath's reading, Hosea urges God's people to return to Him. The door of return would be offered to Israel, not because of the physical existence of Bethel, but because of the promise made to Jacob by the LORD at Bethel: "Yes, he (Jacob) struggled with the Angel and prevailed; He wept and sought favor with Him. He found Him in Bethel, and there He spoke to us - That is, the LORD God of hosts. The LORD is His memorable name. So you, by the help of your God, return; Observe mercy and justice, and wait on your God continually." (Hos. 12:4-6). The Words and promises of God are eternal.

     Bethel is not a physical place. It is a spiritual place - the House of the LORD - where His Name and His Word prevail forever, where heaven and earth connect to one another, based upon the revelation of Messiah/Christ Jesus as being the anointed Living Stone from which a whole spiritual house, a pillar, is being built, and we are the living stones from which it is being built and established. That anointing oil pours down from our Head Stone, Jesus, to cover all of the stones of the House.  That House calls for all to return and seek God and live. That spiritual House prays always, declaring the kingdom of God, and His will accomplished on earth as it is in heaven. Blessed be His holy Name.

     If you would like to know more about the House of God, you can pray with me: "Heavenly Father, help me to understand and to live in the manner that You have appointed for Your living, spiritual House, a House built upon Your Son, Jesus, the Living Stone, the Head Stone. As Your House, cleanse me, Lord Jesus, from unrighteousness and idolatry so that I will bring honor and glory to Your Name, Jesus, and to the Name of the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Your spiritual House is a House of prayer to which all nations may come and find You. I thank and bless You for creating this living House of Your Name. In Jesus's Name, I pray. AMEN."

*NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The meaning of the two pictographic Hebrew letters can also be interpreted "Adonai (Lord) of the Cross/Covenant". In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as ΑΩ , the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. These letters are those by which Jesus Christ identifies Himself in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13.