Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #33 of Genesis, chapter 28, and we are going to read Genesis 28:18-22:

And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. And Jacob vowed 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 raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall JEHOVAH be my God: And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

I will stop reading there.  We were discussing verse 18 and the fact the various statements in this verse all point to the Lord Jesus Christ, as far as the “stone” and the “pillar.”  He is in view, spiritually.  The Bible is pointing to Him, and then the pouring of the oil on the “top” of the pillar or stone.  And the word “top” is the Hebrew word that is also translated as “head,” and it has to do with being anointed.  And that is who Jesus Christ is, the Anointed One.  The name “Christ” has to do with His anointing and the fact that He is the Anointed One, the Messiah that the Bible speaks of.

Then it goes on to say in Genesis 28:19:

And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.

Bethel is a translation of two Hebrew words: “bêyth,” meaning “house,” and “'êl” meaning God, so it means the “house of God.”  And that is the name that Jacob gave that place after he woke up from his dream, and he realized that God had communicated with him.  He had received divine revelation.  So, certainly, that must be a holy place, and none other than the house of God.  Remember, he had said in verse 17: “How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”  It was the location where God broke the barrier of the natural and communicated with him in a supernatural way, and He also showed him the dream of the ladder set up, extending into heaven.  It was a doorway or entry point (into heaven) and, therefore, a gate.  So, fittingly, he changed the name of the city from Luz, which it was called at the first, to Bethel. 

So he had come here in his journey.  And, again, we cannot forget the timing.  He was 60 years old, and he had just received the blessing of the firstborn.  His brother Esau was bitter and sought to kill him, so he had to flee the land of Canaan, which spiritually fits in with the end of the world wherein God would cause division to occur between those that are truly His people and those who are only associated with Him through name.  It was the time of the separation of the wheat and tares: “Let both grow together until the harvest.”  So Jacob and Esau grew up together.  They were twin sons.  You could not tell from the outward appearance that one was the blessed of God and the other was not, and that one God loved, and the other God hated.  It was not until that time when the Lord made it known, and he moved Isaac to think, “I am 120 years old, and I know not the day of my death.  It could be that I will die any time, so it is time to give the blessing to my firstborn son.”  We did go verse by verse through the account where Jacob, the usurper and supplanter, received the blessing of the firstborn son, which indicated he was favored.  He was blessed of God, whereas his brother was not. 

So Jacob had to flee and that, too, fits in with the time of the end at the end of the church age when God commanded His people to “flee to the mountains” and depart out of the midst of the congregations.  Why?  It was because Satan had been loosed, and it was the time when God would separate the wheat and the tares, and the tares were angry and envious, and they would drive the elect out of the congregations, which is equivalent to “murder.” 

So that is the setting, and the point where Jacob is receiving the dream from God.  And, as far as we know, it was the first time God had communicated with him in this way.  And we also spent time looking at how that fits in with the opening up the Scriptures to reveal information that had been sealed until the time of the end, beginning with the 13,000^th year of earth’s history in 1988 and, especially, the last 40 years that extend from 1994 to 2033, according to the Biblical evidence.

Now Jacob is appropriately giving the name of the place the name “Bethel,” or “house of God,” although it was Luz at the first.  And we wonder why God tells us that because He does not always do that.  Yes – places have their names changed, but God does not always emphasize it to the degree He emphasizes this name change from Luz to Bethel.  For example, it is not just mentioned here, but it says in Genesis 35:6:

So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him.

There, again, it is emphasized.  Why not just say that Jacob came to Bethel?  He had already pointed it out in Genesis 28 that the place had its name changed.  By repeating it, God is emphasizing it.  And, again, it is not just here, but let us go to Joshua 18:13:

And the border went over from thence toward Luz, to the side of Luz, which is Bethel, southward; and the border descended to Atarothadar, near the hill that lieth on the south side of the nether Bethhoron.

So, again, this is when the land was being divided and given to the tribes (of Israel).  The border went over toward Luz, which is the side of Luz, which is Bethel.  He could have said simply, “toward Luz, which is Bethel.”  Actually, He does not say that the border went over to Bethel, which was formerly called Luz, but He puts Luz first, and Bethel afterwards.

And it says in Judges 1:22-23:

And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel: and JEHOVAH was with them. And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.)

Here, He mentions Bethel first.  And, by the way, the word “descry” means to “search” or “search out.”  So the house of Joseph was sent to search out Bethel.  Then it says in Judges 1:24:

And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city…

That fits in with “searching out,” just as the spies that were sent into the land of Canaan to “search out” the land after the Israelites came out of Egypt.

Again, it says in Judges 1:24-26:

And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Shew us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy. And when he shewed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let go the man and all his family. And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day.

This is interesting.  This man was a city of Luz, which is Bethel.  He was a man of Bethel and he showed the house of Joseph (the other tribes of Israel) that were warring with Bethel a secret passageway into the city, and they then let him go.  It is kind of similar (although different) from Rabah the harlot hiding the spies and escaping the destruction of Jericho.  So this man does go to the land of the Hittites and built a city and called it Luz.  Why did he do that?  I do not know, but one thing for sure is that God is again emphasizing this name “Luz.” 

The word “Luz” is found eight times translated as “Luz.”  It is Strong’s #3870.  We just read of several times it is found, and we wonder, “What does ‘Luz’ mean?”  We know that words have meanings, and the way this word is used, it is very hard for us to determine the meaning. 

Now when there is a name like “Bethel” that means “house of God,” it is much easier to determine spiritual meaning and the things it is pointing to, spiritually.  But with the name “Luz,” the only way we can do this is to go back to the Bible and see how God uses that word or related words.  And it just so happens that there are two words that are related to this word “Luz.” 

First, there is Strong’s #3869.  And, remember, the word “Luz” is #3870, so it is the next word in the concordance, and it is used one time, translated as “hazel.”  And it is identical to the word “Luz,” as far as the consonants and vowel points.  So it would be spelled and written the same way, even with the vowel points that were added.  (The consonants in the Hebrew were inspired and from God, but the vowel pointing was added later.)

The second word is Strong’s #3868, which would be next to #3869 (and “Luz” is #3870), and #3868 also is identically spelled, with the same consonants and the same vowel points.  This word, Strong’s #3868, is used six times in the Old Testament.  Two times it is used in the Hebrew future tense, and we find it in Proverbs 3, speaking of wisdom, in Proverbs 3:17-21:

Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her. JEHOVAH by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew. My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion:

The English word “depart” is a translation of #3868, which is the identical word of the name of the city Luz and the Hebrew word translated as “hazel.”  So, here, we see it has to do with wisdom and, really, the Word of God because that is what God is referring to when He says, “let not them depart from thine eyes.”  It is the Word of God found in the Bible that reveals the wisdom of God, and they are really the only things we should not let depart from our eyes.  So the word “depart” is used here – do not let it go; do not let it leave your gaze; keep your eyes on the Lord.  We are often encouraged to keep our eyes on Christ, and Christ is the Word.  So how else can someone do that?  It is by keeping our eyes on the Word of God, the Bible, through reading, studying, memorizing Scriptures, listening to faithful teaching, and even singing hymns and Psalms and spiritual songs focused on the Word.  Everything for the elect must be focused upon the Word of God, in one way or another.  We go to work, and in our work, it can be a result of our focus on the Word of God because the Bible tells us, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord.”  We love our wives and that, too, can be focused on the Word of God because God tells husbands, “Love your wives.”   Everything in this life should be directed by the Word and guided by the Word.  We are commanded by the Word.  So we are not to let them depart from our eyes.

Also, this word is translated in the future tense in Proverbs 4:20:

My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.

God’s “words” and “sayings” are synonymous, so we can see that we were correct regarding the previous reference to “wisdom.”  It has to do with the wisdom of Christ.  Again, it says in Proverbs 4:21:

Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.

This is basically repeating the same truth that we just read in the previous chapter, so the same statements would apply.  Keep your eyes on the Lord.  Do not look to the left.  Do not look to the right.  Look straight on, and especially today.  It is so easy to be distracted with everything going on in the world – the calamities, the constant divisions, and the constant turmoil.  These things can certainly draw our attention away from the Bible and, yet, by God’s grace, we do not do that.  Maybe we get distracted for a bit, but we keep coming back to the Bible and that is always done through His Spirit (within us), if that is the case.

So these two translations have to do with not departing.  The word “depart” is “luz,” so this word that is spelled identically to “luz” and it means “depart,” but it is used in the negative: “Do not depart from the Bible.  Do not depart from the wisdom of God.”

Also, this same word, #3868, is translated four other times as a participle.  And in every case where it is translated this way, it is translated as “froward” or “perverse.”  For example, it says in Proverbs 14:1-2:

Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands. He that walketh in his uprightness feareth JEHOVAH: but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him.

This is the same word, but here it is translated as “perverse,” and I think it really has the same idea as the word “depart” in the other verses, when it comes to that which is right and good and the truth of the Word.  Let not your eyes “depart,” or do not allow them to stray off, but keep them focused on Christ.

But the problem the wicked have is that they are “perverse.”  Let me read it again: “but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him.”  In other words, he that departs in His way despises Him, if he goes astray.

To begin with, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way,” according to Isaiah 53:6, and, yet, God took our straying (our sins) and laid them upon Him, and punished the Lord Jesus, “and by his stripes, ye are healed.” 

But this is not so for the unsaved.  They must bear their own iniquity.  They have departed from the right way, and they have left the commandments of God, even the Law that was written upon their hearts – they have gone from it, and they go the way of their own making and that which is devised out of their own imaginations.  Therefore, it is “perverse.”  It is a changing of that which is pure and holy and proper, and making it unholy and impure and improper.  And that is what “perverseness” is, and it has the same idea as “departing.”  The wicked do “depart” and that is perverse.  So God tells His people, “Do not depart,” and when one does depart, it is perverse.

Now let us take a look at the word “luz,” which is translated as “hazel,” Strong’s #3869.  It is only found one place, in Genesis 30, where Jacob and his brother-in-law Laban struck a deal concerning the wages for Jacob’s work on the farm and tending to the cattle.  So they determine that cattle with specific markings will be Jacob’s, and Jacob had another dream from God indicating which markings would be his, and we read in Genesis 30:34-43:

And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word. And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted. And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle. And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.

So, here, we read of this word “hazel,” which is the only time it is used in the Bible.  It is the word for “luz,” translated as “hazel,” and it is at a point of “separation,” is it not?  It was at a point when Laban and Jacob had made a deal over cattle, and the result would be that certain kind of cattle would be separated, as it says in verse 30, “And Jacob did separate the lambs,”  and they became Jacob’s, and the rest were Laban’s.  And it turned out that the cattle that were separated to Jacob were exceedingly many, which reminds us of the great multitude.  And the cattle of Laban were feeble, while Jacob’s cattle were strong. 

So I think we can see the tie-in with “departing,”  which “luz” means, Strong’s #3868, and the location that Jacob was in as he was about to leave the land of Canaan to go into Haran, or as he is about to come out of the churches and begin the 40-year period of the end stage of earth’s history, as far as God’s elect are concerned.  And it is at that time that God would bring about that separation of the wheat and the tares and the sheep and the goats, and the people of God would be made distinct from those that are not truly born again.