Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #4 in Genesis 35, and we are going to read Genesis 35:3-5: 

And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

We can correctly understand that they did not pursue because there was repentance in Israel.  They were putting away their strange gods.  They were clean in that sense, and they were hearkening to the call that God moved Jacob to make in turning from their strange gods, and to be clean and change their garments.  They obeyed, and that shows a degree of humility, although it was not necessarily true humiliation that comes with salvation.  But on this one point, they were listening to God.  We know that later they will turn away once again, and that would be the history of the nation.  But for His own purposes, God put up with their sins repeatedly down through the centuries.

In our last study, we went to Exodus 32, and we saw there is a relationship between “earrings” and the idol of the golden calf.  If you remember, Moses went up to the mount for forty days to receive the Ten Commandments, and while he was away the people turned to Aaron and told him to make gods, and we read Exodus 32:2-4:

And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

Then a little further on, it says in Exodos 32:7-8:

And JEHOVAH said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

They turned aside.  The word translated as “turned aside” is that word we saw in our verse in Genesis 35:2:

…Put away the strange gods that are among you…

It is Strong’s #5493.  In Exodus 32, they did the same thing.  It was not a turning to strange gods, but they turned aside quickly out of the way which God had commanded.  So that word can be used either way as far as turning away from evil to God, or turning away from God to evil. 

We noticed that the golden earrings were used to fashion the molten calf, and that helps explain why Jacob gathered the earrings of all in the household of Israel, and he got rid of them as well as the strange gods. 

There is another tie-in with earrings and making an image in Judges 8, an account where Israel once again went aside, and God raised up oppressors.  When they cried unto Him, He raised up the deliverer Gideon, and Gideon won the battle with his 300 men against the Ishmaelites, and then we read that they wanted Gideon to rule over them.  He would not, and it says in Judges 8:23-24:

And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: JEHOVAH shall rule over you. And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.)

They had earrings because they were Ishmaelites, and Ishmael identifies with those of the other covenant.  Yes, we know that God had an end-time plan to save many descendants of Ishmael, or those in Arab lands, and many of them would be part of the great multitude, but that is a different matter.  Galatians 4 lays out the two covenants as represented by the two wives of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar the Egyptian maid.  And the Egyptian maid identifies with mount Sinai in Arabia where the Law was given, and her child Ishmael was the son of that covenant, which is the Law, and there is no salvation in that covenant.  They are unsaved.  So it was characteristic of Ishmaelites (those that are unsaved and part of the kingdom of Satan) to have golden earrings.  And this was referring to the men of their army, and not their women.  These were the earrings of their prey, or those that were defeated in battle.  Then it goes on to say in Judges 8:25-27:

And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold; beside ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and beside the chains that were about their camels' necks. And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house.

And we are surprised with Gideon because Gideon was the one who tore down the image of Baal after God first appeared to him.  He did it at night because he was afraid of the inhabitants of the land, the Israelites that were round about.  And they did come after him, but his father protected him and said, “If Baal is so upset, then let Baal fight against Gideon for tearing down his image.”  So we would expect that Gideon would have learned that it was not a good thing to set up any kind of image because Israel had a tendency toward idolatry, the worshipping of idols.  And yet this just shows he was an imperfect man. 

And this relates to various good kings of Judah that we read of, and we can tell they were an elect child of God, and then God would say of them that they did not destroy the high places.  They would allow the high places to remain.  It was the day they were living in, as it was not the time to remove every high place and cast down every imagination that comes against God.  God kept that in reserve, and the Bible tells us that God “winked at” these things.  He could have impressed more greatly upon a king, like He did with good King Josiah who went about cleansing the land of all idols.  But for the most part, this impression was not made upon the people of God, and in this case Gideon foolishly made an ephod of the earrings of his prey.  All he had to do was read the account in Exodus 32, and that should have been enough instruction to teach him that it would not be a good thing to do this.  Predictably, all Israel went a whoring after it, and it became a snare unto Gideon and his house.  It was something that was not pleasing to God.  And, again, we see that this ephod was made out of the earrings of the Ishmaelites, and it turned into an idol.

We can see that relationship when we read our verse in Genesis 35:4:

And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

Why did he hide these things under the oak?  We could speculate that it was “handy.”  We could suppose that was the reason.  You know, that is how people think, and even some theologians think that things in the Bible are just “happenstance” or “coincidence,” and that there are no deep (spiritual) meanings.   They do not understand the Bible, or the God of the Bible.  God does not just “talk,” and He does not just record these things to give us a record of history and details of history, like in secular history: “On this particular date, this event occurred.”  This is the Word of God, the Bible, and everything has meaning and purpose.  It could have been a hundred different kinds of trees, but God says it was an oak tree.  Jacob hid the strange gods and the earrings in their ears

And, by the way, I think another point to saying, “earrings in their ears,” would be that taking the earring from the ears is sort of an interfering of idolatrous practices, or even pagan influences from our past experience and our understanding of secular doctrine.  In our time, it would be things like “the Big Bang” and secular evolution that we were taught in worldly schools.  These things came into our hearing and understanding, but they all proved to be false, so now it is time to “be clean, and change our garments,” to put off the things of the world, and come out of Babylon, and be separate, whether it would have been growing up in a false religion, and having to put all those errors away; or whether it would have to do with secular practices we learned while  growing up in this world.  There are numerous doctrinal errors that the world puts forth, and we have to put those away.  And now we believe the Bible.  We do not believe evolution – it is a ridiculous theory.  We believe the Bible: “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.”  I think that is also in view regarding removing the earrings from the ears.  It has to do with hearing the Word of JEHOVAH, and the hearing of the Word that follows the cleansing of the soul in salvation, and the “changing of the garment,” as God puts on us the righteousness of Christ’s garment.

Again, they were hid under the oak which was by Shechem.  We find a very interesting passage in Joshua, although we may not have enough time to lay this all out.  But if we go to Joshua 24, we are going to find that Israel is gathered together at Shechem, the location of the oak tree.  It says Joshua 24:1-3:

And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith JEHOVAH God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.

Then the Lord recounts Israel being brought out of Egypt, and then to come to the point, it says in Joshua 24:14-15:

Now therefore fear JEHOVAH, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye JEHOVAH. And if it seem evil unto you to serve JEHOVAH, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve JEHOVAH.

(The word translated as “put away” is our word, Strong’s #5493.)  And verse 15 is always put forth by “free will” pastors because it has the word “choose” in it: “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve…”  But notice something that the pastor does not tell his congregation.   The choice is between false gods – choose this false god, or that false god.  It is not that people can choose the God of the Bible.  Jesus said, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.”  That is the only way we can avoid doing service to false gods and worshipping idols, and that is if God has chosen us.

Anyway, it was at Shechem that Joshua gathered all Israel together, and he was saying the same thing Jacob said, 500 years earlier in 1907 B. C., and the conquest of Canaan took place in 1407 B. C.  It took a few years to bring total victory in the land of Canaan, and after the victory and the gathering together of all Israel, they were told to put away the strange gods.  If we read further in Joshua, we read in Joshua 24:20-22:

If ye forsake JEHOVAH, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve JEHOVAH. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you JEHOVAH, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses.

Here, it does say that they chose JEHOVAH, but that is why Joshua said, “Ye are witnesses against yourself.”  It is because it was not in their nature to serve JEHOVAH, which is why they will go on to turn away from serving JEHOVAH again, and again, throughout their history.

Then it say sin Joshua 24:23:

Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto JEHOVAH God of Israel.

In other words, do not just make some kind of determination to serve JEHOVAH without a change of heart.  They would need a new heart and a new spirit to be able to do so.  Then it says in Joshua 24:24-27:

And the people said unto Joshua, JEHOVAH our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of JEHOVAH. And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of JEHOVAH which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God. So Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his inheritance.

Notice it was at Shechem.  There was the command to put away their gods, and to serve JEHOVAH.  They also set up a stone for a witness.  And where was it set up?  It was under an oak tree in Shechem.  We cannot get a more definite tie-in with what is going on in Genesis 35: “Put away the strange gods that are among you…”  And they gave them unto Jacob, including all the strange gods and the earrings that were in their ears, and Jacob had them under the oak in Shechem.

Again, this makes us all the more curious, does it not?  Unfortunately, we have come to the end of our time in this study.  In our next study, we will try to understand the significance of the oak tree, and why the strange gods were hidden underneath it, as well as more about the tie-in with Joshua 24.