Q3. Washing and Spiritual Renewal

[Pastor Ralph]

Q3. (Genesis 35:1-5) Why does Jacob’s household need spiritual renewal? Why is it important to get rid of foreign gods? What do washing and putting on clean clothes represent? What “foreign gods” do you need to throw away? In what ways do you need to repent and lead a new, clean life?

[Commissioned]

Q3. (Genesis 35:1-5) Why does Jacob

[pickledilly]

Jacob's household had been infiltrated with the deception of foreign false gods. God required cleansing of the individuals, their surroundings, their hearts, and their spiritual environment. The LORD had revealed and proved Himself as the Supreme Divine God who shares His glory with no one. His people were to worship only Yahweh (revealed to them through the specific facets of His attributes as El Elyon, El Shaddai, El Olam, Elohim, etc.) and it was a breach of covenant to reverence anything else.

Washing and putting on clean clothes represented the cleansing of self from filth and impure conditions that result from compromising/accepting foreign objects of worship. This rite was meant to lead to contrite repentance and recognition of God's divine authority. Before the Holy Spirit's inner work of cleansing became possible through Christ's redemptive work, these O.T. people of God could only do this as an outer act of symbolism and submission. They had to deal with their dirty outer habits of disobedience. We know as Christians that no outer act of washing/cleansing can secure our salvation. But the new character of Christ within a believer will result in a desire for obedience and purity that leads you to take action against your sinful habits and behaviors as well - our own washing of sinful activities/motives and putting on clean thoughts/words/deeds.

I really appreciate the honesty of Romans 7:18-25. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members (vss. 22-23). Paul, one of the most faithful Christians to ever live, confessed the struggle that every single believer faces. We love the LORD with all our "inner being", but the law of sin still resides in the flesh. There's a constant battle between what we want and what God expects, what we value and what God esteems, what we think is right and what God says is righteous, where our devotion lies and where God expects it to be placed. I am no exception. I need greater discernment that comes through knowing the Word and I must be more attentive to daily confession and cleansing as prescribed in 1 John 1:9.

[Vincent Paul DiMino]

We're on to something here: I'm responding,on my computer,on the internet...TV in the background...this is the Sabbath,and I try to only do bible study and other "sabbath appropriate" things...my wife is calling me...Israel,and his household,the fledgling nation,in the process of becoming God's people (and I) need purity, and to focus their complete attention,first,on the Lord our God,in praise and thanksgiving."Get rid of all your foreign gods,purify yourselves,wash and change your clothes" sounds like good advise to me.

[Eudora]

Q3. (Genesis 35:1-5) Why does Jacob's household need spiritual renewal? This is the first time ever that Yahowah God commands that an altar be built before Him. All others have been decidedly been built by mans decision to do so. They have become defiled people for their transgression against the direction, the teachings of our holy God. They are now un-clean before Him and in need of purification. Not to mention a bunch of folks had just joined their ranks because they were taken as slaves and they more than likely hed brought their pagan god replica's with them, like Rachael did when she left her dad.

Why is it important to get rid of foreign gods? Because they are unclean, unholy, false, worldly, man thought and man made.

What do washing and putting on clean clothes represent? That by doing as commanded, that their outward act should show their inward repentance. They were preparing for a Holy Ceremony with a Holy God; a sanctification of the soul. The garments that they had been wearing, may have been the ones that they had worn when they committed the heinous act of taking a life that had been created in the image of Yahowah God. They might have been stained with the blood of the innocent After all , it was only Shechem that had committed a crime, not all of the males of Shechem. The outward washing commanded was a sign of the inward cleansing of the heart from sin, which Yahowah God requires of every one, Jew or Gentile.

[Eudora]

We're on to something here: I'm responding,on my computer,on the internet...TV in the background...this is the Sabbath,and I try to only do bible study and other "sabbath appropriate" things...my wife is calling me...Israel,and his household,the fledgling nation,in the process of becoming God's people (and I) need purity, and to focus their complete attention,first,on the Lord our God,in praise and thanksgiving."Get rid of all your foreign gods,purify yourselves,wash and change your clothes" sounds like good advise to me.

Greetings fellow Sabbath Keeper... I too have the exact same commotion going on (the Olympics of the old Greek interferring in the ways of Truth) here while I too try to concentrate on His word. Praise Hashem, His word endures forever...

[iam4-1god]

Q3. (Genesis 35:1-5) Why does Jacob

[Pearl]

Why does Jacob

[Stan]

Q3. (Genesis 35:1-5) Why does Jacob

[studybug52]

Q3. (Genesis 35:1-5) Why does Jacob

[masika]

Q3. (Genesis 35:1-5) Why does Jacob's household need spiritual renewal? Why is it important to get rid of foreign gods? What do washing and putting on clean clothes represent? What "foreign gods" do you need to throw away? In what ways do you need to repent and lead a new, clean life?

Jacob needed Spiritual renewal because of the crime his son had done, so he wanted to focus on God again.

It is important to get rid of foreign gods because they ruin our faith to true God and divert our spiritual focus.

Washing and putting clean clothes represent repenting and accepting Jesus as a personal savior to our lives.

An idol is anything we put before God. Idols don

[masika]

Q3. (Genesis 35:1-5) Why does Jacob's household need spiritual renewal? Why is it important to get rid of foreign gods? What do washing and putting on clean clothes represent? What "foreign gods" do you need to throw away? In what ways do you need to repent and lead a new, clean life?

Jacob needed Spiritual renewal because of the crime his son had done, so he wanted to focus on God again.

It is important to get rid of foreign gods because they ruin our faith to true God and divert our spiritual focus.

Washing and putting clean clothes represent repenting and accepting Jesus as a personal savior to our lives.

An idol is anything we put before God. Idols don

[leihaynes]

Q3. (Genesis 35:1-5) Why does Jacob

[hanks]

Q3. (Genesis 35:1-5)

Why does Jacob's household need spiritual renewal?

Why is it important to get rid of foreign gods?

What do washing and putting on clean clothes represent?

What "foreign gods" do you need to throw away?

In what ways do you need to repent and lead a new, clean life?

Their household now comprised many pagan women and children who were enslaved at Shechem; perhaps even as wives of Jacob

[Craig]

Q3. (Genesis 35:1-5) Why does Jacob

[quilter]

JACOB WANTED NOTHING TO DIVERT HIS FAMILY SPIRITUAL FOCUS.

THE SPIRITUAL WASHING WAS A WAY TO RID THEMSELVES OF THE IDOLS THEY HAD.THEY RID THEMSELVES OF ALL IDOLS THEY HAD EVEN THE ONES THAT WORSHIP GOD. AN IDOL DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PHYSICAL OBJECT IT IS ANYTHING WE PUT BEFORE OUR SAVIOUR.

MY SMOKING. I ASK JESUS TO TAKE IT AWAY AND HE DID, BUT I KEEP SMOKING. THERE ARE THINGS

LIKE QUILTING THAT KEEPS ME OUT OF THE WORD MORE THAN IT SHOULD BUT I TRY TO READ DAILY.

LETS ALL PRAY DAILY FOR OUR OBJECTS TO NOT GET IN THE WAY OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR.

I REPENT DAILY AND BEFORE I PRAY. THIS IS A DAILY CLEANSING. SOMETIMES MY THOUGHTS ARE

NOT WHAT THEY SHOULD BE. AND I HAVE FAMILY THAT I NEED TO SPEAK JESUS CHRIST TO,AND GET

REAL DISCOURAGE WHEN I DO NOT GET THROUGH TO THEM.

[Elwood C O'Dell]

They needed a spiritual renewal because they had allowed foreign gods to enter into their lives. They had turned away from worshipping God and God alone. Foreign gods must be done away with for the true God is clear that one shall have no other gods but Him. He and He alone is the only God. The washing and putting on of clean clothes is symbolic of one being cleansed from impurity and uncleanness.

When I think on this I am reminded of what Susanna Wesley told her sons:

[okno]

Why does Jacob

[Vincent Paul DiMino]

Thanks,y'all !

Like us,Jacob needed help;God's work in progress,with a mind of it's own,constantly led in the wrong direction by self-delusion.His,and our own,desire for spiritual renewal, is essential to the process,and yet,he,and we,need to be told to seek it,to get rid of our "foreign gods",to wash and be clean,and are grateful for that message.Praise God,that he lights the path and gives us encouragement !

[JanMary]

Q3. (Genesis 35:1-5) Why does Jacob's household need spiritual renewal?

They have just behaved in a violent, ungodly way toward the people of Shecham. God told Jacob to go to Bethel and build an altar to "God Who appeared" to him while fleeing from Esau. In other words, "go back to your first love", as Jesus tells the church in Revelation. They had idols in their possession. They needed to be cleansed, forgiven and a fresh start with the Lord. Jacob needed to put them into position to once again be under God's blessing!

Why is it important to get rid of foreign gods?

Foreign gods demonstrated unbelief in the true God...the idols were like lucky charms against evil, and showed double mindedness, a dependence on gods other than Jehovah God, or dependence upon God plus something else for good measure in case God isn't up to the task!

(like the four leaf clover I carried in my wallet when I was still a new believer, and believed in "luck", until I understood God's "favor")

What do washing and putting on clean clothes represent?

They represent spiritual cleansing and forgiveness following repentance. Single-minded seeking after God.

What "foreign gods" do you need to throw away? In what ways do you need to repent and lead a new, clean life?

I felt convicted yesterday after getting into lots of fear, that this is double-mindedness....I'm to believe God and God alone, regardless of what circumstances and emotions say, and I'm to not only stand on His Word, but to speak it and life into the circumstances which are contrary to what He has promised. His promises are true, and when I get into fear, I'm demonstrating "faith in Satan".

[Delivered]

Q3. (Genesis 35:1-5) Why does Jacob's household need spiritual renewal?

Gen 35:1 God told Jacob, "Return to Bethel, where I appeared to you when you were running from your brother Esau. Make your home there and build an altar for me."

Bethel, Luz, the place where Jacob offered sacrifice to God, the place Jacob set up an altar thanking God for His mercies, for his safety in traveling, for his deliverance from Laban and Esau, and many, many, other mercies God had blessed Jacob with.

This is the place Jacob someday hoped to return to as he purchased land there. God now has called Jacob and his whole family and those who were with him to come back and build an altar, come and worship the God of Israel.

For me, I don’t see it as a spiritual renewal; I do not believe Jacob had turned away from his God, what I do see is, Jacob was preparing his household for worship. His whole household and all those that were with him, included the Canaanite servants, and the captives of Shechem.

Why is it important to get rid of foreign gods?

Because Jacobs’s whole household included all that were with him, the Canaanite servants, and the captives of Shechem, they are the ones who had many foreign gods, and not being a Hebrew people, it was most important Jacob have them denounce their foreign gods, as Jacob said to all that were with him, “put away their strange gods.”

What do washing and putting on clean clothes represent?

Gen 35:2 Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:

PUT AWAY - I see as to withdraw from heathendom.

BE CLEAN - I see as, to be pure, be holy, to purify you.

CHANGE YOUR GARMENTS – may your mantel be that of purity.

What "foreign gods" do you need to throw away? In what ways do you need to repent and lead a new, clean life?

When I excepted the Messiah, I withdrew from my heathen ways, He has cleansed me and I have changed my garments, I now put on His garments He gave me to put on, garments of righteousness, making it possible that I could go before the altar of my Father, the God of Israel with “praise” on my lips and thankfulness on my heart for all the mercies He has given to me, especially His greatest mercy of all – His Son.

HOWEVER, I do know I must not let those foreign gods come back into my life, I must not put back on garments stained with sin, I do understand, this gift from God comes with an “IF” - that being, I remain that faithful bride to my Bridegroom, and it is I who must now make myself ready for that glorious day, when He comes to take me home. IMPORTANT INDEED!

[Seeking His Face]

Q3. (Genesis 35:1-5) Why does Jacob

[janel]

Q3 Mingling with the people of Shechem and having intermarriages with them have

contaminated Jacob's household in switching to worshiping their foreign gods,

and idols. Also what the sons of Jacob did to the people there. That is why

Jacob's household need spiritual renewal so that they can come back to God

who has made a covenant with Jacob.

In the first Commandment God has said: "I am the Lord, your God, Thou shall

not have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or

any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water

under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your

God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on

the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing

lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments."

Exodus 20: 2-6) Jesus also said in Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters;

for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and

despise the other." As Christians it is important for us to put our focus right

when we profess our faith.

When one is filled with filth and dirt, one needs to go for a bath to cleanse

oneself. So 'washing' represents spiritual cleansing from all the defilement,

and impurities, an atonement for our sins. 'Putting on clean cloths' meant

presenting oneself to God with a clean start.

In today's world, modern technology has crowded the minds and hearts of the people.

People spend time cluing themselves to television, computer and internet. Young

as well as old people are hooked into it like an addict craving for the drug. We

must be master over these things and not be slave to them.

For me I think I should place my priority right and be careful in spending my

time with the computer but rather giving more time to God in prayer, especially

with the start of Ash Wednesday, Lent is here now to contemplate on my spiritual

life and be connected to God, for he came to make sacrifices for me at the cross.

[JulieAnn]

Q3. (Genesis 35:1-5) Why does Jacob

[Patricia A]

Q3. (Genesis 35:1-5)

Why does Jacob's household need spiritual renewal? This is a renewed invitation to faith. Jacob sees it as a call to holiness and separation, and so he commands his household and other servants to purify themselves." ² Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes.

Why is it important to get rid of foreign gods? Then 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." (35:2-3)

What do washing and putting on clean clothes represent? What "foreign gods" do you need to throw away? To Jacob's family it meant that their father's God demanded cleanness and their best.

Before the covenant was ratified on Mount Sinai, the LORD instructed Moses,

"Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day...." (Exodus 19:10-11)

Throughout the Book of Leviticus, bathing and washing one's clothes were ways one cleansed oneself from impurity and uncleanness.

In what ways do you need to repent and lead a new, clean life? Man's part is repentance and washing (baptism); God's part is sending his blessing of forgiveness, and that is the true grace