Genesis

The intent of this question is to embed in the minds of the students how life in the time of Jacob had unique challenges to faithfulness and how weaknesses have consequences. During this period Jacob had settled back in the region of Canaan as God directed him. His family continued to grow and prosper. As the narrative begins, Jacob's daughter Dinah is raped by Shechem, the son of one of the kings in the region. Shechem then requests that his father arrange a marriage to Dinah. The king, Hamor, approaches Jacob to arrange the marriage that would result in an intermingling of the two peoples. Jacob's sons state that before they will consent, the men of Hamor's people must be circumcised. They did this as part of their plan for revenge. Hamor's men agree and follow-through. When they were healing from the circumcision, Jacob's sons killed Hamor and his son Shechem. Jacob recognizes the danger of what they did.

God speaks to Jacob and tells him to move to Bethel to live and to erect an altar to Him there. Part of this was to cleanse the people of pagan gods that had begun to be worshipped by some of the Israelites. Upon doing so, God renewed His promise with Jacob.

We must take special care to raise our children in the knowledgeable of God and know what God requires of His people. Certainly, it is our goal to teach our children salvation, but we must also teach them the importance of faithfulness to God as well. Jacob had a level of faithfulness but at times exhibited weaknesses. One area he could have improved which serves as a direct lesson for us is the importance of being a spiritual leader of our homes.

Paul speaks to this in two of his letters. In Ephesians 5:25-33 and Colossians 3:18-25, Paul teaches that husbands are the head of the household. This is especially true in regards to spiritual leadership. In chapter 6 he adds a charge for fathers to teach their children faithfulness to the Lord. In situations where a family may not have a father, this falls to the mothers, but initially, as per God's plan, it is a direct responsibility of fathers and cannot be abdicated to someone else.

God required Jacob to move out of the region where he was. This was not only a practical action given the dangers and complications that resulted from the actions against Hamor and his people, but it symbolized a fresh start. Jacob erected an alter to God reminding him of when he fled from Esau and God rescued him. God also required Jacob to purge from his family any false gods, to purify themselves and to change their garments. This represented a physical, spiritual and emotional cleansing.

It is easy for us to become complacent in our journey of faithfulness. We allow unnoticed things and attitudes to creep into our lives that interfer with our faithfulness. We must be on guard against these. However, when we recognize that we've deviated from God's will then we must be willing to "re-erect our altar to God" by renewing our faithfulness, purifying our lives and purging everything that interferes with our faithful service to God. It is a difficult task that may require drastic actions such as Jacob took, however, it is vital for our continued faithfulness and salvation.

We must remember that relationships can affect our faithfulness to God. We're encouraged to create our families from among fellow believers so that we encourage and strengthen each other. We should foster that perspective in our children by encouraging them to associate with children of like faith so that as they grow up and select mates to begin their own families, they will also have a greater opportunity to select faithful Christian partners.

If we do not lead our families in faithfulness, then it is not likely to occur. As noted, this is a specific responsibility of fathers, but not fathers alone. Each of us must seek to "spur one another on to good works" (Hebrews 10:24). We can do this by encouraging our children to seek out Christian friends and mates.

When we recognize we've strayed from God, we must be willing to take whatever action is required to change our spiritual, physical and emotional situations to bring them back into alignment with God's will. We should also be willing to support others that are trying to do this as well.