Genesis 35:1-3

Jacob was afraid of the *Canaanites who lived near to Shechem. (See Genesis 34:30.) He might be safer if he moved away from Shechem. Perhaps that was the reason why God told Jacob to move away from Shechem. But that was certainly not the main reason.

Jacob had met God at the place that he named ‘Bethel’. (See Genesis 28:16-19.) That name means ‘God’s house’. So God was saying to Jacob, ‘Go to the place where you met me. Go to my house. Build an *altar there. Use the *altar to bring *offerings to me. When you met me at Bethel for the first time, you were alone. Now you have wives and children and servants. Bring them with you. They too must come to my house.’

God did not tell anyone else in Genesis to build an *altar. People built *altars when they wanted to give *offerings to God. But on this occasion God said, ‘Make an *altar.’ This caused two changes for Jacob’s family.

• From this time, Jacob had one special place where he would give *offerings to God. Many years later, God’s people had a special place where God met them. After they left Egypt, this place was a tent. (See Exodus 4:2.) And, many years later than that, it was a building that king Solomon built. (See 1 Kings 9:1-3.) So God was beginning to prepare his people for those later ages.

• From this time, Jacob’s family and his servants had to approach God, in addition to Jacob. That was the reason why they needed to hide their foreign gods. (See verse 2.)