This week's Parasha reads like a Hollywood script. Chapter 34 ends with two of Yaacov's sons, Shimon (Simeon) and Levi committing mass murder. This forced Yaacov once again to flee for fear of his life, a situation he was only too aquatinted with. With that chapter 34 ends and chapter 35 begins, with G-d speaking to Yaacov:

B'reshit {35:1}: G-D said to Ya'akov, "Arise, go up to Beit-El, and live there. Make there a mizbeah (altar) to G-D, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esav your brother."

Isn't that interesting that G-d brings up the fact that Yaacov hand to flee from Esav at this precise time. I believe the L-rd did it to remind him, that had he not fled from Esav 20 years or so earlier, he would have never been transformed from Yaacov, meaning deceiver or liar, to Israel, meaning a prince with G-d.

You see Yaacov was quite comfortable living in the lap of luxury with his wealthy family, being mama's boy back in the land of Caanan. Had this affair with Esav never erupted I'm sure he would have been content to live in with mom and dad all his life and perhaps never fulfil his destiny. So I believe trouble had not entered Yaacov's life once again, or he may have never left Shechem, after all he was quite comfortable, prosperous and well respected there. However with Yaacov's comfort and complacency came a real and apparent danger, the prospect of intermarriage. G-d's chosen lineage was in jeopardy of being compromised. Yaacov had become so involved in his life, acquiring wealth and maintaining his status in the community, that he drifted far away from his first love. So G-d tells him here in chapter 35 to go back, back where he first met his salvation, back to the basics, back to where he met Yeshua, back to where he brought the guilt of his deception. It's a trip that perhaps you need to take as well, possibly even for some of the same reasons Yaacov had to take it. Maybe you have been anaesthetized by the good and prosperous life you're living here in North America! But trust me, G-d has a rude awakening in store for you somewhere along the line, if you're truly one of His. Therefore take heed of the lesson and arouse yourself before He has to arouse you.

Yaacov had strayed so far off the mark that when G-d gave him his marching orders, read the type of clean up work he had to do before breaking camp and pulling out.

B'reshit {35:2} Then Ya'akov said to his household, and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, change your garments. {35:3} Let us arise, and go up to Beit-El (Bethel). I will make there a mizbeah to G-D, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went."

Consider these verses! Yaacov had been through hell and back more than once in his life, but despite all the problems he had faced he still recognized that G-d had kept his promise to watch over him and protect him. I truly believe G-d was with me even when I strayed from Him at times in my life. I was a believer then also and despite all the difficulties I faced, I know He was always watching over me and protecting me. He preserved me and in most cases used my sin to draw me closer to Himself. I'm sure those of you who are reading this and are believers, feel the same way?

Yaacov heard from G-d, and he identified with the fact that something was lacking in his relationship with Him. He realized that before he went back to his first love he needed to be renovated his life a bit. For Yaacov, it was inventory time. It was time for him to take stock of his life and count the cost of what had happened since he was last in Beit-El. Those of you in business can appreciate what a drag it is to have to take inventory, but it's necessary for the health and well being of the business. Yaacov's inventory did not however only involve taking stock, it also involved separating himself from the world. Yeshua told you and I to do the exact same thing.

Yochanan (John) {17:15}: I pray not that You should take them out of the world, but that You would keep them from the evil. {17:16} They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. {17:17} Sanctify them through Your truth: Your word is truth.

Here Yeshua was praying that we would not be taken out of the world, but rather that the world would be taken out of us. As believers in Yeshua we are in the world to influence godly changes to an ungodly world. In order for us to effect this change, we like Yaacov, must be separated form the world. If we remain like the world then we can't influence the world, we've become ineffective believers. I trust that you have not become one of those, because if you have G-d is telling you in this Parasha, that you need to go back, back to your Beit-El, back to when you first met Yeshua so that you can get back on the right track.

Rabbi Jack "Yaacov" Farber is the spiritual leader of Congregation Melech Yisrael in Toronto, Canada.

Copyright 2002