Familial Leadership

Genesis 35: "Then God said to Jacob, 'Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God' . . . . So Jacob said to his household 'Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 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.' So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. Then they set out, and the terror of God fell upon the towns all around them so that no one pursued them . . . . God appeared to him again and blessed him. God said to him, 'Your name is Jacob but you will no longer be Jacob; your name will be Israel . . . A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body . . . The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you.'"

Jacob presents for us in this passage the model of obedient, spiritual leadership in the home. Certainly, God had prepared Jacob for this calling of spiritual leader through several, previous supernatural encounters with him. The first episode occurred on the way to Haran at a place called Bethel. At Bethel (meaning "House of God"), Jacob had a dream of a stairway leading to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it. God assured Jacob in the dream that He would be with Jacob, bringing blessing and protection to his family. Surely, Jacob was impressed with the power and the majesty that God presented; the awesome sight of heavenly hosts ascending and descending from the presence of God affirmed to Jacob that the Lord was Sovereign and that His will would be accomplished. Jacob never had to worry if what God said would come to pass; all that the patriarch needed to do was be obedient to God's commands. God in His majestic glory would fulfill His promises.

The second episode occurred at Peniel (meaning "face of God"). At this place, God chose to show part of His glory to Jacob. Not only did Jacob receive a further blessing from the Lord there, but he was strengthened in that he was permitted to see the face of God. It is important to note that Jacob received a blessing there because he had his face turned toward the Lord; he easily could have missed the blessing of this Divine encounter had he not been earnestly seeking the Lord. It is important for us as leaders to remember that we must have our faces turned toward God in faith and obedience if we expect to receive direction and blessing. God does not reward half-hearted allegiance to Him.


Now in the Genesis 35 passage cited above, God instructs Jacob to return to Bethel to settle there with his family (again, this is the place where God previously confirmed to Jacob the blessing of the Promised Land) . The first instruction to Jacob when he arrived was to build an altar to the Lord. Altars were used to pay homage to a deity; thus, God was instructing the patriarch to worship the Lord exclusively. There was to be no duplicity in his allegiance to the One True God.


However, before Jacob would be permitted to build an altar to the Lord, God told Jacob that he was to rid his household of any pagan idols. Jacob's wife, Rachel, had kept the idols of her father, Laban, when she and Jacob left Laban's home in Haran to return to the land promised to Abraham. God would not commune with Jacob and his family if they maintained other objects of worship; God's holiness demanded total, unadulterated allegiance. As a result of God's command, Jacob instructed his family to purify themselves in preparation of the dwelling place God had instructed for them to live. This purification involved his family's repenting of their sin, ridding themselves of their idols, and submitting completely to the Lord. Jacob was able to encourage his family by retelling the stories of God's unfailing commitment to him personally. . . answering and accompanying him in all situations that he faced.

The household of Jacob was obedient to his leadership. They gave to him all of their items of pagan worship, which Jacob in turn buried under an oak at Shechem. Immediately following their obedience, God empowered Jacob's household by stirring up terror in the hearts of the townships around the patriarch's family so that no one dared attempt to attack them. Thus, Jacob's household was able to experience prosperity without the fear of enemy invasion.

After Jacob built the altar to the Lord at Bethel and worshipped Him, God appeared to Jacob again to bless him. God reiterated to Jacob that he would have numerous descendants, that kings would come from him, and that the promised land would be given to him as well. All of these blessings were predicated upon Jacob's previous responses of obedience to the Lord's commands. Jacob knew his role as spiritual leader of his household; he gave specific instructions to his family to submit solely to the Lord and remove the obstacles that would hinder their obedience to God. He was able to encourage his family by recounting his past experiences with God, and he led them to fulfill God's command that they worship Him at the newly created altar in Bethel.

This message is a good word to those who are the familial leaders in their homes. We are called to be leaders that are driven by complete allegiance to the Lord. We must model for our families the importance of being solely committed to the Lord, and we must remove from our families anything that may compete with our loyalty to God first in our lives. We too must encourage our families by sharing with them how God has been impacting our lives because of our personal commitment to Him. Of course, this evidence will only be available if we ourselves have surrendered our lives to Him and are seeking him personally above all other persons and things.

Being a Godly spiritual leader in the home is not easy. It involves focused direction toward God in an environment that would attempt to sway us off course from God's intended path. Still, we must press on, in order that our families might see the hand of blessing from our Lord. Truly, God rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6); this necessitates familial leaders leading their families towards the paths of righteousness.