Genesis 33:18-20 – God wants our total obedience

Jacob had truly experienced the tremendous grace of God. And the Almighty had done amazing things in his life. But in these short verses, we learn that the place where this altar was built to celebrate the Lord was misplaced. It should have been built in Bethel instead of Shechem. For in Genesis 28:22 where in Bethel, the words he said to the Lord after building an altar there were, “This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”   

Verse 18 tells us that Jacob went to Shechem and camped before the city. Here he bought a piece of land from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father for 100 pieces of money. Ever wonder why the Bible also did not make a big deal of the incident although crossing the Jordan to Shechem would have been a major moment in his life? This is an indication that Jacob had only obeyed the Lord partially. In truth, his obedience was incomplete, even though he built an altar to God and name it El-Elohe-Israel, meaning “the Mighty God is the God of Israel” 

Ever wonder why he didn’t press on to Bethel which was only about 20 miles from where he was? Here could be some of his excuses. Perhaps it’s because Shechem was a better place for his flocks and for business. He must have also considered the fact that Bethel was not too far away from Shechem. So he thought that he could just easily pluck everything up, get up and go there anytime should he wanted. He failed to realize that once he had settled in comfortably, it would be harder to move. Could he had also become a bit careless and taken the Lord for granted instead of obeying Him more precisely? Whatever the case, he had not kept his word to move to Bethel as he had promised. And this had exacted a huge price from his family, a matter we will discuss when we come to Genesis 34.  

What we learn from his choice of Shechem is this: being partly obedient is not enough. We need to know that partial obedience is in fact a euphemism for disobedience. Nothing short of a 100 percent obedience to God is a good enough response to Him. Why is partial obedience not enough? Because it’ll cause us to have the illusion that we have obeyed God totally. Partial obedience is as good as disobedience, no matter how many rational excuses we give to it. God cannot be mocked for, what we sow we shall also reap. Here’s a word from the wisdom of John Eliot, a missionary who was killed in the Amazon jungle in Ecuador while in mission. He said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.”