Over the years, I've had several conversations with non-Christian friends and relatives that have gone something like this -- "The Bible is filled with inaccurate stories about men who did horrible things and got away with it."

Usually, the people making this statement are quite unfamiliar with the Bible. They are simply parrotting something they learned somewhere, often on some atheist website. My argument is always that they should go and read the Bible for themselves before making such judgments.

Occasionally, however, I run across someone who has done their homework. Frank is such a person. He compared Hebrews 11, which speaks of the patriarchs like a roll-call of the faithful with Genesis and found the Bible wanting.

At first glance, Hebrews leaves out a lot of information about the patriarchs. Just focusing on the examples of Noah and Abraham, there is almost a disconnect between the treatment the writers of Hebrews gave to them and the real accounts found in Genesis. Noah was a reverant man, but he also cursed his grandson for the crimes of his son and got drunk. Abraham did follow God in faith, but he committed adultery and polygamy and several times failed to trust God. Doesn't that make the BIble seem contradictory and untrustworthy?

First, when one looks at history -- any history -- one takes only a snap shot of that history. Trust me, as one who loves to study history, there is no more boring historical treatment than something attempting a comprehensive study of any era or event. The writers of Hebrews (I have presented the not-original-to-me theory that it was Barnabas and Apollos writing in partnership following Paul's death) were not seeking to revisit history that had already been recorded in Genesis. They were, instead, focusing on specific examples of faith in HUMAN BEINGS.

The Bible is HISTORY, recording the events of PEOPLE and people are never perfect. Thus, Hebrews focuses on those saints in the Bible who failed, which encourages those of us who are not perfect and know it. Genesis was very candid in revealing the failures and flaws of the patriarchs, then Hebrew assured us that these very human men and women will be there in heaven. That gives me a great deal of hope for my own sorry self.

Scoffers who seek to convince themselves and others that there is no coming judgment will often point out the fact (and it is a fact!) that nothing catastrophic has happened to sinners in many years. It's been a while since there have been whole civilizations burned into oblivion or lightning bolts striking particularly egregious individuals. I think they overstate this by ignoring the very real judgment of the Flood. Noah's generation scoffed at the ark until the water rose above their hips and then they wanted on. God had told Noah that his family would be rescued by the ark, but there is no recording that God indicated that anyone else would believe and enter the ark. All the rest of mankind would be destroyed. Noah preached "righteousness", but not as an evangelist. He was not called to save that generation, only to tell them why they were condemned. Noah's faith was evident in his obedience to God's instructions, not because he was a perfect man. The authors of Hebrews focused on Noah's faith. They didn't indicate that Noah's family shared his faith. Ezekiel 14 inferred that Noah appealed to God to spare his family and God granted his request. Ezekiel also indicated that the coming final judgment would not be handles so mercifully. Unbelievers will face God's judgment, because faith is an individual matter -- we don't inherit it from our parents. We can only accept what they believe or not.

Just because Noah had faith does not mean he was free from sin and failure. The Bible tells us of one particular failure, when Noah got drunk and exposed himself to his sons (Genesis 9). Noah had faith, but he wasn't perfect.

Similarly Abraham showed great faith by leaving his homeland to go to a land that God had promised him that was as yet unknown to Abrham. He sojourned in that land like a foreigner, but never possessed it in his lifetime. It is not at all inaccurate for the writer of Hebrews to say that Abraham obeyed God in his actions, though the Genesis account recorded quite a lot of failure to obey. Abraham tarried in Ur and then Haran for quite some time and only departed with the death of his father. His obedience was not immediate, but when he finally did obey, it was by faith. Then in Genesis 12, we find Abraham's faith faltered as he fled the Promised Land for Egypt to avoid a famine. There, he feared for his own life and lied to Pharoah, who caught him in the lie and rebuked him for it. He and Sarah returned to the Promised Land only to repeat the same lack of faith in Gerar. Later, Sarah convinced Abraham to "cheat" God's plan with her servant and thus provide an heir for his line. Clearly, Abraham was not a perfect man. So how can the writer(s) of Hebrews call him a man of faith? Did he just not know about them? Was he in denial?

No, the writer(s) remembered the failures of Noah and Abraham, but chose not to mention them. Every human being is a fallen, fallable creature. The only thing that seperates Christian sinners from non-Christian sinners is the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses our sin. This does not keep us from failing in this life. If you look at the 11 apostles of Christ, you find men of faith who served God through failure. Peter and Barnabas broth failed regarding Gentile Christians, giving in to the Judaizers and Paul had to rebuke them (Galatians 2:11-21). Men and women of faith fail. Jesus sympathize with our weaknesses, comes to our aid, and gives us mercy and grace in our time of need (Hebrews 2:17-18; 4:14-16). Living by faith means trusting God when we fail, knowing that only our Great High Priest has lived a perfect human existence.

Remember that the readers of Hebrews were steeped in the Old Testament stories. They would have immediately recognized the omission of these failures and pondered the reason for their absence. The writer(s) of Hebrews emphasized their faith in such a way as to bring their failures to mind for consideration and careful review.

What is the basis of our faith? The author(s) of Hebrews spent a good deal of ink establishing that Jesus Christ is the foundation of our faith. Yet we know the patriarchs experienced failures. How can that be?

I submit it is because God had forgotten their failures. The old Mosiac covenant was about remembering sin from sacrifice to sacrifice, year after year (Hebrews 10:3-4), but under the new covenant in Christ's blood, all sins are covered for all time. The writer(s) of Hebrews consistently applied faith as they understood it. Those who trust in God's provision for sin by faith are fully forgiven and their sins are not remembered.

Since this is true, why would any reasonable person turn from trusting in Christ and try to return to the Old Covenant? To forsake Christ for the Old Covenant would be to abandon a salvation that cannot fail to save us for one that cannot ever save us.

Being a Christian is not about trying harder to please God; it's about God being peased because of the work of His Son on the cross. It's not about us living perfect, sinless lives so that we can stay saved; it's about Christ's once-for-all sacrifice that saves us and keeps us saved. This kind of salvation is so certain that we can endure all of life's trials with absolute confidence that the good work of salvation will be brought to completion by Him, no matter what our failures.

Faith in Christ does not require our perfection, only our perseverence. Faith in Christ rests solely on His perfection, not our own. The greatness of our faith is unimportant. The greatness of Christ is the object of our faith. A small, faltering faith in a great God is vastly superior to a great faith in the wrong object.

The patriarchs were not perfect. Christians today are not perfect. Jesus Christ is the only perfect Man and He is the only worthwhile object of faith. This is the lesson of Genesis and the reaffirmation of Hebrews ... if we will only learn it.

Nearly thirty years had passed since Jacob vowed to return to Bethel, the place where God had revealed Himself to him during his flight from Esau to Paddan-aram. Far worse, it had been 10 years since Jacob had left Laban and returned to the land of promise. In the interim, Jacob built a house in Succoth and formed alliances in Shechem with the Canaanites, which would have ruined the nation that was to emerge from Jacob’s descendants. It was 30 years after Jacob’s vow to return to Bethel that he determined to fulfill it ... though Shechem was only 30 miles - three days' journey -- from Bethel.

From outward appearances Jacob was not that far from God. Thirty miles isn't much and he'd built an altar in Shechem, so there must have been some kind of religious observance there. Spiritually, though, Jacob was not at all near to God. Jacob told Esau he would meet him at Seir, then went in the opposite direction, first to Succoth, then to Shechem. Jacob passively accepted the rape of his daughter and even entered into an agreement that would have cost the purity of God's covenant people. Preoccupied with prosperity and security at the expense of purity and piety, Jacob dwelt near Bethel but not near to the God of Bethel—at least not in chapter 34.

Lest we become judgmental, Jacob’s condition was not that different from many Christians in our own time. We may appear to be walking close to God by keeping the forms and rituals of piety, while in reality we have "denied its power" (1Timothy 3:5). Like the church in Ephesus, we may have lost our first love (Revelation 2:4) or come, like the Laodiceans to consider ourselves doing well spiritually when in fact we are destitute, cold and indifferent (Revelation 3:15-17).

The truth is that every one of us will face times when we have strayed from an intimate walk with God and Genesis 35 provides us with a pattern for finding our way back. Jacob is our guide to returning to the place of promise we should all inhabit.

"Then God said to Jacob, "Go up at once to Bethel and live there. Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau." So Jacob told his household and all who were with him,

"Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes. Let us go up at once to Bethel. Then I will make an altar there to God, who responded to me in my time of distress and has been with me wherever I went."

Moses did not tell us about any revelation Jacob might have received from God during the nearly 10 years since He had commanded he leave Paddan-aram and return to Bethel. Moses might have failed to record these communications, but I think it was more likely that Jacob wasn't listening. Despite his dramatic encounter with the Angel of Jehovah (the pre-incarnate Christ), Jacob quickly lost any sense of urgency about doing God's will. He probably planned to eventually go to Bethel, but there was no hurry in his mind. God had clearly spoken and Jacob knew His command. There was little value in God speaking again until Jacob was willing to obey.

Perhaps the tragic events surround Dinah's rape improved Jacob's ability to hear and obey God. His sons' revenge made it impossible to remain in Shechem, so Jacob might have been more inclined toward Bethel. Sometimes we follow God's commands as much through sin as through obedience.

Christians have free will in the sense of being able to choose whether or not we will obey what God commands. We can resist the commands of God, but we cannot thwart His ultimate purposes. God allowed Jacob to go his own way and reap the consequences of his disobedience. Eventually, we will do what God has purposed. God does not, like many of us do as parents, yell and holler, fuss and fume, over the disobedience of His children. While deeply grieved by our disobedience, He allows us to go our own way and reap the painful price of sin. When we have gotten our fill of sin and come to the end of our rope, He will speak to us again, reminding us of what He has previously commanded. God’s will can be resisted for a season and at a great price, but ultimately God will create an atmosphere in which we will gladly hear and obey. Then His purposes will be realized in our lives.

Jacob was to return to the place of his spiritual beginnings and dwell there. Perhaps he was hesitant to return to Bethel because of the foreign idols in his camp (of which, I believe, he was aware). For his love of Rachel, he allowed her to keep her family gods, but this set a precedence for other idols in his camp, especially among the captured Canaanites from Shechem. Remarkably, Jacob had tolerated a high level of idolatry and impurity in his entourage during his years in Succoth and Shechem, but suddenly, when God called him to return to Bethel, he became greatly concerned about purity. Jacob had always understood that there could be no approach to God in an impure condition, which may explain why he wandered anywhere but Bethel for 10 years. Following Christ is always costly and people shouldn't do it without counting the cost (Luke 9:57-62).

Don't be too quick to condemn Jacob, however, because most Christians today are hesitant, if not downright unwilling, to fully commit themselves to God for fear of what that commitment will cost them. Some of us would rather go on a mission trip among head hunters than have the folks where we work know that we're Christians who actually live as Christians.

Jacob feared reprisal from the relatives of those Shechemites his sons had put to death for raping Dinah and he now had a large number of Canaanite captives in his entourage as well. Yet, contrary to his fears, he departed for Bethel without incident. Although the Canaanites might have been wary of the military prowess of Jacob's sons, their victory had been more due to trickery than skills at arms; yet, the Canaanites seemed to fear Jacob's God more than they feared his sons' swords. In this experience, Jacob learned a lesson which we should learn as well -- safety is not found in our own strength nor in alliances with pagans (non-Christians), but in fear of God, which causes us to maintain the purity He demands (Proverbs 29:25; Exodus 14:13-14; Proverbs 8:13; 10:27; 14:26; Isaiah 8:13-15).

Finally in obedience to the command of God, Jacob returned to Bethel and built an altar. Moses didn't record if Jacob gave a tithe as he had promised years before. God doesn't seem to have reminded him of this promise as He did of the commitment to return and build an altar. There was no need of a tithe, truly. What use would it have served, rotting on a an altar in the middle of nowhere? Besides, I think the tithe was Jacob's idea during his bargaining phase and God doesn't bargain with people. Thus, God let this part of the promise pass unmentioned. Some commitments are rashly made and we should be glad that God overlooks them.

Oddly, Genesis 35:9-15 seems to skip over the 10 years of spiritual wilderness as if it hadn't happened. That bothers some people. But consider this -- God is not bound by time and space as we are. Moses, under inspiration, wrote in this fashion to suggest something significant for us from Jacob's life. Those 10 years were of little or no spiritual value because they were a time of independence and disobedience on Jacob's part. No real growth or progress occurred in Jacob's spiritual life, so for God, they were lost years -- years not worth reviewing.

The blessings God spoke to Jacob were remarkably similar to those given to Abraham in Genesis 17:4-7. Jacob receive no new promises. God was simply reminding him of the existing covenant. He then confirmed the covenant by ascending before Jacob's eyes. This event served as a rededication to God for Jacob, his sons and all his household. For the younger members of the family, this may have been the first clear evidence and explanation of the faith which Jacob had possessed, but practiced poorly before them. The faith of Jacob must become the fait of his children if they were to be the chosen nation.

Please read GENESIS 35:16-29 for the text here.

Somewhere between Bethel and Bethlehem, Rachel went into hard labor. The midwife tried to encourage Rachel by informing her that the child was the second son she wanted so badly. She'd named Joseph ("add to me") to express her desire for yet another son. With her dying breath Rachel named this second son Ben-oni, meaning "son of my sorrow." Jacob would not allow that name to stand, however, and changed it to Benjamin, "the son of my right hand." Rachel was buried on the way to Bethlehem, and Jacob and his household proceeded on, having set up a pillar along the way.

Significantly, Moses added that this pillar was still standing in his day. While this may mean little to us, it was probably of great interest to his first readers, the Israelites, who were about to enter into the land of Canaan. If they looked for this pillar when they possessed the land, they would find it and validate Moses' historical accuracy.

You might miss it if you read too fast, but Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, initiated an illicit sexual union with Bilhah, Rachel’s maid and Jacob’s concubine. This report prepares us for the time when Jacob will take away from Reuben the rights of the firstborn (Genesis 49:34).

Careful analysis of the event suggests there is more to the story. A casual reading implies a single act of morality rather than an ongoing relationship. Jacob knew about it, but did nothing. The act is not described as lustful, such as Shechem's rape of Dinah. Bilhah was not a young woman. It appears that at the time it was no big deal, but it appears that Jacob remembered it when it came time to name the successor to his inheritance.

Inevitably, Jacob reconciled with Isaac and Esau. Anyone who has ever totally trashed a family relationship can empathize with Jacob. It must have been the most difficult act of his life to stand before his father and request reconciliation, yet reconciliation with God and the renewal at Bethel necessitated reconciliation with Isaac.

Scholars tell us that Jacob spent about 10 years with his family before Isaac's death, but Moses did not stress this fact. It was time for Isaac to step aside and Jacob to take over. The hostility with Esau seems to have been a thing long dead and Isaac's burial was a cooperative effort.

This is a powerful commentary on the imporance of Christian renewal. Often modern Christians seem to wait for some new and exhilirating experience to put them back on the right path, but the Scriptures record few such experiences. What Jacob did at Bethel was hardly novel and what God said to him at His second appearance was nothing new. We should learn something from that! Jacob needed to gain a deeper appreciation for what he had already experienced, but not fully grasped. He needed no new revelation, but a better understanding of that which he had already received.

The most precious favors of heaven often come to us, not as new blessings or promises, but in repetition or revival of those we have already experienced in the past. Serving God may not be something brand new and novel, but repetitive and commonplace. For example, Jesus commanded believers to frequently and systematically observe the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, which takes us back to our initial encounter with our Savior, reminding us that all we are, all that we will be and all that we ever accomplish of eternal value rests on the work of Calvary 2000 years ago.

Of course, urging anyone to return to Bethel assumes that they have been to Bethel in the first place. Jacob came to Bethel the first time in recognition of his sinfulness and accepting that the only way to God's heaven was through God and not self-effort. That was his born-again moment, even though it took him 30 years to fully realize it. If you've never been to Bethel (the cross of Christ) in the first place, there's not much use to rededicating your life. There must be a first commitment involving a recognition of sin and acceptance of Christ as Lord.

I pray that you will do this now by simply acknowledging your sin and your utter inability to gain God’s favor or admission into His kingdom. The way has been provided in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Who died in your place and Who offers His righteousness to all who will believe on Him alone for salvation.

This event speaks loudly to the need for sanctification. That's a church word that means to grow in being more Christ-like. Salvation seems easy. Admit, believe and confess. Jacob's renewal at Bethel necessitated that he stop going his own sinful way and once again obey the will of God. There can be no renewal without obedience. Jacob had also to put away those foreign gods he'd tolerated for so long because they were offensive to God. Finally, his renewal involved reconciliation with those he had injuried and offended by his sins. We cannot be reconciled to God without being reconciled with men (Matthew 5:23-24).

The later events in Jacob's life remind Christians that a renewal of our relationship with God does not mean our lives will go smoothly. Even a Spirit-filled life is full of sickness, suffering and sorrow (Philippians 2:25; 2Corinthians 6:4-5; 12:7-10). The Christian life is no bed of roses ... of if it is, the roses have not been de-thorned. Adversaries and afflications are the very things that draw us nearer to God and strengthen our faith (James 1:2-4). Dinah's rape was a tragedy that set Jacob toward Bethel. Otherwise, he might have remained in Shechem and become a Canaanite.

Christians, like everyone else, reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7). The heartache Jacob experienced in Chapter 35 was largely the result of his previous sins. I am not saying that Jacob suffered the penalty for his sins. No Christian ever suffers the penalty for sins, for Jesus Christ has borne our sins on the cross. When Christ died on the cross, He died for believers past and future. However, while the guilt and condemnation are absolved, the consequences of sin remain. David sought God’s forgiveness for his sin and received it (Psalm 51), but the consequences for his acts were not held back (2Samuel 12:9-12).

God had purposed that Jacob would someday return to Bethel and to his father. While Jacob dilly-dallied for ten years, he finally arrived. We cannot thwart the purposes of God for our lives. We may resist them, but we cannot prevent them. This does not mean that what we do does not matter. It matters a great deal! Jacob experienced much needless sorrow because of his waywardness. Sin is never worth the price. However, what God has begun, He will finish (Philippians 1:6). We can do things His way or the hard way, but God's purposes will be achieved (Romans 8:28-30).

Jacob was not an example of a fine Christian man. He was an example of a Christian man who was also very human. His example should motivate us to be faithful and encourage us when we have failed in the attempt because we know that God loved Jacob despite his flaws, so He is able to love us in the same way.