But I was talking about "Bethel 1." As we continue reading in Genesis, we discover that there was a second Bethel encounter for Jacob, and "Bethel 2" was completely different from the first one.
In Genesis chapter 35, Jacob and his family are still reeling from the aftermath of a family trauma that not only damaged them emotionally, but also made them fear for their lives. It's at this point that God appears to Jacob, telling him to leave Shechem, where they lived, and to go back to Bethel. Bethel held a special significance for Jacob; it was the site of his very first personal encounter with God and the place where he heard God's promises for himself.
Interestingly, God tells Jacob to build an altar when he gets to Bethel. It's the first time we read in the Bible that God actually told someone to build an altar. All the previous altars we've read about seem to have been an individual's personal response to God's goodness.
But the last time Jacob had been in Bethel, some 20 years previously, he hadn't built an altar for worship, but had simply raised up a "memorial stone." His response to God's promises had still been full of ambivalence, full of ifs: Genesis 28:30 - If God is with me... if He protects me... if He provides for me... if I return to this land... (in other words, if God keeps the promises He has just spoken to me, then He will certainly be my God.)
Jacob wasn't yet believing God with real faith; he still doubted that God would really do what He'd said He would. But, despite all his equivocation, Jacob does make a promise in Genesis 28:22 - "This memorial pillar will become a place for worshipping God."
So now God is taking him back to Bethel and asking him to build an altar there... and Jacob's attitude is completely different this time. There are no more ifs. As he tells his family about the planned journey to Bethel, he says, "God answered my prayers when I was in distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone." (Genesis 35: 5)
Was this referring to the gods that Rachel had stolen and brought back from Paddan-Aram, or was it idols that came with the people they'd captured from Shechem in the previous chapter?
Either way, it seems that Jacob's household was still worshipping other gods at this point. The Lord was not their only God. So, before they head back to Bethel, they leave behind their idols and bury them under a big tree.
In a modern way, many believers today are still at the stage of the "Bethel 1" experience. They've seen that God is real, but they still hold on to other props for support - things like financial security, reputation, and the right to determine the course of their own life and their preferred way of following God. Their own opinions and traditions have been given more authority than the things God has actually said in His Word. In order to fo further or go deeper with God, they need to give up those idols and bury them once and for all.
And so Jacob sets up another memorial stone, but this is "Bethel 2." Now there are no more ifs. Idols are gone and Bethel has become a place of wholehearted worship.
