It is truly amazing how the word of God can be at the same so incredibly profound and yet so absolutely practical. The wisdom of the ages is found in its pages, and yet often in the simplest and most ordinary of circumstances. A great example of this is found in a seemingly insignificant story in Genesis 35. In the previous chapter a tragic turn of events resulted in two of Jacob’s sons murdering all the men of Shechem, and leaving Jacob fearing greatly for his life.
In the opening verse of Chapter 35, God speaks to Jacob, and instructs him to go back to Bethel, where God had appeared to him before, and settle there. Still haunted with the fear of the reprisal his sons’ actions might bring, and yet inspired by a fresh word from God, Jacob was eager to put the events of the previous chapter behind him, and make a fresh, clean start. And so, upon hearing this message, Jacob called together his family and, in Genesis 35:2-3, made the following announcement:
“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.”
It is clear from this passage that Jacob either knew or suspected that certain members of his household had idols in their possession. This suspicion was confirmed in the following verse, which declares, “So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had…”
Notice that after instructing them to get rid of their idols, Jacob told them to “purify” themselves. This word is used many times in the Bible and in almost every case it is in reference to being cleansed from sin – particularly idolatry.
Like the priests and the prophets would later do for Israel, Jacob was calling his family to repentance, telling them to turn away and cleanse themselves from their sinful practices.
The last thing Jacob demanded his family to do was to change their clothes. At first glance, this might seem a little strange. It is possible that their clothing was somehow connected to their idols – such as garments used in idolatrous religious ceremonies. Such clothing is mentioned elsewhere in scripture, like in Zephaniah 1:8, where God declared that He would punish “all who clothe themselves with foreign garments.” If certain members of Jacob’s family were wearing such clothing it is easy to see why he would tell them to remove them.
But whether the clothes Jacob was referring to were directly associated with idolatry or not, there is still a powerful principle here that has application to all of us. If we think of clothing in a completely utilitarian sense, we see it as something that is constant contact with the world around us and at the same time in constant contact with us. As I stated earlier, as this story opens Jacob was seeking to make a fresh start in life – he was hoping to clean the slate so to speak on the last, unpleasant chapter of his life.
We can appreciate this principle at a simple level each time we slip into a bed with freshly washed sheets, or put on a newly cleaned and pressed outfit. But if we look at this at a deeper level – in regard to seasons of repentance and spiritual renewal, we may understand this as ridding ourselves of certain defiling things that may have clung to us for some time, and surrounding ourselves with new “garments” – such as new friends, circumstances, hobbies, surroundings, etc. And in this sense, we would all do well to take Jacob’s advice from time to time and “Change our clothes.”