Shedding Some Good For the Future's Sake

“But Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allonbachuth.” (Ge 35:8 AV)

This one fact seems out of place and unnecessary.  At least to the unlearned mind.  Deborah was more than likely the nurse sent with Rebekah when she left Laban to marry Isaac.  Once Rebekah was gone, it would not have been proper for her to reside with Jacob while he was with Laban in Padanoram.  She was left in Hebron while Jacob was serving Laban for his two wives and his flocks. Once Jacob left and came to Shechem, it was more than likely Jacob send for and received Deborah into his household seeing her mistress had passed away.  Deborah would have been like a second mother to Jacob.  She would have assisted Rebekah in raising the children.  Therefore, there would have been a connection there.

The death of Deborah is in the midst of God’s covenant with Jacob.  He had gone to Bethel to build and altar there.  God appeared to Jacob and changed his name to Israel.  The process involved three steps.  There was the journey from the fields to the place of Bethel.  There was a putting away of the gods which his family had come to accumulate.  Then there was the actual building of the altar and communing with God.  Deborah’s death came during the time of cleansing.  This is not to say that Deborah was someone who needed to be cleansed.  There was no indication that she was anything but a positive influence on the family.  But there is something to be said for breaking the ties of the past so the future can be complete.

Jacob’s mother had already passed.  Esau and Jacob had resolved their differences and they each went their separate ways.  Both, enjoying the blessings of God, went their separate ways, becoming a separate nation in and of themselves.  Isaac was soon to pass.  The only one left with a tie to the past was Deborah.  Her passing came before the covenant with Jacob.  She needed to be taken home before Jacob can be set completely apart.  Sanctification does not mean separation for only that which is harmful or cumbersome.  We often view sanctification and cleansing ourselves of sin and wickedness.  But sanctification can also mean a separation from that which at one time was a necessary part of who and what we needed to be at the time.  There is nothing wicked or wrong with it.  It is just that God has a different direction for our lives without being critical of the place we were.  Forging ahead and allowing the present to define God’s purpose and plan is part of sanctification.