35:9,10
God now appears again to Jacob “and blessed him”. To be blessed does not simply mean receiving lots of good things from God. Rather it means to be involved in God’s plans, and we see here that God confirms to Jacob that he is indeed still crucially involved in God’s plans. Some of the things that God said to him are similarly to what was said during Jacob’s wrestling with God (Gen 32:28). This starts with the name change to Israel.
35:11
“I am God Almighty”. This is the basis for the promises, and the reason why we can have confidence in the promises. If God was not God Almighty then it would be up to us to decide if we believed Him or not, and if we chose to follow Him or not. But God is God Almighty, so we have no option but to believe and follow. “Be fruitful and multiply”, this is a repeat of the original mandate in Gen 1:28. We need to appreciate that God’s dealing with Israel, and then with all people through Christ, are geared towards fulfilling the original plan. God had earlier promised to Abraham (Gen 17:6) that kings would come from him. We see that God’s plans are not frustrated by the sins and failings of men. This does not mean that our sins and failings do not matter, they most certainly do, but they do not thwart God’s plans.
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