Hiding Sin or Turning from it?

Genesis 35:1-15 

1 Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.” 2 And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone.” 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree which was by Shechem.   5 And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. 7 And he built an altar there and called the place El Bethel, because there God appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother.  8 Now Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the terebinth tree. So the name of it was called Allon Bachuth.
    9 Then God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Padan Aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” So He called his name Israel. 11 Also God said to him: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. 12 The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where He talked with him. 14 So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it. 15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel.

Jacob left after they took revenge on Dinah, and they came to the place named the house of God, Bethel.  He was commanded to go there to live and worship at the very place where God showed Himself to Jacob as he ran from his brother’s vengeance before for taking the right and blessings of the firstborn from him (which was despised by Esau and sold for a bowl of food, by the way).  Jacob told all with him to get rid of the false gods, which they did by burying them - but looking closely we see Jacob took and hid them, he did not dispose of them with the intent never to look on them again.  Hiding sin is not the same as turning from it.  God had gone before them on their journey to put His fear in the lands they were led through until they arrived at Bethel in Canaan.  There he built the altar of worship and God appeared again to bless him and renamed him Israel.  There he was told by Almighty God to be fruitful and fill the earth as Adam was once commanded, and he was promised the land of Abraham and Isaac for their descendants forever.  After God had so talked with Israel, He left and Israel set up a pillar of worship and remembrance with a drink offering poured out as he would pour himself out for His God in the years to follow.  This was the place of God’s house where he met Him, Beth El.  We should learn not to hide sin away under a tree but trust God’s promises and live in obedience and unfeigned holiness, with worship of thanksgiving as we pour out our lives for the One who did so for us on the cross!