Genesis 34:1 ¶
And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to
see the daughters of the land. 2 And
when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he
took her, and lay with her, and defiled her. 3
And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the
damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. 4
And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to
wife. 5 And Jacob heard that he had
defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and
Jacob held his peace until they were come.
What
happens next is not Dinah’s fault any more than your car being stolen from its
parking space because you left it unlocked is your fault. Sin is the fault of
the person who commits the sin. The offence has come through the thief.
However, living carelessly has its punishments. Here, we learn something about
what Paul speaks of in Titus 2:5, a woman being discrete and keeping at home.
Dinah was rather unlike her male ancestors who acted quite cautiously and were
very worried about even the possible intentions of those around them. She
ventured out to see the daughters of the land and was raped by Shechem, the son
of that territory’s ruler. Notice the phrasing, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her. There is
no hint here of a consensual act.
First,
prince means a ruler and a judge.
Notice the synonyms joined by and in
the following verses.
Exodus
2:14 And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest
thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said,
Surely this thing is known.
Acts
7:35 This Moses whom they refused,
saying, Who made thee a ruler and a
judge? the same did God send to be a
ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the
bush.
The
words king and prince denote ruler and final authority in judgment over a people,
a chieftain by today’s standards in more primitive cultures.
Proverbs
14:28 In the multitude of people is the
king’s honour: but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince.
Dinah,
apparently being without any strong protection, was obviously raped. Remember
that Abraham and Isaac both had fear that the ruler of the land in which they
sought a place to live temporarily would kill them so that ruler could easily
take their wives. God did not prevent this from happening as he did prevent the
women’s defilement in those former cases.
Apparently
the ancient world in this area was a very dangerous place for women who did not
have the men of their family to protect them, as much of it is today, in the
Middle East. God will eventually give a law that protects women in these
circumstances but in their relation to the group, the Hebrews. But, when we get
to the Law given to Moses we must understand that those Laws are the civil and
religious ordinances for the Hebrew people separating them from the people
around them, and do not go far enough for the Christian as Christ and Paul lay
out the spirit of those Laws rather than the carnal letter which dealt with the
flesh itself. The Law given to Moses was more about the integrity and character
of the group than the character and integrity of the individual as God was
separating a people of a particular ethnicity unto Him rather than a person who
had no abiding nation on earth necessarily.
Shechem’s
heart was smitten by Dinah, though, and he felt tenderness toward her after his
violence rather than the contempt, for instance, that Amnon felt for Tamar in
2Samuel 13 after he raped her. He petitioned his father to ask for her in
marriage. Jacob knew what had happened but in his position of being a guest, a
stranger in their land, exercised restraint waiting for his sons to come in
from the field. His position was not good. The rape of Dinah will be felt as a
wrong committed against the family, the group, more importantly than against
Dinah, as an individual. This is clearly a different sort of attitude than the
Christian feels, as all sin is against God and against the person, and
government is established to punish those who do evil. In fact, if you read
Romans 13 it is one of the only justifications for human government.
Dinah
may have had the opportunity to visit the daughters
of the land. She may have even had the right to do so. But, it was not a
very smart thing to do, not thinking through the situation without protection.
She is not to blame here for the crime as you own your sin. But she was not
wise. Still, God allowed this to happen to set in motion something revealing to
us. I remember in college when there was a campus rapist in operation many of
the young men trying to convince the young women that although they had the
right to go on their own across campus at night to the library it was not smart
to do so without an escort. This, of course, offended the modern feminist,
whose rights the rapist predator could not have cared about in the least.
It
is a callous error, though, of modern fundamentalism to insist that men cannot
control themselves and that if a man acts wrongly out of lust it is a woman’s
fault. As I said earlier, regardless of how you want to cut it, you own your
own sin. Don’t put it off on the employer who leaves money to tempt you, the
girl who passes by you wearing too revealing clothing, or the person who runs
into a store leaving the keys in his car. Take responsibility. Child molesters
will even blame a child for enticing them. This is a wicked thought pattern, of
course.
We
will learn here another principle of the Bible. One crime does not blot out
another. God allowed this to happen to reveal something, to show us the
character and nature of the patriarchs of the Hebrew people. In this, they are
going to be shown as very much like the people around them, from whom God is
drawing them out. Paul writes in Romans 15 that these things were written about
for our learning. So, learn.
Genesis
34:6 ¶ And Hamor the father of Shechem
went out unto Jacob to commune with him. 7
And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the
men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in
Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter; which thing ought not to be done. 8 And Hamor communed with them, saying, The
soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to
wife. 9 And make ye marriages with us,
and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you. 10 And ye shall dwell with us: and the land
shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions
therein. 11 And Shechem said unto her
father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall
say unto me I will give. 12 Ask me never
so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but
give me the damsel to wife. 13 And the
sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said,
because he had defiled Dinah their sister: 14
And they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to
one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us: 15 But in this will we consent unto you: If ye
will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised; 16 Then will we give our daughters unto you, and
we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will
become one people. 17 But if ye will not
hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will
be gone.
Shechem’s
father, Hamor, meets with Jacob to try to work out a marriage agreement with
him. Jacob’s sons, Dinah’s brothers, were filled with wrath at the offense done
to the family. Verse 7 is interesting in that the statement is made that what
has happened is wrong.
Let’s
remember an important point here, that God did not create culture, not yours,
not theirs. Culture and civilization’s existence is part of God’s permissive
will, not necessarily His direct will. Remember, God does have a will where He
wants something to happen, prefers it to happen, indeed even ordains it which
the Christian should always be seeking.
Romans
12:1 ¶ I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of
God.
God,
though, often accomplishes His desired ends in a different than a preferred
way, by allowing man to have the desires of his heart, even if the consequences
are painful to man. This happens in everyday life as well as in the bigger
events of history. No one would argue that it would not have been better for
mankind if he and she had stayed as husbandmen in God’s garden having eternal
fellowship with Him but those who believe and trust Him will eventually have
that eternal fellowship, only with a much longer way around to get there.
In
God’s will there were previous incidents where He did not permit rape and
murder to happen; in the previously mentioned cases involving Abraham and
Sarah, and Isaac and Rebekah. But, God did not prevent Shechem from assaulting
Dinah. Here, He allows something which reveals character, behavior, and the
nature of a people; vengeful, capable of wrath and great violence, as well as
duplicitousness. Like we Gentiles the Hebrews, the family of Israel, were not
righteous in themselves. They needed God’s hand but, as we do, often went their
own way.
Rape,
sexual violence, in the degradation of the ancient world, was viewed
differently than we do today, at least today in the more sophisticated
contemporary countries and cultures. It was less a crime against a woman than
it was against her family in a context such as this. In primitive, abased
cultures rape is either the woman’s fault or a means by which a more physically
or politically powerful man may have his way with a woman who is not protected
by the men of her family or husband.
This
sin falls under the very same thought processes as many sins of unregenerate
man. “I can do it because I want to do it and I can do it because it is within
my power to do it.” It is only after the fact that people might have second
thoughts. Think of the many couples in today’s world who committed fornication
and then, finding that the woman was pregnant, decided to, “do the right
thing,” and get married.
This
is the same type of thinking, as well, that goes into the Ayn Rand type of,
“whatever I want is good,” or, “whatever I perceive to be in my own
self-interest is the greatest good.” There is little difference in the sinner’s
heart whether he or she commits a violent interpersonal act or simply a
non-violent, selfish act. The feeling is the same as in the RocknRoll song,
“Kinda I want to.”
Hamor
is going further. He is trying to make peace with Jacob’s family by
reciprocation, offering his own daughters and women of their tribe to Jacob’s
sons. Whether this is an attempt to prevent revenge or, in acknowledging guilt
a political ploy to cover over the evil we cannot know. Jacob’s sons, as crafty
as old Jacob once was, say that they will only consent to this peace treaty if
Hamor’s people accept circumcision, their own sign of unity and obedience to
God, and they will become one people. That, of course, is not their intention
at all. Revenge is their intention.
This
ancient city, as mentioned before, would have had family worship around idols,
gods, and city worship as a singular religious entity. There is the danger, of
course, at this early time, if Jacob’s sons had truly agreed with Hamor, of the
Hebrews as a separate people being a dead issue. The coming act of violence
will keep them separate from those around them. The important thing is that God
permits it to happen. His chosen people will do it and He will use it for His
purposes while revealing their character and true nature. But, we Christians
are admonished;
Romans
12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not
yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is
mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
I
recently read a news article about a man “beating up” a 13 year old boy who
offered his 13 year old daughter a key chain for her virginity and going to
prison for the beating he administered. Can any father out there honestly blame
that father for his rage? Don’t think too harshly of Dinah’s brothers. Examine
yourself.
Genesis
34:18 ¶ And their words pleased Hamor,
and Shechem Hamor’s son. 19 And the
young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s
daughter: and he was more honourable than all the house of his father. 20 And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the
gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying, 21 These men are peaceable with us; therefore
let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for the land, behold, it is
large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us
give them our daughters. 22 Only herein
will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every
male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. 23 Shall not their cattle and their substance
and every beast of theirs be ours? only let us consent unto them, and they will
dwell with us. 24 And unto Hamor and
unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and
every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city.
Now,
Shechem, the man who assaulted Dinah, is said to be the most honorable man in
his father’s family. This shows you how, by Christian standards, depraved the
Canaanite culture was. He was very fond of Dinah, though, and wanted to ‘do the
right thing’ because of his affection for her and not discard her like garbage
as some cultures of men in America so easily do today. We understand and most
of us accept today that rape is rape and a woman can say, “no,” at any time and
it must be respected or the act is considered a crime. Offering to marry the
girl doesn’t change anything today.
Father
and son encourage the men of their city to make this treaty of peace with
Jacob’s sons and what must have been a rather large army of servants to care
for their flocks. They would have been a formidable force. Hamor and Shechem,
as part of their argument, say that this will signify a union between the
family of Israel and themselves making them both one people.
Jews
and Gentiles (non-Jews) are made one
people at the Cross. Pay attention to Paul’s argument again.
Ephesians
2:14 ¶ For he is our peace, who hath
made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
15 Having abolished in his flesh the
enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in
himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in
one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17 And came and preached peace to you which were
afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18
For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
There
is another hint here at self-interest. Hamor and Shechem want the men of their
city to believe that with this union the wealth of Israel and his sons will be
their wealth as well.
…all that went out of the gate of his
city refers to the residents of the city, in context, the
male residents who held political power. These are the men who could also
defend the city. In this somewhat bizarre agreement based on questionable
thinking on every side all of the men of the city consent to be circumcised.
It
does not say that Jacob’s sons and servants did the circumcision, but it is
certain that Jacob’s sons would have been there to verify that it was done.
This would not have been too strange, as we think of it.
Cultural
standards were much different in the past than in the last century or two. My
point is that people were must less concerned about such things between men in
the past. For instance, the Greeks worked out in their gymnasiums naked and
their athletic events were conducted in the nude. Presumably Hamor and Shechem
did the circumcising as it was the custom for the leaders or priests to perform
the act and we know the king of a city was also its high priest from past
references. First, with Abraham, father to his children and master to his
servants, to Joshua, leader of his people;
Genesis 17:23
And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house,
and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s
house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God
had said unto him.
Joshua
5:3 And Joshua made him sharp knives,
and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.
The
very idea that the authority of governmental or even tribal leaders extends to
our reproductive organs is appalling to us today. We cannot even imagine it.
Imagine the local mayor or the patriarch of your extended family doing this.
Imagine you letting them. We have relegated such things to doctors or, in the
case of parts of the Jewish culture, a person called a ‘Mohel’ does this.
If
by this point you don’t know what circumcision is you’ll have to look it up.
I’m not going into the grisly details here.
Genesis
34:25 ¶ And it came to pass on the third
day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi,
Dinah’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and
slew all the males. 26 And they slew
Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of
Shechem’s house, and went out. 27 The
sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had
defiled their sister. 28 They took their
sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and
that which was in the field, 29 And all
their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and
spoiled even all that was in the house. 30
And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to
stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the
Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together
against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. 31 And they said, Should he deal with our sister
as with an harlot?
Simeon
and Levi were the two who did the slaughter. You might assume that they had the
help of their many servants, as Abraham did in his rescue of Lot. The third day is a recurrent thread
throughout the Bible as a significant time elapsing between two things.
On
the third day God created dry land
and plant life, food for man and beast, in Genesis 1. Abraham saw where he
thought he was supposed to sacrifice Isaac in Genesis 22. It on that day that
Laban realized Jacob had escaped in chapter 31. So, while it is hard to connect
these four events as having a relationship with each other we do know that God
separated land from ocean in chapter 1, that God separated Abraham for Himself
in chapter 22 by his willingness to obey, and Jacob’s separation from Laban, a
type of the world and a type of antichrist, was revealed on the third day.
Here, in this chapter, there is no going back. Jacob’s sons will not become
merged with the Canaanites. This act forever seals their separation and the
understanding of them as a dangerous people.
In
this regard the third day shows an
action which separates one from the other, as Christ rises on the third day forever separating His own
people from the fate of unbelieving mankind.
But
here we also see that Simeon and Levi steal the wealth and the families of the
men they’ve killed as plunder. This has not been commanded by God and is
condemned, but not very strongly, by Jacob. Certainly, this city would have
been of no more size than a small town by our standards today but,
nevertheless, circumstances and the young men’s lust for revenge have placed
Jacob’s family in grave peril. Jacob fears a union of Canaanite city-states
that could wipe out his family and servants. His sons demanded revenge for a
wrong done to them as a proud family.
Please
note that these Canaanite children and women are now added to the servants that
Jacob and his family have with them.
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