respect for the LORD — Faves of Dave - Bible Study

Gen. 34:1 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. 3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.”

Gen. 34:5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. 6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing must not be done.

Gen. 34:8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. 9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it.” 11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. 12 Ask me for as great a bride-price and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.”

Gen. 34:13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. 14 They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. 15 Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. 16 Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. 17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.”

Gen. 34:18 Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor’s son Shechem. 19 And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his father’s house. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21 “These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. 22 Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.” 24 And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

Gen. 34:25 On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. 29 All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered.

Gen. 34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” 31 But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”

This story pretty much speaks for itself concerning what happened. Jacob purchased some land in the land of Canaan in faith that the LORD was going to fulfill his promise to make that land the nation for the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel). Jacob’s daughter was raped by Shechem, a Canaanite, who then wanted to marry her and sent his father to convince Jacob and his sons to give Dinah to his son in marriage. Jacob’s sons act amenable to the proposition on one condition: that all their men become circumcised. Take notice that Moses wrote that Jacob’s sons answered Hamor and Shechem deceitfully (Gen 34:13). They didn’t initiate this agreement on good faith that this would be a desirable arrangement, and then later decided to take vengeance. This was calculated. Furthermore, the context reveals that Jacob was not part of this scheme. It was all the plan of the sons.

Hamor and Shechem then convince their men that this will be a good deal for everyone. Specifically, they believe this marriage will bring a cooperative relationship with Jacob’s family and will prosper them financially. But on the third day after having been circumcised, the men are immobilized by their pain from the circumcision. Two of the older brothers, Simeon and Levi, carried out their true plan, and they massacred all the men and plundered their homes. We might say that they brought some “frontier justice.”

Jacob's assessment of this action is recorded immediately afterwards. He recognized that his sons’ actions could get him in a lot of trouble with other inhabitants of the land. Simeon and Levi defend their actions in a rhetorical question. “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute” (v. 31)? The obvious answer is “no.” But the answer to whether or not this justifies their actions in killing all these men is not so obvious from the immediate context. If we fast forward a number of years in Jacob’s life, after he goes down to Egypt with his sons to survive the famine and be reunited with Joseph, we arrive at Genesis 49 and Jacob calls his sons together to what? He’s going to reveal who will carry the “seed” forward. Is it the firstborn Reuben? Nope. We’ll find out why soon. How about the next in line, Simeon and Levi? Here’s what Moses records of his message about those two.

“Gen. 49:5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers;

weapons of violence are their swords.

6 Let my soul come not into their council;

O my glory, be not joined to their company.

For in their anger they killed men,

and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen.

7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,

and their wrath, for it is cruel!

I will divide them in Jacob

and scatter them in Israel.”

This is the indictment concerning their former actions. But not only did they commit a violent action in slaughtering those men, they used (abused) the sign (circumcision) of the Abrahamic Covenant as a means to that end. As evil as Shechem’s actions were against Dinah, Simeon and Levi disregarded the holy purpose of the sign of the covenant and used it to commit violence. Jacob will not let it slide. I think this is one of Jacob’s last actions that reveal his trust and respect for the LORD and his word.

This story should remind us not to take for granted the LORD’s blessings to us and use it in ways that would dishonor the LORD.