# 36 2023 Dev. Gen.34:1-2. Dinah Defiled! Read all of chapter thirty four first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s story. Do you believe that this may also be part of our story, in our time? All passages are taken from the NIV.
Gen.33:1-2 “Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. 2 When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and raped her.”
Gen.34 Jacob, not willing to go to Seir to live with Esau, entered Canaan and stayed near Shechem. He bought land and Jacob built an alter there. This chapter is a sordid story. Take note that the word God is not in this chapter. Ch. 32 ends with God and Ch.34 starts with God. While rape is a despicable event, the self righteousness of Jacob’s sons and the greed of the Shechemites led to a horrible ending.
Vs.1-4 “Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land.” Jacob, settling so close to a strange pagan city, although small, was asking for trouble. Women had nothing to say in those days and what happened was predicable.
Vs.5-7 As it turned out Shechem fell in love with her, that changed everything for him and for the city, but it changed nothing for Jacob and his sons. “They were shocked and furious, because Shechem had done an outrageous thing in[a] Israel by sleeping with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that should not be done.”
Vs.8-12 “But Hamor said to them, ‘My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife.’” Hamor, the ruler of the area, suggested they become one people. What Jacob knew about God’s intentions for His family is not clear but mingling with the Canaanites was the absolute anathema to God.
Vs.13-23 “Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob’s sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor.” Was Jacob aware of these negotiations? It is hard to think that he was not, but he was not aware of his son’s intentions. It does not appear that anyone asked Dinah what she wanted, yet she stayed at Shechem’s house for a week or so, perhaps forced to stay. The bothers used the sacred rite of circumcision (baptism today) to plunder the city. The winning argument for Shechem’s men for this arrangement was; “ Won’t their livestock, their property and all their other animals become ours? So let us agree to their terms, and they will settle among us.” The deception of both parties led to this atrocity.
Vs. 24-29 All the men of the place agreed and were circumcised. But two of Dinah’s brothers took up the sword and killed all the men at a time when they could not defend themselves and took Dinah out of Shechem house. Then all the son’s of Jacob totally plundered the city, they took everything they had and all the women and children. How they managed the logistics is hard to imagine. Perhaps it was a small group of people.
Vs.30-31 “Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ‘You have brought trouble on me by making me obnoxious to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.’” “But they replied, ‘Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?’”
God was going to keep Israel separate until such time they could be a nation in their own right. However, they must have integrated the women and children captives in some way. We do not hear about Dinah again or about the captives. Was Jacob willing to let Dinah go while he went on his way? I believe that was the case, he certainly did not condone what his son’s had planned. Even in this situation God is in control!
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