Genesis 34

CHAPTER 34

Dinah and the Shechemites (34:1–31)

1–6 After Jacob had settled near the city of Shechem, his daughter Dinah (Genesis 30:21) began to get friendly with the local people living there. She attracted the attention of Shechem, the son of the ruler of that part of Canaan. Being a ruler’s son, he probably thought he could have any woman he wanted; so he took Dinah and violated her, that is, raped her (verse 2). Though at first Shechem only lusted for Dinah, he soon fell in love with her. He then decided to make her his wife. Since marriages were arranged by parents in biblical times (and still are today in many places), Shechem asked his father to make the marriage arrangement with Jacob (verses 4,6).

7 Jacob remained strangely quiet during this affair, but his sons were furious when they heard what had happened to Dinah. Though Shechem now wished to marry her, it did not make up for what he had done; sex before marriage was considered wrong (it is condemned throughout Scripture) and rape was worse. Their sister had been defiled; the family’s honor had been stained.

8–12 Shechem and his father Hamor tried to pacify Jacob and his sons. First Hamor welcomed Jacob to live freely among the Shechemites and other local Canaanite tribes. Hamor was pretending to do Jacob a favor with his offer, but he really was hoping to benefit himself; he thought that if Jacob’s sons intermarried with the Shechemites, eventually the Shechemites would gain possession of Jacob’s great wealth (verse 23). In addition, Shechem offered to give any bride-price Jacob might ask for,¹¹² thus giving Jacob the further enticement of enriching himself at his daughter Dinah’s expense.

No one in the entire affair was behaving properly; each had only his own interest in view. But God’s interests were even greater: God did not want Jacob’s family to intermarry with the ungodly Canaanites. God knew that if they did, they would begin to worship the Canaanite gods and become absorbed into the surrounding culture and lose their identity, their witness, their ability to bring true blessing to all peoples—which was God’s purpose in choosing Abraham and his descendants in the first place (Genesis 12:3).

It is possible that Jacob would have agreed to Hamor’s proposal of intermarriage, and thus have thwarted God’s plan. But God knew Jacob’s sons would thwart their father’s plan. God didn’t approve of what the sons were about to do; but without their knowing it, the sons were actually furthering God’s objective of keeping the Israelites distinct from the Canaanites.

God expected the Israelites to remain pure and righteous and obedient to His covenant commands (Genesis 17:9–10; 26:3–5). Only by setting an example of godliness could Israel bear witness to a holy God; intermarriage would destroy that witness—as the future history of Israel was to prove over and over again. That is why both Abraham and Isaac instructed their sons not to marry Canaanite women (Genesis 24:3; 28:1). For the same reason, God did not want Dinah to marry a Canaanite man.

This same issue remains highly relevant for Christians today. Like the ancient Israelites, we Christians must remain distinct from the ungodly cultures around us. And yet at the same time we must associate with the people of these cultures, we must show them love and seek to draw them to our Lord. We must be “in” the world but not “of” it (John 15:19; 17:14–15).

13–17 Jacob’s sons were determined to get revenge for Shechem’s mistreatment of Dinah. They did so by first deceiving the Shechemites. They pretended to agree to intermarry with the Shechemites as long as every Shechemite male underwent circumcision. Like father, like sons: they had learned well the deceptive practices of their father Jacob.

Worse, their deception involved a misuse of the sacred ceremony of circumcision. Though circumcision was practiced in other ancient cultures, the circumcision that God commanded Abraham to carry out was reserved for Abraham’s descendants and for those who sincerely desired to follow the faith of Abraham. Jacob’s sons, however, persuaded the Shechemites to undergo circumcision in order to humiliate them and make it easier to overcome them (verse 25).

18–24 The Shechemites met at the city gate¹¹³ and agreed to be circumcised (verse 24); they did so because they coveted Jacob’s wealth, which they hoped to gain through intermarriage. Their greed proved to be their undoing.

25–29 Three days after the Shechemites had been circumcised, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, attacked and killed every male among them. Later all the brothers came and looted the city, taking with them all the women, children and animals. The revenge carried out by Jacob’s sons far, far exceeded the wrong done by Shechem. Their father Jacob was greatly distressed by their actions.

30–31 Jacob was distressed first of all because he feared for his own safety. Word would surely get out about what his sons had done to the Shechemites; then all the other Canaanite tribes would likely join together against Jacob and his family.

But Jacob also had a sense of moral outrage at what his sons had done. Later, on his deathbed, he denounced Simeon and Levi as violent and cruel men, and he refused to bless them; he pronounced a curse on them instead (Genesis 49:5–7).

Simeon and Levi were among the oldest of Jacob’s children, but they couldn’t have been much more than twenty years old when they murdered the Shechemites. What does this tell us about Jacob as a father? It’s popular today to blame parents for the failings of their children and, to some extent, it’s fair to do so. Jacob surely had failed to raise his sons in the fear of God. On the other hand, each individual must bear responsibility for his or her actions. Children cannot blame their parents for their own sins and failings. As their father lay dying, Simeon and Levi learned that this was true.