Genesis 34

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.