Genesis 34:31

31 And they said, Nay, but shall they treat our sister as an harlot?

Genesis 34:31 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 34:31

And they said
Simeon and Levi, in a very pert and unseemly manner:

should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?
make a whore of her, and then keep her in his house as such? is this to be borne with? or should we take no more notice of his behaviour to our sister, or show no more regard to her than if she was a common prostitute, whom no man will defend or protect? so say the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem,

``nor let Shechem the son of Hamor mock at us, or boast and say, as an harlot whom no man seeks after, or no man seeks to avenge her; so it is done by Dinah the daughter of Jacob:''

they tacitly insinuate as if Jacob had not that regard for the honour of his daughter and family, and showed his resentment at the wicked behaviour of Shechem, as he ought to have done. It is observed that there is a letter in the word for "harlot" greater than usual, which may either denote the greatness of the sin of Shechem in dealing with Dinah as an harlot, or the great impudence and boldness of Jacob's sons, in their answer to him, and their audaciousness in justifying such baseness and cruelty they had been guilty of. The whole of this history, as related in this chapter, is given by Polyhistor out of Theodotus the poet F17.


FOOTNOTES:

F17 Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 22. p. 427

Genesis 34:31 In-Context

29 And they took captive all the persons of them, and all their store, and their wives, and plundered both whatever things there were in the city, and whatever things there were in the houses.
30 And Jacob said to Symeon and Levi, Ye have made me hateful so that I should be evil to all the inhabitants of the land, both among the Chananites and the Pherezites, and I am few in number; they will gather themselves against me and cut me in pieces, and I shall be utterly destroyed, and my house.
31 And they said, Nay, but shall they treat our sister as an harlot?

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.