Genesis 34:2

2 quam cum vidisset Sychem filius Emor Evei princeps terrae illius adamavit et rapuit et dormivit cum illa vi opprimens virginem

Genesis 34:2 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 34:2

And when Shechem the son of Hamor
From whom the city had its name, near which Jacob and his family now were:

the Hivite, prince of the country;
Hamor was an Hivite, which was one of the nations of the land of Canaan, and this man was the prince or a principal man of that nation, as well as of Shechem. Josephus F3 calls him a king: when the son of this man

saw her;
that is, Dinah, what a beautiful person she was, and was enamoured with her:

he took her:
by force, as the Targum of Jonathan:

and lay with her, and defiled her;
or "humbled" or "afflicted her" F4; and it is a rule with the Jews, that every such act, which is done by force, is called an humiliation and affliction F5: the child begotten in this act of fornication is said F6 by them to be Asenath, who was had into Egypt, and brought up by Potipherah's wife as her daughter, and afterwards married to Joseph, ( Genesis 41:45 Genesis 41:50 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F3 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 21. sect. 1.)
F4 (hneyw) , (kai etapeinwsen authn) , Sept. & afflixit eam, Pagninus, Montanus.
F5 Gerundensis apud Munster, & Drusium in loc.
F6 Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c. 33. fol. 42. 2.)

Genesis 34:2 In-Context

1 egressa est autem Dina filia Liae ut videret mulieres regionis illius
2 quam cum vidisset Sychem filius Emor Evei princeps terrae illius adamavit et rapuit et dormivit cum illa vi opprimens virginem
3 et conglutinata est anima eius cum ea tristemque blanditiis delinivit
4 et pergens ad Emor patrem suum accipe mihi inquit puellam hanc coniugem
5 quod cum audisset Iacob absentibus filiis et in pastu occupatis pecorum siluit donec redirent
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.