This is one of the more violent and horrible chapters in Genesis. Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, is raped by a prince from the tribe of Shechem. Like Jacob’s earlier life, we see manipulation and deception by both the Shechemites and Jacob’s sons. It is violent and vengeful.
(The text of Genesis 34 is in bold, my commentary in italics.)
1 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 violated her.
2 Samuel 13:12-14 uses the same word - rape. No question that this is what happened here.
3 His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her.
He rapes her and then speaks tenderly? This guy is scum.
He's a prince. Maybe he isn't used to women saying no. Maybe he's use to getting away with things. Not this time, Shek!
4 And Shechem said to his father Hamor, “Get me this girl as my wife.”
Get me this girl as wife! - spoiled brat.
5 When Jacob heard that his daughter Dinah had been defiled, his sons were in the fields with his livestock; so he kept quiet about it until they came home.
6 Then Shechem’s father Hamor went out to talk with Jacob. 7 Now Jacob’s sons had come in from the fields as soon as they heard what had happened. They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that should not be done.
Her brothers are filled with grief and fury. Completely understandable. They end their work day early and ready to break heads.
8 But Hamor said to them, “My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. 9 Intermarry with us; give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You can settle among us; the land is open to you. Live in it, trade in it, and acquire property in it.”
11 Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and I will give you whatever you ask. 12 Make the price for the bride and the gift I am to bring as great as you like, and I’ll pay whatever you ask me. Only give me the girl as my wife.”
13 Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob’s sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor. 14 They said to them, “We can’t do such a thing; we can’t give our sister to a man who is not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. 15 We will give our consent to you on one condition only: that you become like us by circumcising all your males. 16 Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We’ll settle among you and become one people with you. 17 But if you will not agree to be circumcised, we’ll take our sister and go.”
IMPORTANT - Jacob's sons are using the sign of God's covenant as a means to manipulate these people. They are taking the judgment of God into their own hands, and using the images of God's righteous favour in order to meet their own needs and ends. This is an abuse of God's covenant, and an abuse of the Shechemites. The intention of the covenant was to create a people who would reflect God's nature on earth. Jacob's sons are doing the opposite, perverting the image of the covenant to manipulate others, another manifestation of the Babel problem
18 Their proposal seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem.
Their proposal seemed better than getting their faces broken.
19 The young man, who was the most honored of all his father’s household, lost no time in doing what they said, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter.
Not a very smart family.
20 So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city to speak to their fellow townsmen. 21 “These men are friendly toward us,” they said. “Let them live in our land and trade in it; the land has plenty of room for them. We can marry their daughters and they can marry ours. 22 But the men will consent to live with us as one people only on the condition that our males be circumcised, as they themselves are. 23 Won’t their livestock, their property and all their other animals become ours? So let us give our consent to them, and they will settle among us.”
They're also deceitful, thinking the deal means that Jacob's things will become theirs.
24 All the men who went out of the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male in the city was circumcised.
25 Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. 26 They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem’s house and left. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where their sister had been defiled. 28 They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields. 29 They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses.
It only took two of them to kill Every Single Man.
They plundered everything. For the dishonour of their sister they took all of the other family's goods, their women, and their children.
30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench 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.”
Jacob is afraid now that his son's actions will make him unsafe in the land.
31 But they replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”
Jacob's sons believe they are entirely justified.
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Dinah was treated like a prostitute because the prince raped her and then tried to pay for her.
Circumcision and covenant are not to be treated lightly. Neither are they to be treated as a means to gain, either relationship with God, or the blessings that come with it. God is not for hire. His covenant is based on his promises, and we belong to him.
What about other manipulations of God’s blessing? Simon the sorcerer in Acts? Buying indulgences? (The old Catholic ritual) What about money sent to televangelists to earn God’s favour?
Is this further reference to the Babel problem? Are all of our religious efforts little more than treating God as a divine prostitute?
God's love and blessings are not to be bought.
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