“One day Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, went to visit some of the young women who lived in the area. But when the local prince, Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, saw Dinah, he seized her and raped her. But then he fell in love with her, and he tried to win her affection with tender words. He said to his father, Hamor, “Get me this young girl. I want to marry her.” Genesis 34:1-4 NLT
This story out of Genesis captures more than just the brutality of ancient times on the plains of ancient Egypt. The story captures the heart and nature of humankind – see, want, take. You may say, this is purely “mankind,” but there are numerous stories where women of that day are just as conniving, just as brutal, especially when it comes to revenge or righting a wrong.
This Hivite prince simply sees a young foreign girl and decides to take her. No impulse control, no moral boundaries, just an entitlement of his character and position. It is very interesting that Genesis adds this commentary, “but then he fell in love with her.” Ah, after forcing himself on her, violating her physical body, he THEN tries to sweet-talk her into marriage? This didn’t go over well then and wouldn’t go over well, even today. As you read the entire chapter, you discover that Dinah’s brothers were not going to forgive and forget. They never intended on allowing a covenant between them and the Hivites to take place. There was no way a peace pact based on a rape was going to stick.
They contrived a wickedly brilliant plan. Get the males in the tribe to submit to physical circumcision, thus pretending to allow a intermarriage to take place between their men and Israel’s women. Question: Would tricking their enemies into circumcision, causing physical pain among ALL the males, be sufficient for justice? Apparently not for Simeon and Levi. They wanted full and swift justice in the form of total annihilation of that tribe’s bloodline.
Maybe an inappropriate euphemistic application was enacted here by Jacob’s sons, “those who live by the sword, shall die by the sword.” Thus, the same physical part of Shechem’s body would not only be cut away, but his member, having been used in a violent act, would bring the total destruction of his legacy.
Was Shechem’s behavior deplorable? Yes. Was the double, bloody act of revenge, by the brother’s, toward the entire tribe justified? No! Although it was effective in communicating a powerful fear-based message to Israel’s enemies, it still begs the question – was it right? Was it overreacting, overreaching in its application of justice? Jacob himself seems to think so!
Jacob chastised his sons and told them they brought a curse upon their entire family! “Afterward Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have ruined me! You’ve made me stink among all the people of this land—among all the Canaanites and Perizzites. We are so few that they will join forces and crush us. I will be ruined, and my entire household will be wiped out!” The brothers argued back, which tells us they did not agree with Jacob, “would you rather the locals see our sister as a prostitute?
That brutal act towards their once, accommodating neighbors, put out the word that Israel could not be trusted in sharing the land as well as trading goods and services. Even though Abraham had purchased property in Shechem, Jacob made the decision to pull up roots and move the entire Israelite tribe to Bethel, a city 20 miles away. These cycles of brutality and revenge would play out many times over. And, these very human cycles still persist today.
This is still the results of our sin, our selfishness our self-determination to do what we want, when we want to do it. It makes me think about all the times that God is blamed for human brutality OR blamed for not preventing such atrocities. These are our issues that God came to redeem and restore to righteousness. And to make that restoration complete and legitimate, God sent his son, Jesus, to endure the total brutality of death on a criminal’s cross. The irony is not just Jesus’ innocence, but his complete sinlessness that makes this grace so shockingly beautiful.
Prayer
Dad,
As I read these ancient accounts of humanity, I see their dark shadows of sin permeating all facets of life. There is violence and revenge, but there is also stories of beauty, grace and forgiveness. This story is a compounded tragedy where power perpetrates on innocence, but then anger and revengeful rage, takes hundreds of innocent lives as well as enslaves the abandoned women and children. We ache, we agonize in anticipation of your final judgment and justice. And, in the midst of all that, I find that I am not innocent nor deserving of grace, yet it was extended towards me. Justice was purchased and applied on my behalf.