December 10, 2024 • 20 mins
Could revenge ever truly balance the scales of justice, or does it only tip them further into chaos? This episode examines the harrowing narritive of Dinah from Genesis 34, where cultural tensions and family loyalty collide with tragic consequences. We unravel the story of Dinah, the young daughter of Leah and Jacob, who becomes entangled in a scandal that threatens her family's honor. Shechem, the prince of the land, commits a grave violation against her, sparking a maelstrom of emotions within Jacob's household. We explore Jacob's calculated patience as he awaits his sons' return to address the situation and discuss the broader implications of intermarriage with the Canaanites.
As the story intensifies, the narrative shifts focus to the fierce retribution enacted by Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers. Their drastic response to avenge their sister's defilement results in a city wide massacre that resonates far beyond the city of Shechem. This episode scrutinizes the moral complexities of their actions, the resulting loss of respect for Jacob's family, and the palpable tension with the surrounding communities. We ponder the long-term repercussions of their unchecked anger and violence, as later recounted in Genesis 49 when Jacob curses their wrath. Join us as we navigate themes of justice, family loyalty, and the profound impacts of vengeance on the Israelite community.
Email: nathan@nathandietsche.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you for joining me for the Mysteries of God's
Word.
Today is December 10th of 2024,and, for those of you who
follow regularly, I want you toknow that I'll be taking a break
for about a month for theholidays.
We'll pick up again in themiddle of January.
Today we're in Genesis, chapter34, and the title of our
(00:22):
chapter is the Defiling of Dinah, starting at verse 1.
Now Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she'd born to Jacob, went
out to see the women of theland, and when Shechem, the son
of Hamor, the Hivite, the princeof the land, saw her, he seized
her.
(00:43):
We're going to stop there,because there's a lot in those
first two verses.
Dinah was the daughter of Leah,born to Jacob after she had the
six boys, but before Rachel hadconceived Joseph, and, based
upon what we know of Joseph'sage, it's believed that Dinah
(01:06):
would be about 14 or 15 at thistime.
Now Dinah went to the nearbycity of Shechem, a city that
apparently got named after thisyoung man that lived here, and
Dinah went there to socializewith other women.
Now, we don't know whatprompted Dinah to do this.
The historian Josephus believedit may have been one of their
(01:30):
festivals.
Whatever the case, dinah has noidea that her socializing with
the people of this land is goingto bring such a terrible ending
.
When Shechem sees Dinah, it saysthat he seized her and he lay
with her and humiliated her.
This four-part description is adescription of forcible rape.
(01:55):
As clear as these four stepsthat are laid out in this verse
make it, the scripture continuesthroughout this chapter to
describe what Shechem did hereas an unacceptable crime that
defiled Dinah.
Regardless of how sincereShechem's feelings were toward
(02:15):
Dinah and wanting to marry herafter this, what he does here is
nothing short of forcible rape.
Picking up in verse 3, and hissoul was drawn to Dinah, the
daughter of Jacob.
He loved the young woman andspoke tenderly to her.
So Shechem spoke to his father,hamor, saying Get me this girl
(02:38):
for my wife.
In verses 3 and 4, afterShechem defiled Dinah by raping
her he wanted to have her allthe time and he starts to speak
tenderly to her, attempting tocomfort her and speak kindly to
her after his abusive behavior,telling her of his great
affection toward her, that shemight be drawn to her abuser.
(03:01):
But apparently that wasn'tworking so well, because Shechem
goes and speaks to his fatherand he tells him go get me this
girl for my wife.
We really begin to see howspoiled and corrupt this grown
man really is.
He abuses his status and hispower to take whatever he wants.
(03:23):
After he defiles Dinah andtries to manipulate her to come
back to him, and that doesn'tseem to work, he asks his father
, the chief of the village goget this girl for my wife.
Verse 5.
Now Jacob heard that he haddefiled his daughter, dinah, but
(03:44):
his sons were with thelivestock in the field.
So Jacob held his peace untilthey came and Hamor, the father
of Shechem, went out to Jacob tospeak with him.
The sons of Jacob had come infrom the field as soon as they
heard of it and the men wereindignant and very angry because
he had done an outrageous thingin Israel by laying with
(04:07):
Jacob's daughter, for such athing must not be done.
In these three verses we seethat Jacob had heard about what
happened to Dinah.
Now we don't know exactly orspecifically how Jacob heard
about it.
Perhaps Dinah told her mother,or perhaps a messenger had come
from the city, which seems morelikely because of how the
(04:30):
narrative continues.
But whoever this was thatinformed Jacob now appears to be
going out to the field toinform the sons of Jacob.
And it says Jacob held hispeace.
Jacob shows wisdom here and hewaits for his sons to get back
from the field so that this canbe handled as a family affair.
(04:52):
Jacob wants the counsel of hisentire family and all of the men
in his family before he makes adecision.
And while Jacob is waiting forhis sons to come back from the
field, hamor, the father ofShechem, and Shechem come to
talk to Jacob.
So the father of Shechemresponds almost immediately to
(05:16):
his selfish son's request and hecomes out to the house of Jacob
even before the sons of Jacobget in from the field, from this
messenger telling them aboutwhat had happened.
As soon as the sons of Jacobgot word that Dinah had been
defiled, they came in Again.
(05:37):
We don't know for certain whothis person was that informed
them, but it would be reasonableto assume that the same person
that told Jacob was the personthat went out and told his sons,
which is why Jacob waits forhis sons to come in.
And it says when they got therethey were indignant and very
(05:57):
angry.
This description of how thebrothers feel describes that
their heart is filled with painand hurt and it's bringing forth
a burning hot anger.
And the scripture talks about anoutrageous thing that's done in
Israel.
The Hebrew words for thisoutrageous thing implies
(06:19):
something that would beconsidered outrageous to
everyone.
It's outrageous to thecorporate conscience, it's
something that simply is notever done by anyone, and we see
that they say it should not bedone.
Picking up in verse 8, shechemalso said father Hamor Hamor
(07:27):
begins saying Give yourdaughters to us and take our
daughters.
This is the first of which willbe many temptations for the
Israelites as a nation tointermarry with the idolatrous
Canaanites.
Later, god would command Israelto destroy the Canaanites and
(07:48):
not intermarry with them.
In Deuteronomy 7, 3-6, we readIn Deuteronomy 7, 3-6, we read
you shall not intermarry withthem, giving your daughters to
their sons or taking theirdaughters for your sons, for
they would turn away your sonsfrom following me to serve other
gods.
Then the anger of the Lordwould be kindled against you and
(08:11):
he would destroy you quickly.
But thus you shall deal withthem.
You shall break down theiraltars and dash in pieces their
pillars and chop down theirAssyrium and burn their carved
images with fire.
For you are a people holy tothe Lord, your God, the Lord,
your God, has chosen you to be apeople for his treasured
(08:32):
possession out of all thepeoples who are on the face of
the earth.
This current offer that's on thetable to Jacob and his sons by
Hamor, who is the chief of thisland, was an abuse of his power
to appease the lust of his son.
His offer to Jacob and his sonsto intermarry with the
(08:54):
Canaanites promised a continuedfreedom to purchase land, to
trade and to dwell safely in theland to some degree, which
Jacob's family already had beendoing At some level.
This could have seemed like asubtle threat, threat as much as
an offer for greaterrelationships.
(09:15):
As Hamor is finishing hisproposal, shechem almost pipes
in.
It's as if he recognizes thesenegotiations are not going well
and Shechem offers a great brideprice.
He says he'll give a dowry forthe bride, which was normal in
(09:36):
the Near East for all marriagearrangements.
However, shechem is offeringanything they would ask of him
for Dinah, which implies herecognizes these negotiations
need a boost and it also implieshis great desire and
selfishness to get what he wants.
(09:58):
Verse 13,.
The sons of Jacob answeredShechem and his father Hamor
deceitfully because he haddefiled their sister Dinah.
They said to them we cannot dothis thing, to give our sister
to one who is uncircumcised, forthat would be a disgrace to us.
Only on this condition will weagree with you that you will
(10:22):
become as we are by every maleamong you being circumcised.
Then we will give our daughtersto you and we will take your
daughters to ourselves and wewill dwell with you and become
one people.
But if you will not listen tous and be circumcised, then we
will take our daughter and wewill be gone.
(10:43):
In these five verses we see thesons of Jacob answering Shechem,
and his father Jacob appears tobe sitting back and allowing
his sons to take responsibilityfor this, which shows Jacob
teaching his sons to be leaders.
However, his sons are not beinghonest in their dealings and
(11:06):
they answered deceitfully theHebrew word deceitfully here
means treacherous and we beginto see that the nature to
deceive runs in the family.
Jacob, who was known in thepast for his trickery, has now
children who are doing trickery.
As the sons of Jacob recognizethe deep desire and almost
(11:29):
desperation of Shechem to havetheir sister as his wife, they
take advantage of it.
This deception, however, isvery serious as it abuses the
sign of circumcision.
The sign of circumcision wasmeant to stand for being
blameless before God, and thesebrothers are about to use it for
(11:50):
mass murder.
Verse 18.
Their words pleased Hamor andhamor's son shechem, and the
young man did not delay to dothe thing because he delighted
in jacob's daughter.
Now he was the most honored ofall his father's house.
So Hamor and his son Shechemcame to the gate of the city and
(12:15):
they spoke to the men of thecity saying these men are at
peace with us.
Let them dwell in the land andtrade in it, for behold, the
land is large enough for them.
Let us take their daughters aswives.
Let us give them our daughters.
Only on this condition will themen agree to Let us give them
our daughters.
Only on this condition will themen agree to dwell with us and
become one people.
(12:36):
When every male among us iscircumcised as they are, will
not their livestock, theirproperty and all their beasts be
ours?
Only let us agree with them andthey dwell with us.
And all who went out to thegate of the city listened to
Hamor and his son Shechem.
And every male was circumcised,all who went out of the gate of
(13:00):
his city.
In these seven verses, we seethat the words that the sons of
Jacob spoke to Hamor and Shechempleased them.
The circumcision of all the menin the city must have seemed
like a small price to paycompared to what could have been
asked of them.
Being completely bound by hislust for Dinah, shechem quickly
(13:26):
set out and did it, and then hebegan to set in motion the plan
to have all the men of the citydo it as well.
We learn that Chechem was themost respected son of Hamor and
he was looked up to by all ofthe men in the city.
This notation is importantbecause when the men of the city
(13:47):
are asked to participate insuch a painful surgery, they'd
have to be compelled by both anotable person and personal gain
, and Shechem is the man to doit.
And we see that Shechem goes tothe gate of the city.
The gate of the city is thecommon place where business
(14:07):
gatherings took place in theancient Near East, and Shechem
uses the argument that all theyhave will be ours, telling the
men at the gates that after wedo this, there will be a great
financial reward for everybodyin the entire town and we'll
have access to Jacob's propertyand we'll have access to all of
(14:29):
his herds of animals.
And so Shechem and Hamor, hisfather, stayed at the city gate
until every able-bodied male inthe city came out and was
circumcised Verse 25.
Two of the sons of Jacob, simeonand Levi, dinah's brothers,
(14:52):
took their swords and cameagainst the city while it felt
secure and killed all the males.
They killed Hamor and his sonShechem with the sword and took
Dinah out of Shechem's house andwent away.
The sons of Jacob came upon theslain and plundered city
(15:15):
because they had defiled theirsister.
They took their flocks andtheir herds, their donkeys and
whatever was in the city and inthe field, all their wealth, all
their little ones and all theirwives, all that was in their
houses they captured and theyplundered.
In these five verses we see agreat atrocity Simeon and Levi,
(15:39):
on the third day after thecircumcision, go out with their
swords.
Now Simeon and Levi are thesecond and third son of Jacob
through Leah.
Now Simeon and Levi are thesecond and third son of Jacob
through Leah and, as youremember, dinah is also the
daughter of Leah, so they arefull brothers and sister.
It gave them a strong motive toprotect their sister and,
(16:04):
without the knowledge of theirfather, jacob.
They planned and left forvengeance upon the city, the
entire city of Shechem.
And when the men of the citywere at their weakest, after
having been circumcised and theyfelt very secure because
Shechem said that we are atpeace with these men, these two
(16:25):
brothers came and killed everymale in the city, and this
included the leadership of Hamorand Shechem.
This massacre is way beyond anyreasonable punishment or form of
justice for the rape of Dinah.
In the Law of Moses itdescribes a just penalty for
rape in Deuteronomy 2, 28through 29,.
(16:47):
If you're interested in lookingthat up, we also see here that
Simeon and Levi took Dinah,which shows us that Shechem had
already taken Dinah into hishome immediately after the
agreement for the men to becircumcised.
And now the two brothers takeher back home to the house of
(17:07):
Jacob.
And after they take Dinah home,all of the brothers come back
and loot the city.
And as all of these brothersparticipate in plundering the
wealth of this city as well ascapturing the women and children
of the city, the sons of Jacobare approving and justifying of
what their brothers did asacceptable because, as they say,
(17:30):
he defiled their sister, verse30,.
Then Jacob said to Simeon andLevi.
You have brought trouble on meby making me stink to the
inhabitants of this land, theCanaanites and Perizzites.
My numbers are few and if theygather themselves against me and
attack me I shall be destroyed,both I and my household.
(17:53):
But they said Should he treatour sister like a prostitute?
When all of the brothers camehome with all of the loot, jacob
says to them you have broughttrouble on me and you have made
me stink to the inhabitants ofthis land.
Jacob is greatly troubled by theevil his sons have committed.
(18:15):
The cruel and overblownvengeance of Simeon and Levi
upon the town of Shechem hasbrought a total loss of respect
for the family of Jacob in theland of Canaan.
Furthermore, it has placed themcloser to imminent danger, as
other cities and villages willfeel threatened and they may
(18:36):
band together to destroy themaltogether.
But it would appear that thecorrection of Jacob fell on deaf
ears, for the brothers didn'twant to listen to their father's
correction and they continuedto justify their mass murder and
looting of the city, using thedefiling of their sister as an
(18:57):
excuse.
While the brothers were rightto protect the honor of their
sister and culturally this couldmean extracting capital
punishment upon the perpetrator.
They went beyond anything thatwas just and they used this
event to loot everything in thecity for personal gain.
(19:19):
In Genesis, chapter 49, whenJacob gives his blessings to his
sons, simeon and Levi will becursed for their violence and
anger.
Thank you for joining me thisweek for this difficult but yet
very important chapter.
God bless you this holidayseason and we'll see you next
(19:42):
month.
Thank you for joining me for the Mysteries of God's
Word.
Today is December 10th of 2024,and, for those of you who
follow regularly, I want you toknow that I'll be taking a break
for about a month for theholidays.
We'll pick up again in themiddle of January.
Today we're in Genesis, chapter34, and the title of our
(00:22):
chapter is the Defiling of Dinah, starting at verse 1.
Now Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she'd born to Jacob, went
out to see the women of theland, and when Shechem, the son
of Hamor, the Hivite, the princeof the land, saw her, he seized
her.
(00:43):
We're going to stop there,because there's a lot in those
first two verses.
Dinah was the daughter of Leah,born to Jacob after she had the
six boys, but before Rachel hadconceived Joseph, and, based
upon what we know of Joseph'sage, it's believed that Dinah
(01:06):
would be about 14 or 15 at thistime.
Now Dinah went to the nearbycity of Shechem, a city that
apparently got named after thisyoung man that lived here, and
Dinah went there to socializewith other women.
Now, we don't know whatprompted Dinah to do this.
The historian Josephus believedit may have been one of their
(01:30):
festivals.
Whatever the case, dinah has noidea that her socializing with
the people of this land is goingto bring such a terrible ending
.
When Shechem sees Dinah, it saysthat he seized her and he lay
with her and humiliated her.
This four-part description is adescription of forcible rape.
(01:55):
As clear as these four stepsthat are laid out in this verse
make it, the scripture continuesthroughout this chapter to
describe what Shechem did hereas an unacceptable crime that
defiled Dinah.
Regardless of how sincereShechem's feelings were toward
(02:15):
Dinah and wanting to marry herafter this, what he does here is
nothing short of forcible rape.
Picking up in verse 3, and hissoul was drawn to Dinah, the
daughter of Jacob.
He loved the young woman andspoke tenderly to her.
So Shechem spoke to his father,hamor, saying Get me this girl
(02:38):
for my wife.
In verses 3 and 4, afterShechem defiled Dinah by raping
her he wanted to have her allthe time and he starts to speak
tenderly to her, attempting tocomfort her and speak kindly to
her after his abusive behavior,telling her of his great
affection toward her, that shemight be drawn to her abuser.
(03:01):
But apparently that wasn'tworking so well, because Shechem
goes and speaks to his fatherand he tells him go get me this
girl for my wife.
We really begin to see howspoiled and corrupt this grown
man really is.
He abuses his status and hispower to take whatever he wants.
(03:23):
After he defiles Dinah andtries to manipulate her to come
back to him, and that doesn'tseem to work, he asks his father
, the chief of the village goget this girl for my wife.
Verse 5.
Now Jacob heard that he haddefiled his daughter, dinah, but
(03:44):
his sons were with thelivestock in the field.
So Jacob held his peace untilthey came and Hamor, the father
of Shechem, went out to Jacob tospeak with him.
The sons of Jacob had come infrom the field as soon as they
heard of it and the men wereindignant and very angry because
he had done an outrageous thingin Israel by laying with
(04:07):
Jacob's daughter, for such athing must not be done.
In these three verses we seethat Jacob had heard about what
happened to Dinah.
Now we don't know exactly orspecifically how Jacob heard
about it.
Perhaps Dinah told her mother,or perhaps a messenger had come
from the city, which seems morelikely because of how the
(04:30):
narrative continues.
But whoever this was thatinformed Jacob now appears to be
going out to the field toinform the sons of Jacob.
And it says Jacob held hispeace.
Jacob shows wisdom here and hewaits for his sons to get back
from the field so that this canbe handled as a family affair.
(04:52):
Jacob wants the counsel of hisentire family and all of the men
in his family before he makes adecision.
And while Jacob is waiting forhis sons to come back from the
field, hamor, the father ofShechem, and Shechem come to
talk to Jacob.
So the father of Shechemresponds almost immediately to
(05:16):
his selfish son's request and hecomes out to the house of Jacob
even before the sons of Jacobget in from the field, from this
messenger telling them aboutwhat had happened.
As soon as the sons of Jacobgot word that Dinah had been
defiled, they came in Again.
(05:37):
We don't know for certain whothis person was that informed
them, but it would be reasonableto assume that the same person
that told Jacob was the personthat went out and told his sons,
which is why Jacob waits forhis sons to come in.
And it says when they got therethey were indignant and very
(05:57):
angry.
This description of how thebrothers feel describes that
their heart is filled with painand hurt and it's bringing forth
a burning hot anger.
And the scripture talks about anoutrageous thing that's done in
Israel.
The Hebrew words for thisoutrageous thing implies
(06:19):
something that would beconsidered outrageous to
everyone.
It's outrageous to thecorporate conscience, it's
something that simply is notever done by anyone, and we see
that they say it should not bedone.
Picking up in verse 8, shechemalso said father Hamor Hamor
(07:27):
begins saying Give yourdaughters to us and take our
daughters.
This is the first of which willbe many temptations for the
Israelites as a nation tointermarry with the idolatrous
Canaanites.
Later, god would command Israelto destroy the Canaanites and
(07:48):
not intermarry with them.
In Deuteronomy 7, 3-6, we readIn Deuteronomy 7, 3-6, we read
you shall not intermarry withthem, giving your daughters to
their sons or taking theirdaughters for your sons, for
they would turn away your sonsfrom following me to serve other
gods.
Then the anger of the Lordwould be kindled against you and
(08:11):
he would destroy you quickly.
But thus you shall deal withthem.
You shall break down theiraltars and dash in pieces their
pillars and chop down theirAssyrium and burn their carved
images with fire.
For you are a people holy tothe Lord, your God, the Lord,
your God, has chosen you to be apeople for his treasured
(08:32):
possession out of all thepeoples who are on the face of
the earth.
This current offer that's on thetable to Jacob and his sons by
Hamor, who is the chief of thisland, was an abuse of his power
to appease the lust of his son.
His offer to Jacob and his sonsto intermarry with the
(08:54):
Canaanites promised a continuedfreedom to purchase land, to
trade and to dwell safely in theland to some degree, which
Jacob's family already had beendoing At some level.
This could have seemed like asubtle threat, threat as much as
an offer for greaterrelationships.
(09:15):
As Hamor is finishing hisproposal, shechem almost pipes
in.
It's as if he recognizes thesenegotiations are not going well
and Shechem offers a great brideprice.
He says he'll give a dowry forthe bride, which was normal in
(09:36):
the Near East for all marriagearrangements.
However, shechem is offeringanything they would ask of him
for Dinah, which implies herecognizes these negotiations
need a boost and it also implieshis great desire and
selfishness to get what he wants.
(09:58):
Verse 13,.
The sons of Jacob answeredShechem and his father Hamor
deceitfully because he haddefiled their sister Dinah.
They said to them we cannot dothis thing, to give our sister
to one who is uncircumcised, forthat would be a disgrace to us.
Only on this condition will weagree with you that you will
(10:22):
become as we are by every maleamong you being circumcised.
Then we will give our daughtersto you and we will take your
daughters to ourselves and wewill dwell with you and become
one people.
But if you will not listen tous and be circumcised, then we
will take our daughter and wewill be gone.
(10:43):
In these five verses we see thesons of Jacob answering Shechem,
and his father Jacob appears tobe sitting back and allowing
his sons to take responsibilityfor this, which shows Jacob
teaching his sons to be leaders.
However, his sons are not beinghonest in their dealings and
(11:06):
they answered deceitfully theHebrew word deceitfully here
means treacherous and we beginto see that the nature to
deceive runs in the family.
Jacob, who was known in thepast for his trickery, has now
children who are doing trickery.
As the sons of Jacob recognizethe deep desire and almost
(11:29):
desperation of Shechem to havetheir sister as his wife, they
take advantage of it.
This deception, however, isvery serious as it abuses the
sign of circumcision.
The sign of circumcision wasmeant to stand for being
blameless before God, and thesebrothers are about to use it for
(11:50):
mass murder.
Verse 18.
Their words pleased Hamor andhamor's son shechem, and the
young man did not delay to dothe thing because he delighted
in jacob's daughter.
Now he was the most honored ofall his father's house.
So Hamor and his son Shechemcame to the gate of the city and
(12:15):
they spoke to the men of thecity saying these men are at
peace with us.
Let them dwell in the land andtrade in it, for behold, the
land is large enough for them.
Let us take their daughters aswives.
Let us give them our daughters.
Only on this condition will themen agree to Let us give them
our daughters.
Only on this condition will themen agree to dwell with us and
become one people.
(12:36):
When every male among us iscircumcised as they are, will
not their livestock, theirproperty and all their beasts be
ours?
Only let us agree with them andthey dwell with us.
And all who went out to thegate of the city listened to
Hamor and his son Shechem.
And every male was circumcised,all who went out of the gate of
(13:00):
his city.
In these seven verses, we seethat the words that the sons of
Jacob spoke to Hamor and Shechempleased them.
The circumcision of all the menin the city must have seemed
like a small price to paycompared to what could have been
asked of them.
Being completely bound by hislust for Dinah, shechem quickly
(13:26):
set out and did it, and then hebegan to set in motion the plan
to have all the men of the citydo it as well.
We learn that Chechem was themost respected son of Hamor and
he was looked up to by all ofthe men in the city.
This notation is importantbecause when the men of the city
(13:47):
are asked to participate insuch a painful surgery, they'd
have to be compelled by both anotable person and personal gain
, and Shechem is the man to doit.
And we see that Shechem goes tothe gate of the city.
The gate of the city is thecommon place where business
(14:07):
gatherings took place in theancient Near East, and Shechem
uses the argument that all theyhave will be ours, telling the
men at the gates that after wedo this, there will be a great
financial reward for everybodyin the entire town and we'll
have access to Jacob's propertyand we'll have access to all of
(14:29):
his herds of animals.
And so Shechem and Hamor, hisfather, stayed at the city gate
until every able-bodied male inthe city came out and was
circumcised Verse 25.
Two of the sons of Jacob, simeonand Levi, dinah's brothers,
(14:52):
took their swords and cameagainst the city while it felt
secure and killed all the males.
They killed Hamor and his sonShechem with the sword and took
Dinah out of Shechem's house andwent away.
The sons of Jacob came upon theslain and plundered city
(15:15):
because they had defiled theirsister.
They took their flocks andtheir herds, their donkeys and
whatever was in the city and inthe field, all their wealth, all
their little ones and all theirwives, all that was in their
houses they captured and theyplundered.
In these five verses we see agreat atrocity Simeon and Levi,
(15:39):
on the third day after thecircumcision, go out with their
swords.
Now Simeon and Levi are thesecond and third son of Jacob
through Leah.
Now Simeon and Levi are thesecond and third son of Jacob
through Leah and, as youremember, dinah is also the
daughter of Leah, so they arefull brothers and sister.
It gave them a strong motive toprotect their sister and,
(16:04):
without the knowledge of theirfather, jacob.
They planned and left forvengeance upon the city, the
entire city of Shechem.
And when the men of the citywere at their weakest, after
having been circumcised and theyfelt very secure because
Shechem said that we are atpeace with these men, these two
(16:25):
brothers came and killed everymale in the city, and this
included the leadership of Hamorand Shechem.
This massacre is way beyond anyreasonable punishment or form of
justice for the rape of Dinah.
In the Law of Moses itdescribes a just penalty for
rape in Deuteronomy 2, 28through 29,.
(16:47):
If you're interested in lookingthat up, we also see here that
Simeon and Levi took Dinah,which shows us that Shechem had
already taken Dinah into hishome immediately after the
agreement for the men to becircumcised.
And now the two brothers takeher back home to the house of
(17:07):
Jacob.
And after they take Dinah home,all of the brothers come back
and loot the city.
And as all of these brothersparticipate in plundering the
wealth of this city as well ascapturing the women and children
of the city, the sons of Jacobare approving and justifying of
what their brothers did asacceptable because, as they say,
(17:30):
he defiled their sister, verse30,.
Then Jacob said to Simeon andLevi.
You have brought trouble on meby making me stink to the
inhabitants of this land, theCanaanites and Perizzites.
My numbers are few and if theygather themselves against me and
attack me I shall be destroyed,both I and my household.
(17:53):
But they said Should he treatour sister like a prostitute?
When all of the brothers camehome with all of the loot, jacob
says to them you have broughttrouble on me and you have made
me stink to the inhabitants ofthis land.
Jacob is greatly troubled by theevil his sons have committed.
(18:15):
The cruel and overblownvengeance of Simeon and Levi
upon the town of Shechem hasbrought a total loss of respect
for the family of Jacob in theland of Canaan.
Furthermore, it has placed themcloser to imminent danger, as
other cities and villages willfeel threatened and they may
(18:36):
band together to destroy themaltogether.
But it would appear that thecorrection of Jacob fell on deaf
ears, for the brothers didn'twant to listen to their father's
correction and they continuedto justify their mass murder and
looting of the city, using thedefiling of their sister as an
(18:57):
excuse.
While the brothers were rightto protect the honor of their
sister and culturally this couldmean extracting capital
punishment upon the perpetrator.
They went beyond anything thatwas just and they used this
event to loot everything in thecity for personal gain.
(19:19):
In Genesis, chapter 49, whenJacob gives his blessings to his
sons, simeon and Levi will becursed for their violence and
anger.
Thank you for joining me thisweek for this difficult but yet
very important chapter.
God bless you this holidayseason and we'll see you next
(19:42):
month.
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