The Defiling of Dinah (Gen 34)
Genesis: The Book of Beginnings • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
If you have your Bible, please turn it to Genesis 34.
As you know, at Grace, we have a commitment to expositional preaching and teaching and we usually do this sequentially—meaning, we’re usually working line-by-line through whole books of the Bible. We do this because we’re firmly committed to the fact that all Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for us in some way or form and we’re firmly committed to doing everything we can to simply expose what the text says rather than make the text say what we want it to say.
With that in mind, occasionally we come to passages that aren’t just difficult, but they’re eye-opening due to their extreme content. And due to this extreme content, often what happens when churches get to passages like this is that they simply skip them, but again, we believe that there is something profitable for us in this passage.
So, we’re going to read this passage together recognizing that while the content is a lot, it’s still beneficial for us even to this day.
Let’s read Genesis 34 together.
1 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. 3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.”
5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. 6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing must not be done.
8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. 9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it.” 11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. 12 Ask me for as great a bride-price and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.”
13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. 14 They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. 15 Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. 16 Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. 17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.”
18 Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor’s son Shechem. 19 And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his father’s house. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21 “These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. 22 Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.” 24 And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.
25 On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. 29 All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered.
30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” 31 But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”
As we study this passage together, we’re going to break it into two parts: (1) Dinah Defiled by Shechem (1-17) and (2) Simeon and Levi’s Murderous Revenge (18-31). This passage will disrupt our sensibilities. We’re going to read what happens to Dinah and grieve and be righteously angry. We’re going to read the reasoning that Shechem gives and be disgusted. We’re then going to read about Simeon and Levi’s plot—and part of us will relate and maybe even understand why they did what they did; the other part of us will still have to say, “yes, but they still murdered these people” instead of letting justice take its course.
And because our sensibilities will be disrupted through this text, I want to be abundantly clear as to what the point is from the onset—Jacob’s failure to lead his family well (meaning, his failure to direct his family towards God) has led to his children acting in ungodly ways. We see that at the initial onset, we see this as the event plays out, and we see it in the response of his sons. Keep this in mind as we work through the passage together.
Prayer for Illumination
Dinah Defiled by Shechem (1-17)
Dinah Defiled by Shechem (1-17)
Our text starts by focusing our attention to Dinah, the daughter of Leah, who is about to experience a significant event in her life. (1-4)
There are already a few details that are worth noting within the first few verses.
v. 1, makes it clear that this is Leah’s daughter—this might seem unimportant, but it’s important in terms of context—later in the passage, Simeon and Levi react in a significant way—that reaction is partly due to the fact that they’re also Leah’s children—so, unlike many of the other siblings, these are full-blooded siblings.
In addition, there’s an element within the phrase, “went out to see the women of the land” that’s important to note—the word that we translate as “see” really carries the connotation “to know” or “to understand.” She didn’t want to watch these people as if she was in a zoo, she wanted to understand their culture and their society—a culture, which we’ve already been told multiple times is filled with sin—remember, Jacob was told not to marry a woman of the culture around them because of their sinfulness.
She wasn’t simply observing; she was engaging—perhaps innocently, perhaps unwisely. Either way, Jacob’s failure to protect her in this instance is clear.
This doesn’t negate the fact that she was sinned against, but it does give us a little more detail.
It is when Dinah is trying to understand the women of the land that she comes across a man, who seizes her “and [lays] with her and [humiliates] her.”
I want to be abundantly clear in what this is—Dinah was raped by this man named Shechem—it was not consensual, which is why the Bible utilizes the idea that he humiliated her.
With that said, Shechem claims that the reason that he did this—that he sinned against Dinah—that he raped her was because he loved her, which we know not to be true based on the definition of love itself—that it implies a desire for the other person’s good.
Shechem humiliates Dinah in this way and then decides that he wants to marry her—and, of course, in their culture and in their society, he is the prince, he’s used to getting what he wants.
In our modern eyes—we read his own self-justification and we think that it’s absolutely absurd—what makes him think that he has a right to do what he did and then insist on marrying this woman?
It goes back to the historical context—he is a prince. He has far more authority than the average person and in their culture, he can do essentially whatever he wants.
It doesn’t make it right in an ultimate sense, but that’s the reality.
The text continues and what is striking to us is that Jacob doesn’t seem to have any sort of emotional response, In vv. 5-7, we read about how Jacob heard what had happened, but because his sons were in the field, he didn’t do anything until they came back in.
Jacob hears that his daughter has been forcibly defiled, but instead of having any sort of reaction, he holds his peace and he waits.
Now, we can postulate some reasons for this—we could maybe even justify his response or lack thereof if we consider his age or perhaps just thinking through the situation. Or, we could assume that Jacob is taking an awfully diplomatic view towards all this instead of protecting his daughter.
Jacob waits until his children come in, but before he speaks with them Hamor went out to speak with Jacob.
We’re not entirely sure what all this situation looked like, but we know that Jacob’s sons had heard what had happened and they respond in a way that we would expect them to.
Whereas, Jacob takes a more diplomatic approach to the situation—his sons are indignant and very angry.
And there’s a level to this in which I would argue they are righteously angry—they have a right to be angry at what had happened to their sister, especially when you consider their own Jewish culture, that “such a thing must not be done.”
The issue is that they seem to allow their righteous anger to turn into unrighteous fury and you’ll see that in a few verses.
Again, back into the culture of the Ancient Near East—Hamor and Schechem broker a deal. It sounds odd to us, but in their culture this was fairly common.
Hamor makes the statement that his son’s soul longs for Jacob’s daughter and as part of this statement, he offers a diplomatic proposal.
Both sides—according to Hamor—gain if not only does Shechem get to marry Dinah, but if all of Jacob’s family intermarried with the Canaanites.
The idea, essentially, is that if Jacob allows marriage between the two groups, that Jacob will dwell with them, the land would be open to him, and he can trade materials and purchase additional property.
In addition, Shechem asks for favor in the eyes of Jacob and Dinah’s brothers—he essentially says that he will give whatever it takes and do whatever he can to wed Dinah.
Except, he’s already proven that he’s not exactly trustworthy—if he actually did love Dinah, he wouldn’t have done what he did. He would’ve gone about this proposal in a way that was proper for Jacob and his family.
Instead, in lust, Shechem goes around the issue and essentially attempts to do things his own way.
Oddly, Jacob isn’t the one who responds to this proposal. Rather, v. 13 tells us that her brothers answered Shechem and his father Hamor—and the Bible is very clear that they were acting deceitfully because they had defiled their sister.
The deceitful aspect about this is that the brothers convince Hamor and Shechem that they cannot intermarry unless every male person within their group is circumcised. If this problem is corrected, Dinah’s brothers say that they “will dwell with [them] and [they will] become one people; but, if the Canaanites refuse, they’ll take their sister and go.
Again, the Bible is very clear that there is deceit afoot. Her brothers have made a plot and the lie given concerning the circumcision of the Canaanites is just that—a lie. It’s a ruse. And part of us—at least to some extent, understand why Dinah’s brothers react the way that they do. Unlike Jacob, her father—her brothers are absolutely outraged that something like this happened to Dinah.
And that’s when their plot comes into play. Let’s re-read vv. 18-31.
Simeon and Levi’s Murderous Revenge (18-31)
Simeon and Levi’s Murderous Revenge (18-31)
18 Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor’s son Shechem. 19 And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his father’s house. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21 “These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. 22 Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.” 24 And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.
25 On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. 29 All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered.
30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” 31 But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”
Hamor and Shechem hear what the brothers propose and it doesn’t seem like a bad plan to either one of them.
Since Shechem “delighted in Jacob’s daughter,” he was quick to make sure that this process occurred.
The Bible says that that Hamor and his son had significant sway within the city—they go to the gate of the city, which is where most political issues were resolved and they expand the proposal to everyone.
The argument utilized is essentially that right now, Jacob and his family are at peace with the Canaanites—so, let’s intermarry with them and allow them to dwell with us.
It sounds good—except, remember the condition given. That every male amongst the Canaanites are to be circumcised just like the Jewish people. Now, if you’re really thinking through this—there ought to be a red flag flying in your mind when you consider what the purpose of circumcision is.
Why did the Jewish people circumcise their male children? Because it was a sign of the covenant.
In a sense, Jacob’s sons have made a mockery of the covenant itself—because in their unrighteous anger, they convince a whole group of people to partake in the sign of the covenant not because they believe, but because they want to intermarry.
It really shows the extent to which Jacob’s sons were removed from the importance of the covenant—it shows that though Jacob understood the covenant, that he probably didn’t bother to teach his children of the importance of the covenant.
Nevertheless, because of the promise to unite the people groups, the men of the city’s gates agree to go along with the process of circumcision.
Again, it shows the significant amount of sway that Hamor and his son had amongst the people.
It also shows that the people getting circumcised really saw it as a means to an end—rather than a sign of the covenant that it was intended to be.
The issue is, again, that Jacob’s sons were acting deceitfully and they had no intention to allow the intermarriage of the two people groups. Instead, “on the third day, when [the Canaanites] were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi . . . took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the [men.]”
Again, there’s a part of this that we read and we think that we can get why they responded this way.
There’s a part of us that hears of what happened to Dinah that thinks—good, these Canaanites got what they deserved, but you notice that Simeon and Levi were indiscriminate with who they slaughtered.
They weren’t thinking in terms of justice, they were thinking in terms of retribution or revenge. The difference being that true justice would’ve resulted in imprisonment or something along those lines (really death according to the Mosaic Law, but they don’t have that yet).
They didn’t just slaughter the person involved in the rape of their sister—they slaughtered every man in that city, they killed Hamor and Shechem, they took their sister back. And then the sons of Jacob plundered the city—they took “their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered.”
They weren’t seeking justice, they were seeking revenge.
And in their unrighteous anger, they not only got revenge on those who hurt their sister, but they unrighteously murdered every other man, stole everything from that city—including women and children.
Of course, something this drastic is going to have a ripple effect—and so, in the last few verses, we see Jacob’s response to their slaughtering of the city and it’s not exactly what you would expect. “Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ‘You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land . . . My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.’”
Jacob is more concerned about the potential repercussions on him and his family than he was about anything else that had happened throughout this whole situation.
Jacob’s foremost concern was the impression that his sons’ actions would leave with the other inhabitants of the area.
Is his concern warranted—sure, but the confusing element behind all this is why is he just now getting upset about what had happened?
Why didn’t he seem as concerned when it came to what happened with Dinah in the first place?
Jacob’s concerns here aren’t based on ethics—they’re based on tactics and strategies—and that’s telling of where he is as a person.
Jacob shows concern over what might happen—his sons show concern over their sister, “should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”
It is a rhetorical question, but it also shows that contrast between Jacob and his sons; between Jacob’s response and his sons’ responses.
Now, before we talk about our application, I do want to make a point—that I think the overarching idea of this passage deals more with the covenant of God than it does with just the situation of Dinah, Jacob, and Jacob’s sons. I base that on two things—(1) everything up to this point has highlighted the idea that God keeps His covenants with His people even when His people are sinful—that includes God choosing Jacob and extending the Abrahamic Covenant to Him. After this point, we see God blessing Jacob and formalizing the name change while extending the Abrahamic covenant to Jacob. There’s an element in ch. 34 in which we see a father—named Jacob, who despite hearing from God, wrestling with God, and claiming to follow God—not actually do that well when it comes to dealing with his family; and yet, God still keeps His covenant with Jacob. There’s an element in the situation in Genesis 34 in which Jacob’s family profane the covenant by treating the sign of the covenant flippantly. And yet, God still chooses to bless Jacob in the next chapter.
So, overall, I would say that the primary application for the whole life of Jacob is that despite his constant sin—because God has called him His own—God is still gracious, God still keeps His covenants, God still protects HIs people simply by virtue of who He is. With that said, I want to zoom in a little bit at one of Jacob’s failures—his neglect of spiritual leadership in the home.
Today, I want to focus a bit on Jacob’s failure as a parent in Genesis 34. That’s what brings us to our application for this morning.
Application
Application
Parents, while their children still live within their household, have a responsibility to their children that’s given to them by God. God has commissioned parents to not just provide for their children in a material sense for their needs, but He has called parents to train up their children, to teach them of the Covenants, to raise them in the way that they should go.
Jacob had a responsibility to his children that he essentially neglected in a number of different ways throughout this passage. For instance:
The Bible points out that Dinah wanted to understand the women of the land—the reality is that in the Ancient Near Eastern culture, sexual promiscuity, perversion, and prostitution ran rampant.
Jacob, who had previously lived near this land and purposefully chose to leave the land to find a wife, would have known this—and yet, he doesn’t bother to stop his only daughter from going and checking things out for herself.
After finding out what happened to Dinah, Jacob’s response is odd.
Instead of reacting, he simply waits for his sons to come in from the fields—when he tells them what had happened, he appears to be almost nonchalant about it—it’s his sons who react indignantly and with anger.
When discussing the situation with Hamor, Jacob doesn’t really show any sort of anger
In fact, he doesn’t really show any sort of emotion whatsoever—instead, his sons respond to Shechem and Hamor deceitfully—and Jacob doesn’t stop them.
After Simeon and Levi destroy the city, then Jacob responds
And his response isn’t anything like what you would expect, Jacob essentially says, “why would you do this? You’ve brought trouble on me and now the Canaanites and Perizzites will destroy me.”
He didn’t protect his only daughter, he didn’t respond properly when he found out what happened to her. He didn’t stop his sons from taking revenge instead of seeking justice, and after hearing what had happened, Jacob’s more concerned about his reputation and what that might mean than he is about his daughter or his sons.
There is clearly disconnect between the Jacob, who met God at Peniel, who reconciled with his formerly estranged brother, and the man that we see in Genesis 34.
Part of the purpose for the author pointing out this disconnect is actually in Genesis 35, which we’ll get to after Easter, but the main part of the purpose is to remind us that mankind always flounders, but God is always faithful to His people.
But that’s not our focus for today. Our focus for today deals with Jacob’s neglected responsibilities to his family. Jacob essentially:
failed to protect his children
failed to stop his children
failed to teach his children of the covenant
And in this case, it resulted in his daughter being sinned against, his sons sinning against others, and him acting contrary to the covenant. And we can look at this from similar perspectives.
Failure to protect his children from sinful influences causes his children to fall into sinful behavior.
Failure to protect yourself and your children from sinful influences can result in you falling into sinful behavior
It’s one of those things where most Christians will shout about Christian liberty, but then not realize how much damage certain things can cause in your life.
If you’re always looking, watching, listening to, or seeking things that are right on the edge of being sinful—you’ll find yourself tripping over that guardrail pretty frequently.
If you find yourself hanging out with unrepentant people that have no care or concern about God whatsoever—you’ll find yourself tripping into sin pretty regularly.
You can apply this to how you protect your children as well as how you protect yourself.
You need to be aware that what you allow to influence you will indeed influence you—what you allow to influence your children will indeed influence your children.
This also applies to those who are not parents—what you allow to influence you will indeed influence you. Be careful with what you allow to influence you; and be careful of the influence you might have over others.
Second, Jacob failed to stop his children from sinning—likewise, there is a level to which you can fail to stop your children if you know they’re about to do something sinful
I do want to reign this in a little bit. Jacob wasn’t responsible for what his sons did, but it seems like he was there for the conversation itself in which his sons insisted in the circumcision of all these men. If he was there, he should’ve spoken up.
So, there’s an element here, where you are not responsible for your children’s own sin.
Nor can you stop your children from participating in sin all the time, but there is an element in which you can carefully prevent them from finding themselves in sinful situations.
For instance, if your children still live at home and they’re old enough to get invited to parties. If the party is in someone’s home and the parents are trustworthy and will also be there, it could be alright for your children to go.
If the party is in the woods and there won’t be any adults present whatsoever—I don’t need to tell you what all goes on in those sorts of parties in the woods surrounding Houtzdale and Ramey and Philipsburg.
If you choose to allow your children to go anyways—knowing that there are sinful things happening, you aren’t helping them—you’re essentially encouraging them rather than stopping them.
You’re not responsible for the sins themselves, but if you have the opportunity to lovingly lead your children away from sinful temptations, then your calling as a parent is to do so.
That doesn’t make it easy, nor does it make it something that’s always going to go well, but it is part of your role as a parent—particularly if your children still live within your household.
To not do this is almost like watching your child run out into the middle of a street without them looking and not shouting, not running to get them off the road.
You need to know that you’re not responsible for your children’s sinful choices, but if you have an opportunity to point them away from sin, you should take it.
Likewise, you might not have biological children, but you might have spiritual children or those who are like children to you. You’re not responsible for their sinful choices, but if you have an opportunity to point them away from sin, you should take it.
Lastly, Jacob failed to teach his children of the covenant, which is why they were so willing to treat the sign of the covenant so flippantly. Often parents realize when it’s far too late that they didn’t take seriously the need to catechize their children—to train them in the way that they ought to go, to teach them of the covenant.
Part of that is because many parents treat the local church like they treat public schools—they assume that just like the public schools, local churches should handle catechizing their children, training their children, and teaching their children of the covenant.
The reality is, however, that according to Scripture, it isn’t the church’s responsibility to catechize a family’s children, to train them, and to teach them the covenants—it’s the parent’s responsibility to do this.
The local church aids by teaching and training the parents, but it’s the primary responsibility of the parents to teach and train their own children—to disciple their own children.
Jacob’s failure to teach his children the importance of the covenants results in his children taking the sign of the covenant and treating it flippantly. Likewise, what happens when parent today don’t catechize, train, or teach their children is that their children learn to not take seriously the things of God.
What tends to happen if parents don’t take their role seriously is that you end up with children in our modern churches who grow up attending a church, but were never actually taught the truth, don’t understand the Gospel, and can’t properly interpret their Bibles because parents expected the church to do all these things
Instead of parents taking seriously their own calling in life for their children—it isn’t easy, but it is necessary.
Parents, it is your responsibility to disciple your children, which means you need to make sure that you’re being discipled properly. And then you need to turn around and make sure that you’re discipling your children properly.
Likewise, you might not have that responsibility to disciple your own children, but you do have a responsibility to make new disciples and that naturally involves discipling spiritual children. Be sure that you’re being discipled properly so that you can turn around and make sure that you’re discipling others properly.
Now, you can hear all that I’ve said this morning as we reflect on the various failures of Jacob’s leadership of his household and you can think “man, I did a horrendous job with my children and my family,” but I don’t want you to walk away hopeless. The beauty of the Gospel is that Jesus can take any situation and redeem it—so, even if you didn’t parent the way that you wish that you would’ve, even if you didn’t train up your children properly, even if you feel like you’re failing at discipling your children right now, Jesus can redeem the situation.
Which means, instead of thinking nihilistically, that you’ve failed and you can’t do anything else—consider the truth that Jesus can save anyone (including your children if they don’t believe yet), Jesus can sanctify anyone (including your unbelieving children), and Jesus can glorify anyone (including your children who don’t currently believe). You need to just refocus your eyes on Jesus.
If there’s something you can do now to rectify these issues, by all means, pursue it.
But above all, we all need to rest in knowing that even when we fail in many ways—as parent or even as non-parents, God remains perfectly faithful to His people. Remember, Genesis 34 shows a lot of Jacob’s failures in parenting and familial leadership, but Genesis 35 shows us that God’s promises do not depend on perfect parenting, perfect families, or perfect people, but on His perfect faithfulness. That ought to give you hope.
Pastoral Prayer
