Jacob and Leah’s daughter, Dinah, went to visit some women in the land. When Shechem, a prince in the country and also the son of Hamor the Hivite, saw Dinah, he took her and raped her. He was strongly attracted to Dinah and fell in love with her and wooed her. Shechem told his father to get Dinah for him as a wife. Jacob heard about Shechem raping Dinah, but he held his peace until his sons came back from the field tending the livestock. Hamor met with Jacob to speak with him about the matter. When Jacob’s sons returned and heard the news, they were grieved and very angry because this was a very disgraceful situation. Hamor spoke up and told them that Shechem was in love with Dinah and wanted to marry her. He also stated that he would like for their daughters and sons to be able to intermarry. He thought that they all would be able to dwell peacefully in the land and Jacob’s family could trade and get more possessions in it. Then Shechem speaks to Jacob and his sons asking to find favor with them and whatever they wanted, he would give it to them. So, obviously when Hamor went to see Jacob, Shechem went with his father. Shechem was willing to give them whatever dowry and gifts they wanted as long as he could marry Dinah.

Jacob’s sons responded to Hamor and Shechem deceitfully because Shechem defiled Dinah. Here is that family trait of deception again. Are there any traits, good or bad, that run in your family from generation to generation?

Jacob’s sons told Hamor and Shechem that they could not give Dinah to Shechem in marriage because it would be a reproach to give their sister to an uncircumcised man. However, they gave them the condition that if all of their men were circumcised like they are, then they could intermarry and dwell together as one people. If they did not agree to this condition, then they would take Dinah and leave. Hamor and Shechem were pleased with these words. Shechem did not hesitate to do this because he wanted Dinah just that much. Shechem was more honorable than all of his father’s household. That’s a scary thought – the most honorable or admired person in the household is a rapist. Is there someone that you know that everyone admires, but something in your spirit doesn’t feel right about that person? It could be someone on your job, in your church, or even in your family. The Bible speaks of the gift of discernment in 1 Corinthians 12:10. So, that “gut feeling” you may have about someone (good or bad), trust it and don’t let anyone manipulate it. The majority isn’t always right.

Hamor and Shechem went to the men of the city and spoke well of Jacob and his family, saying they were peaceful men and they should be allowed to dwell and trade in the land. The land was large enough to accommodate all of them. They encouraged the men to agree and they could marry their women and vice versa. Then they explained the condition that all of them would have to get circumcised. They even presented the men with the argument that all of their livestock and property would belong to them if they consented to let Jacob and his family dwell with them. So all of the men agreed to get circumcised. On the third day, when all of the men were in pain, Jacob’s sons/Dinah’s brothers, Simeon and Levi took swords and came boldly in the city and killed all of the men, including Hamor and Shechem and took Dinah from Shechem’s house. They plundered the city too, all because Dinah was raped. They took all their wealth including their sheep, oxen, donkeys, all that was in the city and field and even all that was in their houses. They took their children and wives as captives also.

Jacob told Simeon and Levi that they have given him a very bad name among the people in the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, by their actions. If these people decided to unite against them to kill him and the family, they would surely be destroyed because in comparison, they were few in number. Simeon and Levi’s response was “Should he treat our sister like a harlot?” They felt that Shechem should not get away with what he did to Dinah. Have you ever known, perhaps in grade school, the family with a large number of children and if you got in a fight with one of them, you almost had to fight the entire family?

In the midst of all this drama, I wonder how Dinah felt about the situation.

The next stop is Genesis 35.

To God Be the Glory!