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The Rape of Dinah - Responding to wickedness

Genesis 34: 1-31 (Part 2 of 2)

As a result of Dinah’s rape by the son of the leader of the Shechemites they have supposedly agreed to allow their families to intermingle providing the Shechemites get circumcised and then they will all live happily ever after.  Is this a possibility? Is that how it is really going to work out, not for one second. What are they up to? 

We found put last time that this whole plan was a deception on the part of Jacobs sons, particularly Simeon and Levi. I hate to be so blunt, but can you imagine all the men in your town or city being circumcised at the same time? Let me just say, as kindly as I can, that if they all did that, they weren’t in any shape to be a fighting force, imagine circumcising a rugby team and then expecting them to play a match a couple of days later.

“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. They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem’s house and left”. The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where their sister had been defiled. 

(Genesis 34: 25-27) 

The men of Shechem were still  in pain  and the two of the sons of Jacob, attacked the city and killed all the males. 

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.

(Genesis 34: 28-29)

Now only two of the sons committed the massacre, but the rest of the sons joined in the plunder later. All that was left in the city was the wives and children and they took them captive, and they plundered the city. They had killed all the men and now they took the women and children, probably making them slaves or at best servants. The point is they took everything, they took the animals, and they took all the material things out of all their houses. They picked this place clean. This was an absolute rout. Final verses.

30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me obnoxious 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.” 31 But they replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”

(Genesis 34: 30-31)

Now this is where we get the real insight into Jacob. However, I before going any further I need to remind you of how this can be a troubling chapter and those who approach it in isolation without remembering to put the events depicted in it within the context of the entire book of Genesis. It is always tempting when approaching a text of the Bible to try and pull something positive out of it. But that is not always possible because sometimes a story or a chapter is a entirely negative part of a narrative contained within a larger story. That is what is going on here, just because events are recorded for us does not mean that God approves of these events. If we approach the chapter in isolation and fail to pace it within the context and meaning of the entire book of Genesis, then we  are in great danger of reaching the wrong conclusions.

So, let’s approach it cautiously, and deal face on with the problems this horrible story highlights regarding the character flaws of Jacob, and the sinful acts of his sons. He finds out what the sons done, and he’s troubled because of the effect on his reputation and possible future hostility from the Shecemites. His daughter gets raped and that didn’t seem to bother him that much. He finds out his sons did this massacre and now he’s greatly, distressed, not at the massacre but at the possible consequences. He did not get upset because of the abuse of circumcision, that was a sacred rite, and they abused it.

Allowing all these pagans get circumcised, they were abusing the God given right and, in that sense, they broke the covenant that God had made with them.  This was a great disobedience to God.  What bothers him is, did you see how many times did he refer to himself? He's only concerned about himself but less concerned than his sons that they had  treated his daughter like a prostitute.  Simeon and Levi say we were concerned about our sister, aren’t you concerned about your daughter?  The answer is, not really. Alright, all I’ve done so far, is unpicked the story verse by verse So, what’s does this teach us today?  How would do you apply what referenced here on a Monday morning? The point of the story is when their sister wase violated, her brothers deceived the family involved, and killed all the men in the city and plundered the property of the city. 

So, what’s the point of the story? Well, to really understand this, you’ve got to understand some of the things going on in the Book of Genesis.  So let me make a number of observations.  I think when people approach the Bible today, they often want to hear something about themselves and for it to give them something that they can practically apply. That’s legitimate. Except sometimes what we meet the Bible on its own terms it purposes it to teaches us about God, and not us.  Eventually it’ll get around to us but sometimes we primarily need to learn some things about the Lord. I suspect that is the case here. So, with that in mind, let me make some observations. 

So, what’s the point of the story, what is the point of this sad sordid story? 

Firstly, at no point does is show approval of what sons of Jacob did. Just think for a moment about the contrast between it and the other stories in Genesis. For example, Abraham had dealt honourably with the Hittites, when he had stayed in a strange land. Isaac had behaved peacefully with the Philistines, but now Jacob’s sons have become the aggressors in aconflict with the Shechemites. Simeon and Levi’s unrepentant treachery stands in stark contrast to Esau and Jacob’s recent moral development. In contrast to previous incident throughout Genesis, this chapter contains no prayer, no divine revelation. No promise of blessing and no explicit mention of God at all. Most Bible expert’s believer that the thing that jumps off the page at you is the stark contrast of how different in tone it is to the other chapters around it. When face with potential conflict with other families, tribes and nations, even just prior to this, they have dealt honestly and honourably with other people and you come to this story and it’s the exact opposite. The story is obviously not recorded in any way that suggests that the Lord approves of what they did. That’s one observation. 

Second Observation, when studied within the context of the whole Book of Genesis, this episode explains why later Jacob will pass over Simeon and Levi for a special blessing in the future.  When you come to this story, having read everything else before it we see the contrast between it and other stories. As we get deeper into the book it’s going to become obvious that this story has a profound effect on the two men who instigated the attack, and initiated the plunder. It’s not overly evident here, but trust me, this is a deeply significant moment for a few individuals in the Book of Genesis. I shan’t go into detail now, but we’ll get there when we get there in a few chapters later in this book, but let me just say that this story, and its repercussions have an enormous impact as we study through te whole book,.

This is a very significant event into setting the scene for what will come later. So again, we need to see the story in the context of the book.  I’ve been saying that a lot lately.  What’s the key to interpreting the Bible? Context, context, context. This remains important throughout the whole Bible not just Genesis. In fact, it becomes absolutely vital when approaching book like Judges which we eventually come to later. If you don’t see it within in the context of the entire narrative you will not be able to get the point. 

So let me just say this much, as a result of their sin.  Jacob passed over some of these brother when he comes to give out his blessing. It will be given to Judah instead. These events will have a profound ramification for the nation of Israel. 

A third observation. This story shows the importance of keeping the Israelites the chosen people, separate from other people, on this occasion the Canaanites. I pointed out as I was going through the story. That God did not want the Israelites to intermarry with the Canaanites, and that’s what is being proposed in this chapter, and that is not what is allowed to happen. Had they intermarried, Israel would have been swallowed up by the Canaanites. It was necessary for the nation of Israel to remain pure and they were not going to be allowed to marry with people from other countries. The use of the name Israel indicates that the writer of this account (Moses) had a significant comprehension and recognition of the deeper values and implications of the event he was recording. Later in the mosaic law, it would be made clear that Israel was to not play the harlot with the Canaanites, nor defile themselves with the Canaanites by intermarriage or by making covenant treaties with them. In fact, one of the things that’s going on here is that if they didn’t marry the locals they could not contaminate the children of Israel, through which the Messiah is to come. That’s a big point here, it demonstrates again the sovereignty of God. God sometimes uses the most unimaginable things to accomplish his purposes.  He does not approve of this at all, and yet there’s a sense in which the Lord Sovereignly is used it to fulfil his purposes. Somebody once said 

“While the story in this chapter operates at a level of family honour and brothers concern for their ravaged sister, the story nevertheless also carries along the theme that runs so clearly through Jacobs’s narratives, namely that God works through and often in spite of, the limited self-serving plans of human beings. The writer’s purpose is not to approve these human plans and schemes, but to show how God and his sovereign grace can still achieve his purpose through them.

I thought that was a particularly insightful observation that God is not limited by our self-serving plans. He works in spite of them. There’s a verse in proverbs that says even his wrath will praise him.  God uses it all, so he even was able to use this sin to accomplishes his greater purpose.  Individually the sinners will pay dearly for the failure, but in terms of the nation and his ultimate plan God will used to accomplishing his purpose.

One more observation. Another message I believe is embedded in this passage concerns what should be the right response to living in a wicked world.  That’s the story, and that’s what it’s all about.  Here are the Israelites living among the Canaanites as an incredibly wicked people. What we have here is an example of how they respond to that wickedness.

It seems to me that that is one of the personal lessons we could take from this story is that the protagonists in this passage went to one of two extremes. Jacob was indifferent and indecisive, he was passive, he didn't do anything. On the other hand, his sons sought justice, but they were ruthless and excessive.  So here are the two extremes. One here is a passive, indifferent, insensitive and does nothing. On the other extreme, his sons, two sons especially, go to all kinds of access to right the wrong. The right response, it seems to me, lies between the two extremes. For example, we need to seek justice when appropriate, but at the same time, we should not be excessive in executing the justice. There are two things going on here at the same time and I think we need to unscramble them. One is Jacob should have protected his daughter, right, and when things went wrong, he was passive. The point I really want to make is that we shouldn’t go to either extreme. Don’t be passive but also don’t be too overaggressive rather try and do what is honourable, honest and deal with the situations expressing truth and justice. 

Let me conclude by quoting someone who I think has said it well. 

“Attempting to destroy or punish evil through lawless or unrighteous acts should not be confused with righteous indignation. Rather, the righteous must seek justice and oppose evil in a manner that brings honour to the Lord and his covenant”.

(www.tell the lord.com)

So, the right response to evil is to figure out a response that honours the Lord and yet does what is right and seek justice, all at the same time. In other words try and deal with the same way as the Lord  would do.