#95 Discretion Genesis 34

Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her. And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, "get me this girl for my wife."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. And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 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. 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. Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it." 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. 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." The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. They said to them, "we can not do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. Only on this condition will we agree with you- that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. 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. But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, the we will take our daughters and be gone." Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor's son Shechem. 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 his father's house. So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, "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. Only on this condition the men agree to dwell with us to become a people- when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us." 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. 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. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem's house and went away. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city because they had defiled their sister. 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. 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. But they said, "should he treat our sister like a prostitute?" Genesis 34 ESV

In Josephus's commentary of this story, it states that Dinah went in to the city to attend a festival. She was probably curious about the women of the area, their fashion and custom. Dinah has been surrounded by family and probably a bit naive about the present world. It appears that she leaves, outside of the protection of her God fearing father and many brothers, to enter a city of questionable morals. She attracts the attention of the local prince, who it says, seized her, but it is unclear as to whether this was strictly an instance of rape or how long they had even lived in the area. Some writers speculate and lean more towards young lust, and a mutual attraction that had been developing. Either way, the part that is clear, is that Shechem sleeps with Dinah and is in love.

Jacob finds out about the relationship, and it is viewed as defilement. Hamor and Shechem go to Jacob and his sons, but not expressing shame or apology for wrong doing, so I would assume that Shechem does not understand the trespass, at least not in the way that Jacob's family sees it. He asks for Dinah's hand, and is willing to pay whatever the family wants for the bride price. I think he has fallen for the girl and is as sincere as he knows how to be, but he has no idea how insincere the words of Dinah's brothers will be.

What is horrifying to me is that they use the guise of a religious practice to formulate their deceit. They are not concerned with what circumcision means; they are not revealing to a lost people the one true God. Simeon and Levi are offended not because of sin against God or from their own higher moral standing, which is non existent. They are crafting  revenge against a whole city for the infraction of one man. Shechem takes them at their word and convinces every man in the city to be circumcised. Three days later he is murdered along with every other male in the city. Jacob's sons plunder the city like pirates, and when confronted by their father, with the logic of now stinking to the areas other inhabitants, they reply, "should he treat our sister like a prostitute?" So Jacob's struggles continue. He was right, if the inhabitants of the land used the same logic as his sons, then they could justify killing all of his house for the infraction of Simeon and Levi. This does not happen, but one can see that it can be by no other means than faith that men are justified. Religion itself is a dangerous thing, in the hands of men who are not circumcised of heart.