1 Now Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had by Jacob, went out to see the women of that country.
2 And when Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite who was the chief of that land, saw her, he took her by force and had connection with her.
3 Then his heart went out in love to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he said comforting words to her.
4 And Shechem said to Hamor, his father, Get me this girl for my wife.
5 Now Jacob had word of what Shechem had done to his daughter; but his sons were in the fields with the cattle, and Jacob said nothing till they came.
6 Then Hamor, the father of Shechem, came out to have a talk with Jacob.
7 Now the sons of Jacob came in from the fields when they had news of it, and they were wounded and very angry because of the shame he had done in Israel by having connection with Jacob's daughter; and they said, Such a thing is not to be done.
8 But Hamor said to them, Shechem, my son, is full of desire for your daughter: will you then give her to him for a wife?
9 And let our two peoples be joined together; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.
10 Go on living with us, and the country will be open to you; do trade and get property there.
11 And Shechem said to her father and her brothers, If you will give ear to my request, whatever you say I will give to you.
12 However great you make the bride-price and payment, I will give it; only let me have the girl for my wife.
13 But the sons of Jacob gave a false answer to Shechem and Hamor his father, because of what had been done to Dinah their sister.
14 And they said, It is not possible for us to give our sister to one who is without circumcision, for that would be a cause of shame to us:
15 But on this condition only will we come to an agreement with you: if every male among you becomes like us and undergoes circumcision;
16 Then we will give our daughters to you and take your daughters to us and go on living with you as one people.
17 But if you will not undergo circumcision as we say, then we will take our daughter and go.
18 And their words were pleasing to Hamor and his son Shechem.
19 And without loss of time the young man did as they said, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he was the noblest of his father's house.
20 Then Hamor and Shechem, his son, went to the meeting-place of their town, and said to the men of the town,
21 It is the desire of these men to be at peace with us; let them then go on living in this country and doing trade here, for the country is wide open before them; let us take their daughters as wives and let us give them our daughters.
22 But these men will make an agreement with us to go on living with us and to become one people, only on the condition that every male among us undergoes circumcision as they have done.
23 Then will not their cattle and their goods and all their beasts be ours? so let us come to an agreement with them so that they may go on living with us.
24 Then all the men of the town gave ear to the words of Hamor and Shechem his son; and every male in the town underwent circumcision.
25 But on the third day after, before the wounds were well, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came into the town by surprise and put all the males to death.
26 And Hamor and his son they put to death with the sword, and they took Dinah from Shechem's house and went away.
27 And the sons of Jacob came on them when they were wounded and made waste the town because of what had been done to their sister;
28 They took their flocks and their herds and their asses and everything in their town and in their fields,
29 And all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives; everything in their houses they took and made them waste.
30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have made trouble for me and given me a bad name among the people of this country, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and because we are small in number they will come together against me and make war on me; and it will be the end of me and all my people.
31 But they said, Were we to let him make use of our sister as a loose woman?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Genesis 34
Commentary on Genesis 34 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 34
Ge 34:1-31. The Dishonor of Dinah.
1-4. Though freed from foreign troubles, Jacob met with a great domestic calamity in the fall of his only daughter. According to Josephus, she had been attending a festival; but it is highly probable that she had been often and freely mixing in the society of the place and that she, being a simple, inexperienced, and vain young woman, had been flattered by the attentions of the ruler's son. There must have been time and opportunities of acquaintance to produce the strong attachment that Shechem had for her.
5. Jacob held his peace—Jacob, as a father and a good man, must have been deeply distressed. But he could do little. In the case of a family by different wives, it is not the father, but the full brothers, on whom the protection of the daughters devolves—they are the guardians of a sister's welfare and the avengers of her wrongs. It was for this reason that Simeon and Levi, the two brothers of Dinah by Leah [Ge 34:25], appear the chief actors in this episode; and though the two fathers would have probably brought about an amicable arrangement of the affair, the hasty arrival of these enraged brothers introduced a new element into the negotiations.
6. Hamor—that is, "ass"; and it is a striking proof of the very different ideas which, in the East, are associated with that animal, which there appears sprightly, well proportioned, and of great activity. This chief is called Emmor (Ac 7:16).
7. the men were grieved, and … very wroth—Good men in such a case could not but grieve; but it would have been well if their anger had been less, or that they had known the precept "let not the sun go down upon your wrath" [Eph 4:26]. No injury can justify revenge (De 32:35; Ro 12:9); but Jacob's sons planned a scheme of revenge in the most deceitful manner.
8-10. Hamor communed with them—The prince and his son seem at first sight to have acted honestly, and our feelings are enlisted on their side. They betray no jealousy of the powerful shepherds; on the contrary, they show every desire to establish friendly intercourse. But their conduct was unjustifiable in neither expressing regret nor restoring Dinah to her family; and this great error was the true cause of the negotiations ending in so unhappy a manner.
11. Shechem said unto her father … and brethren—The consideration of the proposal for marriage belonged to Jacob, and he certainly showed great weakness in yielding so much to the fiery impetuosity of his sons. The sequel shows the unhappy consequences of that concession.
12. Ask me never so much dowry and gift—The gift refers to the presents made at betrothal, both to the bride elect and her relations (compare Ge 24:53), the dowry to a suitable settlement upon her.
13. The sons of Jacob answered—The honor of their family consisted in having the sign of the covenant. Circumcision was the external rite by which persons were admitted members of the ancient Church. But that outward rite could not make the Shechemites true Israelites; and yet it does not appear that Jacob's sons required anything more. Nothing is said of their teaching the people to worship the true God, but only of their insisting on their being circumcised; and it is evident that they did not seek to convert Shechem, but only made a show of religion—a cloak to cover their diabolical design. Hypocrisy and deceit, in all cases vicious, are infinitely more so when accompanied with a show of religion; and here the sons of Jacob, under the pretense of conscientious scruples, conceal a scheme of treachery as cruel and diabolical as was, perhaps, ever perpetrated.
20. Hamor and Shechem … came unto the gate of their city—That was the place where every public communication was made; and in the ready obsequious submission of the people to this measure we see an evidence either of the extraordinary affection for the governing family, or of the abject despotism of the East, where the will of a chief is an absolute command.
30. Jacob said … Ye have troubled me—This atrocious outrage perpetrated on the defenseless citizens and their families made the cup of Jacob's affliction overflow. We may wonder that, in speaking of it to his sons, he did not represent it as a heinous sin, an atrocious violation of the laws of God and man, but dwelt solely on the present consequences. It was probably because that was the only view likely to rouse the cold-blooded apathy, the hardened consciences of those ruffian sons. Nothing but the restraining power of God saved him and his family from the united vengeance of the people (compare Ge 35:5). All his sons had not been engaged in the massacre. Joseph was a boy, Benjamin not yet born, and the other eight not concerned in it. Simeon and Levi alone, with their retainers, had been the guilty actors in the bloody tragedy. But the Canaanites would not be discriminating in their vengeance; and if all the Shechemites were put to death for the offense of their chief's son, what wonder if the natives should extend their hatred to all the family of Jacob; and who probably equalled, in number, the inhabitants of that village.