Genesis 34
Genesis 34:1 Now Dinah (the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob), went out to see the daughters of the land.
Genesis 34:2 But when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, a leader of the land, saw her, he seized her and forced himself on her and humiliated her.
Genesis 34:3 Then his throat held fast to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke from the heart to her.
Genesis 34:4 So Shechem appealed to his father Hamor, and this is what he said, “Get me this girl for my wife.”
Genesis 34:5 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.
Genesis 34:6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him.
Genesis 34:7 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, because such a thing must not be done.
Genesis 34:8 But Hamor appealed to them, and this is what he said, “The throat of my son Shechem is attached to your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife.
Genesis 34:9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves.
Genesis 34:10 You will live among us, and the land will be open to you. Dwell and trade in it and get property in it.”
Genesis 34:11 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.
Genesis 34:12 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.”
Genesis 34:13 But sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor treacherously, because he had defiled Dinah, their sister.
Genesis 34:14 They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to a person who is uncircumcised, because that would bring shame on us.
Genesis 34:15 We will agree with you on this condition – that you will become like we are by every male among you becoming circumcised.
Genesis 34:16 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.
Genesis 34:17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will go away.”
Genesis 34:18 Their words seemed good to Hamor and Hamor’s son Shechem.
Genesis 34:19 And the young man did not delay doing the thing, because he wanted Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most privileged of all in his father’s house.
Genesis 34:20 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and appealed to the men of their city, and this is what they said,
Genesis 34:21 “These men are at peace with us; let them live in the land and trade in it, because I noticed the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives and let us give them our daughters.
Genesis 34:22 The men will agree to live with us to become one people on this condition – that every male among us is circumcised like they are circumcised.
Genesis 34:23 Will not their livestock, their property and all their living things be ours? let us agree with them, and then they will live among us.”
Genesis 34:24 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.
Genesis 34:25 On the third day, when they were still 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.
Genesis 34:26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away.
Genesis 34:27 Those sons of Jacob went to the place of the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.
Genesis 34:28 They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field.
Genesis 34:29 All their property, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered.
Genesis 34:30 But Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have cut me off 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 will be exterminated,[1] both I and my household.”
Genesis 34:31 But they said, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”[2]
[1]שׁמד = be exterminated.
[2] זָנָה = be a prostitute. Genesis 34:31; 38:15, 24.
Genesis 34 quotes:
“Now, we turn to the story of Dinah in Genesis 34, the narrative that has invited the most controversy in biblical scholarship over whether or not she is a rape victim. As our four-part definition will show, not only is Dinah indeed raped, her rape scene is situated in Genesis to offer criticism of Israel’s early relationships with her foreign neighbors.”
Schulte, Leah Rediger. The Absence of God in Biblical Rape Narratives. Fortress Press, 2017. p. 101.
“Genesis 34 explicitly and emphatically rejects the possibility that the circumcision of the Canaanites would result in their becoming part of Jacob’s family.”
Thiessen, Matthew. Contesting Conversion : Genealogy, Circumcision, and Identity in Ancient Judaism and Christianity. Oxford University Press, 2011. p. 63.
“If only Jacob had remained a short time in Shechem, and then continued his journey to Bethel where God had first met with him and where he had taken his vow, then things would not have turned out in the tragic way they did. But, as so often happens in this life, it is only with hindsight that we see our mistakes, and that impresses upon us our need to be sensitive to the leading of God’s spirit in the decisions we make. What happened at Shechem suggests that Jacob must have stayed there for several years, for during that time his children were growing up, and Dinah — the only daughter — was now a young woman. The crime of rape with its fateful consequences is all too common in today’s society, and if only for that reason alone this story has certain lessons to teach us.”
Williams, Peter. From Eden to Egypt : Exploring the Genesis Themes. DayOne, 2001. p. 186.
consequences of avenging a rape
exterminate!
Jacob- tragedy at Shechem
life after a rape
LUSTFUL LOOKING – jeffersonvann
jeffersonvann 