Good morning and Thank you everyone for your ongoing daily readings and sharing!!
Genesis chapter 34.
After all the evil done to Dinah, her dad Jacob never took charge to deal with the evil against her. It appears fear, once again, was upon him for he let his sons handle it and never questioned their plan. Then when the two sons killed all the men, Jacob is afraid of what will happen to Him and his family. The sons were controlled by anger and hate and when you are controlled by anger and hate you'll do anything to another person. It appears that fear controlled Jacob and if controlled by fear you often do nothing. There must be a balance. There must be consequences when evil is done. You can't stand by and do nothing.
What I found interesting about Shechem is he seemed very spoiled. Like he is used to getting what he wants. For example he wanted to have sex with Dinah so he raped her. Then he wanted to marry her so he demanded his daddy get her for him. He wants it so badly he pleads that he'll do anything. His attitude is I'm spoiled so I can do anything I want. Therefore I don't need to take responsibility for my actions or be held accountable for them.
So I come to these three thoughts:
1. We must be aware of our actions and how they affect others.
2. We must be willing to take responsibility for our actions and be held accountable.
3. We must be willing to suffer the consequences that come with being irresponsible.
Perhaps Shechem was a few centuries ahead of his time. He would fit right in with society today. Do what you want to whom you want and fear no consequences. If you get caught, Daddy (figuratively speaking) will bail you out! Am I being too harsh?
Lol! Not harsh at all! Our Millennial’s today are used to getting things handed to them.
Why would God take up a whole chapter on this sad story? He gave us some lessons or warnings here.
Being set apart by God doesn’t mean we are better than others. Levi and Simeon’s attitude led to sins of lying, stealing and murder. Their desire for justice was right but their methods were wrong. These sins led to their father cursing them with his dying breath (49:5-7). Also, generations later, their descendants lost their portion of the promised land allotted to them. Don’t be tempted to return evil for evil, leave revenge for God.
Remember in Gen 33:18 where Jacob pitched his tent beside the city of Shechem? If we as parents pitch our tent towards the world and allow our kids to go places and do things we know in our hearts aren’t right, we shouldn’t be surprised when our kids act like the world.
Amen, preach it!
I have mixed thoughts on this chapter. There’s no question that Shechem raping Dinah was wrong, but he seems to want to make things right from that point on. He greatly desired to have Dinah as his wife even after beginning the relationship all wrong. Although he was willing to pay any price to have her including being circumsized, there was nothing that he could do to make up for what he had already done. I believe that Shechem truly loved her and wanted to live at peace with her family, but Dinah’s brothers would not have it and they were so angry that they got revenge on Shechem. They didn’t show any mercy and killed all the males. We read that Shechem loved Dinah, but I wonder how Dinah felt about him after he expressed his love for her and spoke tenderly to her. That doesn’t seem to matter to how her brothers feel and what they do. I get the idea that Dinah’s brothers were more concerned with their family name and reputation rather than what their sister really wanted. Meanwhile their family doesn’t look perfect anyway when you see that it consisted of one father with four mothers so maybe I’m missing something here. Looking at it with my eyes from my culture in the 21st century, it just seems odd and so cruel to me that Dinah’s brothers would not only kill Shechem, but also his father and all the males in the city after they had just followed their directions to ‘convert’ to their ways. It makes me want to be so careful to not be the same way. If I point someone towards Jesus with my words, then my lifestyle and actions better match up with what I’m saying and not betray them.
Here’s the link for Boys Are Scary.
https://youtu.be/2q1jZAu_lPA
I love that Dinah’s brothers are so protective of her and want to defend her. They even tell Jacob at the end of the chapter, should we just let them treat her like a harlot? But they take matters into their own hands, deceive shechem and his father into thinking that it’s all good, and then not only do they take revenge on shechem, but they kill all the men, take all of their wealth and take the women and children as captives.
Rape….evil
Murder ….evil
1 Peter 3:9
Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
Romans 12:19 Don’t try to get revenge for yourselves, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath. It is written, Revenge belongs to me; I will pay it back, says the Lord.
Brian, thank you for sharing those related passages ! I love them…. truly scripture to know and live by
Jacob is missing the mark here by not being an example for his sons. How could they think that murdering an entire city was acceptable? I hate what Shechem did to Dinah, but I feel like Levi and Simeon are just as evil if not more evil than he is!
All of our actions have a consequence. In the end, we answer to God.