Genesis 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.