A Shameful Episode

Genesis 34

Every so often in the Bible we come across an account that is just plainly distasteful and repulsive. Sometimes the scripture reports such reprehensible actions that, I’ll admit, it is difficult to know how to preach on them. Genesis 34 is such a narrative, for it tells of the rape of Jacob’s daughter Dinah by Shechem, son of Hamor, and of a bloody revenge on the city of Shechem by Jacob’s sons.

What are we to do with such a chapter? One commentator said, “We may well wonder if any man who had proper discernment”[1] would preach from this text. Such notable preachers as A.W. Pink and Alexander Maclaren skip over it. But we won’t be just brushing over it today because it is our commitment to preach the whole counsel of God in His Holy Scripture.

In one sense, it should not surprise us to find such a chapter in Genesis because we have already seen material that not only shows the depravity of human sin in general, but also the wickedness and sin in the hearts and lives of those who were men of God.[2] Haven’t we already seen godly Noah passed out drunk and naked (Gen. 9)? Haven’t we seen righteous Lot reluctant to leave the sinful city of Sodom and being drunk and raped by his daughters? Haven’t we seen Abraham and Isaac lying about their wives being their sisters in order to save their own skins? And of course, we have Jacob deceiving his father to steal his brother’s blessing. The Bible is very candid about its characters.

Part of what we are learning from the book of Genesis is that God is so wise, so powerful, so gracious, and so faithful to His promises that He is able to carry out His good purposes even with people who are extremely broken and sinful. God is faithful to preserve His people and to keep His promises to them, despite their weakness, failures, and sins.[3]

This is not the last unpleasant chapter in the Bible, or even in Genesis. How should we read and understand such chapters? First, remember that the Bible is God’s word. He wants us to understand it and to know Him through it. So we come humbly before His word, knowing its divine author and its authority over our lives. And we come prayerfully, asking God to reveal Himself and His truth to us as we read and study.

Jonathan Parnell points out three fundamental things that we do when we come humbly and prayerfully to difficult passages.[4]

Understand the context. Where does this passage fit in the overall Bible storyline? How does it contribute to the theme of the book, (Genesis in this case)? What comes before and after it? Who were the people to whom God first wrote this message and why did they need to hear it?
Read the passage. Read it several times through and look to answer questions like: What is the genre, or kind of literature, in this passage? Genesis 34 is a narrative, so we are looking for the details that contribute to the story. Who are the people, places and things in the story? What moves the narrative along? Are there repeated words or allusions to other events? The details often make the story.
Mine for the message. The Bible is the word of God and He has a message in His word about who He is and how we relate to Him. There is always a message, but sometimes it takes some digging to get at it. What is the theme of the passage? Where is God in the passage? What are the problems it addresses? What did it communicate to the original hearers? Your careful reading and study should help to answer some of these questions.

This is the outline that I will follow as we study Genesis 34 today. I hope that this method will help us not only to know what Genesis 34 teaches us, but also how to find this truth yourself as you humbly and prayerfully study the Bible on your own.

1. Understand the Context: Jacob Back in Canaan.

The context of a passage tells where it fits in the Bible. We are in the book of Genesis, the book of beginnings, where under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Moses writes about the origin of the world (Genesis 1-11) and the origin of God’s chosen people, the Israelites (Genesis 12-50). In the big picture, God has created a good world where mankind was made in the image of God to know Him and rule over His creation (Gen. 1-2). The first man and woman sinned, bringing the judgment of death upon the human race (Gen. 3). The rest of Genesis, and really most of the Bible, is about God working His purpose to redeem humanity and restore His good creation. So in Genesis 12, God called Abraham, promised to bless him, to make of him a great nation, to give his descendants the land of Canaan, and that through his seed God would bless all the families of the earth. So Moses has unfolded for us the history of Abraham, his son Isaac, and now his grandson Jacob whom God called Israel, His chosen nation.

The Bible book that comes after Genesis is Exodus where God will save His people from slavery in Egypt in order to bring them back to the land promised to Abraham. These are the first people to whom Moses writes Genesis. Moses included this episode in all its unpleasantness to warn God’s people. The nation of Israel was about to go into the land of Canaan. The greatest danger facing them was not fighting the giants in the land. It was the danger of being seduced into assimilating with the Canaanites.[5]

In the story of Jacob, remember that after spending twenty years in exile in Haran, Jacob is now finally back in the land of Canaan with his four wives, eleven sons, and at least one daughter. Jacob has had an encounter with God in Genesis 32 that has in some ways made him a new man, Israel—although the old man, Jacob, still lingers. In Genesis 33 we saw a surprisingly warm reunion with his brother Esau whom he had wronged so many years before. After spending time in a place called Succoth, Jacob settled safely near Shechem (Gen. 33:18), bought a piece of land from Hamor, the father of Shechem (Gen. 33:19), and built an altar to worship El Elohe Israel, God, the God of Israel (Gen. 33:20).

Genesis 34 marks a transition from the story of Jacob, to the story of Jacob’s sons. And it also begins a period of trouble and moral decline we will note in the line of Jacob. In Genesis 34 Jacob’s sons will deceive and violently murder all the men in a whole town. In Genesis 35 Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel will die giving birth to Benjamin and Jacob’s eldest son Rueben will sleep with Jacob’s concubine. In Genesis 37 Jacob’s sons sell their brother Joseph into slavery and let their father think he has been killed. In Genesis 38 Jacob’s son Judah will sleep with his own son’s widow.

Genesis is concerned to magnify the grace of God shown to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. God’s grace and God’s faithfulness is the central theme. He was faithful to preserve His people and to keep His promises to them, despite their weakness, failure, and sin.[6]

That’s the context. Now, Let’s hear the story.

2. Read the Passage: Four Scenes.

Reading Genesis 34 we see that there are four scenes that take place. There is a repeated word that signals the beginning of each scene: “went out”. This verb is used in Genesis 34:1, “Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.” Each time we see that verb again (Genesis 34:6, 24, and 26) it will move the story to the next scene.

Listen for it as I read:

¹ Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. ² And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her, and violated her. ³ His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman. ⁴ So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young woman as a wife.” ⁵ And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter. Now his sons were with his livestock in the field; so Jacob held his peace until they came.

⁶ Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. ⁷ And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved and very angry, because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing which ought not to be done. ⁸ But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. ⁹ And make marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to yourselves. ¹⁰ So you shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you. Dwell and trade in it, and acquire possessions for yourselves in it.” ¹¹ Then Shechem said to her father and her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. ¹² Ask me ever so much dowry and gift, and I will give according to what you say to me; but give me the young woman as a wife.” ¹³ But the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father, and spoke deceitfully, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. ¹⁴ And they said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a reproach to us. ¹⁵ But on this condition we will consent to you: If you will become as we are, if every male of you is circumcised, ¹⁶ then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us; and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. ¹⁷ But if you will not heed us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and be gone.”

¹⁸ And their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. ¹⁹ So the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. He was more honorable than all the household of his father. ²⁰ And Hamor and Shechem his son came to the gate of their city, and spoke with the men of their city, saying: ²¹ “These men are at peace with us. Therefore let them dwell in the land and trade in it. For indeed the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters to us as wives, and let us give them our daughters. ²² Only on this condition will the men consent to dwell with us, to be one people: if every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. ²³ Will not their livestock, their property, and every animal of theirs be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us.” ²⁴ And all who went out of the gate of his city heeded Hamor and Shechem his son; every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

²⁵ Now it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came boldly upon the city and killed all the males. ²⁶ And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went out. ²⁷ The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because their sister had been defiled. ²⁸ They took their sheep, their oxen, and their donkeys, what was in the city and what was in the field, ²⁹ and all their wealth. All their little ones and their wives they took captive; and they plundered even all that was in the houses. ³⁰ Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and since I am few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and kill me. I shall be destroyed, my household and I.” ³¹ But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a harlot?”

So the four scenes are:

Scene 1: Dinah went out.

Moses briefly mentioned the birth of Dinah in Genesis 30:21 to prepare us for this chapter. He calls her “the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob” (Gen. 34:1). We know that at first, Jacob cared little for Leah, so we may now wonder: How much does he care for his daughter by Leah?

Dinah “went out to see the daughters of the land.” This may have started out innocently, but it will prove disastrous because her socializing with the Canaanites made her vulnerable. Abraham and Isaac have both warned about the dangers of uniting with Canaanite women (Genesis 24:3; 28:1, 6). The Hivites of Shechem are a clan of the Canaanites (Gen. 10:15-17). Dinah went out to “see” the women. However, Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite prince, “saw” her (Gen. 34:2). He liked what he saw, so “he took her and lay with her, and violated her.” Whatever we might say about the wisdom or lack thereof in Dinah, the text is clear that Shechem took her by force to lay with her. The word “violated” literally means to “humiliate” in the sense of defiling. 1 Samuel 13 uses this same word when Amnon raped his sister Tamar (1 Sam. 13:12, 14).

While his rape of Dinah was an abomination, the text tells us that Shechem “loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman” and he desired to marry her. He urged his father to arrange for their marriage as soon as possible. Dinah may have remained in his tent while these negotiations took place (cf. Gen. 34:26). Meanwhile, the word gets back to Jacob that Shechem has violated his daughter, but we’re told in Genesis 34:5 that Jacob doesn’t do anything. Jacob remains silent throughout the chapter, silent, that is, until the very end when it was too late.[7]

Scene 2: Hamor went out.

Hamor, Shechem’s father, went out to meet with Jacob to negotiate a marriage deal (Gen. 34:6). Meanwhile, as this meeting is happening, the sons of Jacob find out about what Shechem did, and this is their response (Gen. 34:7): “… the men were grieved and very angry, because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing which ought not to be done.”

Jacob’s sons were angry, not just because this was their sister, but they see this as an attack on their entire family. This is the first time that the name “Israel” is used to refer to a whole people. This attack by Shechem on Dinah was viewed as an attack by the Hivites on Israel.

Hamor doesn’t just want Shechem to marry Dinah, but he wants everyone in their families to marry one another, painting a picture of the financial gain to Jacob’s family from such a deal (Gen. 34:9-10). Shechem, on his part, does not apologize for his crime, but offers to pay any dowry they ask (Gen. 34:11-12).

The sons of Jacob hide their anger from Hamor, and instead, they deceive him (Gen. 34:13) using their religion as a pretense. Circumcision was the sign of the covenant that God had made with Abraham and his descendants. Jacob’s sons insist that all the men of Shechem be circumcised before they will agree to marriage (Gen. 34:15-17). The deceitfulness of Jacob’s sons is in no way defensible. They intended to trick the Canaanites into an arrangement whereby they would be physically incapacitated and could be easily murdered.

But Jacob’s silence is also indefensible. Jacob silently and passively accepted the agreement with the people of Shechem, fully expecting to carry it out. He planned to allow his descendants to inter-marry with the Canaanites, but his sons had no such intention. Jacob was acting contrary to the covenant purposes of God and violating the command that his father had given him not to marry the daughters of the Canaanites (Gen. 28:1-4).[8]

Hamor and Shechem agree to this deal (Gen. 34:18); but now they have to convince all the other men in Shechem to go through with it. We see Hamor’s real objective when he tells the men of the city, “Will not their livestock, their property, and every animal of theirs be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us.” (Gen. 34:23).

Scene 3: All the men of the city went out.

Genesis 34:24 says, “And all who went out of the gate of his city heeded Hamor and Shechem his son; every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.”

Then the treachery of the sons of Jacob comes in Genesis 34:25, “Now it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came boldly upon the city and killed all the males.” This was not justice; it was brutal and excessive revenge.[9]

Scene 4: Simeon and Levi went out.

After Simeon and Levi “killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword,” they “took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went out” (Gen. 34:26). Then it seems that all the sons of Jacob went back into the city and plundered it, taking everything for themselves (Gen. 34:27-29). They took their livestock and all their wealth, their children and their wives. The sons of Jacob took it all.

And then finally in Genesis 34:30, Jacob speaks up and he rebukes Simeon and Levi: “You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and since I am few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and kill me. I shall be destroyed, my household and I.” Jacob was right to rebuke his son’s cruel actions. But his words lacked force because his reasons were self-centered and not based upon principle, but only on his own self-preservation. Jacob says “You have troubled me”; you have made “me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land.” Jacob is afraid “they will gather themselves together against me and kill me.” Jacob seemed to care only about his safety and saving his own skin.[10] The shallowness of Jacob’s stern rebuke was exposed by his sons’ response: “Should he treat our sister like a harlot?” (Gen. 34:31). And that’s the last word, with that question the chapter ends.

Absolutely no one who is mentioned in Genesis 34 appears in a favorable light. For all, it is a most shameful incident.

3. Mine for the Message

To get to the message of the text it helps to connect the context of the story and the details of the story.

One message we ought to consider is the subtle, yet aggressive danger of assimilation with the world. Moses surely intended for this story to illustrate the danger of compromising with the Canaanites and blending into their pagan culture. Jacob thought he was quite safe with these friendly people, but he and his family were in great danger. This potential marriage deal with the Hivites was not good. For Israel to become one people with the Canaanites was for Israel to become no people at all. This deal would have meant the complete erosion of God’s covenant people. Ultimately this is an attack against God’s purpose to send His Messiah and bless the nations.

The greatest danger Israel would face would be their prosperity and apparent security once they possessed the land. Significantly, God is not mentioned in Genesis 34 at all. Had Jacob forgotten God?

Moses will warn the Israelites:

¹¹ “Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, ¹² “lest–when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; ¹³ “and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; ¹⁴ “when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; (Deut. 8:11-14).

Israel’s security was in the LORD God and Him alone.

The second message is the true theme of this section: God’s purposes will not be overthrown.[11] The actions of Simeon and Levi were evil. Later, Jacob will actually pronounce a curse on Simeon and Levi in Genesis 49:7 because of this episode.

But here is the amazing thing: Simeon and Levi’s evil action prevents Jacob’s family from intermarrying with the Canaanites and that is a good outcome. So the evil of men somehow resulted in God’s good purpose. This is deep theology. But it is true.

God’s purpose is to bless all the families of the earth. God was truly merciful, gracious, and kind to Jacob and his sons, despite their sin. He would preserve them and bless them so that through them the Christ would come into the world, in whom we have the forgiveness of all our sins.[12] And Genesis 34 shows us that God’s purpose will not be derailed even by the wickedness of His broken and sinful people. Even in the darkest moments of human sin, even when God seems to be nowhere in sight, even there, God’s purposes are not overthrown.[13]

We see this truth especially in the New Testament. You see, there was another evil moment in history much worse than Genesis 34. It was the moment when human sin was most atrocious, and when it felt like God was most absent. It happened on the cross of Calvary when the Savior of the world was brutally crucified at the hands of evil men. But according to the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:23) He bore the punishment for evil men by His death. He was forsaken and He died. And it was silent. For three days.

And then God, who keeps His promises and accomplished His purposes despite the evil of men—this God raised Christ from the dead. Even sin and death will not overthrow God’s purposes but instead, He overthrew sin and death for our salvation.

That’s what the Lord’s table is about. Today, as we come to the Lord’s Supper, we come believing that Jesus died for us is raised from the dead. We come in humility, knowing that it was our sins for which Jesus died. We come in gratitude and joy that God’s purposes have not been overthrown and will not be overthrown. If you are here and you’re united to Jesus Christ by faith, if you trust Him for the forgiveness of sins, we invite you to eat and drink with us at this Table.

[1] Leupold, H. C., The Outrage on Dinah Avenged by her Brothers (chapter 34), https://ccel.org/ccel/leupold/genesis/genesis.xxxv.html

[2] Boice, James Montgomery. 1998. Genesis: An Expositional Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

[3] Anady, Joe, Genesis 34: The Tribe Of Jacob Defiled, https://emmausrbc.org/2019/11/24/sermon-genesis-34-the-tribe-of-jacob-defiled/

[4] Parnell, Jonathan, The Purpose of God Will Not Be Overthrown, https://www.citieschurch.com/sermons/the-purpose-of-god-will-not-be-overthrown. I found Parnell’s approach, outline, and points very helpful in developing this sermon.

[5] Cole, Steven, Fatal Attraction (Genesis 34:1-31), https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-61-fatal-attraction-genesis-341-31

[6] Anady, Joe, Genesis 34: The Tribe Of Jacob Defiled, https://emmausrbc.org/2019/11/24/sermon-genesis-34-the-tribe-of-jacob-defiled/

[7] Phillips, John. 2009. Exploring Genesis: An Expository Commentary. The John Phillips Commentary Series. Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp.

[8] Deffinbaugh, Robert, One Step Forward and Three Backward (Genesis 33:1–34:31) https://bible.org/seriespage/one-step-forward-and-three-backward-genesis-331-3431

[9] Ross, Allen, and John N. Oswalt. 2008. Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Genesis, Exodus. Vol. 1. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

[10] Deffinbaugh.

[11] Parnell.

[12] Anady.

[13] Parnell.