Genesis 34:1-5
Dinah Defiled... [ Continue Reading ]
Dinah Defiled... [ Continue Reading ]
And Dinah, the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. Dinah had probably been born in the fourteenth year of Jacob's service in Mesopotamia. She was, like Simeon and Levi, who are so prominent in this story, a child of Jacob and Leah. About ten years... [ Continue Reading ]
And when Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her, humbled her by robbing her of her virginity.... [ Continue Reading ]
And his soul clave unto Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. The fact that Shechem really loved Dinah and did not reject her after his sinful act places him in a somewhat better light, but it does not excuse him. To seek her love after deflowering... [ Continue Reading ]
And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife. This attempt to atone for the sin by an honorable marriage was to the credit of Shechem, but it does not change the fact that he had seduced Dinah in the first place. Nor is Dinah wholly without fault. She knew that it was... [ Continue Reading ]
And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah, his daughter, for news of that kind usually travels quickly; now his sons were with his cattle in the field; AND JACOB HELD HIS PEACE UNTIL THEY WERE COME. Jacob did not act alone in this important matter, partly because the brothers of Dinah had a voice in... [ Continue Reading ]
And Hamor, the father of Shechem, went out unto Jacob to commune with him. He left the city and went out to the camp of Jacob, to anticipate the indignation of Jacob's sons and to straighten out the matter peacefully.... [ Continue Reading ]
HAMOR'S PROPOSAL... [ Continue Reading ]
And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it. The bad news reached them also before the usual hour for returning from the field, and they acted with the impetuosity of youth. And the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Ja... [ Continue Reading ]
And Hamor communed with them, saying, the soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter; I pray you give her him to wife. Hamor seems to have felt that he was representing a very weak case, for his proposal impresses the reader as being made in great hesitation and embarrassment. He pleads the de... [ Continue Reading ]
And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you.... [ Continue Reading ]
And ye shall dwell with us; and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein. Hamor thus offered to Jacob and his sons the freedom of his little country, with the full rights of citizenship. They might do business anywhere and select any part of the count... [ Continue Reading ]
And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes and what ye shall say unto me I will give.... [ Continue Reading ]
Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me; but give me the damsel to wife. Thus Shechem added his personal plea to the proposal of his father, begging to be received into the family with favor and urging them to set their own price for the bride and to as... [ Continue Reading ]
And the sons of Jacob, who had a voice in the marriage of their sister, Genesis 24:50, ANSWERED SHECHEM AND HAMOR, HIS FATHER, DECEITFULLY. It was true enough that their acceptance of the proposal would never have agreed with the destiny of the chosen people of God; they would have sacrificed the Me... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DEMAND OF JACOB'S SONS... [ Continue Reading ]
and they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us. That, in itself, may have been true enough that blood-relationship with such as were not Shemites was altogether undesirable, but to include this consideration in thei... [ Continue Reading ]
But in this will we consent unto you: if ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised;... [ Continue Reading ]
then will we give our daughters unto you and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.... [ Continue Reading ]
But if ye will not hearken unto us to be circumcised, then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone. This proposal is to be condemned as hypocritical because the sons of Jacob must have known that the Israelites were not to blend with the Shechemites; it lacked sincerity.... [ Continue Reading ]
And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem, Hamor's son.... [ Continue Reading ]
And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter; and he was more honorable than all the house of his father. No matter what the motive had been in defiling Dinah, Shechem now was undoubtedly sincere, and he accepted the words of Jacob's sons at their face v... [ Continue Reading ]
And Hamor and Shechem, his son, came unto the gate of their city, the usual place for public meetings, and communed with the men of their city, saying,... [ Continue Reading ]
The Men of Shechem Agree to the Demand... [ Continue Reading ]
These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for the land, behold, it is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters. In suggesting to the men of the city that the Israelites be given the rights o... [ Continue Reading ]
Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. This condition is inserted in the midst of the appeal, in order not to have It stand out so strongly.... [ Continue Reading ]
Shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours? Here the fact mentioned above that the land was wide before their hands and faces, affording enough room in every direction, is connected with the thought that the great wealth of the newcomers would also be at the disposa... [ Continue Reading ]
And unto Hamor and unto Shechem, his son, hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city. The expression is repeated in order to show that there was no exception among all the men of Shechem. They accepted the rite all t... [ Continue Reading ]
And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, when the men of Shechem were confined to their beds with the inflammation following the operation to which they had consented, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city... [ Continue Reading ]
The Revenge of Simeon and Levi... [ Continue Reading ]
And they slew Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword, in relentless fury, for against these two their anger was chiefly kindled, and took DINAH OUT OF SHECHEM'S HOUSE, AND WENT OUT. Thus the first part of their plan of revenge was carried out.... [ Continue Reading ]
The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister. Simeon and Levi having returned to their father's camp with their sister, the other sons of Jacob were inflamed with the same fanatical hatred and plundered the city in the excess of their fury.... [ Continue Reading ]
They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field,... [ Continue Reading ]
and all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house. It was a systematic and thorough pillage of the slain which was practiced by the sons of Jacob, extending even to the innocent members of the murdered men's families. It wa... [ Continue Reading ]
And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. Jacob performed his duty as father in rebuking his sons with great severity for their indefensible crime, telling them that they had probably brought... [ Continue Reading ]
And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot? In trying to excuse themselves, the sons of Jacob implied that men would generally have treated their sister as Shechem had done, and that they felt it to be their duty to revenge the wrong. But they passed over his offer of an atoneme... [ Continue Reading ]