Genesis 34:31

_AND THEY SAID, SHOULD HE DEAL WITH OUR SISTER AS WITH AN HARLOT?_ Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot? The brothers were, by consuetudinary right, the guardians of the honour as well as the life of their sister (cf. 2 Samuel 13:22). And this ancient practice still obtains, as both Niebuhr and Burckhardt inform us, among the Arabs, in whose traditional code seduction is a capital crime, and the duty of inflicting the punishment is laid upon the brothers of the outraged girl. In this view, therefore, the conduct of Simeon and Levi was justifiable; but not content with avenging the crime upon the offender, they extended their vengeance to every person and everything belonging to him; nay, were guilty of the most infamous deceit, inasmuch as they covered beneath the cloak of religious scruples, a scheme of cold-blooded and atrocious cruelty. But God, wh

20-31 The Shechemites submitted to the sacred rite, only to serve a turn, to please their prince, and to enrich themselves, and it was just with God to bring punishment upon them. As nothing secures us better than true religion, so nothing exposes us more than religion only pretended to. But Simeon and Levi were most unrighteous. Those who act wickedly, under the pretext of religion, are the worst enemies of the truth, and harden the hearts of many to destruction. The crimes of others form no excuse for us. Alas! how one sin leads on to another, and, like flames of fire, spread desolation in every direction! Foolish pleasures lead to seduction; seduction produces wrath; wrath thirsts for revenge; the thirst of revenge has recourse to treachery; treachery issues in murder; and murder is followed by other lawless actions. Were we to trace the history of unlawful commerce between the sexes,...

Verse Genesis 34:31. _SHOULD HE DEAL WITH OUR SISTER AS WITH A HARLOT?_] On this outrage alone they vindicated their flagitious conduct. The word _harlot_ first occurs here: the original is not פילגש _pilegesh,_ which we render _concubine_, (see its explanation Genesis 22:24), but זונה _zonah_, which ordinarily signifies _one who prostitutes_ _herself to any person for hire_. Our word _harlot_ is said to have been derived from a very odd circumstance: Robert, duke of Normandy, seeing a fine - looking country girl dancing with her companions on the green, took her to his bed. She was the daughter of a _skinner_, and her name was _Arlotta_; and of her _William_, surnamed _The Conqueror_, was born. Hence it is said all such women were from her ca...

- Dinah’s Dishonor This chapter records the rape of Dinah and the revenge of her brothers. Genesis 34:1 Dinah went out to see the daughters of the land. The Jewish doctors of a later period fix the marriageable age of a female at twelve years and a day. It is probable that Dinah was in her thirteenth year when she went out to visit the daughters of the land. Six or seven years, therefore, must have been spent by Jacob between Sukkoth, where he abode some time, and the neighborhood of Shekerm, where he had purchased a piece of ground. If we suppose Dinah to have been born in the same year with Joseph, who was in his seventeenth year at the time of his being sold as a bondslave Genesis 37:2, the events of this chapter must have occurred in the interval between the completion of her twelfth and th

EXPOSITION GENESIS 34:1 AND DINAH THE DAUGHTER OF LEAH, WHICH SHE BARE UNTO JACOB,—if Dinah was born before Joseph (Genesis 30:21) she was probably in her seventh year when Jacob reached Succoth (Genesis 33:17); but it does not follow that she was only six or seven years of age when the incident about to be described occurred (Tuch, Bohlen). If Jacob stayed two years at Succoth and eight in Shechem (Petavius), and if, as is probable, his residence in Shechem terminated with his daughter's dishonor (Lange), and if, moreover, Joseph's sale into Egypt happened soon after (Hengstenberg), Dinah may at this time have been in her sixteenth or seventeenth year (Kurtz). Yet th

AND THEY SAID,.... Simeon and Levi, in a very pert and unseemly manner: SHOULD HE DEAL WITH OUR SISTER AS WITH AN HARLOT? make a whore of her, and then keep her in his house as such? is this to be borne with? or should we take no more notice of his behaviour to our sister, or show no more regard to her than if she was a common prostitute, whom no man will defend or protect? so say the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, "nor let Shechem the son of Hamor mock at us, or boast and say, as an harlot whom no man seeks after, or no man seeks to avenge her; so it is done by Dinah the daughter of Jacob:'' they tacitly insinuate as if Jacob had not that regard for the honour of his daughter and family, and showed his resentment at the wicked behaviour of Shechem, as he ought to have done. It is observed that there is a letter in the word for "harlot" greater than usual, which may either denote...

CHAPTER 34 DEFILEMENT OF DINAH _ 1. The defilement (Genesis 34:1)_ 2. Hamor's proposal (Genesis 34:4) 3. The deceitful answer of Jacob's sons (Genesis 34:13) 4. The males of Shechem slain (Genesis 34:25) 5. Jacob's shame and grief (Genesis 34:30) If Jacob after the Peniel experience had gone to Bethel instead of building a house at Succoth and buying a parcel of a field, perhaps this sad event might never have occurred. God permitted it for the humiliation of His servant Jacob. Again he reaps what

GENESIS 34. SHECHEM'S OUTRAGE ON DINAH AVENGED. It is generally agreed that two sources have been used, but much uncertainty prevails as to their identity and extent, while in view of the priestly phraseology in one of the narratives, it is probable that the compiler has left his mark rather deeply upon it, unless we assign it directly to P, who may have employed an earlier story. According to one story, perhaps J, Shechem seduces Dinah and keeps her in his house. Jacob announces the news to his sons on their return from the field, and they are greatly angered. Shechem offers to accept any financial terms they may impose if only he may marry her. They reply that his uncircumcision is a fatal barrier. He accepts their conditions (not now recorded). Simeon and Levi, however, enter the city, kill him, plunder the house, and take Dinah away. This action arouses Jacob's consternation as to th...

_Should he deal_ Simeon and Levi regard the incident as one in which the honour of the clan was involved, and as if they had only one course of action to follow with regard to Shechem and Hamor....

DISCOURSE: 49 SLAUGHTER OF THE SHECHEMITES Genesis 34:31. _And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?_ THE life of man is continually exposed to trouble; and not unfrequently waves follow waves with little intermission. It was thus in Jacob’s case, who, from the time that he fled from the face of Esau, met with a continued series of difficulties and distresses. Having terminated his hard service under Laban, and miraculously escaped the vindictive assaults both of Laban and of Esau, he seemed to have obtained a respite. But his peace was of very short duration; for his own children, to whom he looked for comfort in his declining years, became to him a source of the most poignant sorrows. It appears indeed, from various circumstances in this short history, that he did not maintain sufficient authority over his own house. Had he taken the direction of