Dinah and the Shechemites

Anita Diamant's popular book, The Red Tent, is based
on the story in Genesis 34.

Genesis 34

Well, everyone seems to go a little crazy in this chapter.

Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob, ventures out to visit the women of the land (who would be of a different culture to her). In return, she is kidnapped and raped by Shechen, sone of Hamor the Hivite, who also happens to be the ruler of that area.

Hamor realizes this is a volatile situation, and asks Jacob if he would give Dinah to Shechem as a wife, and offers to allow the two families to intermarry and live together.

And what is the response?

Genesis 34:13-16, NIV Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob’s sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor. They said to them, “We can’t do such a thing; we can’t give our sister to a man who is not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. We will give our consent to you on one condition only: that you become like us by circumcising all your males. Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We’ll settle among you and become one people with you.”

Key word here: deceitfully.

What really happens is Shechem’s family complies and all the men are circumcised. While they are recovering, Dinah’s brothers enact retribution, killing every male in the city, seize their flocks and herd, and carry off the women and children. Oh, and in the process they rescue Dinah from Shechem’s house and bring her home.

The rape of Dinah is a horrible thing. But so is the founders of Israel lying to a city, convincing them to circumcise only so that they will be weak and can be killed easily. The captured women and children from the city were likely forced into slavery, which is equally horrendous as what happened to Dinah.

Jacob condemns his sons actions, but out of fear of retribution. God is silent in this chapter.

Genesis 34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.

Esau and Jacob are reunited....and there is no bloodshed

Genesis 33

Jacob prepares for a violent meeting with his brother Esau, but is pleasantly surprised.

Gensis 33: 4-5, NIV But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept. Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children.

Esau is genuinely happy to see his brother, and does not hold on to any bitterness or resentment. He forgives Jacob, and it really makes you wonder why Esau is the one that God (and Rebekah) loathes.

From there, Esau goes back to Seir, and Jacob settles in Succoth, also in Canaan, in what turns out to only be a surface reconciliation on Jacob’s part. Jacob continued to mistrust Esau, and did not want Esau to accompany him, nor did he want Esau to leave some of his men for protection. Jacob let his brother think he was on his way to Esau’s home in Seir, but then turned north to Succoth as soon as Esau was out of sight.

Why does Jacob continue to be God’s favorite when Esau is clearly the better guy?

Here is an answer to that question according to the commentary in my NIV Student Bible:

“God couldn’t choose everyone—moreover, those individuals God did choose were not always the ones we admire. God makes his own judgments, Paul says, and God’s people must bow before him even when they do not understand.”

Blind faith.

Genesis 32

Fords of the Jabbok, the supposed location of Mahanaim and Peniel/Penuel.
From bibleplaces.com 

Genesis 32

Genesis 32: 3, NIV Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to Seir, the country of Edom.

It seems as if Esau has moved to a new home in the time that Jacob has been gone. Seir refers to the mountain range that covered most of Edom. In the biblical record, Esau’s descendants settle on this land after displacing the Horites. Archaeological references have the earliest settlements appearing in the Iron Age, and date to the 9^th century BCE, and that Edom did not become a complex society and kingdom until the 8^th century BCE.

We find Jacob praying to God in this chapter, after he hears that Esau is coming to meet him with 400 men. We don’t see Jacob praying in many other instances, and now he is praying for selfish reasons; he believes Esau is coming to kill him. Jacob wants God to save him from his brother, the same brother he deceived, tricked, and cheated multiple times.

Jacob fights with an angel of God, and wins. It is interesting when you compare this interaction with Abraham and Lot, who immediately fall down on their faces when in the presence of an angel.

After this wrestling match, God renames Jacob Israel, which means “he struggles with God”. Oddly, skimming ahead, he is still called Jacob in later chapters of the Bible, unlike his grandfather Abraham after his name change.

Commandment 3/613 Laws in the Torah (Gen. 32:33) Not to eat the sinew of the thigh. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon [by God].

New words:

Mahanaim – (“This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim.) Mahanaim is mentioned 13 times in the Old Testament (but no where else), and means “two camps”. It is believed to lie about ten miles east of the Jordan River. In this area there are two large tells that face each other with the Jabbok river flowing between them. The tells are now named Tall adh-Dhahab East and Tall adh-Dhahab West. Some biblical scholars believe them to be Mahanaim and Penuel. While this has never been proven, there is an archaeological site at Tall adh-Dhahab West, since 2006, when building remains from the Hellenistic and Roman era were found, believed to be part of a monumental building of Herod the Great (73-4 BCE).

Laban Pursues Jacob

Genesis 31

Jacob, following a command from God, secretly departs Paddan Aram. It is interesting to note that Rachel sneaks into Laban’s tent and steals his household idols before fleeing, leaving one with the impression that Laban worshipped multiple gods.

When Laban catches up with Jacob seven days later, he limits his anger after having a dream in which God appears. But he wants his idols back. Rachel, smart girl that she is, sits on them while he searches her tent. But why does she want his idols?

When Laban searches and is unable to find the idols, Jacob finally loses it, and unleashes all of the bitterness and frustration of the last 20 years against Laban. His response is actually kind of surprising, considering the past: he suggests making a covenant of peace, and together they create a pile of stones that acts as a border between Laban’s home and Jacob’s. Laban calls it Jegar Sahadutha, Aramaic for “witness heap”. Jacob names it Galeed, Hebrew for “witness heap” (even here the two remain divided, unable to use one name for the covenant).

Here is commentary from around the web:

From Christnotes.org:

God can put a bridle in the mouth of wicked men, to restrain their malice, though he do not change their hearts. Though they have no love to God’s people, they will pretend to it, and try to make a merit of necessity. Foolish Laban! To call those things his gods which could be stolen!

A slightly more thought-out response, from Bible.org:

Jacob seems to have come away from this encounter with Laban as the unchallenged winner, but die he really? While Jacob may have convinced himself and his wives of his innocence, he has not convinced us, nor has he changed the mind of Laban. Laban was still certain that Jacob was a crook, but being warned by God, he could do little to stop him. The treaty which he initiated was his only hope. And that treaty was not tribute to Jacob’s character.

Finally, Jacob’s actions here remind me that one may be doing the will of God but in a way that is offensive to the character of God. God had commanded Jacob to leave Paddan Aram and return to the land of promise. In this sense Jacob was doing God’s will for his life. But he was not doing the will of God in God’s way.

The only problem with this last commentary, is that not once does God chastise Jacob for his actions. Why?