How Not to Handle Sin

Introduction

This week is a sad week in the story of Jacob. If you remember in verse 18 of the previous chapter he settles near the city of Shechem. He promised God that he would return to Bethel in chapter 28 but he stops short here. He buys land and settles, showing he does not care about remaining distinct from the peoples. Today we are going to see the fruit of that in a series of moral failures.

This story shows us in a variety of ways how not to handle sin. So lets now dive in and read our passage. Genesis 34

Genesis 34 ESV

Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.” Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing must not be done. But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it.” Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. Ask me for as great a bride-price and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.” The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.” Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor’s son Shechem. And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his father’s house. So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, “These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.” And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered. Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”

Jacobs daughter Dinah goes out to meet the women of the land and while she is gone she gets raped. The rapist is the son of the leader of this city. He then decides that he wants her as a wife so he tells his father that is what he wants. Jacob hears this and is silent because his sons are gone. The father of the rapist comes and by this time the brothers have come home and they meet. The father offers all sorts of things as a bride price for Dinah but the brothers scheme and say that they cannot allow it unless they are circumcised. This ruler then goes and has all of the men of the city circumcised, which is crazy. Then three of Jacobs sons go into the city while they are sore and kill every man there. Jacob is mad because it hurts his image and the sons are mad because their sister was treated like a prostitute.

Now there is a lot to this story that we could dive into but I want to focus on the sin of this passage and how it was not handled properly. Along the way we will get a better idea about how we should handle sin around us.

Ignoring sin doesn’t make it go away

In the first five verses of this passage we see what appears to be Jacob just ignoring this sin. Now there are several reasons that he may be doing this that are very practical but we need to know that ignoring sin does not make it go away.

In our lives we cannot simple ignore our sin. Sin is something that has to be faced and we have to make war with it. Often when we think of battling sin we think of ignoring it. We think that if we just don’t think about it, it will just go away. Sin has to be confronted.

Psalm 32:3–4 ESV

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

Ignoring sin will make us feel as though our bones are wasting away and the hand of conviction will rest heavy on us. Have you ever thought about your sin in terms of making war against it? Wage a war for holiness, don’t just ignore it.

Avenging sin doesn’t heal it

In the next part we see the sons of Jacob seek to avenge their sister. Later in Genesis 49 their father condemns this sin that they do. They do not simply go after the man that raped their sister, they kill every man in the city. This is a punishment that far outweighs the crime and in the end there was no healing.

Now I am not saying nothing should have been done here because that would be the same as ignoring. What I an saying is that avenging isn’t going to bring healing. When someone wrongs us or a friend we seek vengeance. Instead we should seek forgiveness and leave justice to the Lord and the authorities that he has put in place.

Psalm 37:7–9 ESV

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

When we seek vengeance it goes towards evil. Instead we should wait on the Lord.

Psalm 94:1–2 ESV

O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve!

Gods justice is better than ours

In the end of the story we see that all the brothers were trying to do was bring about justice. The thing is though that they did not do that. Jacob does not even seen concerned with justice or the sin, he is just worried about how he is perceived by those around him.

We need to know that justice will be brought about. There is no getting around it. The thing with the justice that is coming too is that it is from God which means it is perfect. Those who come to him will be forgiven but those who don’t will face it. This takes the burden off of us to handle sin and the sins of others. God places government on earth to enact justice but it will be flawed, some day though his perfect justice will come. Knowing that it is off of us to concern ourselves with. We should pray that it would be done but we are not the enactors.

Psalm 9:7–10 ESV

But the Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness. The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Jesus carries justice without creating more victims

At Shechem, many died for one sinner. At the cross, one died for many sinners. Justice was not ignored, it was satisfied.

Psalm 103:10–12 ESV

He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

Allow Jesus to do what is just. If you have been saved, then there is nothing to fear. If you have not given your life to him, then you too will receive justice.

Conclusion

Psalm 130:3–4 ESV

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.

None of us could stand without forgiveness. In Jesus forgiveness is possible. He gives us mercy and takes away all that we have done against him.

With sin that happens around us; it cannot be ignored, we should not seek vengeance, we should leave justice to God.