Right in their own eyes

Right in their own eyes Genesis 34-35

I. Introduction and background

We are examining the historical record of the Patriarchs. So far we've dealt with Abraham, Isaac and for the past few weeks we have been working our way through the tumultuous life of Jacob. Even though he is the son of promise, he is:

·         A deeply flawed individual

·         Life characterized by struggle and conflict

·         Has alienated almost everyone (Isaac, Esau, Laban)

Recently however things are seemingly taking a turn for the better.

·         Successful reunion with Esau.

<<See Genesis 33: 4>>

·         Settles near Shechem

·         Builds a house and buys a field

This field will become an important part of Jacob's legacy.

<<See Joshua 24:32>>

·         Builds and alter for "God, the God of Israel"

<<See Genesis 33: 18-20>>

In all things seem to be going well when Jacob's world blows up in his face.

II. What happens

Let's begin by summarizing what happened in this story.  As we read...focus on the specific actions taken by the following individuals or groups:

·         Dinah

·         Shechem

·         Jacob

·         Hamor

·         Simeon and Levi

·         The other sons of Jacob

<<Read the whole passage of Genesis 34>>

Let's summarize:

·         Dinah goes out to investigate

·         Shechem sees her

·         He rapes her and carries her away

·         He "falls in love" with her

·         He tells his father to get her for his wife

·         Jacob hears about the rape and remains quiet

·         Hamor goes to make an offer to Jacob

·         Jacob's sons hear of the rape and are furious

·         Hamor and Shechem propose a remedy

·         The sons deceitfully agree

·         Hamor and Shechem propose circumcision to the town and all agree

·         The town is circumcised

·         Simeon and Levi murder all of the men

·         Other Brothers plunder the town

·         Jacob complains

·         The sons respond to his complain

16 steps in an enormous tragedy.

QUESTION: So what do we make of this and now do we apply it to ourselves?

·         If someone rapes your sister, kill their entire town?

·         Revenge is sweet?

QUESTION: First what is the central event of the story?

ANSWER: The central event is the revenge taken by Jacob's sons.

Remember: All scripture is made available to us to teach us, to instruct us, to reprove us...to help us know God.  So we must look for those lessons here that relate to God's revelation of himself and his purpose.

Let's take each of these character(s) and break down their situation and the choices they made.

A. Dinah

What do we know about Dinah?

·         Name means "Judgement"

·         Sister to Simeon and Levi from Jacob's wife Leah

What does she do in this story:

·         Goes out to visit the women of the land

·         Gets raped (Consensus from most commentaries is that this was not consensual although there is room for some doubt)

·         Gets carried off to Shechem's house

·         Is taken back by force by her brothers.

WHAT CHOICES DID DINAH MAKE THAT ULTIMATELY LED TO THIS HORRIBLE EVENT?

·         Chose to go out among people who were considered unclean

·         Violated custom

·         Tempted Shechem

B. Shechem

What do we know about him?

·         Name means "shoulder"

·         Was "prince" of the land

WHAT CHOICES DID HE MAKE?

·         Chose to take Dinah by force

·         Chose to attempt to obtain Dinah as his wife

·         Chose to accept the rite of circumcision and convince the city to do the same

C. Hamor

Though Jacob appears next in the text we will come back to him.

What do we know about Hamor?

·         Name means "he-ass"

(Note the donkey was an important animal to this culture and represented wealth and status)

·         A leader

·         Respected by the town

WHAT WERE HIS CHOICES?

·         To view his sons actions as acceptable

·         To join his on in going after Dinah

·         Proposing and accepting the rite of circumcision

D. Jacob's sons

What do we know about them?

·         Did not know God in the intimate way Jacob did

·         Headstrong, violent

WHAT WERE THEIR CHOICES?

·         To allow the flame of their passions to be the guiding force in their response to Shechem

·         To participate in the deceit

·         To participate in the slaughter

·         To add "plundering" to the event

E. Simeon and Levi

What do we know:

·         2nd and 3rd sons of Leah

·         Names are not listed as having other meanings....although one source says it Simeon means "hearing" and Levi means "adhesion" probably based on Leah's comments when the boys were born.

·         We know that they would carry the guilt for the slaughter at Shechem throughout their lives. When Jacob was old and nearing death and passing his final blessing on to his sons his blessings are a combination of final testament and verdict on the quality of their lives. Of Simeon and Levi he writes:

<<See Genesis 49:5-7>>

WHAT WERE THEIR CHOICES?

·         To exact a total revenge on all of the inhabitants of Shechem

·         To execute their own judgement and law

·         To respond indignantly to their father's criticism of their actions

F. Jacob

What do we know that Jacob did in this episode?

·         Bought land and settled

·         Kept quiet when he found out about the rape

·         Did not prevent the slaughter

·         Criticized his sons for their response

·         Moved on

The content of Jacob's criticism

is instructive:

<<See Genesis 34:30>>

·         Interpreted everything in terms of the trouble it brought upon him

·         Concern was the impact on his lucrative position in the land

·         Concern was with safety of his tribe and their economic welfare

·         Never shows any concern for Dinah

III. How do we consider the events of this terrible story?

Before we dig into an interpretation and application of what we learn from this story, there are some related considerations that we must keep in mind:

A. Depravity of women and people of Canaan

·         Abraham forced his servant to take a solemn oath to get a wife for Isaac that was NOT from among the Canaanites

<<See Genesis 24: 2-4>>

·         Rebekah gives us a clue when she constructs a pretext for sending Jacob away to find a wife.

<<See Genesis 27:46>>

·         When Jacob was sent away to get a wife, the text relates what Esau saw in terms of the reputation of Canaanite women:

<<See Genesis 28:7-8>>

QUESTION: Why were these Canaanites so disgusting to the descendents of Abraham?

We really don't get a clear answer to this until later. We learn in Leviticus that the unclean character of these peoples had earned them the final and absolute judgement of God:

<<See Leviticus 18: 24-25

Later the Israelites will become the instruments of God's judgement against these people.

<<See Deuteronomy 20:17>>

The point of all of this is summed up by R.K.Harrison who called them "sordid and debased" in Old Testament Times. He writes:

"The absolute lack of moral character in the Canaanite deities made corrupt practices as ritual prostitution, child sacrifice, and licentious worship the normal expressions of religious devotion and fervor" (p 164).

By the time God called Abraham to "go to a land I will show you" these people were already tried, found guilty and sentenced. God was waiting until they reached the full measure of their wickedness before he exercised his judgement.

B. No guilt expressed by the sons of Jacob

In spite of their father's criticism at the time of the even and his scathing denunciation in his last will and testament, there is no indication that any of the sons expressed regret or guilt at what they had done.

In an Old Testament Apocrypha work called "The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs" we find these words:

From the "Testament of Levi"

And I slew Shechem first, and Simeon slew Hamor. And after this my brothers 6 came and smote that city with the edge of the sword. And my father heard these things and was wroth, and he was grieved in that they had received the circumcision, and after that had been 7 put to death, and in his blessings he looked amiss upon us. For we sinned because we had done 8 this thing against his will, and he was sick on that day. But I saw that the sentence of God was for evil upon Shechem; for they sought to do to Sarah and Rebecca as they had done to Dinah our 9 sister, but the Lord prevented them.

Note: This was certainly not written by Levi but it does represent the traditional viewpoint in Israel about this event as that tradition existed more than a thousand years later.

C. What moral and ethical guidance did they have in this circumstance?

Consider what guidance these people had about what to do in this situation:

·         They didn't have the law.

·         They didn't know God.

All they had were:

·         The promise

·         The blessing

·         The knowledge of the need to remain separate

D. The transcendent importance of the Covenant

Finally, consider this. We have been talking about the patriarchs...Abraham, Isaac and now Jacob. But we must remember they were not alone. They had huge families, flocks and herds, and a tremendously successful economic life.

·         It was the patriarch who had the personal relationship with God...not the whole family

·         They must have shared some of the wretched ideas, behaviors and practices of the surrounding people.

<<See Genesis 35: 2>>

I have a book entitled Why Johnny can't tell right from wrong.

·         Its point is that they don't know right from wrong because they have not been taught.

·         Our culture tends to leave children to figure it out for themselves.

·         In a sense this was likely the same way in Jacob's family.

Not only was Jacob a deeply flawed individual, his family bore those same flaws exaggerated by even less knowledge of God than that of Jacob.

AND YET the covenant is alive and well and Jacob is still the son of promise.

After this dreadful act of violence, God reaffirms his covenant with Jacob.

<<See Genesis 35: 10-12>>

This is important. so keep it in mind as we work through this dreadful story of rape, revenge, unbelievable savagery, deceit and self-interest.

IV. Conclusion

In the absence of:

·         The law

·         A close personal relationship with God

·         A clear appropriation of the covenant

Jacob's sons had nothing to direct their decisions. They had nothing to counter their own tendency to sin.

A. In their own eyes

The same moral blindness exhibited by Jacob's sons appears as a consistent theme throughout the Bible. It is expressed most explicitly however, in the book of Judges where we find the nation of Israel disintegrating.

1. KEY: They did what was right in their own eyes!

The author of Judges sums it up this way:

"In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit." (Judges 21:25, NIV)

In every respect the sons of Jacob did what they thought was right.

2. There is a way that seems right to man.

Later Solomon would remind us of this terrible same terrible dilemma:

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." (Proverbs 14:12, NIV)

Commenting on this verse in Proverbs, Spence writes:

"This may refer to the blinding effects of passion and self-will; for these make a man think his own way best and most desirable. ... Conscience needs to be informed by God’s Word and ruled by God’s will to make it a safe guide. When properly regulated, it is able to pronounce a verdict upon contemplated action, and its verdict must always be obeyed. But warped by prejudice, weakened by disuse and disobedience, judicially blinded in punishment and in consequence of sin, it loses all power of moral judgment, and becomes inoperative of good; and then, as to the way that seemed at the moment right, the end thereof are the ways of death" (Pulpit Commentary, Spence).

3. Did not know the righteousness of God

Paul took up the same theme in his letter to the Romans. He writes these chilling words:

"Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness." (Romans 10:3, NIV)

4. Secular humanism

It was this way in the days of the Patriarchs. It was the same in the dreadful days of the Judges and even when Solomon attempted to give the gift of wisdom to his people. It continued into the world of the Apostle Paul and it continues today.

Listen to these words that close the "Humanist Manifesto" written in 1941:

Though we consider the religious forms and ideas of our fathers no longer adequate, the quest for the good life is still the central task for mankind. Man is at last becoming aware that he alone is responsible for the realization of the world of his dreams, that he has within himself the power for its achievement. He must set intelligence and will to the task.

Now place these words against the backdrop of:

1.       The murder of Jews by the Nazis

2.       The Mei Lei massacre

3.       The 9/11 attacks

4.       The mistreatment of prisoners by US troops in Iraq

5.       The shootings at New Life Church in our own city.

B. In God's eyes

We must ask ourselves...what constrains us from participating in these terrible acts of incomprehensible violence?

ANSWER: The core lesson of Genesis 34 is: (and this is uncomfortable to say):

Every one of us in this room is fundamentally capable of the most abominable acts of violence, cruelty, debauchery, and evil.

This is the core meaning of "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

QUESTION: So what is the source of our hope?

1. God's blessing in spite of sin

The persistence of God's purpose has ALWAYS been there. See it as far back in scripture as Deuteronomy.

<<See Deuteronomy 9:5>>

The sins of God’s chosen people may delay, but they do not ultimately frustrate, the fulfillment of his promises. (New Bible Commentary).

2. Lean not to your own understanding

Solomon gives us early clues in how to see through God’s eyes. He writes:

<<See Proverbs 3:5-6>>

3. Be transformed in your mind

The same theme continues into the New Testament.

<<See Romans 12:2>>

4. Ask for wisdom

As always James gets right to the point.

<<See James 1:5>>

C. Final thoughts

·         When we are ignorant

·         When we are poorly prepared

·         When we don't know God because we have not studied his word

Then we are:

·         Unprepared to meet the moral dilemmas we will be faced with

Peter sums it up this way:

<<See 1 Peter 3:15>>

Only then will we be able to say with confidence those words in John Newton's hymn:

"Once was blind, but now I see"