Passion and Pragmatism

Echoes of Eden: The Rape of Dinah

There are many passages in scripture a pastor is excited to preach from. This is not one of them. Yet, it is a passage that needs to be preached.

The focal point of this text is on the men. The main issue is between the brothers Simeon and Levi, the Hivites Hemor and Shechem, and the father, Jacob. These are the main characters in the story, and to understand this passage, we must turn our attention to the men. But we certainly cannot move on to the men without first addressing the woman in this passage. I wonder if, had the men in this story done the same, listened to the woman, would things have turned out differently? If Hamor had turned his attention to Dinah the woman, and not Dinah the body, the object of sexual pleasure, would things have ended differently? If Simeon and Levi had listened to the voice of their sister Dinah, would she have calmed the passionate fury that lead them to so much violence and death? If Jacob had turned his attention to Dinah, would she ever have been put in such a position as this?

We may never know, because as happens so many times, the men care little about the hearts and minds of the women. In the beginning, Adam and Eve saw the fruit of the tree, and they took ,and they ate. From that point on the relationship between male and female was shattered: woman would desire to be with her husband, to be loving co-workers as they had been created to be, but men would dominate and rule over their wives, like animals. And that is why, in , Adam names his wife Eve, just as he had named so many animals before her.

In Jesus Christ, however, there is no longer male nor female, slave or free, but all are one in Christ. When Jesus came to the house of Martha and Mary, he invited Mary to sit at his feet and learn and be a disciple just like any other man in the room. When our Lord was raised on the third day, he sent forth the first apostles to spread the good news, and they were all women. In Jesus, we see the new creation restoring the male-female relationship to God’s intended vision.

And today, I’m very glad to see our society taking the voices of our women seriously. But even today, we must still be careful, men, to hear the voice of women, lest we return to the ways of the curse. And, because of our sinful nature, it’s so very easy for the voice of women to get lost among the voices of men. It’s so very easy for women, even today, to be exploited and taken advantage of.

Because, even today, many women encounter the same evils that Dinah encountered. Don’t take my word for it, I invite you to speak to your wives, your sisters, your daughters, and the other women in your life. I’m sure more than a few of them have experienced some form of sexual assault. This is not the will of God. Man was not created to be a dominating tyrant over woman, and woman was most certainly not created to be an object of sexual gratification for men.

The Passion of the Brothers

With that, let us turn now to the men. Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, was wronged. This, as we might imagine, makes Jacob, her father, furious. And when her brothers Simeon and Levi hear of it, they are outraged.

The New Revised Standard Version The Rape of Dinah

When they heard of it, the men were indignant and very angry, because he had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.

What we might not catch in our American context, however, is just why they were outraged. Simeon and Levi’s culture was not a guilty/not-guilty culture as ours is. It was an honor/shame culture. And sleeping with a woman outside of marriage brought dishonor on the whole family. That’s not to say they weren’t outraged on their sister’s behalf either, I’m sure they were, and the text seems to indicate as much. But we must understand there’s more going on here as well. Dinah would not be able to be married now (or, at least, it would be very difficult to find a man who would marry her), which meant that Jacob’s family lost out on the bridal dowry. It also meant that, because Jacob was unable to protect his daughter, their whole tribe would be seen as weak, and that meant that they now had a disadvantage whenever they came to the table for trade agreements with other tribes and people groups.

Luckily, however, there were social rules in place for just this kind of situation.

The New Revised Standard Version Laws concerning Sexual Relations

If a man meets a virgin who is not engaged, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are caught in the act, 29 the man who lay with her shall give fifty shekels of silver to the young woman’s father, and she shall become his wife. Because he violated her he shall not be permitted to divorce her as long as he lives.

This law in Deuteronomy is likely based off of other laws from Canaanite culture. So while Jacob would not have known about the laws given at Mount Sinai in his day, he still probably knew about similar laws from social customs. And, in any case, the author of Genesis most likely had such laws in mind as he recorded this story.

This law may seem horrid to us. Afterall, it forces the woman to marry her rapist. Yet, in this culture, such a law acted as a social safety net. By taking advantage of the woman in this way, the man had seriously damaged her chances of being married, which meant she would have no protection once her father died. By forcing the rapist to take responsibility for his actions, the woman was guaranteed safety and a future, even if it wasn’t ideal.

So while this was a bad situation all around, we see that Hamor, Shechem’s father, is an honorable man who attempts to take responsibility for his son’s actions. He immediately meets with Jacob and offers to have Dinah marry his son, and offers whatever brideprice Jacob names.

But, blinded by their passion, Jacob’s sons had something else in mind. They lied and decieved the Hivites, having learned their lesson well from Jacob.

The New Revised Standard Version The Rape of Dinah

We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. 15 Only on this condition will we consent to you: that you will become as we are and every male among you be circumcised.

But, as we soon find out, the sons’ objections have nothing to do with religion. They used the most sacred religious symbol of the Israelites, circumcision, for selfish gain and exploitation of other people.

After all of the Hivite men agreed to be circumcised, Simeon and Levi slaughtered the entire city. They killed all of the men, then their brothers plundered the city taking women, children, and valuables. Their passion was transparently self-serving. This was not an act of faith, because they did not offer up anything they took to God, but kept it for themselves. Oddly, these men seemed to have gained a lot from their indignation and passion at the mistreatment of their sister.

Indeed, their passion and lust for vengeance and gain lead to the destruction of an entire people group. And, furthermore, Simeon and Levi in their passion were blind to the economic issues they had created, blind to the danger they had brought on their family, and blind to the ways in which they had compromised their own religion. They had used their sister Dinah, and the symbol of their communion with God, circumcision, for selfish vengeance and gain.

Jacob’s Pragmatism

So, as the brothers return, they are met with their father Jacob, who is furious.

The New Revised Standard Version Dinah’s Brothers Avenge Their Sister

“You have brought trouble on me by making me odious 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.”

While the brothers rushed off for vengeance, caught up in their passion, Jacob remained behind, concerned with what was most prudent for their family. The sons, on the other hand, had been utterly reckless. More than that, their passion had lead them to commit an atrocity even greater than the one Schechem had committed against Dinah. Schechem destroyed the life of one woman, but Simeon and Levi took the lives of countless innocent Hivite people. This would, eventually, lead the brothers to receive a curse from their father Jacob on his death bed:

The New Revised Standard Version Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons

Simeon and Levi are brothers;

weapons of violence are their swords.

6 May I never come into their council;

may I not be joined to their company—

for in their anger they killed men,

and at their whim they hamstrung oxen.

7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,

and their wrath, for it is cruel!

I will divide them in Jacob,

and scatter them in Israel.

And yet, despite Jacob’s cool pragmatism and logical thought, Simeon and Jacob raise a potent question for their father:

The New Revised Standard Version Dinah’s Brothers Avenge Their Sister

But they said, “Should our sister be treated like a whore?”

We might question the genuineness of Simeon and Levi’s concern. There are very good reasons to suspect that the brothers were not acting purely out of concern for their sister. And yet, their question still stands. In the face of a wrong such as this, are we really to stand by and do nothing?

Living in the Tension of Passion and Pragmatism

This story simply leaves us with that question hanging in the air. It is a powerful question, a question as relevant to the church today as it was to the family of Israel then. In the face of evil and wrongs against us and our family, how do we respond? With passion and fury? With cool prudence and pragmatism? In this story, there is a tension present as the realities of economic gain and elemental passion converge. Israel stands to gain much if they will simply ignore what has happened, sweep it under the rug, and strike a deal with the Hivites. And yet honor, pride, and reputation of the community is on the line. Passion, anger, and fury burn in the hearts of the brothers, and they feel as if something must be done.

This is a story with two very unsatisfactory paths. Should the community of God give in to passion, let their emotions guide them, and seek out whatever justice their untamed fury leads them to? Or should the community act cool-headed and logically, always acting in its best interest, even when that means our daughters are abused and lives are destroyed?

Passion and pragmatism are always at tension with one another. The community of faith must learn to live faithfully within that tension. This tension is an issue the family of Jacob must face, because the land always comes with a people who have another vision. They must always deal with the matter passionately, pragmatically, or perhaps, faithfully.

The Passion of the Christ

The Church stands to learn a lot from Jacob’s family. Because today, as then, we live in a land with other inhabitants who often have another vision. When we stand at odds with the world and the tension of passion and pragmatism rises, how can we, the Church, live faithfully in the tension?

B- Passion of the Brothers

Such questions are raised all the time. How are we to deal with the epidemic of mass shootings in our country? Surely, as passion demands, something must be done, and yet, pragmatism reminds us that we should be careful not to act rashly and rush to decision. And yet, as with Dinah, it is a situation that demands a response.

How are we to deal with the immigration crisis in our country? Passion might remind us that scripture demands we care for the poor, the oppressed, and yes, even the immigrant and refugee. Passion may cry out to us that we must see the image of God in these immigrants to, that many of the tactics used by our government have been cruel and have denied basic human rights. Yet, pragmatism would remind us that something must be done, and that we have to make some attempt to keep peace and order.

C- Jacob’s Pragmatism

What does it mean to answer such questions neither passionately nor pragmatically, but faithfully? I would suggest that, perhaps, to answer faithfully means to answer with both passion and pragmatism, the passion and pragmatism of Christ.

D- Living in the Tension of Passion and Pragmatism

The pragmatism of Christ, who, in his wisdom, always sought what was best for the kingdom. This is different from worldly pragmatism in that it is not a self-serving kind of pragmatism, as Jacob’s was. The pragmatism of christ always seeks what is best, but not for me and mine, but for the whole world.

E- The Passion of the Christ

The passion of Christ, likewise, is not self-serving as the passion of Simeon and Levi, but is an outpouring of the self. You see, the kind of “passion” Jesus had, in Greek, comes from the word πασχω, which means “I suffer”.

Perhaps for Simeon and Levi to have responded passionately, with the passion of Christ, it would have looked like suffering alongside their sister, instead of using religion as a means for violence and self-gain. Perhaps for Jacob to respond with the pragmatism of Christ, it would have meant that he was concerned with Dinah’s wellbeing instead of just his own.

And so, as we turn to our own problems, the many issues that plague our own society, I hope that we would seek to live faithfully in the tension of passion and pragmatism. And as we seek answers for such problems, I hope we’ll be weary of misusing our religion, as Simeon and Levi did, for selfish gain. I hope we’ll be wary of appealing to the passions and pragmatism of this world, which is self serving, instead of the passion and pragmatism of Jesus Christ, which always serves the poor and lowly.

In light of these things, I’d like to leave you today to contemplate on the words of Paul in his letter to the Philippians:

Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, 28 and are in no way intimidated by your opponents. ... For God has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well...

Imitating Christ’s Humility

...Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

6 who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

7 but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

8 he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death—

even death on a cross.

9 Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

10 so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

The New Revised Standard Version Paul’s Present Circumstances

27 Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, 28 and are in no way intimidated by your opponents. For them this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation. And this is God’s doing. 29 For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well— 30 since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

Imitating Christ’s Humility

2 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

6 who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

7 but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

8 he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death—

even death on a cross.

9 Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

10 so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

The New Revised Standard Version Imitating Christ’s Humility

2 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

6 who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

7 but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

8 he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death—

even death on a cross.

9 Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

10 so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.