Sermon Tone Analysis

Wednesday September 27, 2006

Genesis: Genesis 34:25-29-Simeon and Levi Massacre Shechem

Lesson # 212

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 34:1.

This evening we will continue with our study of the massacre of the city of Shechem by Jacob’s sons in retaliation for the rape of their sister Dinah by Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite.

In Genesis 33:17, we saw Jacob staying temporarily in Succoth in order to rest his flocks and family after their difficult and long journey from Paddan Aram and confrontations with both Laban and Esau.

Then, in Genesis 33:18-20, we saw Jacob crossing the Jordan and moving twenty miles to the west and settling at Shechem in the land of Canaan, and purchases land from Hamor, who was a Hivite.

Hamor sold this tract of land to Jacob with the intention of intermarrying with Jacob’s family and absorbing their great wealth and possessions that they acquired in Paddan Aram.

However, the Hivites were a branch of the Canaanites who were under a curse as stipulated in the prophecy of Noah, which is recorded in Genesis 9:24-27, thus Jacob’s family could not intermarry with Hamor’s people, the Hivites.

Then, in Genesis 34:1-4, we saw Dinah raped by Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite.

Genesis 34:5-7 records Jacob’s “passive” response to the rape of Dinah and the angry reaction of his sons.

In Genesis 34:8-12, we saw Hamor proposing intermarriage and an economic package to Jacob’s sons that would greatly benefit Jacob’s family.

However, we saw on Sunday in Genesis 34:13-17, Jacob’s sons deceitfully propose to Hamor that he and his constituents agree to the condition of circumcision with the intention of killing him, his son Shechem and all the men of the city of Shechem in retaliation for his son Shechem raping their sister Dinah.

Last evening we studied Genesis 34:18-24, which gives us the account of Shechem and Hamor deceitfully selling to their subjects the proposed condition of circumcision so as to get Jacob’s sons to agree to their intermarriage and economic proposals.

This evening we will note Genesis 34:25-29, which presents to us the record of the murder of Shechem and his father Hamor as well as all the men of the city of Shechem by Jacob’s sons in retaliation for the rape of their sister Dinah.

Genesis 34:1, “Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land.”

Genesis 34:2, “When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force.”

Genesis 34:3, “He was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her.”

Genesis 34:4, “So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, ‘Get me this young girl for a wife.’”

Genesis 34:5, “Now Jacob heard that he (Shechem) had defiled Dinah his daughter; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob kept silent until they came in.”

Genesis 34:6, “Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him.”

Genesis 34:7, “Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.”

Genesis 34:8, “But Hamor spoke with them, saying, ‘The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him in marriage.’”

Genesis 34:9, “Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves.”

Genesis 34:10, “Thus you shall live with us, and the land shall be open before you; live and trade in it and acquire property in it.”

Genesis 34:11, “Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, ‘If I find favor in your sight, then I will give whatever you say to me.’”

Genesis 34:12, “Ask me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give according as you say to me; but give me the girl in marriage.”

Genesis 34:13, “But Jacob's sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, because he had defiled Dinah their sister.”

Genesis 34:14, “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.’”

Genesis 34:15-16, “Only on this condition will we consent to you: if you will become like us, in that every male of you be circumcised, then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people.”

Genesis 34:17, “But if you will not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.”

Genesis 34:18, “Now their words seemed reasonable to Hamor and Shechem, Hamor's son.”

Genesis 34:19, “The young man did not delay to do the thing, because he was delighted with Jacob's daughter.

Now he was more respected than all the household of his father.”

Genesis 34:20-21, “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 friendly with us; therefore let them live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them.

Let us take their daughters in marriage, and give our daughters to them.’”

Genesis 34:22, “Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised.”

Genesis 34:23, “Will not their livestock and their property and all their animals be ours?

Only let us consent to them, and they will live with us.”

Genesis 34:24, “All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.”

Genesis 34:25, “Now it came about on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword and came upon the city unawares, and killed every male.”

“Simeon” was the second child that Leah bore to Jacob and his name means, “the Lord has heard” according to Genesis 29:33.

“Levi” was the third child that Leah bore to Jacob and his name means, “my husband will be attached to me” according to Genesis 29:34.

If you recall, Dinah was the seventh child that Leah bore to Jacob and only girl and her birth is recorded in Genesis 30:21 and her name means, “judgment.”

Therefore, we can see that Simeon and Levi were Dinah’s “full” brothers and not “half” brothers and thus she in turn was their baby sister.

Undoubtedly, Simeon and Levi took their servants along with them to kill the inhabitants of Shechem since it would take more than just these two to kill all the men of the city.

They waited three days to attack the city since after three days the pain from the circumcision would be at its worst.

“Killed” is the verb haragh (gr^h*) (haw-rag), which is used in a technical legal sense of murdering someone by violence.

The Word of God prohibits murder according to Exodus 20:13 and is one of the sins that God hates according to Proverbs 6:16-19 and according to Genesis 9:6 is to be punished through capital punishment.

“Unawares” is the noun betach (jf^B#) (beh-takh), which means that Simeon and Levi and their servants attacked the city of Shechem “unmolested” or in other words, they met “no resistance” due to the fact that all the men of the city were incapacitated because of the effects of being circumcised three days prior.

The moral outrage and righteous indignation expressed by Jacob’s sons towards the rape of their sister was totally justified and appropriate but the manner in which they dealt with the rape of their sister was not justified and totally inappropriate.

They dishonored God by using circumcision as the means to immobilize Shechem and Hamor and theirs subjects so that they could be murdered.

The very holiness that Jacob’s sons honored by expressing anger over the rape of their sister Dinah, they dishonored by murdering the Shechemites without divine sanction.

Jacob and his sons should have done the following in dealing with this problem with the rape of Dinah.

First of all, they should have immediately demanded that Dinah be returned to them before negotiations could take place.

Secondly, they should have flat out refused this proposal of intermarriage due to the fact that they were prohibited from intermarrying with Canaanites unless of course, Shechem accepted the Lord as His Savior and then submitted to the sign of the Abrahamic covenant, which is circumcision.

As we noted under the Mosaic Law in Israel, the rape of an unengaged or unmarried woman like Dinah did not require the death penalty.

But rather, it would have required fifty shekels of silver being paid to the victim’s family as the bride-price and there would not be a possibility of divorce if the father of the victim agreed to marriage.

However, in Jacob’s day, the Mosaic Law was not yet given and furthermore, Dinah was not raped by an Israelite but rather by a Canaanite and the family of Jacob was prohibited from intermarrying Canaanites because of the prophecy of Noah recorded in Genesis 9:24-27.

Therefore, if Shechem did not become a believer and then submit to circumcision, then Jacob and his sons should have refused to give Dinah in marriage to him.

No military action would have been required but rather Jacob and his sons should have simply taken Dinah and then separated from the Canaanites as they should have done in the first place.

If Shechem did not return Dinah, then that would have been considered an act of war, which would have called for military action in order to rescue her.

Jacob’s sons were correct in opposing the mixing of the chosen seed with the seed of the Canaanites but wrong in adopting the means they selected to achieve their end, which demonstrates that they were “chips off the old block,” Jacob since they too, like their father in his younger days, thought that the ends justified the means.

If Shechem did return Dinah, then Simeon and Levi should have done nothing to him and his father and the inhabitants of their city but rather should have waited for the Lord to deal with Shechem and Hamor in His perfect timing.

Romans 12:19, “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,’ says the Lord.”

The prophecy of Noah recorded in Genesis 9:24-27 reveals that the Canaanites would later on in history be judged by God and dispossessed by the Israelites.

The Shechemites were Hivites and Hivites were descendants of Canaan and so therefore, God would have in His perfect timing dealt with Shechem and his father for the rape of Dinah since they were Canaanites.

Genesis 34:26, “They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem's house, and went forth.”

The fact that Dinah was raped by Shechem and that Simeon and Levi took Dinah from Shechem’s house indicates that Dinah was held against her will or in other words she was held hostage by Shechem even though he treated her well according to Genesis 34:3.

Therefore, we can see that Shechem and his father Hamor had never offered honest negotiations with Simeon and Levi who felt that they were negotiating with a gun held to their heads.

The fact that Dinah was held hostage by Shechem indicates that Shechem and Hamor had attempted to impose their will on Jacob’s family in the preceding negotiations, thus, the Shechemites brought down this violence upon themselves.

The fact that Dinah was held hostage by Shechem further indicates that Jacob’s sons were being made an offer by Shechem and Hamor that they couldn’t refuse.

Jacob’s sons did not have the option of declining Shechem and Hamor’s proposal of intermarriage with Dinah held captive against her will by Shechem.

Therefore, they felt justified and that they had no recourse but to attack the Shechemites in order to rescue their sister.

Remember, Jacob’s sons were up against an entire city and therefore, felt justified in using deceit in the negotiations with Hamor and Shechem.

Of course, they did have an option, which they did not use and which option was to go to the Lord in prayer and ask for His guidance.

Therefore, the course of action they took against the Shechemites was not blind fury but part of a premeditated plan to rescue their sister.

First they attacked the men of the city, which was followed by the killing of Shechem and his father Hamor and then lastly, they freed their sister.

Remember, that they not only had to deal with all possible resistance but also future retaliation.

Although Simeon and Levi were justified in their anger due to the fact that their sister Dinah was not only raped but also was held hostage by Shechem, they were “not” justified in murdering innocent people, namely, the men of the city of Shechem since they had nothing to do with the rape and kidnapping of Dinah.

They were also not justified in killing Shechem and his father Hamor since the Lord never sanctioned such a thing.

In Israel under the Mosaic Law, the Lord never required the death penalty for the rape of an unengaged or unmarried woman in Israel, like Dinah (See Exodus 22:16-17; Deuteronomy 22:28-29).

Genesis 34:27, “Jacob's sons came upon the slain and looted the city, because they had defiled their sister.”

The causal clause “because they defiled their sister” expresses Simeon and Levi’s motive for killing the men of the city of Shechem and is not used by the narrator to justify their actions but to emphasize that the looting was not done for the love of money but to avenge the rape of their sister.

The fact that Simeon and Levi and their servants looted the city indicates that they considered the rape of their sister and her being held hostage by Shechem as acts of war requiring military action and the plundering of the city and the taking of prisoners of war.

The actions of Simeon and Levi were totally unnecessary unlike Abraham’s military action, which he took against the four Eastern Mesopotamian Kings to rescue his nephew Lot.

Military action was necessary and appropriate by Abraham to rescue Lot since Lot who was a citizen of Sodom was taken as a prisoner of war by the Four Eastern Mesopotamian Kings after they had defeated the Five Dead Sea Kings (See Genesis 14:1-16).

The military action taken by Simeon and Levi was totally unnecessary and inappropriate because Dinah was not a prisoner of war but rather the object of a man’s infatuation and love and affection (See Genesis 34:3, 19)!

Genesis 34:28-29, “They took their flocks and their herds and their donkeys, and that which was in the city and that which was in the field; and they captured and looted all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, even all that was in the houses.”

The Lord would not have approved the plundering of Shechem, which was a Canaanite city and He would not have approved of the taking captive the women and children of the city since later on in Israel’s history, the Lord prohibited Israel from plundering the Canaanites but rather everything had to be killed or destroyed (See Deuteronomy 20:16-18).

Further indicating that Simeon and Levi were out of the will of God is the inconsistency of their actions where they took the wives of the men of the city of Shechem as hostages when God prohibited marriage to Canaanite women!

Simeon and Levi considered this plunder as the spoils of war but this was totally unnecessary and inappropriate since Dinah was not a prisoner of war but rather the object of a man’s infatuation and love and affection!