Genesis 34:20-31 - The Rape of Dinah - Part 3

34:20-26 - All the important men have come to an agreement about what should happen to Dinah, the recently traumatized girl, spoiler alert: no one is recommending healing, comforting, or taking care of her. Shechem (the guy who actually did the raping), Hamor (the rapist’s dad), Jacob (the victim’s apathetic dad), and Jacob’s sons (the victim’s brothers who are furious, though probably not just because she was traumatized, but probably more so because they were embarrassed or ‘dishonored’). They all agree that the guy who did this horrible thing should get to keep his victim as a prize, as long as all the men agree to cut off a part of their penis, honestly fact is stranger than fiction here.

The problem now becomes convincing the rest of the men in Hamor’s tribe that cutting off part of their penis is a great thing for them to do, “trust me, the benefits are for everyone, not just my son who gets to keep raping this beautiful girl legally!” The benefits of agreeing to these terms seem to outline Hamor’s true reasons for wanting to be in a familial relationship with Jacob. Hamor’s selling points are the same ones they got while negotiating, if the men agree to circumcision then Jacob’s tribe will intermarry with them and as “one big happy family” they will share land, women, cattle, livestock, and general wealth. They see this as a business transaction, which marriage probably was mostly back then, this is Hamor’s chance to get Jacob’s wealth and worry about how to screw him out of it later.

The men agree! This is a great idea, let’s get rich. So all the men of the city get circumcised, and on day 3 of their recovery, Simeon and Levi, sons of Jacob and Leah, full brothers of Dinah “took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males,” including Hamor and Shechem. One important thing to note here is that when the deal was made, Jacob didn’t know Simeon and Levi’s plans for massacre, so he agreed to intermarry the tribes and sell his daughter off fully believing that this was what was going to happen. Jacob’s not winning a lot of points in my book. It should also be pointed out that it probably wasn’t just Simeon and Levi, the two guys, who came into the city and killed everyone, but it probably included their servants and friends and perhaps sons as well. I always wondered just how two guys could have done so much damage, but it was probably multiple. They take their sister out of Shechem’s house and left.

34:27-31 – Simeon and Levi do all the dirty work of mass murder, but then the rest of their brothers “came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister.” Was this really the reason that the other boys looted the city, for their sister’s honor? Almost certainly not, but we’ll take what we can get at this point. They take everything, all the animals, all the agriculture, all the money, and all their women and children. Interesting twist because now they are doing the same thing to these women that Shechem did to Dinah. This is also the point where I thought that maybe this is how all the sons got their wives? By infusing themselves with women from another tribe?

It's crazy to look back on this incident thousands of years later and think, “is this really the group of people chosen by God to be sacred Israel? Is this really who gets to make covenants with God?” But maybe that’s too hasty of judgment. When Shechem took Dinah and raped her, it’s possible that he didn’t know that she was the daughter of an important man. If he had known, he would have anticipated what the consequences would be for his actions, and all he had to do was put himself in the position of Dinah’s brother and ask himself, “what would I do to the man who raped a woman that I own?” Surely Shechem would have done the exact same thing, violence, revenge, blood shed, there is no doubt that this is what he would have done if the roles were reversed. So I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that when it came time, that Jacob’s sons did exactly what Shechem had done, take the women and incorporate them into own homes and families.

After this brutal massacre and his sons showing up back home with all the loot and property and women and children of their neighbor’s tribe, NOW Jacob finds his voice, NOW is the time he decides to speak, and that is to rebuke his sons for all the trouble that they caused him “to make me stink among the inhabitants of the land.” He tells them that they are few in number so if the surrounding tribes decide to take vengeance on him, they will “slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.” Only when his own butt is on the line does he decide that he should say something. But here’s why Jacob’s silence is important when considering the history of the land of Shechem and everything that happened there culminating in the Savior’s trip and encounter with the woman of Samaria. The article, again explains it much better than I could:

“Contrast Jacob’s silence to the long conversation Jesus intiated with an unclean woman in Samaria. Even though Jesus knew every part of her story, he wanted her to tell it. He listened. He cared. Allowing her own voice to speak her truth, Jesus engaged her in ‘one of the longest continuous narratives’ in the book of John. It’s as if Jesus wanted to remind you and me that we are worth a sti-down, face-to-face conversation. Jesus gave the Samaritan woman the dignity Dinah should have received from her father, Jacob. In doing so, Jesus gave away his power. He did not dominate the exchange, disrespect her by ‘mansplaining’ her experiences, or fail to believe her. Twice Jesus told her, ‘What you have said is true,’ confirmating his trust in her testimony and validating her story… Jesus not only gave the Samaritan woman a voice, he also then gave her an audience to proclaim her truth- that the truth that Jesus is the Savior of the world.

Dinah’s story ends in Genesis 34 with genocide, and you can’t help but close the chapter disappointed that there was no redemption in the ending. In sharp contrast, the Samaritan woman’s story in John 4 ends with many in the town being saved. Dinah’s story begins with a dead-end future and ends in the death of a whole people group. The Samaritan woman’s story begins with a curious encounter and ends in a whole group of people finding eternal life. While Dinah and the woman at the well are connected through Shechem, Jacob and Jesus are contrasted through Shechem.”

The boys answer their father’s rebuke with the only statement of indignation in the whole incident, “should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?” Or “should he be allowed to treat our sister like a whore?” I’m not sure how I feel about this statement, but again, we’ll take what we can get at this point.