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Sermon preached on Genesis 34 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 03/10/2024 in Petaluma, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
As we continue our sermon series through Genesis, we find today’s passage does indeed record an outrageous thing in Israel. This passage reminds us that just because Bible describes something as happening, does not mean that the Bible is commending that thing. While there are some commendable aspects in our passage by various people, they are all marred by their various sins and failings. This is true for both the heathen Canaanites and the godly Israelites in this passage.
As we have studied Genesis, we see it keeps returning to certain themes in each of the generations of the patriarchs. For today’s passage, let us remember the incidents where both Abraham and Isaac had so feared the heathen peoples that they lied to them about their respective wives, saying they were just their sister. They were both afraid that otherwise they would be killed and their wife taken. So, they used deceit to try to protect themselves, but endangered the woman in their care in the process. This happened twice with Abraham and once for Isaac, Genesis 12, 20, and 26. Here, the circumstances are quite different, yet we do see how the third and fourth generations of the patriarchs respond in a matter of protecting a female in their care, namely Dinah. We will see some similarities and differences with this matter in today’s passage versus those previous events. In such, we will find important lessons for us about how to live trusting in God’s promises while we wait for their fulfillment in a fallen world.
Let us begin by considering the heathen Canaanites, namely Shechem, his father Hamor, and the men of the city of Shechem. Considering them first will help us setup the major incident in this passage, this outrageous thing in Israel. That outrageous thing is that Shechem, prince of that city, rapes Jacob’s daughter, Dinah. The setting is there in verse 1, that Dinah went out to socialize with the other daughters of the city. This tells us, by the way, that Dinah didn’t seek out Shechem. She was just doing a rather normal thing a girl might do, which is to find companionship with the other local ladies. But then in verse 2, Shechem sees Dinah and seizes her and violates her. This is a great evil. This is the sort of thing that Abraham and Isaac feared happening in their day, and that might then also result in losing their own life. Ironically, for Abraham and Isaac’s concern, they found that their concerns were invalid, that the people honored the sanctity of their marriages when they learned the truth. But, Genesis has also painted a picture of the growing wickedness of the Canaanites, and this illustrates that truth, because here Shechem really does take Dinah.
Well, after Shechem commits this great sin against Dinah, we see his tone change toward her starting in verse 3. Before, his violence against her was fueled by his sight. But then it describes how afterwards his soul is drawn to her. He then begins to speak tenderly to her. We could imagine that after he so forced himself on her, that he tries to win her heart by speaking kindly to her. It would not be the first time a victim is wooed by their captor. Shechem then decides he wants to marry this girl, and so he calls his father and tells him to get the girl to be his wife. In fact, later down in verse 11, we see Shechem basically pleading with Jacob and Dinah’s brothers to let him marry her, offering to pay basically anything for a bride price, because he so badly wanted to marry her.
Let us note that this change of tone in Shechem is good in itself. Had he not first raped Dinah but instead had this tone and approach from the beginning, this would have been a very different chapter. But the fact that he tries to offer to pay any price reminds us of an important truth. Repentance without proper restitution can’t atone for a past sin. No matter how much he might offer to pay for Dinah now, that can’t restore what he took from her. That’s the problem with sin. Some sins are beyond any mere human to even make restitution.
So then, Hamor along with Shechem tries to negotiate with Jacob and the brothers for Dinah to be given in marriage. His offer, in itself, is a temptation of an offer. What I mean is that basically he offers Israel a people and a place. Israel is the possessor of covenant promises of God, which I have previously summarized as God promising them a people and a place. But this family of promise starting with Abraham has had to wait long on the LORD for those promises. Even then, it was clear, they would still have to wait quite a bit longer before the promises were really fulfilled. So, Hamor offers them right now that they can intermarry the two peoples. And that they could then also buy property in the land. And that ultimately, they would then become one great people in this land. On the surface, it sounds like it would be a quick way to get what God had promised them. But really, this is more like a deal from the devil. Abraham and Isaac knew they should not marry wicked Canaanite peoples. That’s why Jacob had just gone to Haran and back, to get a non-Canaanite wife. Here, this Shechem is exactly the kind of husband you would not want to have, clearly being a wicked rapist. Hamor’s temptation of an offer is only sweetened by Shechem’s offer to pay them as much as they want too. But this deal with the devil would undermine everything that God has been doing in this family of promise.
Let us lastly note that Hamor’s true colors come out when later in verse 20 they take the fraudulent Israelite offer to accept the deal on the condition of circumcision back to the men of Shechem. There, we see Hamor basically speaking a similar way to them but with a twist. Hamor paints that intermarrying with these Israelites, even if it meant getting circumcised, was really in their best interest. Hamor describes that this would be basically a way to come to own all Israel’s wealth. So, while Shechem’s interest is particularly in his lust for Dinah, Hamor and the rest of the men of Shechem see dollar signs, a way to covertly take the wealth of Israel for themselves. It’s like having the benefits of conquering the Israelites without having to fight them. So, we see their true colors in this dialogue with the men of the city. While the men of the city don’t deserve to be killed for that, it surely shows that these were not honorable men.
Let’s turn next to consider Jacob. We see that Jacob learns about what happened to his daughter. We can imagine his outrage, thought the text doesn’t really tell us what is going on in his heart. It does tell us that he held his peace until his sons came back from the field. That implies his anger at the matter, but he wasn’t going to do anything on his own, without first involving his sons.
So then, it is interesting that when Hamor and Shechem approach them to ask for permission to marry off Dinah, these negotiations are addressed to both Jacob and his sons. In fact, it seems that ultimately the brothers take the lead in negotiating the deal. While that might seem somewhat surprising, we might remember that previously when negotiations were made for Isaac to marry Rebekah, that Genesis also paint Rebekah’s brother Laban taking a lead role in those discussions. So, it’s potentially that this was not uncommon back then.
So, let us then note that what we first see about Jacob here is about what we don’t see. We don’t see Jacob taking any action to contend for his daughter from this evil Shechem. He does nothing to vindicate her or see that justice is had in this situation. That is not commendable, and it would seem to be a sin of omission. But there is another thing we don’t see Jacob doing that I think is commendable. We don’t see Jacob engaging in anything deceitful. His sons will, and we’ll talk about that momentarily. We might have expected in this scenario that Jacob would do some deception to respond. That is what the old Jacob did so well. It is also what we see of Abraham and Isaac in the past events we’ve been comparing. But we’ve seen Jacob growing spiritually, and I think this is a good sign that we don’t see him resorting to deception here.
The only other action we some from Jacob in this passage is to rebuke Simeon and Levi at the end. Look at verse 30. He rebukes them, but maybe not for the reason you might have hoped. I could imagine that he could have rebuked them for their evil murderous violence. In fact, he will speak in such terms later, in Genesis 49. There, toward the end of his life, he will give blessings for each of his sons. But for Simeon and Levi, his blessing is more of a curse or a condemnation for the violence that they did here. Yet, that’s not the concern he raises here. I could presume later in his life, when he gives those final words to his children, that he has spiritually matured further. But here we see that his concern is related to his fear of the Canaanite peoples. He is afraid that word will get out about what his sons did. That it could cause the Canaanites to band together against him, to attack him, and to destroy him.
I think we can evaluate this concern by Jacob from two angles, both which have some truth. On the one hand, we can recognize in Jacob’s concern, some of that same sort of mishandled fear that Abraham and Isaac had back in the previous incidents we’ve been comparing today. Since God had so promised all that he had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, did they need to fear doing the right thing? Did Jacob need to fear doing something to vindicate his daughter? I think that is a legitimate concern about Jacob here. On the other hand, I think Jacob does rightly point out that the actions of his sons, especially Simeon and Levi, went too far, and the result could likely have very negative ramifications for his family, practically speaking.
With that concern in mind that Jacob raises against his sons, let us turn now in our last point to consider these sons’ role in all of this. Let us begin by recognizing their emotional response when the learn about what happened to Dinah. Verse 7 says they were indignant and very angry. They speak of how outrageous this was. The language here is all very emphatic. Surely their emotions are correct here. Such strong emotions are not wrong when they are for the right reason. They have the right reason here. But they sadly handle them the wrong way.
Unfortunately, they let their anger spur them on to a sinful act of deception and ultimately murderous actions. We see their deception there in verses 13 and following. The sons tell them they will accept their proposal for giving Dinah to be married, and to intermarry in general, if, and only if, all the males will be circumcised like themselves. Then, if they do that act of religious significance, then they can intermarry.
You know, a good lie usually has some truth mixed into it. If you think of what the sons of Israel are proposing, in a different context you could see it be the right response. I mean, if God’s people were to marry outsiders, they should be people who will first become grafted into the spiritual life of Israel. In other words, they should be joined into the covenant of God’s people, with all the promises and blessings associated with that. So, if a man wanted to truly join with Israel, they should in fact get circumcised, and otherwise that would be a barrier to their integration. But you see, the way this is being asked and the way it is being received is to make the act of circumcision really just an external action without the substance. Nothing here suggests that the men of Shechem are really look to cut off out of their lives the uncleanness signified in this sacrament. In fact, the passage suggests the opposite, that they are accepting the sacrament unworthily, for the purposes of material gain having ulterior motives. In fact, they will receive this sacrament in such a way that casts judgment upon themselves, which they will in fact almost immediately receive. Likewise, the sons of Israel do not appear to genuinely desire their conversion, but rather there is this plan to use the circumcision as a means to destroy them.
We want to be sympathetic to Israel here. Yes, a great evil happened to Dinah. But they end up murdering a whole town, not to mention then plundering them. Let me give you an analogy to help you think more about what the sons of Israel are doing here. This is sort of like someone who calls themselves a Christian going up and blowing up an abortion clinic. Actually, it’s far worse than that analogy, because they use the holy sacrament of circumcision to pull this off. It’s more like a Christian offering to baptize all the abortion clinic staff and then blowing up the church when they all step in to get baptized. Yes, it was terrible what this one man did to Dinah. But the sons of Israel meted out a punishment that didn’t fit the crime. And it certainly wasn’t their place to do that.
Now to murder them was obviously very bad, but then they proceed to also completely plunder the city. They take not only all the livestock and wealth, but they also capture the women and the children. When all is said and done, this town would have been made into a ghost town. There is no way that this is justice by that point. For that matter, they make themselves rich through their deception, which is again a sin we know that this family had struggled with in the past. Could it not be rightly said that Israel here became rich through their treachery? The sins of the father sometimes get passed on to the children.
In contrast, we come to their final quote, where Simeon and Levi defend their actions. They say, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?” They did rescue their sister and seek to avenge her honor. They acted when their father wouldn’t. We can give some sympathy to them here. But it doesn’t change the fact that they act in rash zeal.
In conclusion, I think this passage shows two faulty approaches to dealing with God’s promises. We know what “eschatology” is, the study of the last things. When we talk about eschatology, we can think of our hope that in the end all God’s promises will be finally fulfilled in the full. But until then, people can struggle in one of two ways. You can have an under-realized eschatology or an over-realized eschatology. An under-realized eschatology is when you don’t appreciate how the promises of God have benefits to your life here and now. Jacob’s excessive fear of man seems to be a sort of under-realized eschatology for him. But his sons seem to have an over-realized eschatology. Think about what God has promised. He has said that in the future, when the sins of these Canaanites would come to the full, then God would bring judgment upon them and give their land to Israel. But that time had not yet come. When it did come in the future, we see in Deuteronomy 7 then and only then God would instruct Israel to completely wipe out these evil Canaanite peoples. In that, they were supposed to be God’s divine hand of judgment upon them for how grossly wicked they had become. In fact, God will tell them to devote them to complete destruction, and that will include a prohibition on taking any plunder from such an accursed people. They were to devote everything to destruction, even anything that otherwise would have been a spoil of war. But you see, Israel was doing some of this too early by killing the Canaanites of this town. And they shouldn’t have taken then plunder. Israel’s over-realized eschatology got ahead of God’s timing. So, both Jacob and his sons ask questions that essentially admonish each other. Jacob is not happy with their actions, and they are not happy with his inaction. But both miss the mark. There is that middle place of where they needed to patiently wait upon God.
We too need this application today. The promises of God are yet to come in the full. They have been inaugurated with the first coming of Jesus. But they will come to the full at his return. We must guard against having an under-realized eschatology. That might express itself in ways like we never speak up for Christ, or we live in fear of the world, and we are being silent instead of engaging with the spiritual armor that God has given. We must also guard against an over-realized eschatology. That might express itself in things like trying to use a physical sword to take over the kingdoms of this world in the name of Jesus, or through certain forms of Christian nationalism, where we think we can make this world paradise.
Instead, we are called to wait patiently for Christ’s return, and in the meantime to live the way of Christ. That is one that will involve suffering for Christ’s sake yet confident in faith that victory belongs to the Lord. Such a way of Christ involves self-sacrifice while looking to walk in godliness in a world that we are in but not of.
In conclusion, we should not miss the display of God’s grace in this passage. We understand why the heathen meet God’s judgment. But it can be a lot harder to understand why sinful people like Jacob and his sons find God’s favor. Why would they be an elect people through whom God would work his plan of salvation, even to bring forth Jesus from them? The answer is God’s grace. Let us rejoice that we too, sinners that we are, have come to know such grace in Jesus.
Amen.
Copyright © 2024 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
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