A wrong response to what is wrong does not right the wrong, but makes us wrong...

This week, we are looking at a section of the very first letter in the Bible called the book of Genesis, Yesterday, we looked on as a man named Hamor and his son Shechem attempted to manipulate and buy their way out of the wrong that Shechem had done by dishonoring and raping Dinah, who was the daughter of Jacob. We looked on as Jacob responded to his daughter’s rape with silent detachment. However, while Jacob responded with silence, Jacob’s brothers have a far different response, which we see in verse 13:

 But Jacob's sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. 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. "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. "But if you will not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go."

Jacob’s sons respond to mayor Hamor and his spoiled son Shechem with a plan of deception. The sons explain that the only way that Shechem could marry Dinah would be that if every male in the town agreed to be circumcised. Now to understand the significance of this deceptive plan, we first need to understand what circumcision is and its significance to the Jewish people.  

Circumcision is a surgical procedure that involves removing the foreskin from the male genitals with a surgical knife, or in this case, a knife made of stone. The reason that circumcision was so significant was that circumcision was a covenant sign that identified the Jewish people as being God’s people. Circumcision was an outward sign was done in order to demonstrate an inward commitment and relationship to God.

Here however, the brothers are not using circumcision as a way to identify one as being in relationship with God, which was God’s design. Instead the brothers deceitfully use circumcision as a means by which the men of Shechem would have to identify with them. The brothers are saying, if you want Dinah, you have to identify and become like us”. The brothers respond to the wrong that had been done to their sister by wrongly using circumcision as a means to deceive the unsuspecting town of Shechem.

And to make the deception all the more powerful, this proposal was “take it or leave it” in nature. Either you do this or you cannot marry our daughter. We see mayor Hamor and spoiled son Shechem’s response in verse 18:

 Now their words seemed reasonable to Hamor and Shechem, Hamor's son. 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. 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. "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. "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." 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.

Moses tells us that mayor Hamor and spoiled son Shechem responded to the deceitful proposal by buying it hook, line, and sinker. Shechem was immediately circumcised in order to demonstrate his love and desire for Dinah to be his wife. Mayor Hamor and spoiled son Shechem then went to the city gate, which during this time in history was the hub of activity and the natural place where meetings and proposals were expressed to the community. Now when Moses tells us that Shechem was more respected than all the household of his father, he is revealing for us the reality that both men were viewed with honor by the members of the community. Their words carried a great deal of weight and influence.

Hamor and Shechem used the honor and influence that they had been given to deceive the members of their town to agree to the deceitful proposal that Jacob’s sons had offered. Notice that neither Hamor nor Shechem mention the wrong that had been done to Dinah. Neither Hamor nor Shechem mention that this proposal would resolve the wrong that had been committed by allowing Shechem to marry Dinah.

Instead, Hamor and Shechem focus solely on the financial benefits to the community. Hamor and Shechem focus solely on how this proposal would give the community to prosper financially as it would provide the opportunity to gain the property and possessions of Jacob and his sons. 

Do you see the irony here? As Jacob’s sons are deceiving Hamor and Shechem, Hamor and Shechem are deceiving the members of the town. As Hamor and Shechem are deceiving the members of the town, the members of the town believe that they are deceiving Jacob and his sons. And as a result of this deceptive irony, every male member of the community agrees to be circumcised. Moses then records what happens next in verse 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. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem's house, and went forth. Jacob's sons came upon the slain and looted the city, because they had defiled their sister. 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.

Three days later, when the pain from the procedure would be the most intense and when the men would be experiencing a fever would normally develop as a result of the circumcision that would the men the weakest, Simeon and Levi attacked the city by surprise and killed every male member of the city. You see, while Jacob was not attached to Dinah, Simeon and Levi were. Simeon and Levi were the sons of Leah and were closely connected to their sister Dinah.

And because of their connection and attachment to their mother and their sister, they responded to the wrong that was done by slaughtering every male in the city and rescuing Dinah from the home of Shechem, where she had been held since the day of her rape. The rest of Jacob’s sons followed behind and looted the city.

The sons of Jacob responded to the wrong done to their sister by executing judgment far beyond the perpetrators of the wrong. Instead, the sons of Jacob exercised vengeance upon and entire city in an attempt to right a wrong that had been committed. Now a natural question that arises here is “where is Jacob when all this is going on? I mean what does Jacob think about this?” We see Jacob’s response recorded for us in verse 30:

 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and my men being few in number, they will gather together against me and attack me and I will be destroyed, I and my household." But they said, "Should he treat our sister as a harlot?"

Jacob’s response, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Look what you have done to me. Because of what you two have done, I will be considered a social outcast. I will be viewed as being repugnant and all the people who live in the land will unite against us and try to exterminate us”. Jacob does not chastise them for their wrongful deception that resulted in death and looting; instead Jacob chastises them for making them vulnerable to others around them who might unite against them in light of what they had done. The brothers respond to Jacob’s chastisement by chastising their father "Should he treat our sister as a harlot?"

Now, I don’t know about you, but this story is just a train wreck, isn’t it? Do you think God was up in Heaven going “good job kids”?  I mean, besides Dinah, is there a single person in this story that does anything that is positive or honors God? Shechem is a rapist. Hamor is a sleazy politician. Jacob is a detached and silent coward. Jacob’s sons are deceitful murderers and thieves. And Simeon and Levi’s desire for vengeance had resulted in a threat to God and God’s promises being fulfilled through Jacob and his family.

But it is in this train wreck of an event from history that we see God reveal for us a timeless truth that can powerfully impact our lives. And that timeless truth is this: A wrong response to what is wrong does not right the wrong, but makes us wrong. Throughout this story, we see the timeless reality that a wrong response to what is wrong does not right the wrong, but makes us wrong.

Jacob’s silent detachment was a wrong response that did not right the wrong, but revealed he was wrong. Jacob’s son’s plan of deception was a wrong response that did not right the wrong, but revealed they were wrong. Hamor and Shechem’s plan of deception was a wrong response that did not right the wrong, but revealed they were wrong. Simeon and Levi’s desire for vengeance was a wrong response that did not right the wrong, but revealed they were wrong.

And now their wrong responses that did not right the wrong, but revealed that they were wrong were now threatening God’s promises and plan. That is, until God enters into this story in a powerful way.

Friday, we will see what God does as He enters into this train wreck of a story…