An Attempt To Cover-Up A Wrong....

This fall at the church where I serve, we are traveling on a journey with a man named Jacob, by looking at a section of the very first letter in the Bible, called the book of Genesis. This week, I would like for us to pick up where we left off last week. However, before we jump back into this section of the very first letter that is recorded for us in the Bible, called the book of Genesis, we need to take a minute to understand the context that we are jumping back into.

After rejecting his older brother Esau’s offer to live with him in the land of Edom, Jacob entered into the land that God had promised his father and grandfather. Upon arriving there safely, Jacob responded to the Lord’s presence, promises and activity in his life by buying a piece of land in the city of Shechem and by building an altar.  

And as Jacob and his family settled into their new home in the land that God had promised them, we see them begin to adjust to their new lives, beginning in Genesis 34:1:

Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land. When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force. He was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, "Get me this young girl for a wife."

Moses brings us into this story by explaining that Dinah, who was Jacob’s daughter by Leah, went into the town of Shechem to visit the daughters of the land. Dinah, who was the new girl in town, wanted to make some new friends. After all, she was the only girl in a household of ten brothers. So Dinah, wanting to make some new female friends, went unaccompanied into a new town.

When Shechem, who was the son of the mayor, saw the new girl in town, he responded by raping Dinah.  However, instead of discarding her after the rape, Moses tells us that Shechem was deeply attracted to her. This little phrase deeply attracted literally means that his soul clung to her. You see, after raping her, Shechem had fallen head over heels in love with Dinah and believed that he had found his soul mate.

As you might imagine, however, Shechem had a problem. And that problem was that he had not made a good first impression with Dinah, to say the least. After all he had raped the girl that he now wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Moses then tells us that Shechem responded to his problem by speaking tenderly to Dinah. Now this phrase literally means to speak to her heart. In other words, Shechem had a heart of heart talk with Dinah in an attempt to convince her of his undying love for her.

In addition, Shechem tells his father, the mayor “get me this young girl for my wife”. Now this statement if made in the language we use in our culture today would have sounded something like this: Dad, go fetch me that girl to be my wife. After all you are the mayor, so use your position, power and influence to get me her”. 

You see, Shechem wanted his father to get for him in marriage what he had already taken by force. Shechem was a selfish, spoiled little boy who had wrongly taken what he wanted and now found himself in trouble. And now that he was in trouble, Shechem wanted his dad to use his power and influence to cover up his wrong and bail him out of trouble. Moses then reveals for us Jacob’s response to what had happened in verse 5:

 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob kept silent until they came in. Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 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.

Moses explains that Jacob responded to his daughter Dinah’s rape with silence. Jacob remained silent and detached to his daughter being dishonored. Jacob does not seek any justice or express any anger for Dinah being raped. Now a natural question that arises here is “How could Jacob be silent? How could he not respond or defend his daughter by demanding justice?”

To understand Jacob’s silence, we need to first understand Jacob’s relationship to Dinah. Remember, Dinah is the daughter of Leah. As we discovered earlier in this series, Jacob was deceived into marrying Leah after being deceived on the evening that he was supposed to marry Rachel, who was Leah’s sister. As a result of Laban’s deception, Jacob ended up marrying Leah, who he did not love, and Rachel who he did love. Think of it this way; if Dinah would have been the daughter of Rachel, don’t you think that Jacob would have had a different response?

And as we will see in a few weeks, Jacob definitely played favorites when it came to his children. You see, Dinah was the result of a relationship that was driven by duty instead of delight, so Jacob was not attached to Dinah.

However, when Dinah’s brothers found out about what happened to their sister, they had a much different response. Moses tells us that Jacob’s sons responded to the wrong that had been done to their sister with outrage and anger. What is so interesting is that the word for anger here literally means to be kindled and burn with anger. Jacob’s sons were fired up about what had happened to their sister.

They were fired up with anger because Shechem had done a disgraceful thing, for such a thing should not be done. In other words the brothers recognized what anyone would recognize, which is that what Shechem had done to dishonor their sister was just plain wrong. There are some things are just plain wrong, and this was one of them. And it is in this context that Mayor Hamor and his spoiled son Shechem show up to have a conversation with Jacob and his sons. A conversation that Moses records for us in 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. "Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves. "Thus you shall live with us, and the land shall be open before you; live and trade in it and acquire property in it." 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. "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."

In other words, Mayor Hamor says to Jacob “I know my son Shechem dishonored and did wrong to your daughter Jacob, but he loves her, so would you consider letting him marry her? As a matter of fact, why don’t you consider having your sons come into town and see if there are any women that they would be interested in marrying? We could put this wrong behind us and become related as one big happy family and share in the financial benefits that that family could provide both of us”.

You see Mayor Hamor was the consummate politician. But did you notice Jacob’s response? Jacobs’s response was silent disinterest. I don’t know about you, but that would not be my response. My natural response, if that would have been my daughter, would probably result in me doing prison ministry from the inside.

And if that is not enough, we see Shechem attempt to buy his way out of the wrong that he had done by dishonoring and raping Dinah. Shechem basically says “I’ll pay you whatever you want, just let me keep Dinah as my wife”. And again, Jacob responds with silence. However, while Jacob responds with silence, Jacob’s brothers have a far different response.

 

We will look at their response tomorrow…