Story 56 Using the Things of God for Ungodly Things
Shechem had grown up in the brutal town that shared his name. It was a world where manipulation and corruption were the name of the game. And when it came to how a man should treat a woman, it was even more brutal still. So when Shechem saw Dinah, the beautiful young daughter of Jacob and Leah, walking alone on the vast plain, he thought nothing of taking her by force and raping her. The values of his world were so distorted and sick that he believed it was love. Now that he’d had her, he wanted to marry her, so he and his father Hamor went to the home of Jacob to arrange it.
Dinah’s brothers were enraged that their sister had been treated with such violence and disgrace. They were determined to get their revenge and restore her honor. So they agreed to give their sister in marriage, but only if Shechem and all the other men of the town agreed to be circumcised. Somehow, they were going to use this painful operation as a way to get vengeance.
Now remember, circumcision was the symbol that God gave to Abraham and all of his descendants to show they were the children of God. But Jacob’s sons were going to use this offer of peace from God to commit terrible violence. Abraham’s great grandsons were going to use it to destroy the city. It was very deceitful.
These sons of Jacob were right to be enraged and protective of their sister, but they had already begun to solve the problem the wrong way. They were going to answer the sins of Shechem with vicious sin of their own. They were thinking much more like the sons of Caan and Lamech than the children of God. They were going to act like sons of the Serpent.
Hamor and his son didn’t know how sneaky Jacob’s boys were being. They thought the offer sounded like a fair plan. Shechem was so infatuated with Dinah that he immediately set to work. He went to the gate of the town where the leading men met for business. He told them that Jacob and his whole clan would join their people and live among them. Their livestock and property would add to their own wealth as a region. Shechem made it sound like he had talked Jacob into handing his vast riches over to the community pot! The only problem was, all the men of town would have to get circumcised.
What Shechem did not tell his townsmen was that he had made a promise to give Jacob land. They wouldn’t have liked that. He also didn’t say that his true reason for wanting the alliance was so that he could marry Dinah. Shechem was sneaky, too.
The men listened to Shechem and agreed with his plan. They would get circumcised. It was not because they wanted to honor the God of Jacob or take on the ways of the Lord. It was because they wanted Jacob’s wealth. “‘Won’t their livestock, their property, and their other animals become ours?’” they said. So every man in Shechem was circumcised.
Circumcision is a very painful operation for men. A little flap of skin is cut off of their private part, which is very sensitive. It could easily become infected. Each of the men of the city would be very sore and uncomfortable for days.
While the men of Shechem were still raw from the operation, Simeon and Levi went into the city with their swords. They attacked the unsuspecting men while they were still sore and killed every single one. Then they went to Hamor and Shechem’s house and killed them, too. Their punishment was rash and severe. Jacob’s sons went far beyond what was right for the crime that had been committed against their beloved sister.
They found Dinah and rescued her from Shechem’s house. Then the rest of Jacob’s sons went into the city. When they saw all the dead bodies, they began to plunder the whole place, taking their flocks of sheep and goats, all of their livestock, and anything else that was valuable. The men of the city had plotted to plunder Jacob’s family through their newfound alliance, but now the tables had turned.
The battle between the sons of Abraham and the sinful city was over. They had turned the injustice against Dinah into a holy war. The only problem was, this holy war was not approved by God himself. Jacob’s sons had acted in their own wisdom and in their own strength. They took their punishment way too far, and many innocent men had died for the sins of a few that were corrupt and violent. They had seriously violated the common law of justice. And the worst part was, they had used circumcision to do it. What was meant to be a holy and sacred symbol of God’s covenant with the family of Abraham was turned into a treacherous weapon.
When Jacob learned what his sons had done, he was furious. He rebuked Simeon and Levi, saying, “‘You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.’” The actions of Jacob’s wicked sons had put the whole covenant family in peril. What kind of holy family was this? And would they survive when the surrounding cities came to avenge their neighbors?
Jacob was right to be angry, but he was mad for all the wrong reasons! He was not worried about the righteousness of his own sons or the protection of his daughter. He was afraid of the danger this might bring upon himself. Jacob showed no love for his family or faith in God when he rebuked his sons.
Jacob’s sons replied with equal fury, “‘Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?’” They had watched their father sit passively by while their sister was treated with brutality and held captive, and yet suddenly, when it came to his own safety, Jacob began to show passion. Where was his fatherly love for his daughter? The division was deep and wrathful. Imagine the simmering tensions among the tents of Jacob.
This story is meant to appall us. Every character was horrifically in the wrong except Dinah, and she was foolish. How different life in the cursed world was from how it was meant to be in God’s perfect Garden! How deeply controlled by sin each human had become!
Though the sons of Jacob were terribly wrong in how they acted out their revenge, they did protect something that was valuable and precious. With this story, generations of the female children of Abraham would know that they were highly honored and worthy of the protection of the men in their community. Their anger was right, their response was not, and true righteousness does the right thing at the right time in the right way.
The great tragedy of this terrible story is that it never had to happen in the first place. Jacob had not kept his vow with God. He didn’t take his family to Bethel. And so they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Instead of being a blessing to the nations, they brought a terrible curse.
Jacob had shown amazing leadership in the face of the threat of Esau. But in this story, ten years later, he showed himself to be weak and fearful. Strength in the Lord is a fire that must be fed with constant dependence on God.