Today, I am reading and commenting on  Genesis 33-35.

One of the aspects of the story about what happened in Shechem to Jacob’s daughter Dinah is that we get no idea about Dinah’s feelings in the situation.  Would she have liked to marry Shechem?  Would she have been receptive to his pursuit if he had not chosen to force her?  What was her life like after this?  All we know about her after this is that she accompanied the rest of Jacob’s family when they went to Egypt.  Another aspect of the story is that it was Simeon and Levi who put the men of Shechem to the sword after they circumcised themselves.  The passage mentions that they were Dinah’s brothers as if that explains why they, and none of Jacob’s other sons, took revenge on the men of Shechem for Dinah’s defilement.  Even if you consider that Dinah was Leah’s daughter, and so full sister to Simeon and Levi, Leah had four other sons, who would also have been full brothers to Dinah.  Now I can easily understand why Issachar and Zebulun were left out of this.  They were much younger than Simeon and Levi, but the description of their births suggests that Reuben was only a little older than Simeon, and Judah about the same amount younger than Levi (I would guess that the four were each born about a year apart).  So, why didn’t Reuben and Judah take part in avenging their sister?  I don’t know the answer to that, but I will note that it was Reuben and Judah who later took leadership roles among the brothers concerning Joseph (both when the brothers betrayed him and later when they encountered him in Egypt).

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Genesis 33-35.

Some time ago I came across an article which claimed that the account of what happened to Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter*, indicates that the Patriarchs treated women worse than the society around them.  The logic being that because the account tells us that Shechem fell in love with her after raping her and spoke tenderly to her, her brothers were brutes who killed the man she loved and forced her to be a servant in their households.  But the passage says nothing about what Dinah felt for Shechem and can be read to suggest that she was a prisoner in Shechem’s household until her brothers freed her.  The passage clearly tells us that Shechem took advantage of his position as son of the local ruler to take advantage of Dinah sexually while she was visiting with the women of his town, and her brothers were not nearby.  Then he attempted to use the fact that she was defiled as leverage to bring Jacob and his sons under his father’s control, which would eventually mean under his control.  The passage makes it clear that Jacob found Shechem’s behavior unacceptable, but also thought his sons, Simeon and Levi, went too far in seeking vengeance.  On the other hand, the passage also makes it clear that Simeon and Levi felt like they had no other choice.  Once again the writer does not approve of what was done, but sees God’s plan being fulfilled through the actions of flawed humans.

Jacob was frightened about the possible repercussions to his sons actions.  As a result, he rededicates himself, and his household, to God.  Up until now, Jacob has tolerated  his sons and wives (or, at least, Rachael) worshiping idols.  However this incident made Jacob realize that his family needed to dedicate themselves to serving God if they were to survive in this land.  In response to Jacob’s renewed dedication to God, God renewed the promises He had made to Abraham and Isaac.  We see here the final step in the progression of Jacob’s worship of God.

*At least, the only daughter which the Bible tells us about, it is possible that Dinah’s birth is only recorded because of her role in this account and that Jacob had other daughters…my inclination is to believe that Jacob had no other daughters.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Genesis 33-35.

When Jacob and Esau met Jacob acknowledged that the bad blood between them was his fault.  Esau, on the other hand, made it clear that he forgave Jacob and invited Jacob, and his family, join his household.  Jacob politely declined Esau’s invitation.  I point this out because when this passage was explained to me as a child it was used as an example of Jacob’s trickery.  Those who explained it to me believed that Esau intended to force Jacob to become subordinate to himself.  I read this instead as Esau offering Jacob his protection.  In fact, the very next story highlights this.  If Jacob had accepted  Esau’s offer, Jacob would never have been in a position where Shechem would have raped his daughter.  Really, this story is really about Shechem and his father trying to force Jacob to accept a relationship with them similar to the one he rejected with his brother.  Jacob’s sons pretended to be intimidated into going along with Shechem’s plan, but not too intimidated.  Yet, after his sons gained their revenge, Jacob feared that the rest of the locals would come after him and his family.  And what was the result of all of this?  Jacob was reminded of the oath he swore at Bethel when he was heading to Haran all of those many years ago.  Jacob returned to Bethel and had his family begin to practice monotheism, worshiping only God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 33-35.

Jacob was afraid that Esau had brought his small army (Esau had more men with him than Abraham had used to rescue Lot) in order to exact revenge on him for stealing Isaac’s blessing.  However, it seems to me that Esau brought this force in order to protect his brother from Laban, although Esau may have also been bringing that many men in order to demonstrate the level of protection he could offer Jacob.  In any case, I always find the negotiation between the brothers in this passage interesting.  Esau invites Jacob to join his household and Jacob declines diplomatically.  If Jacob had joined Esau, he would have been subordinate to Esau, but Esau would have provided protection to Jacob and his family.  Jacob chose independence over safety.

The story of Dinah and Schechem give us evidence of what joining with Esau would have given Jacob and his family.  It also gives us an insight into how wealthy Jacob and his family were.  The men of Schechem were willing to be circumcised as a way to add Jacob and his family to their nation.  If Jacob had joined Esau, the son of Schechem’s ruler would never have dared rape Dinah, and when his sons extracted revenge, he would not have feared to surrounding peoples.  However, it is this incident which finally inspired Jacob to make God, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, his God.  It was only at this point that Jacob gave up the worship of any other gods and made his household do the same.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 33-35.

I love the story of Esau and Jacob reuniting.  If ever there was a person with reason to hate his sibling and never want anything to do with them again, it was Esau.  However, when Esau saw his brother again after many years apart he ran to hug him.  Jacob for his part acknowledged by his actions that his brother had a legitimate grievance against him.  I want to point out that Esau did not forgive Jacob because of Jacob’s gifts.  A  careful reading of the Bible shows that Esau had set out with a small army while Jacob was meeting with Laban.  Yet Esau’s actions indicate he had not set out with the intention of bringing harm to Jacob.  Both brothers took action to reconcile their relationship.  Jacob gave Esau gifts as an acknowledgement that he owed Esau for what he had done to him.  Further, I think the rest of the story shows them negotiating their future relationship.  Esau offered for Jacob to come back and join his household but Jacob declined that invitation without rejecting his brother.