Our studies in the book of Genesis have been a healthy dose of reality regarding the Christian life. Especially enlightening has been the inspired record of the life of Jacob. At the risk of sounding like a skipped CD, Jacob was a justified believer to whom we can all relate—some of us perhaps more readily than others. But at this point, I wish to issue a necessary caution: Though we can find encouragement in the mishaps of Jacob’s spiritual pilgrimage, we dare not use his sinful failures to excuse our own.
We need to realise that Jacob lived in a day of less revelation than us (John 14:12; 16:7). We have the full canon of Scripture, whereas Jacob had none. We live on this side of the full revelation of God in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, while Jacob lived on the darker side of the glass. We have manifold centuries of Christian doctrine and church history from which to glean valuable lessons, whereas Jacob lived in the seed era of the planting of the church. And, added to these benefits, of course, is the fact that we who follow Christ today have both apostolic doctrine and apostolic practice (Philippians 4:9) to guide us in our pursuit of Christ. Jacob had neither. I do not mean to imply by this that Jacob should be excused for his sinful actions. Indeed, he had a legacy to which he could look and from which he could derive motivation (i.e. the record of Genesis 1-26). He had been rescued by grace and had experienced God (chapters 28 and 32). But if we refuse to excuse Jacob’s conduct because of the light that he had, how much less are we justified in using Jacob’s failure to excuse our own? Let us take comfort in God’s relentless grace, as is seen in His dealings with Jacob. But may this encourage us to live more faithfully than did Jacob.
In Genesis 34, we observe another glaring area of failure in the patriarch Jacob; a failure which again precludes the author from addressing him as “Israel.”
This particular failure is sadly all too common in the life of the modern church: passive living, moral passivity, a failure to actively do the right thing before God and before man. The fallout of this passivity is sometimes disastrous, and always disappointingly disobedient.
Consider passive church members who refuse to move from where they are to where they need to be, resulting in spiritual stagnation and poisoning others with whom they have contact. Or contemplate passive parents, especially passive fathers who take no initiative in relating to their children. The fallout is often children who go through much of their life aimlessly looking for acceptance and affection—in the wrong places. Consider the reality of passive husbands, who give no leadership to their wives and no moral direction in the home. The fallout is a marriage that suffers as the wife loses respect for her husband, and the temptation to find a noble leader enters her heart.
In summary, passive leadership can have disastrous consequences. The way to guard against this is to actively follow the Lord—not partially, but rather completely. Let us learn now from God’s Word, and be transparent as we are confronted by truth, resulting in further transformation of our lives to the glory of God.
A Vulnerable Female
You will remember from our previous study that chapter 33 closed with Jacob in the wrong place. God had told him to return to Bethel, but after a meeting of reconciliation with his brother, he had decided to go instead to Succoth, and eventually to Shalem. We are not sure precisely how long he remained there, but soon his only daughter, Dinah, was old enough to begin associating with the people of the land, and this created a most dreadful problem.
And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her. And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife.
(Genesis 24:1-4)
Attention is drawn in v. 1 to the fact that “Dinah” was “the daughter of Leah.” This is no doubt significant in that Leah’s children seem to have factored very little into Jacob’s affections. This is evident not only in the fact that he loved Rachel more than Leah, but also in the favouritism shown toward Joseph and Benjamin, the children of Rachel, as recorded in later chapters.
Dinah, we are told, “went out to see the daughters of the land.” The phrase speaks of impropriety. She went unchaperoned into the nearby pagan city to visit her peers. We should not imagine that this is the first time Dinah and Shechem had met; the implication seems to be that these curious, unchaperoned visits to the city were somewhat frequent. The question must be asked at this point—and not for the last time in this study—where was her father in all of this? Surely he ought not to have allowed his daughter to travel unaccompanied to a pagan city?
It is heartbreaking, though we must admit not entirely surprising, to read that “Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her” and that “he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.” The phrase “took her” speaks of force, and indicates clearly that he did so against her will. This is further enforced by the use of the word “defiled,” which speaks again of forceful humiliation. A different Hebrew word is translated “defiled” in v. 5, and that word speaks of violating or profaning a woman, obviously sexually. Bluntly stated, Shechem raped Jacob’s daughter.
We should note that it is only in vv. 3-4 that Shechem made any effort to woo Dinah. The deed was done, and now he “spake kindly unto the damsel.” Having already sexually defiled her, “Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife.”
This is a seedy account, and one that we almost feel uncomfortable dealing with. In fact, several commentators deal very little or not at all with this chapter in their commentaries. One man went as far as to state that the discerning preacher will never preach from Genesis 34. Despite our understandable discomfort with the story, however, we understand that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable,” including Genesis 34.
A Voiceless Father
If the record of vv. 1-4 is bad, what follows is perhaps even worse. There is no way around it: Jacob was a passive father, and in these verses his passivity comes to shameful light.
And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come. And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him. And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter; which thing ought not to be done. And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife. And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you. And ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein. And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give. Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife. And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister: And they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us: But in this will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised; Then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone. And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor’s son. And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter: and he was more honourable than all the house of his father.
(Genesis 34:5-19)
“Jacob heard that [Shechem] had defiled Dinah his daughter.” Word reached Jacob that his only daughter had been sexually violated, and he did and said nothing! Notice very carefully: “Jacob held his peace.” Can you even imagine that? Can you imagine a daughter being raped, and a father saying and doing absolutely nothing about it?
Jacob’s passivity in the rape of his daughter doubtless indicates a deeper passivity. That is, most likely the reason that Dinah was able to freely roam the streets of the pagan city was because her father did nothing to stop her. He apparently didn’t care.
Just as it seems that things could get no worse for Jacob, “Hamor the father of Shechem went out to commune with him.” Notice that Hamor, not Jacob, took the initiative. Now, perhaps it is just me, but if I was Dinah’s father, I cannot imagine waiting for Hamor to come to me. I’d be on his doorstep the moment I heard the report. But Jacob seems to have been more concerned with peace than with honour.
It is interesting that Hamor felt he could confidently and calmly approach Jacob with the marriage proposal. Why was he not fearful? Was Jacob’s testimony such that Hamor assumed he would placidly accept the evil done to his daughter, in the same way that Hamor himself placidly accepted what had happened?
Jacob’s sons, however, were not as placid as their father. “The sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter; which thing ought not to be done.” The only other use of the word “grieved” in the Bible is in Genesis 6:6, where God is said to have been grieved with the condition of the world before destroying it with a flood. The reason for this anger was that Shechem “had wrought folly in Israel.” They understood, to some degree, that they were different, and that, in the words of John Currid, “this defilement [was] against the people of God.”
Unperturbed by the anger of Jacob’s sons, Hamor proceeds to offer a bridal price for Dinah. The offer is essentially one of citizenship. Doubtless, he believed that the offer was attractive to Jacob and his family. Now, there would be wives available for the sons, and a trade agreement could be struck between the parties. Hamor persists, offering to meet any demand they can lay upon him.
Sadly, Jacob remains silent. It is “the sons of Jacob” who proceed with the negotiations, though certainly not honestly. The text is quite plain that they answered “deceitfully.” Significantly, this is precisely the description that was so frequently used of Jacob early on in his life. As it is said, like father, like sons (see 27:25).
The first part of the answer was not deceitful: “We cannot do this thing.” They ought to have left off there. But they did not. What was unacceptable, or so they said, was “to give [their] sister to one that is uncircumcised.” That would be a “reproach” to them. But a deal could be struck: “But in this will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised; Then we will give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.” That was the only condition under which they would consider the proposal. “But if we will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone.”
Incidentally, it seems that Dinah had not only been raped, but that she was still being held—perhaps against her will—by Shechem. Her brothers stated quite plainly that they would “take” her if Hamor would not agree to their conditions.
The thrust of these verses, however, is that Jacob’s sons struck a deceitful, sacrilegious deal with Hamor. It should perhaps be observed that circumcision itself was not unknown in the ancient Middle East, and thus the demand would not have come as a complete shock to Hamor. What was unique about the Israelites was that their circumcision took place on the eighth day after birth. And even more unique was the fact that God Almighty had specifically commanded circumcision in Israel, a command that was not given to any other nation. This is ultimately where the sacrilege lay: in that the brothers were using a sacred rite as a front for their murderous scheme. “It is astounding,” writes Currid, “that the brothers attempt to cloak their maliciousness behind the sign of circumcision.”
Their scheme worked: “Their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor’s son. And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter: and he was more honourable than all the house of his father.” Part one of the plan had fallen neatly into place; part two was soon to follow.
Let us not miss the deafening silence of Jacob throughout this account. Where he was in all of this is anyone’s guess. Perhaps he had deliberately left his sons to resolve the matter. Whatever the case, it is clear that he had no intention of actively being involved in resolving the matter. “Tragically,” notes R. Kent Hughes, “Jacob had stood up neither for his daughter nor for his God.” Again, Currid writes, “Jacob is a passive party to the treachery; he in no way calls [his sons] to account.” Throughout the account, the man who had wrestled with God displays no moral authority whatsoever.
A Vicious Family
Jacob’s sons now take that which is holy and they cast it to the dogs. And lest we be tempted to excuse Jacob, let us note that his passive response was nothing short of tacit approval of this evil deed.
And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying, These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for the land, behold, it is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters. Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. Shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us. And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city. And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males. And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went out. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister. They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field, And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house.
(Genesis 34:20-29)
As Hamor and Shechem hurry off to negotiate with the men of their city, they begin with a most ignorant statement: “These men are peaceable with us.” Little did they know that within three days their entire male population would be viciously slaughtered.
The negotiations in these verses takes on a subtle shift. Earlier, Hamor had painted the picture as if it would be a great benefit to Jacob’s family; now he paints it as if it is a great benefit to his own people. “Shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours?” The people seemingly saw the benefit to themselves, for “unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city.” Doubtless with visions of increased riches, the men of the city agree to the terms set before them, not expecting the horror that will strike within just a few days.
Evidently, the third day after circumcision is the most painful. In a day when anaesthetic was as yet unknown, the pain was incapacitating. Jacob’s sons, well-acquainted with the rite of circumcision, were all too aware of this fact, and so “it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males. And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went out.” This was their plan all along. This was the malice that they had chosen to disguise under the sacred rite of circumcision. And as if genocide was not enough, they proceeded to pillage the goods of the city, and take captive women and children.
A Veritable Failure
Because of Jacob’s passivity, his sons resorted to genocide and pillage. Again we find ourselves longing for him to step up and do something about it, but instead we find yet another pathetic response from a passive believer.
And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?
(Genesis 34:30-31)
Bear in mind what has taken place in this chapter. Dinah has been raped. Hamor has been brash enough about it to propose a bridal price. Simeon and Levi had committed mass murder. Together with their brothers, they have plundered the city and captured women and children. Jacob has remained silent, but now he bursts forth, “Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.” Poor Jacob! Look what might happen to him!
Simeon and Levi’s answer is telling: “Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?” I agree with one commentator who notes that Moses probably left the chapter hanging on this note because he is voicing his agreement with Simeon and Levi. Though Moses certainly would not excuse the wicked deed of these brothers, he agrees that they were right to confront their father for his passivity in the matter. Jacob has entirely failed in this matter. His failure was writ large by his passivity.
“The rape, the desecration, the genocide, the disgrace,” writes Hughes, “were all due to [Jacob’s] disobedience.” Indeed, Jacob failed in this chapter in just about every way we can imagine. But what is the lesson for us?
The overriding theme of this chapter is the passivity of Jacob and the disaster that followed. He had settled outside of the Promised Land, outside of God’s will for his life, and the result was that his daughter was raped and his sons committed sacrilegious murder. Had he simply moved onto Bethel after his encounter with his brother, none of this would have happened. In short, disaster resulted when a passive believer became comfortable on his way to the house of God (“Bethel”).
It is doubtless significant that God is nowhere mentioned in this chapter. The last word of chapter 33—Elelohe-Israel (“God is the mighty God of Israel”)—contains the name of God, and chapter 35 opens with the name of God, but that name, as in the book of Esther, is conspicuous in chapter 34 by its absence. Perhaps the lesson to learn from this is that God distances Himself from sin. Now, of course, God was certainly present and sovereign in the events of the chapter, but He clearly distanced Himself from the sins of the record.
Interestingly, in chapter 35, Jacob returns to Bethel, and the first thing he must do is rid his home of the idols he had collected in chapter 34. His spiritual passivity had long-lasting consequences in his family, and dreadful consequences to others. He was a veritable failure because he became passive about the will and the Word of God.
If we can learn anything from this seedy account, it is that prioritising and passivity are mutually exclusive concepts. Jacob ought to have made Bethel—the house of God—his priority, but he didn’t. Instead, he settled some 35km away from Bethel, in a place where he thought he and his family would be safe, and disaster resulted from his disobedience. His passivity in this chapter was the result of his passivity about Bethel.
We as believers need to prioritise Bethel. The name “Bethel” means “the house of God.” It was at Bethel where Jacob first encountered Christ, as he dreamed about the ladder. Fundamentally, this chapter teaches us the need to prioritise Christ. He is the very House of God. Jesus said during His earthly ministry, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” John adds that “he spake of the temple of his body” (John 2:19-21). He is the Temple of God, and our fundamental priority must be to get to Him, to keep our eyes on Him in all our circumstances. If that is our priority, we will be guarded against a passive, disobedient lifestyle.
But notice carefully that “the church of the living God” is quite clearly identified in the New Testament as “the house of God” (1 Timothy 3:15). If we will prioritise Christ, we must prioritise the church. We cannot keep our eyes on Christ if we do not make the church a priority. Of course, we do not only keep our eyes on Christ when we gather with the church, but we certainly cannot stay focused on Christ if we ignore His church.
Let me appeal first and foremost to husbands and fathers: Let us not grow passive about keeping our eyes on Christ. And let us therefore not grow passive about the church of God. If we will guard our families, we must prioritise the local church ourselves, and do all we can to help our family have the same priority. We must be real men. And real men are those who take the spiritual welfare of those for whom they are responsible seriously. Jacob was such a miserable failure because he was concerned only about himself. And, let’s be honest, we fail most often in our spiritual leadership when we are concerned more about ourselves than about others, when we are more concerned with peace than with truth.
If you are content to live passively as a believer, let me point you to Jacob and ask, is that the type of life you want? Christ must be the priority in our lives and homes if we will avoid the heartache that Jacob and his family experienced in Genesis 34. You will not go wrong by making the church a priority in your life and your home, unless you do so without at the same time making Christ a priority. Christ must be your priority Monday to Saturday, for only then will the church be a true priority on Sunday.
If we want those for whom we are responsible to flee to Christ, then we need to be believable. We must have enough moral authority behind us so that when we command our children to repent and believe the gospel, they will obey us. We cannot expect them to believe on Christ if we do not believe on Him. We cannot expect them to obey the Scriptures if we refuse to do so ourselves. May God give us the grace to live believable lives!
Not a day goes by in which I am not forced to confess to God my failure as a husband and a father. But I am grateful that, as I do so, I am also able to embrace new grace to do a better job.
A Vigorous Faithfulness
At the beginning of this study, I noted that we cannot excuse our disobedience because of Jacob’s life. However, we can be encouraged from Jacob’s life in the vigorous faithfulness of our God. Genesis 34 does not end the record of Jacob’s life. In chapter 35, God graciously delivers him from his disobedient location and brings him to Bethel. Despite the mischievous attempts of Hamor and Shechem, and despite the mischievous attempts of Satan to destroy the Seed, God is vigorous in His faithfulness. He made a promise and He will not fail to bring it to completion.
The Bible is transparent with Jacob’s failures, but every time he fails we see God’s grace fresh in his life. Perhaps you feel a failure in your walk with Christ. Be encouraged that your Father is covenantally faithful. Just as He did not abandon Jacob, so He will not abandon us. We know of failures in our own lives, and we are often aware of failures in the church at large. The temptation is to despair, thinking that things will never come right. But let us be encouraged that things will come right, that Christ’s kingdom will expand, and that all whom He has saved will be one day perfectly conformed to His own image. God will build His church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Let us confess our sins to God, and then let us cling to Christ. May we come to Bethel, encouraged in His vigorous faithfulness.