Genesis 34:1-7

I.                The Violation of Dinah (v. 1-5)

A.     Genesis 34:1 – And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

1.      Dinah - דינה Diynah, “judgment”

2.      Dinah is the only daughter mentioned.  There may have been other daughters, but the mention of Dinah’s name could be a result of the significance of the following event.

3.      Dinah was about 15 or 16 years old

4.      It seems as though she went out to “see the daughters of the land” unescorted.  This would indicate that she may have indeed been the only daughter or at least the only daughter of this age. 

a)      Jasher indicates that Rachel and Leah went as well

5.      This also could indicate some teenage rebellion, in that Dinah wanted to “run with the herd” against the counsel of her parents

a)      Its good for children to remain under the watchful eye of their parents as long as possible

b)     Young people are so naïve, yet “wise in their own eyes”

§        Isaiah 5:21 - Woe unto [them that are] wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

§        The pride of youthful indiscretion leads to snares that can ruin a life

B.     Genesis 34:2 - 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.

1.      Shechem - שכם Shĕkem, "back" or "shoulder"

2.      Hamor - חמור Chamowr, "he-ass"

3.      Hivite - חוי Chivviy – “villagers”; 6th generation of descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham, who were living in northern Canaan near Mount Hermon at the time of the conquest

4.      There appears to be no indication of consent nor resistance on the part of Dinah

a)      She was in the wrong place at the wrong time and the situation engulfed her.

b)     Likewise, our culture devours the young people and robs them of their innocence before they have a chance to mature and understand the tactics of the enemy

c)      It is important for parents and those who have been given authority over our children to prepare them for these attacks and instruct them on how to avoid these situations.

5.      Shechem demonstrated a sense of entitlement, he was prince he could have whatever or whomever he wished.

a)      Just like the enemy, wishes to exert power and control over others

6.      4 Steps to sin, each progressively worse than the previous, same song, same dance, Satan employs these three little tactics used in the garden against Eve.

a)      Shechem

§        Saw her – Lust of the eyes

§        Took her – Pride of Life

§        Lay with her – Lust of the Flesh

§        Defiled her – Pride of Life

b)     Eve (Genesis 3:6)

§        Tree was good for food - Lust of the flesh

§        Pleasant to the eyes - Lust of the eyes

§        Desired to make one wise - Pride of life

c)      1 John 2:16 – For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

7.      What does defiled mean here in Genesis 34:2?

a)      ענה `anah – a verb meaning to humble, put down, oppress, afflict, dishonor, humiliate from the root word meaning to answer

b)     Possibly refers to holding her against her will or exerting power over her

C.     Genesis 34:3 - And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel.

1.      How some things never change, indiscretion leads to sin, leads to death

2.      Compare Shechem and Dinah to Jacob and Rachel.

a)      Jacob à honorable, showed respect for Rachel and her father

§        Honorable

§        Respected the dignity of Rachel

§        Showed reverence for Rachel’s father Laban

§        Patiently worked for the privilege to marry Rachel

§        Sought to honor his father and mother by marrying his own people

§        Waited for God’s timing on who to marry

b)     Shechem à dishonorable, showed disrespect to Dinah and her father

§        Dishonorable

§        Disrespected Dinah

§        Showed irreverence to Jacob

§        Impatiently took what his flesh desired

§        Brought a difficult circumstance on the house of his father

§        Timing was a response to fleshly desire

D.    Genesis 34:4 - And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife.

1.      Sounds like a child wanting a toy…

a)      Get me this, get me that, etc…

b)     Treating Dinah as property rather than his future wife

2.      Shechem appears to be attempting to correct his past mistakes

E.     Genesis 34:5 - 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.

1.      Defiled - טמא tame', to be unclean, become unclean, become impure

a)      Different word than defiled used in verse 2

2.      How did Jacob hear of this news? Was this a public spectacle? Who would have known of this other than Dinah herself? Possibly Leah or Rachel if the Jasher account is accurate

3.      Jacob shows great restraint, remember he is ~104 years old

4.      Jasher 33:12-15 – And they came and told the thing unto Jacob, and when Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, Jacob sent twelve of his servants to fetch Dinah from the house of Shechem, and they went and came to the house of Shechem to take away Dinah from there.  And when they came Shechem went out to them with his men and drove them from his house, and he would not suffer them to come before Dinah, but Shechem was sitting with Dinah kissing and embracing her before their eyes.  And the servants of Jacob came back and told him, saying, when we came, he and his men drove us away, and thus did Shechem do unto Dinah before our eyes.  And Jacob knew moreover that Shechem had defiled his daughter, but he said nothing, and his sons were feeding his cattle in the field, and Jacob remained silent until their return.

a)      Jasher provides a much more provocative account of the ordeal in that he mocked Jacobs servants who came to rescue Dinah.

b)     The actions taken by Shechem after the incident did as much to stoke the flames of anger as the incident itself.

II.              Request and Agreement to the Terms of Marriage (v. 6-18)

A.     Genesis 34:6 - And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him.

1.      Parents paying the price for the foolishness of their children

2.      Shechem does not offer any repentance for what he had done, but sends his father to negotiate with Jacob.  This demonstrates his tremendous arrogance and sense of entitlement.

3.      Hamor, meaning “he-ass”, bears the burden of informing Jacob of the events that transpired between his son and Dinah, his name is fitting as an ass is a beast of burden, Hamor carries the burden of his sons indiscretion.

B.     Genesis 34:7 - 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.

1.      What were they doing in the field? Working, what they should have been doing (why wasn’t Dinah working?)

2.      How did they hear it if they were in the field working?  Who came and told them?

3.      Why are they interfering in matters reserved for their father?

a)      Remember Laban, Rebekah’s brother had a prominent role in deciding whether to allow Abraham’s servant take her or not.  This could have been a cultural norm for the sons of the household to be involved in these types of decisions.

b)     Reuben was about 6 years older than Dinah so the ages of the brothers ranged from 15-22 years old (Benjamin was not born yet)

4.      2 Samuel 13:12 - And she answered him, Nay, my brother, do not force me; for no such thing ought to be done in Israel: do not thou this folly.

a)      Folly -  נבלה nĕbalah, senselessness, disgraceful, immorality, disgrace

b)     A similar offense was when David’s son Ammon raped his sister Tamar it is referred to as the same thing…folly

5.      Jasher 33:20-21 – And the men were very much grieved concerning their sister, and they all came home fired with anger, before the time of gathering in their cattle.  And they came and sat before their father and they spoke unto him kindled with wrath, saying, surely death is due to this man and to his household, because the Lord God of the whole earth commanded Noah and his children that man shall never rob, nor commit adultery; now behold Shechem has both ravaged and committed fornication with our sister, and not one of all the people of the city spoke a word to him.

a)      The anger and need for justice to be done against Shechem is a unifying force among the sons of Israel.

b)     Their statement here lays the groundwork of justification for the following actions.

Genesis 31:13-30

M.     Genesis 31:13 – I [am] the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, [and] where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.

§        God tells us to remind Him of His promises, here God reminds Jacob of the vow that he made to God

o       Jacob’s vow: Genesis 28:20-22 - And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: And this stone, which I have set [for] a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

o       God has kept his end of the bargain, has Jacob?

§        Beth-el was Jacob’s first encounter with God where he dreamed of the ladder into heaven.

N.     Genesis 31:14 – And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, [Is there] yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?

O.     Genesis 31:15 – Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money.

§        All of the dowry money that Jacob earned over the 14 years he worked for Laban should have been Leah and Rachel’s inheritance, but Laban consumed it all for himself.

§        By doing this its as if Laban had sold them off to Jacob as property rather than present them to him and hold the dowry in escrow.

P.    Genesis 31:16 – For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that [is] ours, and our children's: now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.

§        Leah and Rachel do not have a very high opinion of their father Laban.

§        Rachel and Leah put their differences aside and submit to Jacob, who submits to God.

o       Jacob submitted to his wives by seeking their input, the wives submitted to Jacob by consenting to the command from God that he relayed to them, both Jacob and his wives submit to the commands of God.  When God’s plan for marriage is executed there are no hard feelings.

o       It was clear to Leah and Rachel that Jacob had been instructed by God.  Their faith allowed them to trust their husband’s leadership.

Q.     Genesis 31:17 – Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels;

R.     Genesis 31:18 – And he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padanaram, for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.

§        A microcosm of when the Israelites left Egypt, they took with them spoil from all the Egyptians

o       Exodus 12:36 – And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required.  And they spoiled the Egyptians.

§        Jacob only took what was rightfully his

S.    Genesis 31:19 – And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that [were] her father's.

§        Images – תרפים tĕraphiym, idolatry, idols, image(s), teraphim, family idol

§        Wouldn’t Jacob needed to shear his sheep as well?  Would this have tipped Laban off that Jacob was not present at the sheep shearing?

§        Contrary to Jacob, Rachel was not so honest in that she took from her father what had not been given to her.  Even though Laban “stole” her dowry, righteousness does not return evil for evil.

§        Why did Rachel steal these “images”?

o       No evidence that she actually worshipped false gods (other than the fact she tried to use mandrakes to get pregnant)

o       According to Matthew Henry’s commentary; “Some think they were only little representations of the ancestors of the family in statues or pictures.”

o       These house gods were valuable, she could have taken them for their value in order to recoup some of her inheritance

o      According to Arthur Pink :

a.      Scholars tell us that the word “teraphim” may be traced to a Syrian root which means “to enquire.” This explains the reason why Rachel took with her these family “gods” when her husband stole away surreptitiously from her home — it was to prevent her father from “enquiring” of these idol “oracles” and thus discovering the direction in which they had gone. Gleanings from Genesis, A. Pink

b.      If this is the case then Rachel believed that these idols had power, do idols have power?  There are evil spirits behind false gods so it would not be surprising that the wicked spiritual entities provide the worshiper some dark supernatural insights.

T.    Genesis 31:20 – And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled.

§        Jacob stole Laban’s heart

§        Rachel stole Laban’s idols

U.       Genesis 31:21 – So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the river, and set his face [toward] the mount Gilead.

§        The river – refers to the Euphrates because of its magnitude à from whence comes the term Hebrew meaning from the other side of the river

§        Again, passing over the river can be a type of Red Sea crossing experience that occurred when the children of Israel left Egypt.

§        Gilead - גלעד Gil`ad, “rocky region”, a mountainous region bounded on the west by the Jordan, on the north by Bashan, on the east by the Arabian plateau, and on the south by Moab and Ammon; sometimes called 'Mount Gilead' or the 'land of Gilead' or just 'Gilead'. Divided into north and south Gilead. From the root Gal’ed meaning a “witness heap” which we will see comes into play later in this chapter.

§        What did Jacob do with Laban’s flocks that he was attending?  There is no mention of the flocks of Laban that Jacob was tending.  Did Laban come and get them to take to the sheering? What about the goats, goats are not sheered?

II.              Laban Pursues Jacob (Genesis 31:22-43)

A.     Genesis 31:22 – And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled.

§        Who told him? did Laban have spies in Jacob’s camp?Remember Laban is a three days journey away, so if someone left immediately to tell him of Jacob’s abandonment it would have been a three day journey.

§        This individual may have been a servant that Jacob charged to bring Laban’s flocks back to him.  He either:

o       Left the flock behind (not like a good shepherd to leave a flock unattended, couldn’t see Jacob doing this)

o       Took Laban’s flock with him (would have violated his agreement)

o       Sent the flock back to Laban (seems like the most likely scenario)

§        Exodus 14:5 – And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people, and they said, “Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”

o       Another event in this narrative that foreshadows the reaction of Pharaoh to the departing Israelites

B.     Genesis 31:23 – And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey; and they overtook him in the mount Gilead.

§        3 days lead time, 7 days journey = 10 total days

§        Laban took his brethren or relatives, these would have been Jacob’s and his wives’ relatives as well and would have likely needed strong convincing to do any harm to Jacob and his family.

C.     Genesis 31:24 – And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

§        No evidence of God communicating with Laban prior to this point

§        He says neither “good nor bad”

§        Even though Laban is a known idol worshipper, he acknowledges God here

§        Laban, likely pitching a fit of anger by now and would have likely sought to do harm to Jacob, is pacified by one word from God.

o       Its good to have God on your side

o       God knows just what to do to discourage his enemies, while in one case it may be as simple as giving Laban a dream, others such as Pharaoh require much more “convincing”.  Eventually all much relinquish their own will and submit to God’s will.

a.      Exodus 14:8 – And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel…

§        Notice that God did not tell Laban to turn around and go home. He allowed to confrontation to occur, but laid the ground rules for Laban.  God granted Laban a means to vent his frustrations with Jacob without harming Jacob or his family.  Was this done as a test for Jacob to trust that God would not leave him?

D.    Genesis 31:25 – Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mount: and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mount of Gilead.

§        Exodus 14:9 – But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horseman, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon.

E.     Genesis 31:26 – And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters, as captives [taken] with the sword?

§        Did Jacob carry his wives away as captives? This is a lie for remember Jacob consulted with his wives before leaving and they chose to willingly go with him

§        Laban is the one who treated his daughters as strangers in v. 15.

F.     Genesis 31:27 – Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp?

§        Laban makes it sound as if he was prepared to send Jacob out with a parade, hard to believe that this would have been the case based on prior experience.

§        God’s ability to judge the heart provides a distinct advantage over earthly judges in that statements like this cannot be proven or disproven by an earthly judge, God knows the heart and can judge accordingly.

§        Doesn’t this sound like something Satan himself would say? Making  accusations of the very crimes that he commits.  Were the wives captives under Jacob or Laban?  Subtle words of the enemy trick us into trading our liberties for bondage.

G.    Genesis 31:28 – And hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters? thou hast now done foolishly in [so] doing.

§        Sons – grandsons

§        Daughters – daughters and granddaughters

§        Laban had access to his daughters and grandchildren for the past 13 years, we can see from Rachel and Leah that his treatment for them was anything but a loving father and grandfather.

H.    Genesis 31:29 – It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

§        Does Laban really have the power to harm Jacob?  God is with Jacob, and its obvious to Laban that God was with Jacob so he appears to be making an empty boast.

§        The God of “your” father… Laban does not associate himself with the LORD of the covenant

I.       Genesis 31:30 – And now, [though] thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after thy father's house, [yet] wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?

§        …MY gods… Laban did not wish to associate with the Lord, but here he states that the idols that Rachel stole were “MY” gods

§        Laban makes it clear that Jacob’s God was not his god