Morning Light – Genesis 34: Levi and Simeon Dishonor Jacob

[Today: Genesis 34] Levi and Simeon Dishonor Jacob: In chapter 34 of Genesis Jacob’s only daughter ventures out alone and is taken advantage of by a young prince. What happens next is far from a fairy tale outcome, and as a result, Jacob’s sons Levi and Simeon bring ill repute on their father Jacob and in so doing, lose their inheritance.

[Gen 34:1-31 KJV] 1 And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 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. 3 And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. 4 And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife. 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. 6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him. 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. 8 And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife. 9 And make ye marriages with us, [and] give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you. 10 And ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein. 11 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. 12 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. 13 And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister: 14 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: 15 But in this will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we [be], that every male of you be circumcised; 16 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. 17 But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone. 18 And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor’s son. 19 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. 20 And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying, 21 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. 22 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. 23 [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. 24 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. 25 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. 26 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. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which [was] in the city, and that which [was] in the field, 29 And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that [was] in the house. 30 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. 31 And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?

Chapter 34 of Genesis is a cautionary tale regarding the passions of youth and the lack of discretion young people often demonstrate with disastrous consequences. Dinah is Jacob’s only daughter, and in v. 1, she ventures forth to “see the daughters of the land.” We might wonder what prompted her and whether her actions suggest something to us of her personality. She is the only sister of eleven brothers. No doubt, she was a curious young woman with an adventurous spirit. None of this is wrong in and of itself, but the enemy is always ready to take advantage of us to bring harm, and this situation is no exception.

As Dinah is unchaperoned, a young prince, the son of Hamor the Hivite, comes upon Dinah, and taking advantage of the circumstances lies with her and defiles her. After the thing happens, v. 3 tells us that his soul “clave” to Dinah and that he loved her and spoke kindly to her. What does this tell us? He didn’t love her before. There was something in the sex act that was not only physical but also caused his soul (his mind, will, and emotions) to cling or to attach to her. Some people call this a soul tie or a soul attachment. Is this really love? One of the problems in our day is that most men and women in our culture have had multiple sexual partners, multiple marriages, and every time one of these connections takes place, a little piece of the person is taken away, and they feel incomplete without that other person. This is not necessarily love, yet how many people make major life decisions driven by the sense of emptiness and loss that can arise when absent from someone with whom they made a soulish connection with merely in a moment of passion?

What does Shechem, the young prince, do next? He goes to his father Hamor (v. 4) and asks him to arrange a marriage. It is entirely possible that the father, Hamor did not know about the sexual encounter between Shechem and Dinah because he doesn’t address it but rather goes about to approach Jacob as though everything is as it should be. Jacob, on the other hand, is fully aware, but look at the restraint he is exercising by holding his peace until Hamor discloses to him the reason for coming to see him. Jacob’s sons, on the other hand, do not show any such discretion. They are out working in the field, and once finding out what has happened to their sister show up with great wrath as Jacob is communing with Hamor.

Hamor realizes now what has happened and works to make the best out of a bad situation by offering to merge the two tribes by intermarriage as a way of glossing over the indiscrete act of his son Shechem where Dinah was concerned. Do you see what is happening here? Verse 7 describes what Shechem did as having “wrought folly in Israel.” Now Israel was not a nation yet. This is a reference to Jacob himself by the name the angel gave him when he wrestled at Jabbok. Stop for a moment and think about every sexual indiscretion you may have engaged in as not only effecting your sexual partner but actually causing you to work “folly” in the bloodlines of the people involved. Sexuality and sexual intercourse from a biblical standpoint are far more than a biological drive satisfied in this case by a wanton act.

Shechem stands up to speak, cutting off his father and declares that he will pay any price to have Dinah again and to keep her as his wife. Can you see what this young man is doing? He is willing to throw his entire life away and to derail the destiny of two entire tribes, not the least of which the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob just to quench the longing and sense of emptiness and loss created on the inside of him when he had relations with Dinah.

At this point, the penchant for deception that was passed down from one generation to the next in Jacob manifests itself, and they pretend to go along with Shechem and Hamor if they will circumcise themselves. It is important to note that the eleven brothers do not tell Jacob what they are planning. Jacob is also deceived. It is interesting after Jacob becomes Israel the cunning trickster becomes almost gullible. God has dealt with the deceptive tendencies in Jacob, but that arose from a personal encounter between God and Jacob that has no bearing on his sons. Godliness or holiness is a personal matter, not a generational one. On the other hand, deception, sin, and ungodliness are generationally handed down from Adam to us this very day. Abraham deceived Pharaoh in the matter of Sarah. Isaac deceived Abimelech in the matter of Rebeka. Jacob deceived Esau and Isaac to steal the birthright, and those deceptive tendencies are now working in the brothers of Dinah.

So the eleven brothers offer to merge the two tribes and share all their bounty between them if all the men of Hamor will only be circumcised. Jacob and his sons were very wealthy; therefore, this sounds like a good outcome from a bad situation for them. Shechem v. 19 tells us does not defer to do this thing and apparently plans to become circumcised almost immediately and without delay. Before they can carry this out, however, Shechem and his father Hamor return to the men of their city and convince all the men to become circumcised as well that they might enrich themselves through trade and intermarriage with Jacob’s tribe. The people are willing to do this, and (v. 24) every male that went out of the gate of the city was circumcised.

After this mass circumcision (v. 25) and the men of the city were thus incapacitated, by prearrangement Simeon and Levi took their swords and killed Hamor, Shechem, and every male in the city. They then retrieved Dinah and all the flocks and livestock in the city and returned to their house. Jacob, of course, is very upset that they have done this declaring that this act of aggression and revenge caused Jacob’s name to stink among the inhabitants of the land. Simeon and Levi are unrepentant.

The end of the story is not yet. Because of what happens here, in the next chapter, God tells Jacob to move to Bethel to put some distance between himself and this sordid affair. There will also be consequences for Simeon and Levi that comes out when Jacob years later his dividing his inheritance. His eldest son Rueben is denied the birthright, and Simeon and Levi came next but are passed over because of what they did to the men of the city of Hamor. Do you realize what these men forfeited? The birthright will pass to Judah, and the line of Judah will be that from which Jesus Himself is born when it could have been one of the other sons except for the fact that they despised their birthright to satisfy their anger.