Portion for today: Gen 33-36Chapter 34
Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to 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 violated her. His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young woman as a wife.”
Dinah Went out to see the daughters of the land: Remember, Jacob brought his family to a place God didn’t really want them to be. It seems God directed him to return to Bethel (Genesis 31:13), and his time spent in the city of Shechem did much harm to his family.
i. Jacob chose a place to live for all the wrong reasons. He wanted to be close to the city (Genesis 33:18), though the city was ungodly. God called him to Bethel. Jacob’s poor choice of a place to live left his family open to ungodly influence.
Dinah’s desire to do this is understandable but unwise. It is obvious Jacob did not make sure she was properly supervised. To allow her to socialize unsupervised in a pagan town was a real failure on the part of Jacob and Leah its like a sheep going alone in midst of wolves.
i. “Unattached young women were considered fair game in cities of the time, in which promiscuity was not only common but, in fact, a part of the very religious system itself.” (Morris)
ii. “This occurrence serves to illustrate the low standard of morals prevalent among the Canaanites. Any unattended female could be raped, and in the transactions that ensue neither father nor son feel the need of apologizing for or excusing what had been committed.” (Leupold)
iii. But try telling this to a teenager like Dinah! Teenagers often want it all, and they want it now. It is almost impossible for them to see the benefits of waiting for certain things until they are more mature.
iv. A way this difficulty has been measured has been called the marshmallow test. A researcher gives this choice to a four-year-old: “I am leaving for a few minutes to run an errand, and you can have this marshmallow while I am gone, but if you wait until I return, you can have two marshmallows.” Researchers at Stanford did this test in the 1960’s, and a dozen years later they found the kids who grabbed the single marshmallow tended to be more troubled as adolescents. The one-marshmallow kids also scored an average of 210 points less on SAT tests. Learning to delay gratification is important!
Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her: Jacob’s lack of attention and protection was partially at fault in this tragedy. His own compromise made him less able to stand up to his own children and guide them as he should.
i. Jacob’s children knew he told his brother Esau he would go south with him, but Jacob went north instead. They picked up on this and other areas of compromise and used them to justify their own compromise.
i. It was a soulish love Shechem had for Dinah, not a spiritual or godly love. He loved her for what she could be and give to him, not for what he could be and give to her. His heart is shown in the words get me this young woman as a wife. It was a soulish “get me” kind of love.
ii. It is possible for a man to be attracted to a woman and to show kindness to her for reasons having nothing or little to do with love. In their desire to connect romantically with a man, women often forget this.
Dinah Went out to see the daughters of the land: Remember, Jacob brought his family to a place God didn’t really want them to be. It seems God directed him to return to Bethel (Genesis 31:13), and his time spent in the city of Shechem did much harm to his family.
i. Jacob chose a place to live for all the wrong reasons. He wanted to be close to the city (Genesis 33:18), though the city was ungodly. God called him to Bethel. Jacob’s poor choice of a place to live left his family open to ungodly influence.
Dinah’s desire to do this is understandable but unwise. It is obvious Jacob did not make sure she was properly supervised. To allow her to socialize unsupervised in a pagan town was a real failure on the part of Jacob and Leah its like a sheep going alone in midst of wolves.
i. “Unattached young women were considered fair game in cities of the time, in which promiscuity was not only common but, in fact, a part of the very religious system itself.” (Morris)
ii. “This occurrence serves to illustrate the low standard of morals prevalent among the Canaanites. Any unattended female could be raped, and in the transactions that ensue neither father nor son feel the need of apologizing for or excusing what had been committed.” (Leupold)
iii. But try telling this to a teenager like Dinah! Teenagers often want it all, and they want it now. It is almost impossible for them to see the benefits of waiting for certain things until they are more mature.
iv. A way this difficulty has been measured has been called the marshmallow test. A researcher gives this choice to a four-year-old: “I am leaving for a few minutes to run an errand, and you can have this marshmallow while I am gone, but if you wait until I return, you can have two marshmallows.” Researchers at Stanford did this test in the 1960’s, and a dozen years later they found the kids who grabbed the single marshmallow tended to be more troubled as adolescents. The one-marshmallow kids also scored an average of 210 points less on SAT tests. Learning to delay gratification is important!
Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her: Jacob’s lack of attention and protection was partially at fault in this tragedy. His own compromise made him less able to stand up to his own children and guide them as he should.
i. Jacob’s children knew he told his brother Esau he would go south with him, but Jacob went north instead. They picked up on this and other areas of compromise and used them to justify their own compromise.
i. It was a soulish love Shechem had for Dinah, not a spiritual or godly love. He loved her for what she could be and give to him, not for what he could be and give to her. His heart is shown in the words get me this young woman as a wife. It was a soulish “get me” kind of love.
ii. It is possible for a man to be attracted to a woman and to show kindness to her for reasons having nothing or little to do with love. In their desire to connect romantically with a man, women often forget this.
Now it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came boldly upon the city and killed all the males. And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went out. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because their sister had been defiled. They took their sheep, their oxen, and their donkeys, what was in the city and what was in the field, and all their wealth. All their little ones and their wives they took captive; and they plundered even all that was in the houses.
The end of story concluded with the destruction of Hamor and Shechem, and as for Dinah she was innocent on her side for this happening, (Duet 22:25-26).