God Still Works Through Terrible People (Genesis 34-36)

A Few Thoughts to Consider

Have you ever wondered why God works through someone who doesn't seem like a good person?

In Genesis 34, we have this powerful sequel to the previous two chapters. Gordon Wenham writes,

There we learned how the fearful and alienated Jacob was changed into the new Israel, who boldly returned to Canaan and made peace with his brother Esau, whom he had struggled with and cheated since birth. But this story shows Jacob's old nature reasserting itself, a man whose moral principles are weak, who is fearful of standing up for right when it may cost him dearly, who doubts God's power to protect, and who allows hatred to divide him from his children just as it had divided him from his brother.^[1]

To summarize, Jacob has two wives, Leah and Rachel. He loves Rachel, but not Leah. Leah has a daughter named Dinah, and the structure of Genesis 34:1 tells us Jacob thinks little of his girl. Just as his grandfather Abraham and father Isaac failed to protect the women in their lives, Jacob does the same. While the phrase "went out to see some of the young women of the area" in verse 1 sounds innocent, "the terms used may suggest Dinah's imprudence, if not impropriety."^[2]

Regardless of her motives, nothing justifies what comes next. Dinah is raped and shamed by a man called Shechem. But instead of hating her, as other Biblical characters like Amnon did to those they raped, Shechem "became infatuated" with her and wanted to make Dinah his wife. Jacob's family isn't so keen and demands that the Shechemites be circumcised to form this alliance. On the surface, this sounds noble, and in an odd way, they're extending the promise God made to Abraham (confirmed through circumcision) to outsiders. But that's not what's going on. Instead, it's a trap, and Jacob's two sons, Simeon and Levi, wait until the pain of circumcision is so intense and the Shechemites are defenseless before going in with a sword and slaughtering all of them and retrieving their sister.

If you read the story closely, you realize that the main culprit is Jacob. Verse 5 tells us that after he heard his daughter had been raped, he remained silent until his sons returned from tending the livestock. "It was Jacob's failure to act that provoked them to behave in such an extreme way. He had not loved Leah, or her daughter Dinah, but they did."^[3]

After Jacob learns what his sons have done, notice his response in Genesis 34:30. Wenham writes,

"He does not condemn them for the massacre, for abusing the rite of circumcision, or even for breach of contract. Rather, he protests that the consequences of their action have made him unpopular. Nor does he seem worried by his daughter's rape or the prospect of intermarriage with the Canaanites. He is only concerned for his own skin."^[4]