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25 Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. 26 They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem’s house and left. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where their sister had been defiled. 28 They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields. 29 They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses. 30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me obnoxious to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.” 31 But they replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?” ~ Genesis 34:25-31
Today, we conclude our study of Genesis 34. God chose Abraham and through him Isaac and then Jacob. Jacob became Israel and his family became the covenant people of God. However, throughout their history, gentiles joined to them and became a part of this unfolding story. In today's passage we find that as a result of settling in the godless town of Shechem served to set the progress of Jacob's sanctification back quite a bit. Making the choice to settle in godless Shechem resulted in rape and murder.
In v.25-29 of today's passage we read, "25 Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. 26 They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem’s house and left. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where their sister had been defiled. 28 They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields. 29 They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses."
This is now the fourth time the phrase "three days later" is mentioned in the Bible. Jacob's sons knew that on the third day after their circumcisions that the inflammation would be at its height. In addition, fever had set in, thus making them most vulnerable. It was at this time that Simeon and Levi murdered all the males of the city of Shechem. Their deception and violence had a lasting effect on their lives and it cost them favor with their father and the loss of their preeminent positions in the family.
When Simeon and Levi murdered the men of Shechem, they neither consulted Jacob nor God. Then they took Dinah whose name means "vindicated" from Shechem’s house. This just underscores the fact that God doesn’t waste words, and He always uses all things in a way that good can come out of it if we would just turn to Him. God did not sanction the murder of the men of Shechem that day, nor did He tell Jacob's sons to plunder their families and their belongings. Although Simeon and Levi murdered the men of Shechem, the other sons of Jacob joined in the aftermath. With all the men dead and their bodies stripped bare of their belongings, we are told that this evil deed was done "because their sister had been defiled." The price paid that day was rather high for the passionate lusts of one proud man. And, the very thing that Shechem bribed the men of Shechem with was the very thing that this passage describes as having been taken after they were killed.
In v.30-31 of today's passage we read, "30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, 'You have brought trouble on me by making me obnoxious to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.' 31 But they replied, 'Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?'"
Sadly, Jacob's only concerned was his reputation and his self-preservation. This is the first time that Jacob has spoken in this entire chapter and his words truly were lacking faith in the God of the Bible. God had promised Jacob that He would protect Jacob, but he had lost sight of those promises. Jacob probably believed God had abandoned him because of the horrible events of the day and his passivity in relationship to it.
In an attempt to justify the unjustifiable, the sons of Jacob said to Jacob, "If we hadn’t acted, it would be as if we had sold Dinah as a whore."
The deception throughout this chapter came in the exact same way as it did in the Gardens of Eden and Gethsemane. They were tempted through the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The lust of the flesh was seen in the mentioning of the daughters for the men. The lust of the eyes was seen in Jacob’s wealth, and the pride of life was seen in the boasting in the flesh through circumcision. In the Garden of Eden Adam failed the test while in the Garden of Gethsemane the Lord Jesus passed it. Interestingly, Hamor, is mentioned 10 times in this story and his name means "male donkey." Later, under the law of Moses, the firstborn donkey could have been redeemed by a lamb. Hamor, instead of being redeemed by the Lamb went to his death.
As we have pointed out before, this chapter doesn’t mention God once. The last verse of Genesis 33 ends with God and the first verse of Genesis 35 begins with God. Our conclusion? Without God, this is what happens to us. Without God all manner of sin becomes our norm. This is why we must run to the Lord as fast as we can on a moment by moment basis each day. We naturally go in the wayward direction of sin. It requires grace-fueled effort to run in the opposite direction away from the diabolical. And run we must. Lest we ourselves be devoured by wickedness.
