Dinah – What a Story


Genesis 34:1-31

http://www.esvbible.org/Genesis+34/

This is one of those chapters in the Bible where you just have to throw up your hands (and maybe your lunch) and wonder what God’s people were thinking. The fact that God chooses to include this sordid little story in His Book proves that He holds nothing back. The story of Dinah and the Shechemites (actually Hivites) is truly one of those events you would rather not acknowledge as coming from the annals of God’s history. But here it is in all its glory. (If you didn’t bother to read the text, maybe your curiosity is piqued and now you will go read it!)

And so, what do we make of this event in the life of Jacob’s sons and daughter? While the entire book of Genesis proves to us that God’s plan for the creation of His people was always the intention, we cannot in any way attribute this slaughter of the Hivites to God. That was a plan devised and carried out by Levi and Simeon – alone. Not even Jacob was consulted for he clearly finds the whole thing repugnant. After this story we never hear from Dinah again. The text remains silent about the rest of her life. Despite the grime details of the story God’s plan goes forward. While it was not Abraham’s will that Isaac should marry outside of their faith, neither is that pleasing to God. Levi and Simeon did the wrong thing for the right reason. I give them credit for at least caring that their sister had suffered a violent attack. Just because Shechem claimed to love Dinah did not make his taking her by force acceptable. Rape is rape. No means no.

There really isn’t much I can think of to apply this story to our lives. We don’t know what Dinah did with this event in her own life. We do know that Jacob was angry, the brothers satisfied with their vengeance, and God’s plan when forward. Outside of that, it is a pretty shameful event in the lives of God’s people. I guess we all have those.

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