Genesis 34: Most of Those Guys Didn't Do Anything Wrong

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The Defiling of Dinah (v. 1-31)

Dinah is the daughter of Leah, and she gets raped by Shechem, the prince of the land which the are currently in. He fell in love with her and asked for her to be his wife. He said he would give pay any "bride price" for her. Jacob and his sons weren't really interested in giving Dinah to him since he raped her, but they said that they would give her to him and they would settle in the land if all of the men of the city would become circumcised.

It's always about the cock with these people.

So Hamor (the father of Shechem) figures if he gets all of his people circumcised, Jacob and his people will settle in their land and they can take all of their stuff. But shortly after they were circumcised "when they were sore" two of Jacob's sons killed all of the men in the city and took all of their stuff. Jacob was upset at his sons for what they did because now other people in this region might try to kill them. His sons felt justified because their sister was raped.

Shechem is definitely a piece of shit here, he certainly deserves whatever he gets. His father is also a scheming dirtbag, so fuck him. Still, this seems like quite an overreaction. Kill all the men in the city and steal all of their stuff including their women. Aren't they just committing a worse version of the crime they are all up in arms about? "You had sex with one of our women, we are going to kill all of you and take all of your women"

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Wow, I gotta hand it to him, Guzik seems to have a similar take on this chapter as me, a quote

This chapter contains one of the most shameful incidents in Israel’s history.

He goes in to much detail, but basically he talks about how what they did defiled the name of God, defiled the ritual of circumcision, and is a very difficult passage to get much from. If anything it is a story of warning. I'm impressed.

From Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Hypocrisy and deceit, in all cases vicious, are infinitely more so when accompanied with a show of religion

Agreed!

For the verses of note post

--Deception--

Genesis 34:13-15 Jacob's sons tricked people into getting circumcisions to weaken them

"The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. They said to them, "We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. Only on this condition will we agree with you--that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised."

--Greed--

Genesis 34:27-28 Jacob's sons killed everyone in the city to take everything of value

"The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field."

--Violence--

Genesis 34:27 Jacob's sons killed everyone in the city

"The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister."