It’s amazing how Genesis can show us that God’s men were also sinners at the same time, saints, right? The issue is that we read the sins of the great heroes of the Old Testament–they were far from sinless and their sins are recorded for us to learn from. Polygamy for one was never God’s original plan for mankind either. Jacob was now learning it the hard way when he is reminded 24/7 that having 4 wives is a pain. Now, another dark blot in the life of his clan was the defiling of one his daughters (Dinah, the rest were not mentioned) in the pagan land of Shalem.
It’s really a mistake many believers tend to make in their lives to avoid separation. Even I find it hard to separate from the wrong such as the temptation to date an unbeliever. There’s no real justification in dating an unbeliever. Such an alliance is deemed abominable. Genesis 6 already showed the problem of the sons of God marrying the daughters of men. Yet, the sin happened over and over again even until today.
It was one thing for Hamor to defile Dinah. J. Vernon McGee’s Thru The Bible commentary would have it as raped. Yes, I think sexual rape really happened. I feel like Hamor was lying to Jacob’s family about Shechem’s feelings for Dinah. I feel like Shechem did that act because he lusted after Dinah. It was more like lust than love. I don’t think there’s such a thing as love at first sight–Shechem was attracted to Dinah probably only for her good looks. This was most likely a trap when Hamor made a marriage alliance offer.
I feel that this was really trickery when Simeon and Levi required circumcision. Circumcision is a painful process. Anesthetics are there today but what about in their time? This was a misuse of God’s requirement for His people by performing circumcision on the unbelieving people of Shalem. Genesis 34:45 reveals the whole ugly truth–the circumcision was to leave the men defenseless. The sore of having one’s foreskin cut is there. I don’t think anesthesia was even applied. This gave a sense of defenselessness towards the men at Shalem allowing the bloody massacre to happen.
The-defilement was in itself wrong. However, punishing an entire city for the sin of a few is just plain wrong. The men on that city were heathens. Yet, that doesn’t justify the very heinous act of Simeon and Levi. I really can’t get over how the act actually was mentioned again in Genesis 49:5-7. Yet, the Levite tribe became the tribe of priests that would foreshadow the Great High priest, the Lord Jesus Christ as Judah’s line was prophesied in verses 8-12.
This is a question we need to ask ourselves. How often are we guilty of take the law into our hands? Both Simeon and Levi had a blot in carrying out an unjust punishment. Revenge has never been about closure–only persona vendetta more often for gain than not. This sad story doesn’t only warn abut not associating with the wrong crowd but also not taking revenge. All revenge done by believers does is to ruin God’s name among the heathens.
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