Below are some preliminary questions to assist in the study of this passage. For a comprehensive study of the passage, download the Study Guide (PDF download).
1. What did Shechem do to Dinah and what was her brothers’ reaction? See Genesis 34:2,7,31 (printed below)
When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her, and so he brought shame upon her…(7) When they heard what had happened, the sons of Jacob came in from the field. They were grieved and very angry, because Shechem had done a disgraceful thing in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that ought not to be done…(31) … they said, Should he have treated our sister like a harlot? (Genesis 34:2,7,31)
Genesis 34:2 records that Shechem took Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, “and lay with her…and brought shame upon her.” In other words, he raped her. When the sons of Jacob hear what had been done to their sister, they were grieved, and they were very angry, “because Shechem had done a disgraceful thing” (Genesis 34:7). In speaking to Jacob their father about what had been done to their sister, the brothers ask, “Should Shechem have treated our sister like a harlot?” (Genesis 34:31)
2. What do Jacob’s sons call the Promised Land of Canaan and what do they say about Shechem’s act? See Genesis 34:7 (printed below)
When they heard what had happened, the sons of Jacob came in from the field. They were grieved and very angry, because Shechem had done a disgraceful thing in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that ought not to be done. (Genesis 34:7)
In Genesis 34:7 we read that Jacob’s sons were grieved and very angry because Shechem had done a disgraceful thing “in Israel.” The sons of Jacob recognize that the land of Canaan is going to become the land of Israel—it is going to be a land holy unto the Lord as the earthly center of His heavenly kingdom. Consequently, they take it upon themselves to administer the judgment of God and purge the land of its sinful inhabitants.
3. How do Jacob’s sons take revenge against Shechem? See Genesis 34:8-9,13-15,25-26 (printed below)
Hamor spoke with them, saying, My son Shechem’s heart longs for your daughter. I beg you, give her to him to be his wife. (9) Make marriages with us; give us your daughters, and take our daughters for yourselves…(13) Now the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceitful cunning, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. (14) So they said to them, We cannot do this thing, we cannot give our sister to a man who is uncircumcised; that would be an offense against us. (15) Only on this condition will we consent to you: if you will become as we are, if every male among you will be circumcised…(25) On the third day, when they were sore due to the circumcision procedure, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords, attacked the unsuspecting city, and slaughtered all the males. (26) They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the blade of the sword, took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and left. (Genesis 34:8-9,13-15,25-26)
When Shechem requests Dinah for his wife, and expresses a willingness to do whatever is requested, the sons of Jacob answered him “with deceitful cunning” (Genesis 34:11-13). Jacob’s sons tell Shechem they will consent to give their sister to him only on the condition that he and all his fellow townsmen be circumcised (Genesis 34:15). On the third day, when all the men were sore and incapacitated by their circumcisions, Simeon and Levi lead an assault on the whole community (Genesis 34:25).
4. Compare what Jacob’s sons do to the Canaanite community (see Genesis 34:25-29 printed below) with what Joshua will do to the Canaanite cities (see Joshua 8:24,27 printed below). But does this justify what the sons of Jacob did?
On the third day, when they were sore due to the circumcision procedure, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords, attacked the unsuspecting city, and slaughtered all the males. (26) They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the blade of the sword, took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and left. (27) The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and plundered the city, because those men had defiled their sister. (28) They took their flocks and herds and donkeys, they took all that was in the city and all that was in the field. (29) They carried away all their wealth, as well as their children and their wives, taking as plunder everything that was in their houses. (Genesis 34:25-29)
After Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the field and in the wilderness where they had pursued them—after they had all been killed by the blade of the sword until they were all destroyed, then all the Israelites returned to Ai and put to death by the blade of the sword all who lived in the city… (27)… Israel did carry off for themselves the cattle and the plunder of that city in accordance with the word of Jehovah which he commanded Joshua. (Joshua 8:24,27)
The judgment the sons of Jacob carry out against the town of Shechem is the same kind of judgment that would be carried out by the armies of Israel in the days of Joshua (cp. Genesis 34:25-29 with Joshua 8:24,27). The only difference is that the judgment executed by Simeon and Levi was premature: it was done presumptuously before God’s appointed time—note Genesis 15:16 where the Lord tells Abraham, “in the fourth generation your descendants shall come into Canaan again; for the iniquity of the Amorite has not yet reached its full measure.” Joshua acted at God’s command “(in accordance with the word of Jehovah that he commanded Joshua,” Joshua 8:27), the sons of Jacob took matters into their own hands. What Joshua did by divine decree was a precursor of the final judgment when the Lord will punish sinful mankind and expel them from His kingdom. What the sons of Jacob did was a personal act of vengeance, not sanctioned by God.
5. Were the sons of Jacob justified in being angry? Were they suited to carry out God’s righteous judgment?
Yes, Jacob’s sons were rightly grieved and angered by the sin that had been perpetrated in Israel against their sister. Their attitude was actually a righteous and God-like response to evil (cp. Genesis 6:5-7). But they were not yet suited to carry out God’s righteous judgment. There was still sin in their own lives: note their abuse of the sacred sacrament of circumcision—what the Lord intended to be an instrument of blessing, symbolizing entrance into His covenant, they turn into an instrument of death. Furthermore, their relationship to the Lord was tainted and polluted by their possession of foreign gods (cp. Genesis 35:2,4). The lesson we learn is that we must not take justice into our own hands, because none of us are yet suited to carry out God’s righteous judgment. When we join with the Lord Jesus Christ in the judgment of the Last Day we shall be prepared to share with Him in that awesome responsibility because at that time we shall be made worthy by His sanctifying and transforming presence (note 1 John 3:2b).
