When You Long for Revenge – Genesis 33:18-34:31
33 (18) When Jacob returned from Paddan-aram, he came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, and encamped before the city. (19) For a hundred pieces of silver he bought from the sons of Hamor, (Hamor was the father of Shechem), the plot of ground where he had pitched his tent. (20) Then he erected an altar there and called it El-elohe-Israel.
34 Now Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to meet the women of the land. (2) 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. (3) His heart was drawn to Jacob’s daughter Dinah; he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. (4) Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, Get me this young woman to be my wife. (5) Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; but his sons were with his cattle in the field, so Jacob remained silent until they came.
(6) And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. (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.
(8) 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. (10) You shall live among us, and the land shall be open to you. Live among us and trade with us and acquire property among us. (11) Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, Let me find favor in your sight; whatever you shall ask of me I will give. (12) Make the price for the bride and the gift I am to bring as great as you like, I will pay whatever you ask, only give me the young woman to be my wife.
(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,(16) then will we give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters in marriage, and we will live among you, and we will become one people with you. (17) But if you will not comply with our demand to be circumcised; then we will take our daughter and we will leave.
(18) Their proposal pleased Hamor and his son Shechem. (19) The young man did not hesitate to do what they asked, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now Shechem was the most honored of all his father’s household.
(20) So it was that Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke with the men of their city, saying, (21) These men are peaceable toward us; therefore let them live in the land, and trade in it; for, indeed, the land has plenty of room for them. Let us marry their daughters, and let us give them our daughters in marriage. (22) But only on this condition will they consent to live with us and become one people: every male among us must become circumcised, just as they are circumcised. (23) Will not their cattle and their possessions and all their other animals become ours? Just let us give our consent to them and they will live among us. (24) All the men who went out of the gate of his city gave their consent to Hamor and to his son Shechem; so every male was circumcised, everyone who lived in the city.
(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. (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.
(30) Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have brought trouble upon me, you have made me a stench to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. Being few in number, they will join forces against me and attack me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my household. (31) But they said, Should he have treated our sister like a harlot?
Now proceed to the next section of this study, entitled, Exploring the Passage.
