Pray Thru the Bible

God Speaks

34 One day Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, went to visit some of the young women who lived in the area. ² But when the local prince, Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, saw Dinah, he seized her and raped her. ³ But then he fell in love with her, and he tried to win her affection with tender words. ⁴ He said to his father, Hamor, “Get me this young girl. I want to marry her.”

⁵ Soon Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter, Dinah. But since his sons were out in the fields herding his livestock, he said nothing until they returned. ⁶ Hamor, Shechem’s father, came to discuss the matter with Jacob. ⁷ Meanwhile, Jacob’s sons had come in from the field as soon as they heard what had happened. They were shocked and furious that their sister had been raped. Shechem had done a disgraceful thing against Jacob’s family,^[a] something that should never be done.

⁸ Hamor tried to speak with Jacob and his sons. “My son Shechem is truly in love with your daughter,” he said. “Please let him marry her. ⁹ In fact, let’s arrange other marriages, too. You give us your daughters for our sons, and we will give you our daughters for your sons. ¹⁰ And you may live among us; the land is open to you! Settle here and trade with us. And feel free to buy property in the area.”

¹¹ Then Shechem himself spoke to Dinah’s father and brothers. “Please be kind to me, and let me marry her,” he begged. “I will give you whatever you ask. ¹² No matter what dowry or gift you demand, I will gladly pay it—just give me the girl as my wife.”

¹³ But since Shechem had defiled their sister, Dinah, Jacob’s sons responded deceitfully to Shechem and his father, Hamor. ¹⁴ They said to them, “We couldn’t possibly allow this, because you’re not circumcised. It would be a disgrace for our sister to marry a man like you! ¹⁵ But here is a solution. If every man among you will be circumcised like we are, ¹⁶ then we will give you our daughters, and we’ll take your daughters for ourselves. We will live among you and become one people. ¹⁷ But if you don’t agree to be circumcised, we will take her and be on our way.”

¹⁸ Hamor and his son Shechem agreed to their proposal. ¹⁹ Shechem wasted no time in acting on this request, for he wanted Jacob’s daughter desperately. Shechem was a highly respected member of his family, ²⁰ and he went with his father, Hamor, to present this proposal to the leaders at the town gate.

²¹ “These men are our friends,” they said. “Let’s invite them to live here among us and trade freely. Look, the land is large enough to hold them. We can take their daughters as wives and let them marry ours. ²² But they will consider staying here and becoming one people with us only if all of our men are circumcised, just as they are. ²³ But if we do this, all their livestock and possessions will eventually be ours. Come, let’s agree to their terms and let them settle here among us.”

²⁴ So all the men in the town council agreed with Hamor and Shechem, and every male in the town was circumcised. ²⁵ But three days later, when their wounds were still sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, who were Dinah’s full brothers, took their swords and entered the town without opposition. Then they slaughtered every male there, ²⁶ including Hamor and his son Shechem. They killed them with their swords, then took Dinah from Shechem’s house and returned to their camp.

²⁷ Meanwhile, the rest of Jacob’s sons arrived. Finding the men slaughtered, they plundered the town because their sister had been defiled there. ²⁸ They seized all the flocks and herds and donkeys—everything they could lay their hands on, both inside the town and outside in the fields. ²⁹ They looted all their wealth and plundered their houses. They also took all their little children and wives and led them away as captives.

³⁰ Afterward Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have ruined me! You’ve made me stink among all the people of this land—among all the Canaanites and Perizzites. We are so few that they will join forces and crush us. I will be ruined, and my entire household will be wiped out!”

³¹ “But why should we let him treat our sister like a prostitute?” they retorted angrily.

35 Then God said to Jacob, “Get ready and move to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother, Esau.”

² So Jacob told everyone in his household, “Get rid of all your pagan idols, purify yourselves, and put on clean clothing. ³ We are now going to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who answered my prayers when I was in distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.”

⁴ So they gave Jacob all their pagan idols and earrings, and he buried them under the great tree near Shechem. ⁵ As they set out, a terror from God spread over the people in all the towns of that area, so no one attacked Jacob’s family.

⁶ Eventually, Jacob and his household arrived at Luz (also called Bethel) in Canaan. ⁷ Jacob built an altar there and named the place El-bethel (which means “God of Bethel”), because God had appeared to him there when he was fleeing from his brother, Esau.

⁸ Soon after this, Rebekah’s old nurse, Deborah, died. She was buried beneath the oak tree in the valley below Bethel. Ever since, the tree has been called Allon-bacuth (which means “oak of weeping”).

⁹ Now that Jacob had returned from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again at Bethel. God blessed him, ¹⁰ saying, “Your name is Jacob, but you will not be called Jacob any longer. From now on your name will be Israel.”^[b] So God renamed him Israel.

¹¹ Then God said, “I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Be fruitful and multiply. You will become a great nation, even many nations. Kings will be among your descendants! ¹² And I will give you the land I once gave to Abraham and Isaac. Yes, I will give it to you and your descendants after you.” ¹³ Then God went up from the place where he had spoken to Jacob.

¹⁴ Jacob set up a stone pillar to mark the place where God had spoken to him. Then he poured wine over it as an offering to God and anointed the pillar with olive oil. ¹⁵ And Jacob named the place Bethel (which means “house of God”), because God had spoken to him there.

¹⁶ Leaving Bethel, Jacob and his clan moved on toward Ephrath. But Rachel went into labor while they were still some distance away. Her labor pains were intense. ¹⁷ After a very hard delivery, the midwife finally exclaimed, “Don’t be afraid—you have another son!” ¹⁸ Rachel was about to die, but with her last breath she named the baby Ben-oni (which means “son of my sorrow”). The baby’s father, however, called him Benjamin (which means “son of my right hand”). ¹⁹ So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰ Jacob set up a stone monument over Rachel’s grave, and it can be seen there to this day.

²¹ Then Jacob^[c] traveled on and camped beyond Migdal-eder. ²² While he was living there, Reuben had intercourse with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Jacob soon heard about it.

These are the names of the twelve sons of Jacob:

²³ The sons of Leah were Reuben (Jacob’s oldest son), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

²⁴ The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵ The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, were Dan and Naphtali.

²⁶ The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant, were Gad and Asher.

These are the names of the sons who were born to Jacob at Paddan-aram.

²⁷ So Jacob returned to his father, Isaac, in Mamre, which is near Kiriath-arba (now called Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had both lived as foreigners. ²⁸ Isaac lived for 180 years. ²⁹ Then he breathed his last and died at a ripe old age, joining his ancestors in death. And his sons, Esau and Jacob, buried him.

Footnotes

1. 34:7 Hebrew a disgraceful thing in Israel.
2. 35:10 Jacob sounds like the Hebrew words for “heel” and “deceiver.” Israel means “God fights.”
3. 35:21 Hebrew Israel; also in 35:22a. The names “Jacob” and “Israel” are often interchanged throughout the Old Testament, referring sometimes to the individual patriarch and sometimes to the nation.

Source: New Living Translation: BibleGateway.com

We Respond

Reflection: Genesis 34: Life is full of evil. Sometimes God prevents it; if He allows it to occur, He expects us to consult Him as to how to handle it in a God-honoring way. In the case of Dinah’s rape by Shechem, no one consulted Him. Jacob’s sons were not open and honest with Shechem and his father Hamor (neither were they with their father Jacob). Nor were Shechem and Hamor honest and open with their fellow townsmen. If these people had consulted with God and been transparent with each other, many lives could have been saved, and much evil and suffering could have been avoided. Although the rape of Dinah was wrong, so was the killing of innocent people and the plundering of possessions, livestock, and households and the kidnapping of wives and children for the purpose of enslavement. Jacob’s answer was weak and cowardly; however, God would deal with them in an appropriate manner in the future. 

    Genesis 35: God gave Jacob instructions to worship Him at Bethel. Jacob and his household did so, chiefly by removing idols from their midst and purifying themselves. Then God honored Jacob by reaffirming his new name, Israel, as well as the covenant He had made with Abraham and Isaac. Deborah was a faithful servant who outlived her mistress, Rebekah, and when she died, she was buried near Bethel. While the family was in the area near Bethlehem, Rachel died while giving birth to a son. As she was dying, Rachel called him Ben-oni (son of sorrow), but Jacob named him Benjamin (son of the right hand). [Perhaps this was because Jacob knew the impact of a negative name.] In all Jacob had 12 sons (listed in verses 22b-26). After Rachel’s death, Reuben, Jacob’s oldest son, had sexual relations with Bilhah, her servant and his father’s concubine. Years before, the family had thought that Isaac might be near death. This led him to bestow the blessing of the firstborn on his son (Jacob as it turned out). The ramifications of this incident led to a more than twenty-year separation. Nevertheless, Isaac lived to be 180 years old, and by the time of his death, his two quarreling sons had reconciled.

Prayer: Dear righteous and holy God, as You well know, human life is full of evil. Sometimes You prevent it. If You do allow it to occur, You expect us to consult You as to how to handle it in a way that honors You. In the case of Dinah’s rape by Shechem, no one consulted You. In the case of rape or any other evil or wrong-doing, people are to confess their sin to You and be transparent with each other. We should then claim the forgiveness procured for us at the cross of Jesus. You will hear and give us His righteousness by way of the indwelling Holy Spirit. That way many lives will be saved, now and for eternity. Much evil and suffering will be avoided. Wrongs like rape, the killing of innocent people (including abortion), plundering and theft, kidnapping, and enslavement with be dealt with and eliminated. Please make our leaders strong and courageous instead of weak and cowardly. O God, please deal with bad leadership in Your time and in Your way. LORD God, You have given us instructions in how to worship You in Your Word, the Bible. You even demonstrated and modeled it for us in Your Son, Jesus Christ. Please help us to follow His lead. Help us to remove idols and known sin from our lives. Holy Spirit, purify us as we humble ourselves under Your mighty but loving hand. You will honor Your faith-filled people by giving us a new name, a new identity. This is Your covenant (unbreakable) promise just like the one You made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Please help me to be a faithful servant. May I live and die close to Your dwelling place. May wherever I am be like Bethlehem, a place where people can find the Bread of Life. Even when I am dying, may I give birth to children of God. May I see them move from being sons of sorrow to being children of righteousness that comes from Your hand. May all this happen because I know the impact of a negative name, a bad reputation. May I have the privilege of presenting many children before Your throne mature in Christ. Help me to put every kind of sexual sin out of my life. Please, by Your grace, grant me many more years of life on this earth that I might glorify You. May my family glorify You before their deaths as well. Help me to bestow blessings on future generations. By the time of my death, may I see many quarreling people (even nations) reconciled to You, LORD, and to each other.

Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on one of the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)

• I will pray with people and demonstrate how to confess sin and cooperate with God in ways that honor Him.
• I will work with others to see wrongs like rape, the killing of innocent people (including abortion), plundering and theft, kidnapping and enslavement dealt with and eliminated from our society.
• I will confess any sexual sins first to God and then to others as I seek to rid them from my life.
• I will ask the Lord to help me to do whatever He directs in order to be reconciled to _______ (specific person).

Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.