34:1-37:36. Jacob's Trouble In The Land.

(At Shechem, Dinah's disgrace,Chapter 34. Three burials: Deborah, 35:8; Rachel, v.20; Isaac, 35:29. Joseph sold, Chapter 37.)

1732 B.C.

Genesis 34)

1 And Dinah (= judged, acquitted) the daughter of Leah (cp. 30:21, and own sister of Simeon and Levi, 29:33,34), which she bare to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.
2 And when Shechem (= back or shoulder) the son of Hamor (= an ass) the Hivite (= villagers), prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled (humbled) her.
3 And his soul (himself) cleaved to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spoke kindly to the damsel. (= on her heart as though making an impression on it)
4 And Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, "Get me this damsel to wife."
5 And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come.
6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to commune with him.
7 And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel (the first occ. in a collective sense) in lying with Jacob's daughter; which thing ought not to be done.
8 And Hamor communed with them, saying, "The soul (Fig. Transfer of part, and Redundancy, to emphasize the intensity of longing) of my son Shechem longs for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife.
9 And make you all marriages with us, and give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to you.
10 And you all shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade you all therein, and get you possessions therein."
11 And Shechem said to her father (i.e. Jacob) and to her brethren, "Let me find grace in your eyes, and what you all shall say to me I will give.
12 Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as you shall say to me: but give me the damsel to wife."
13 And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully (Jacob's character his own scourge. The first and only occ. in Gen.), and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister:
14 And they said to them, "We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach to us:
15 But in this will we consent to you: If you all will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised;
16 Then will we give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.
17 But if you will not listen to us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone."
18 And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor's son.
19 And the young man deferred (= procrastinated) not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter: and he was more honorable than all the house of his father.
20 And Hamor and Shechem his son came to the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying,
21 "These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for the land, behold, it is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters.
22 Only herein will the men consent to us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised.
23 Shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours? only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us."
24 And to Hamor and to Shechem his son listened to all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city.
25 And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males.
26 And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge (Heb. mouth) of the sword (the acts of Jacob and his sons at Shechem may be contrasted with those of Abraham 12:6, and of Joshua-Josh. 24:1-7, and of Christ-John 4:5), and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went out.
27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister.
28: They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field,
29 And all their wealth (= strength, put for wealth which it acquires), and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house.
30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You all have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites (= descendants of the Nephilim. See 12:6) and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house." (I....I, to emphasize Jacob's perturbance)
31: And they said, "Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?"

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