Written by: Sean Andrews – Church Army
Genesis 34 v 1-4
At this time Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob, went out to visit the women
of the land. When Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of the land, saw
her, he took her and forced her to have sexual relations with him. Shechem fell
in love with Dinah, and he spoke kindly to her. He told his father, Hamor, “Please
get this girl for me so I can marry her.”
Notes
I can hear you asking: “What am I supposed to learn from what is a pretty nasty
passage?” The Bible isn't always a comfortable read. It is an accurate record
of real people, and we've learnt today what some people can be like. But there
are other things we can learn from today's negative passage.
Relationships are built on respect. Things can quickly go wrong when passions take over, and this is brought home to us as we read this blunt and brutal account. Dinah was treated as an object, to be used and abused. Even though Shechem tried to make amends by asking to marry her, he still did wrong. He did something that he had no right to do, and that was to take away another person’s dignity and respect.
Sex is an important issue that affects us all at some point in our lives. In our relationships it's important to respect each other's choices - that when people say no, they mean no and not yes. If you are in a relationship and you feel under pressure to say yes when you don't want to, then maybe it's time to look more closely at that relationship.
It can be very difficult to stay on track with God in today's world. We get bombarded by the passions and pressures of others, whether it is through our relationships or through something we see or hear in the media. The pressure is to conform to everyone else - to get accepted, to look good, and to be one of the in-crowd.
God asks for two things. The first is to love him with every bit of ourselves. The second is to commit our relationships to him.
Prayer
Heavenly Father,
Please help us to respect
Each other's minds,
Each other’s bodies,
Each other's choices,
And help us to love you more day by day. Amen
Genesis 34 v 5-10
Jacob learned how Shechem had disgraced his daughter, but since his sons were
out in the field with the cattle, Jacob said nothing until they came home. While
he waited, Hamor, father of Shechem, went to talk with Jacob.
When Jacob’s sons heard what had happened, they came in from the field. They
were very angry that Shechem had done such a wicked thing to Israel. It was
wrong for him to have sexual relations with Jacob’s daughter; a thing like this
should not be done.
But Hamor talked to Dinah’s brothers and said, “My son Shechem is deeply in
love with Dinah. Please let him marry her. Marry our people. Give your women
to our men as wives and take our women for your men as wives. You can live in
the same land with us. You will be free to own land and to trade here.”
Notes
It's so easy to ignore what's going on around us. It's easy to slip into an
“I don't care” mode or “anything goes” mode. In today's passage we get the feeling
straight away that Jacob was not really interested in what had happened to his
daughter. It's difficult to say why; maybe he didn't care enough about Dinah,
or he didn't know what to do. Either way, his reaction helps us to understand
how quickly in today's world we can become desensitised to what goes on around
us and ignore it.
When we do this, our values go off course and we drift away from God. The things that we hate, we begin to love, and the things that we should love we lose interest in. We water down our views instead of standing up for what we believe and who we believe in. God becomes absent in some of the areas of our lives. The difference between right and wrong becomes personal preference rather than something laid down within the Bible. Church becomes an option we buy into or out of when we feel like it, and so our spiritual lives as well as our daily lives suffer and become separate.
As Christians, God calls us to embrace the world and the issues that are around - to put God's emphasis on what is right in the world and what is wrong in the world. Christians are called to take a full and active part in world affairs, and where there is injustice and wrongdoing it is only right that we are there to put forward God's views.
Christian commitment is not a price plan with optional extras and bolt-ons - it is one complete life-saving and life-changing package.
Prayer
Heavenly Father,
Encourage us to stand up for those who suffer,
Encourage us to speak out for those who are wronged,
Encourage us to become more aware of our world,
And encourage us in our faith in you. Amen
Genesis 34 v 11-12
Shechem also talked to Jacob and to Dinah’s brothers and said, “Please
accept my offer. I will give anything you ask. Ask as much as you want for the
payment for the bride, and I will give it to you. Just let me marry Dinah.”
Notes
The reading today comes on the back of Genesis 34 v 1-10 after Dinah had been
raped by Shechem. What we see in these two verses is an attempt to buy off Jacob
and his sons for what Shechem did to Dinah. Shechem was so desperate to have
Dinah for himself that he would have done anything to buy her and to make things
right. Money was no object.
What price is love?
Friends who want payment and favours in order to remain your friends are not really friends. Remember, friendships are built over time through respect, trust and commitment to each other. They are not built or made through financial transactions or the transfer of goods.
God's price for both love and forgiveness shows that they are the ultimate sale items. They are the only items anywhere that come free with no strings attached. God's love doesn't cost money. It's something that you can't buy. All it costs is a commitment by you to love him and to follow him. It also comes with an eternal guarantee that he will be with you for ever.
What price is forgiveness?
Saying sorry to a friend should be enough and the end of the matter. True forgiveness between friends is precious. Its value is priceless.
Just like God’s love, you can't buy forgiveness with money, and the price for his forgiveness has been paid for us in the death and resurrection of Jesus. This sale item also comes with an eternal guarantee, and that guarantee is that it is never too late to accept God's forgiveness.
Prayer
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for true friendships,
Help us to be forgiving,
And thank you for Jesus. Amen
Genesis 34 v 13-17
Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father with lies, because Shechem had
disgraced their sister Dinah. The brothers said to them, “We cannot allow you
to marry our sister, because you are not circumcised. That would be a disgrace
to us. But we will allow you to marry her if you do this one thing: every man
in your town must be circumcised like us. Then your men can marry our women,
and our men can marry your women, and we will live in your land and become one
people. If you refuse to be circumcised, we will take Dinah and leave.”
Notes
“You can be my friend if you go and do this for me”, or, “You can be my friend
if you go and do something else for me.” This might sound shallow, but sometimes
it seems to be the only way to make any sorts of friends. The problem is that
often these friendships and alliances are built on lies, because you know in
your heart of hearts that ultimately you are never going to be accepted. More
often than not, these friendships are made with the wrong crowd and it's not
long before trouble rears its head.
The conversations between Shechem and Dinah's brothers in some way mirror that kind of alliance, and yet it was an alliance that would never happen and that nobody on Jacob’s side had any intention of working at. The reason was that the Israelites were forbidden to intermarry because they had been set apart for God and God alone. They were God's chosen people.
The message for us all today is that Christians need to set themselves apart for God, so that in the relationships and friendships that they have with others they can make a difference - the right difference. Being set apart for God doesn't mean withdrawing from the people around you; it's about demonstrating your faith in the actions of your everyday life.
It’s only when people see your faith in action that they see the light that is Christ at work in your life, and hopefully in their lives as well. Remember: a bit like a dog, friendships are not just for Christmas, they're for life - so work at them.
Prayer
Heavenly Father,
Help us in our relationships with each other.
Help us to relate to the world.
Help us to show to others through our relationships and friendships
The light of Your Son Jesus in our lives. Amen
Genesis 34 v 18-19
What they asked seemed fair to Hamor and Shechem. So Shechem quickly went to
be circumcised because he loved Jacob’s daughter.
Now Shechem was the most respected man in his family.
Notes
Have you ever done something for the wrong reason? Today's passage is about
that. Shechem decided that the only way that he'd any chance of marrying Jacob's
daughter was in effect to become part of God's chosen people, and that meant
circumcision.
Now you might think: “What a brave thing to do”, but it wasn't really. Circumcision was a sign that you were one of God's chosen people, and this act by Shechem was selfish. It wasn't done for love for God; it was done so that he could get what he wanted.
Being a Christian isn't an easy option. We are always being challenged to do and say right things by God. We are also challenged to do things that we might not want to do, in order to get into the right crowd or the right place. We find ourselves in the awkward position of trying to please others as well as ourselves, at the expense of some people and at the expense of our faith as Christians.
It's important to examine our motives: “Is what I am about to do going to hurt someone?” “Am I the only one who is going to gain any advantage?” If the answer to either of these is “Yes” or “Possibly”, we need to do something about what we were going to do. We need to search our hearts and ask God what he wants us to do. Chapter 34 is the only chapter in the whole of Genesis where God is not mentioned or consulted - he's absent.
We need to remember to make room for God in those difficult situations and decisions. We need to make sure that he isn't absent from our lives, and that when we make our decisions our faith will shine in others’ lives.
Prayer
Father, explore the motives
Of my heart,
Of my mind,
Of my life,
And purify those parts of my being that fall short of your glory.
Amen
Genesis 34 v 20-24
So Hamor and Shechem went to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of
their city, saying, “These people want to be friends with us. So let them live
in our land and trade here. There is enough land for all of us. Let us marry
their women, and we can let them marry our women. But we must agree to one thing:
all our men must be circumcised as they are. Then they will agree to live in
our land, and we will be one people. If we do this, their cattle and their animals
will belong to us. Let us do what they say, and they will stay in our land.”
All the people who had come to the city gate heard this. They agreed with Hamor
and Shechem and every man was circumcised.
Notes
Have you ever had the experience of someone trying to sell you something, or
give you something, that sounds too good to be true?
Today's reading is a good example of this. Hamor and Shechem were trying to sell the idea of an alliance with Jacob's family, of how it would improve the lives of their people, and all it would cost them is for all the men to be circumcised. Unfortunately, what was being sold to the people wasn't what the alliance was all about. It was about selfish ambition put before anything or anyone else. The people of Hamor and Shechem didn't see this or understand the dangers and the possible cost to them.
As Christians, we need to be careful about how we tell others about our faith in Jesus. All that is required is the truth. We can't give special offers, or attach special conditions, and in the same way we can't compromise our beliefs to gain something for ourselves. If we do, then we water down our faith, we devalue ourselves, and more importantly we devalue God and devalue Jesus.
Remember that God sent his Son Jesus for each of us. He allowed him to die for us, to forgive us for all the things we've done and got wrong. And he raised him from the dead to provide each of us that one sure hope of eternal life with him.
Prayer
Heavenly Father,
Keep us true to you,
Keep us true to your Son Jesus,
Keep us true to your Holy Spirit,
And help us to tell others the real truth that is you in Jesus.
Amen
Genesis 34 v 25-29
Three days later the men who were circumcised were still in pain. Two of Jacob’s
sons, Simeon and Levi (Dinah’s brothers), took their swords and made a surprise
attack on the city, killing all the men there. They killed Hamor and his son
Shechem and then took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and left. Jacob’s sons came
upon the dead bodies and stole everything that was in the city, to pay them
back for what Shechem had done to their sister. So the brothers took the flocks,
herds and donkeys, and everything in the city and in the fields. They took every
valuable thing the people owned, even their wives and children and everything
in the houses.
Notes
Simeon and Levi took advantage of other people's weakness to carry out a horrific
massacre. You might be asking, “Why did they do this?” There are two main reasons,
and both are wrong.
The first was revenge, for Shechem’s rape of their sister Dinah. Unfortunately, history has shown us that in the case of revenge attacks it's more than just the wrongdoers that are affected - the vast majority of victims are innocent and have done no wrong (we see this in today’s Bible verses). There's no room for revenge in God's plan.
Secondly, Jacob's family saw themselves as different to others. They had been chosen as God's people, but this led to them thinking that they were better than anyone else. So killing all the men and then taking everything else for themselves was their way of stamping their own authority over everybody and everything.
There are two lessons for us today. The first is that as Christians we have a duty to follow the example of Christ by defending people’s rights and bringing justice to those who live in terrible situations, whether the situations be war, famine, repression, unfair trade - the list is endless. Stand up and take note of what's happening in the world, and make a noise about it. You might want to think about voting in elections, writing to your MP, your councillors or even Number 10. Christians need to be involved in the world.
The second lesson is that being Christian doesn't make you better
than or superior to anyone. Being a Christian is about being a follower of Jesus
and living your life in a way that is glorifying to him.
Prayer
God help us
To care,
To love,
To shout,
To fight
For those with no care, no love, no voice and no fight.
Help us to use the example of Jesus' ministry to help others
In their search for justice, and that through our care we will show the true
light of Christ in the world.
Amen
word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken
from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993
by Word Publishing Milton Keynes