Deception and Faith’s Fall — Genesis 34 Daily Word

Jacob’s failure to seek God’s will after his daughter Dinah is violated reveals how spiritual compromise and delay in prayer can lead to tragic consequences and deception.

Genesis 34:13-17 Commentary

[Scripture]

[13] The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. [14] They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. [15] Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. [16] Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. [17] But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.” (Gen 34:13-17, ESV)

[Daily Word]

After parting ways with Esau, Jacob set out toward Canaan in accordance with God’s word. However, as we see in 33:17, rather than entering Canaan directly, he built a house for himself at Succoth, erected shelters for his livestock, and remained there for an extended period of time. As a result of this decision, a tragic event unfolds as we enter chapter 34. Jacob’s daughter Dinah left the camp in order to socialize with the Canaanite women living in the region of Shechem.

What happens here is that Dinah is raped by Shechem, the young prince of the Hivites and the son of Hamor. Jacob hears about this incident. However, the people of Shechem did not regard what had been done to Jacob’s daughter Dinah as a problem. To them, the issue was simply that their prince Shechem had fallen in love with Dinah and wished to marry her. They came to seek Jacob’s approval for the marriage, hoping also to build a profitable relationship with the wealthy Jacob.

# Yet for Jacob, this was a grave problem.

This was because his daughter Dinah, a member of God’s people, had been defiled by Shechem, a foreigner. Yet here Jacob misses what is most important: he takes no time at all to seek God’s will or to cry out to God in prayer. All he does is wait, hoping for his sons to return home.

*While Jacob is simply waiting, Hamor, Shechem’s father, comes to meet him in order to propose the marriage. Yet Hamor shows no sign of remorse or apology; instead, he acts with a sense of entitlement, eager to quickly smooth over this disgraceful matter by arranging a marriage. Above all, he hopes to win Jacob’s heart with the words, “The land lies open before you.”

# In the midst of this situation, Jacob’s sons devise a scheme.

This scheme involved deceiving Shechem and his father Hamor with a seemingly reasonable proposal. [13] The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. [14] They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. [15] Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. [16] Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. (Gen 34:13-16, ESV)[15] Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. (Gen 34:15, ESV)[16] Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. (Gen 34:16, ESV)Circumcision was a practice observed by many peoples in that era. Therefore, it was not especially difficult for the Shechemites to accept circumcision.

However, the circumcision given to the people of Israel was far more than a matter of physical cleanliness. It was a sign of faith that God Himself ordained so that His people would be set apart from the Gentiles and live in purity before Him. Yet Jacob’s sons demanded that the Gentiles undergo this very rite of circumcision as a means of restoring their family’s honor. While this was a proposal that Hamor and his son Shechem would readily accept, it became a profane act that treated the things of God lightly and desecrated what was holy. And as [15] Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. (Gen 34:15, ESV)[15] Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. [16] Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. (Gen 34:15b-16, ESV) records, Jacob’s sons deceived themselves into thinking that if the men of Shechem underwent circumcision, they would become one people with them.

We must remember that circumcision and baptism are marks that God has given to us. Through these marks, we are called to remember that the Lord is with us, and above all, to live lives set apart from the world — discerning what is good, pleasing, and perfect before God, as (Rom 12:2) reminds us. Therefore, in order to uphold this calling, we must also heed (Rom 12:19), which calls us not to take revenge into our own hands, but to leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”

# Hamor and Shechem Accept the Proposal Made by Jacob’s Sons.

They accepted it because the terms seemed easy to fulfill and the benefits appeared to be great. In reality, however, this was nothing more than a terrifying scheme that Jacob’s sons had devised in order to take revenge upon them.

*The name Jacob means “deceiver.” True to his name, Jacob deceived his brother Esau before God, and as a result, his life became one in which he himself was continually deceived. He was deceived by Laban, deceived by Rachel who had stolen the household idols, and he would yet be deceived by his own sons.

The most important thing in this passage is that we can easily return to who we were before we knew the Lord. Therefore, we must draw near to God so that we do not draw near to the ways of the world. Let us all strive not to live according to our own desires, but to seek only God’s will, to preserve holiness, to be set apart from the world, and to live not by the world’s ways but by God’s ways alone.

deception and faith, the rape of Dinah, the sons of Jacob, the condition of circumcision, the corruption of faith

Originally published in Korean at bible2u.com