The Offense

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE OFFENSE

Gen 34:1-17

34:1 Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. 2 When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and violated her. 3 His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her. 4 And Shechem said to his father Hamor, "Get me this girl as my wife." 5 When Jacob heard that his daughter Dinah had been defiled, his sons were in the fields with his livestock; so he kept quiet about it until they came home. 6 Then Shechem's father Hamor went out to talk with Jacob. 7 Now Jacob's sons had come in from the fields as soon as they heard what had happened. They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter — a thing that should not be done. 8 But Hamor said to them, "My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. 9 Intermarry with us; give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You can settle among us; the land is open to you. Live in it, trade in it, and acquire property in it." 11 Then Shechem said to Dinah's father and brothers, "Let me find favor in your eyes, and I will give you whatever you ask. 12 Make the price for the bride and the gift I am to bring as great as you like, and I'll pay whatever you ask me. Only give me the girl as my wife." 13 Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob's sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor. 14 They said to them, "We can't do such a thing; we can't give our sister to a man who is not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. 15 We will give our consent to you on one condition only: that you become like us by circumcising all your males. 16 Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We'll settle among you and become one people with you. 17 But if you will not agree to be circumcised, we'll take our sister and go."

NIV

This is a long narrative and only a portion of the whole encounter between the sons of Israel and the Hivites, particularly Shechem and his father Hamor. First, we think it was not right for Dinah a woman of that era to leave her father's house unescorted, by either one of her brothers, a manservant, or a maidservant, to visit the women of the land. Traveling alone would have left her vulnerable and that is exactly what happened as Shechem took her by force and lay with her. Even in our culture rape is a criminal offense, however, we wonder because of the Hebrew words used here to describe this offense whether Dinah was completely non-compliant. When we use Hebrew we see to occupied or to oppress, to humble, to bowed down, to be together lying down, and some translators use defile or rape as the offense. We do not know exactly what that exchange looked like other than Shechem’s heart was drawn to Dinah. We would think because his heart was drawn to Dinah and he wanted her for a wife, his defiling of her would not have been violent, or brutal, in overpowering her against her will, but perhaps wooing her into his arms. However, it was still considered outside the rules of conduct by the sons of Isreal as they served God, and a Hivite would have been a pagan, and should not have violated their sister. Still, for them to be filled with fury was not the greatest of responses. Either way, this was improper behavior between a man and a woman in that period. Of course, today it is difficult to determine what is right and wrong in the conduct between men and women of this world, however, within the church, mutual respect is one of the highest responsibilities.  A Christian man should always respect a Christian woman’s rights. Because love is at the highest of commands, it would mean never doing harm to another and thus always remaining with the purest of honor toward each other. Shechem did not act in this manner, and we know we should not judge a person who lived in an era thousands of years before ours, however, according to Isreal and his sons, he wronged their sister and what happened next was not honorable on their part either. Let us always be honest, pure, and honorable in our relationships with all others so that we do not become an offense to another.