Read with Me
Genesis 34:13-17 (HCSB)
But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully because he had defiled their sister Dinah. “We cannot do this thing,” they said to them. “Giving our sister to an uncircumcised man is a disgrace to us. We will agree with you only on this condition: if all your males are circumcised as we are. Then we will give you our daughters, take your daughters for ourselves, live with you, and become one people. But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.”
Listen with Me
Moses points out that the answer that Jacob’s sons gave to Shechem and Hamor was deceptive. On their way in from the field, they had already discussed ways in which they could take revenge against Shechem, the man, for raping their sister, Dinah. And as they went, that desire for revenge expanded to encompass the whole city of Shechem.
Their problem was that Shechem was a walled city, and their own numbers were small, even if they included their slaves and hired men. Their anger drove them to desire the elimination of the whole city, but there was no way that they could do that without first disabling all the fighting men.
So, they devised what in essence was a very simple plan. If they could somehow persuade all the men in the city to be circumcised, the pain would disable them for several days. At that point, they would be able to march into the city unopposed, kill anyone they wished, and bring back Dinah.
They weren’t sure their plan would work. But they were encouraged when they met Shechem. He was practically giddy with love for Dinah, and it quickly became obvious that his father, Hamor, was so indulgent of the boy that he would do anything to please him. So, their hopes grew.
Pray with Me
Father, Shechem wasn’t really in love with Dinah. But he had a lot of lust for her in his heart. And lust is a very dangerous thing, moving us to do things and to make commitments that we would probably never agree to in our saner moments. Dinah’s brothers knew that a smitten man was easy to manipulate, so, they took advantage of the situation as thoroughly as possible. It is no wonder that one of the most vital of the fruit of the Spirit you produce in our lives is self-control, the ability to see clearly and to respond rationally to temptation, so that we don’t allow our feelings to lead us into sin and the consequences that always go along with it. Help us, Lord, to live in that self-control each day. Amen.