It's been a mighty long journey for Jacob. Shuffled away from home to flee from his brother's rage twenty years ago, Jacob had vowed a vow at Bethel: “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, and I come again to my father's house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you” (Genesis 28:20-22). Now Jacob's long night of exile has come to its close. Has God been with Jacob? Jacob's confessed as much: “the God of my father has been with me” (Genesis 31:5). Did God keep Jacob in the way he went? Yes, God sheltered and protected Jacob's way from Laban's wrath (Genesis 31:24). Did God supply Jacob's basic needs? More than that, says Jacob, “God has taken away the livestock of [Laban] and given them to me” (Genesis 31:9). And has God brought him safely home? Why, it's in progress as we speak! Jacob's quite nearly there.
God had ordered him, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred” (Genesis 31:3). So we expect that, as Esau descends to Seir, Jacob not joining him there means Jacob's about to hurry into Canaan. But Jacob doesn't do that. He went to a place he calls Succoth, which is where the Jabbok flows into the Jordan, on the east bank. Rather than going to seek out the House of God, Jacob “built himself a house and made booths for his livestock” there (Genesis 33:17). In this fertile valley on a major travel path, he might have settled for a bit to let his flocks and herds rebound from the losses involved in all those gifts to Esau.1 But even so, Succoth here represents a delay in answering God's call, which “puts his quest to find his destiny on hold” for a while.2
At last, though, Jacob decides to cross the river. And you'd think this would be a beeline to Bethel, since Jacob's move back was spurred by a dream from “the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and vowed a vow to me” (Genesis 31:13). That was a transparent hint that Bethel's his divinely ordained destination. And he comes close! But he stops a day's journey short when he finds someplace flashier.3 “Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram” (Genesis 33:18). Shechem was one of the bigger cities of Bronze-Age Canaan, with a “monumental fortification system.”4 It had rule over a lot of surrounding territory, maybe as much as four times the size of Caernarvon Township.5 We're told Jacob got there “in peace,” answering Jacob's last vow condition to get home “in peace” and safety (Genesis 28:20).6 He's back in Canaan complete, intact, unharmed, undiminished, and in no evident hurry to reunite with his father Isaac, despite that having been his original goal (Genesis 31:18).
Jacob's encounter with Esau was full of camps and faces; now he's “stretched out his tent” and “encamped at the face of the city” (Genesis 33:18-19). From God's face to Esau's face to the city's face, this reminds us of when “Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom” (Genesis 13:12).7 There, like Grandpa Abraham negotiating with the Hittites of Hebron to buy a cave and field for four hundred shekels of silver (Genesis 23:16), Jacob bargains with the local authorities, “the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem,” to buy the bit of land where he's stretched his tent (Genesis 33:19). Jacob pays a hundred qesitah, and nobody's sure what that is. The important bit is being introduced to Hamor, “prince of the land,” whose name is Hebrew for 'donkey' and whose sons include Shechem. These people are Hivites (Genesis 34:2), one of the “clans of the Canaanites” (Genesis 10:17-19). Literally, Jacob buys “the smoothness of the field” (Genesis 33:19), reminding us both of Esau's attachment to the field and Jacob's notorious smoothness (Genesis 25:27; 27:11).
Up until now, we've been with Jacob for so many chapters, yet this is the first time we've seen him interacting with Canaanites.8 The fact that they so willingly sold him this parcel outside their city, when Abraham had to negotiate so hard to buy Ephron's cave for Sarah's burial, seems a great sign for peaceful, productive relations. So Jacob “erected there an altar, and he called it El-Elohe-Yisra'el” (Genesis 33:20).
And there Jacob settled, with his altar there claiming El as his own God. But this doesn't seem like it's where he belongs. He pledged to make his sanctuary at Bethel where he'd set up that stone, and then the LORD would be his God. Vows made at holy sites were repaid where they were made. So Jacob's altar here doesn't match his promise. And that's a problem. The Law will insist that “if a man vows a vow to the LORD..., he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth” (Numbers 30:2). In fact, says Moses, “if you vow a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay to complete it, for the LORD your God will absolutely require it from you, and it would be sin to you” (Deuteronomy 23:21). The word to 'complete' a vow is from the same root as Jacob coming 'in peace' or 'safely' to Shechem. God brought Jacob in completion to Canaan, but Jacob neglects then to complete his vow. There's sure to be a price to pay.
We readers don't have to wait long for things to unravel, but Jacob does. Chapter 34 picks up five to ten years after Jacob settles down at Shechem, an even clearer sign he has no thoughts of completing his vow at Bethel.9 Then our attention turns to “Dinah, the daughter of Leah whom she had borne to Jacob” (Genesis 34:1). Poor lass, “the unnoticed daughter of the unfavored wife,”10 Leah's seventh and final child, surrounded all the time by her eleven brothers and half-brothers.11 By now, some ancient readers guessed she was “little, only twelve years old,”12 while others figured she “was 16 years and 4 months old.”13 She's certainly neither older nor younger.
Dinah, maybe feeling stifled and bored, “went out” one day from the family encampment, apparently venturing off solo and unsupervised, “to see the daughters of the land” (Genesis 34:1). The last time we heard the local girls called that, it was how Esau married “daughters of the land” who were “bitterness of spirit to Isaac and Rebekah” (Genesis 27:46; 26:35). Maybe she entered the city as they celebrated a festival because she wanted to go to the party,14 “to see the finery of the women of the country.”15 Maybe she was craving some female friends, “desirous of friendship with those of the same age.”16 Whatever her aim, she crossed the border into alien territory to see Hivite girls, learn about their ways, find out what this foreign place under foreign gods is all about.17 But we can't forget that Dinah's decision takes place in the context of Jacob's own mistakes towards God, in settling short of Bethel, and towards his family, in his unequal treatment of Leah.18
Dinah went out to see the land's daughters; instead she's seen by the land's prince's son, Shechem. Be Dinah 12 or 16, she caught the young man's eye and, “completely enraptured by the sight,” Shechem “gave his lust free rein.”19 “He saw her, and he took her” (Genesis 34:2), as the powerful before the flood saw women and took them (Genesis 6:2). But Shechem “laid her” – not, you'll note, 'with her,' and this irregular phrase suggests something irregular here: a lack of consent.20 Our worst suspicions are then confirmed: “and he humiliated her,” degraded her (Genesis 34:2). This string of actions is “swift and violent.”21 I think we all know what Shechem's done.
But then we're confused when, in the very next line, we read that “his soul clung to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman, and he spoke to the heart of the young woman” (Genesis 34:3), who was clearly distraught and grief-stricken by her newfound plight.22 Love, Shechem? You call this love, when you have to quiet her after what you've done, try to persuade her after the fact since you had no consent before? Yet then “Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, 'Take for me this damsel for a wife!'” (Genesis 34:4).
There are cultures, sadly even today, where sometimes there's a practice of marriage by abduction. A man, often with the help of some friends, lies in wait and kidnaps the target girl; they take her away someplace secret, and he violates her; then his clan will notify her family of what's happened and try to negotiate to make the marriage official, since at this point her marriage prospects to other men have been lessened and so both she and her clan might feel this is now the best of their bad options.23 The Romans, in their legends, bragged that their founder Romulus arranged a mass marriage-abduction on the daughters of their Sabine neighbors, after which the Romans told the kidnapped women they'd done it out of passionate love and that the ladies should now embrace their new status as Roman wives.24 After all, the Romans insisted, “of all methods of contracting marriages for women,” such an abduction was, in their eyes, “the most illustrious.”25 Shechem is simply a Romulus before Rome.
So now “Jacob heard” what had happened, probably because Shechem sent word about how he'd claimed the damsel by taking her. But in Jacob's eyes, Shechem “had defiled his daughter” (Genesis 34:5). This is hardly an acceptable practice in Jacob's world. This is a monstrous breach, and coming from his trusted hosts, of all people!26 When news arrives, Jacob's sons are out tending livestock, so Jacob has to keep his anguish bottled up inside while he waits for them to come, since he's too old and crippled to handle the situation.27
Meanwhile, Hamor himself approaches Jacob to negotiate, father to father and clan chief to clan chief (Genesis 34:6). It becomes clear he's heeding his son's command and hasn't rebuked Shechem in the slightest.28 But lest this be a reasonable meeting of father to father, the sons show up – Shechem with Hamor, and Jacob's sons with him. “And the men were grieved and exceedingly angry” about what Shechem had done, “because he had done a folly in Israel by laying Jacob's daughter – and such a thing just isn't done!” (Genesis 34:7). Hamor and Shechem might want to brush this under the rug, but Jacob and his sons “regarded the act as the greatest outrage,”29 it being a crime in itself, “a challenge to their family honor,”30 and a serious desecration of a taboo. What's more, they know what we might not: that, as ever with abductive marriage, Dinah is being held in a secret place, likely Shechem's residence in the town's secure acropolis.31
Hamor's here to wheel and deal, confident he's got power enough to resist any retaliation and prestige enough to sweeten any deal. He first proposes to Jacob's whole clan the basic request his son insisted: “Shechem my son – his soul delights in your daughter,” says Hamor to them, gliding silently past any acknowledgment of Dinah's victimization or current whereabouts.32 Since it'd make Shechem so happy, “please give her to him to be his wife,” Hamor says (Genesis 34:8). After all, shouldn't little prince always get whatever he wants?
But Hamor's not done. An opportunist, he foresees a more productive and ambitious arrangement with this clan of rich shepherds on their doorstep. Instead of one marriage, why not go bigger? “Become sons-in-law with us – give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves” (Genesis 34:9). He figures that's sure to get the attention of a family worried about wedding eleven bachelor sons. Jacob's people will take the initiative in giving and taking daughters, so don't worry about more abductions. Then, he offers further perks: permanent residency, the right of free movement, the right of free trade, the right to get property (Genesis 34:10).
Ominously, the offer subtly reminds them of the rights they don't yet have, that they're vulnerable outsiders who need to stay on Hamor's good side.33 But with this “mutually advantageous political alliance,” Jacob's clan then “would become full citizens.”34 He thinks this is an offer they can't refuse. Jacob's sons recognize, of course, that Hamor's pitch ultimately would lead to the full integration of Jacob's clan into the city of Shechem. In one Roman account, that's just what Romulus intended by his abductive marriage scheme, so he “demanded that the Sabines accept a union with the Romans.”35 This idea is “a serious threat to the covenant family” and “a threat to the divine promise,”36 since Hamor's temptation of land is a shortcut to what only God must give them.37 The very language Hamor ends on, about getting possessions in the land, is literally that they may “seize her,” phrasing that uncomfortably reminds Jacob and sons of what Shechem did to Dinah (Genesis 34:10).38
At this point, though, Shechem thinks his dad's gone rogue. What's all this big-picture nonsense to a man in love? So he butts in, “undermining his father's attempt to salvage or capitalize on the situation.”39 Shechem pleads to “her father” and to “her brothers” – that's the only way he can see them – “Let me find grace in your eyes!” (Genesis 34:11). That's pretty rich, considering what he did when Dinah entered his eyeline. But the phrase might remind Jacob of his desperate efforts to “find grace in the eyes” of Esau (Genesis 33:8). Shechem goes on: “Whatever you say to me, I'll give – multiply to me much bride-price and gifts, and I'll give according to what you say to me – but give me the young woman for a wife!” (Genesis 34:11-12). It perfectly sums up Shechem's character. Not once does he express remorse, not once does he even use Dinah's name. He's a spoiled rich brat convinced that everybody's got a price and he can throw money at his problems.40 But that, too, might remind Jacob of himself lavishly sending Esau gifts, perhaps more bribes than reparations. Yet the language Shechem uses isn't far from Laban's “name your wages to me, and I will give” (Genesis 30:28).41
Often, where marriage abduction is practiced in today's world, the family often gives in. But before Jacob can, his sons butt in, just as Hamor's son had done. As chips off the old block, their answer to the proposals is made “in deceit” (Genesis 34:13; cf. 27:35). This chapter has seven speeches, and this one's the centermost; it begins and ends by pointing to Dinah, lest we forget what this is really all about.42 They tell Hamor and Shechem that it's impossible for them to “give our sister to a man who has a foreskin, for that would be a disgrace to us,” reproach, scorn, insult (Genesis 34:14). Beneath the politeness of their no, they're calling Shechem and his whole people unclean.43 However, they have a suggestion. “If you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised” (Genesis 34:15) – and here they're quoting God's words to Great-Grandpa Abraham (Genesis 17:10) – then by all means, “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” (Genesis 34:16). All that's needed is for that 'one people' to continue this one quirky Hebrew custom, that's all. Isn't that such a modest stipulation?
Now for the ultimatum. “If you will not hear us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and we will go” (Genesis 34:17). Until this line, she was 'our sister'; now, she's 'our daughter,' as if they've usurped Jacob's fatherly role over Dinah. They don't care about a bride-price or gifts or trade deals or open land. This is the one non-negotiable, and if it isn't met, they'll reclaim Dinah and leave, taking their wealth with them. This comes across as a “thinly-veiled threat,”44 since them taking back Dinah would humiliate not just Shechem but Hamor and, in fact, his entire people.45
Well, “their words were good in the eyes of Hamor and in the eyes of Shechem son of Hamor” (Genesis 34:18). The request made sense to them, since many societies then practiced circumcision as a pre-wedding ritual in hopes of enhancing fertility. So “the young man,” Shechem, “didn't delay to do the thing” they'd demanded, to circumcise himself, “because he delighted in the daughter of Jacob, and he was more honorable than all his father's house” (Genesis 34:19). We can't deny Shechem's sincere and eager. But notice that Jacob's sons didn't say a word about what circumcision meant to them, as the sign of God's covenant with Abraham. In fact, they said nothing about the religious gulf between themselves and the Hivites.46 Actually, from start to finish, this chapter is one of the only chapters in Genesis totally devoid of any mentions of God at all. If the stories of Isaac eight chapters back showed strife turning to peace once God was acknowledged, this chapter is showing us peace collapsing into strife and chaos as God is ignored and shunned.47
But back to Shechem and his dad. If they're to get what they each want, they've got to win over the men of their city to submit to a bit of surgery. So they gather everyone in the city gate and give the next speech (Genesis 34:20). They open on the note that “these men,” the clan of Jacob, “are at peace with us” – not that Shechem's respected that peace so far. Notice that Hamor and Shechem, typical politicians, never admit to their people the real motive of this proposal. But on the grounds of this peaceful coexistence, Hamor urges his people to grant them privileges of occupancy and trade, just as he'd proposed to Jacob. But Hamor leaves out the last-mentioned privilege, taking possession of property, that being a bridge too far for the city-folk to abide.48 “Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them your daughters” (Genesis 34:21). And notice that now it's the city-folk, not Jacob, who'll control the giving and taking.49
Only now does Hamor slip in the unpleasant condition, that “only on this will the men consent to dwell with us to become one people: when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised” (Genesis 34:22). It's a fair summary of what Jacob's sons said. It's also a potential sticking point, but Hamor's saved the best incentive for last: “Their livestock and their property and all their beasts, will they not be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us” (Genesis 34:23). Aha! And there it is: this 'alliance,' this 'union,' is really about absorbing Jacob's clan into Shechemite society so as to despoil them and gain their wealth.50
With that, Hamor and son win over their people, one and all. “All who went out of the gate of his city heard Hamor and Shechem his son, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city” (Genesis 34:24). Men who 'go out' the city gate are those capable of military service.51 Their 'going out' to fight echoes Dinah's having 'gone out' to explore, masculine to feminine. As every male in the house of Abraham was circumcised on the day of the divine covenant (Genesis 17:23), so now every male in the city of Shechem is circumcised this day of the deceitful covenant. For the sons of Jacob weren't negotiating in good faith.
When the Romans abducted women, their neighbors went on the attack, though all but the Sabines learned “how ineffectual is anger without strength.”52 The war with the Sabines was much harder, ending only when the women themselves, now mothers of Roman children, intervened and forced both sides to make peace and, as Romulus had hoped, to integrate into a single people.53 That isn't how the sons of Jacob will let this end. Now “on the third day, when they were in pain” in the city and thus vulnerable, the sons of Jacob sprang into action.
Two of Dinah's full brothers, Simeon and Levi the sons of Leah – aged between 18 and 22 – “took each his sword, and they came against the city in boldness” (Genesis 34:25), or maybe that should be 'in trust,' as in, the citizens felt secure, trusting in the goodwill of Jacob's clan.54 Perhaps the pair crept into the city “under cover of night,” catching everyone doubly by surprise,55 like the Greeks entering Troy in that now-famed wooden horse (which, come to think of it, ended a war that began in a Trojan prince abducting a Greek queen). We read next that “Hamor and Shechem they slew with the mouth of the sword” (Genesis 34:26); Jewish tradition held that Simeon dealt with Hamor, while Levi handled Shechem.56
This is the first time in the Bible we've ever read of God's chosen ones employing violence. Abraham never slapped a Sodomite, Isaac never punched a Philistine, Jacob never so much as scratched Laban or bit Esau, but brothers Simeon and Levi let their swords drink up the blood of a Hivite father and son.57 And not only that, but they also “slew every male” in the entire city, leaving none alive (Genesis 34:26). This wholesale slaughter “reeks of barbaric cruelty,”58 reminding us of the Cainite Lamech who bragged of his overkill (Genesis 4:23).59 And this by exploiting the sign of God's sacred covenant to weaken the Shechemites! But after it all, “they took Dinah out of Shechem's house,” whether she wanted rescued or not, “and they went out” (Genesis 34:26). The crisis began with Dinah going out and being taken, so it ends with Dinah being taken and going out.60
But then the tidily closed loop is broken. Shechem and Levi have dealt bloodily with Shechem and retrieved their sister Dinah; but with that settled, now “the sons of Jacob came upon the slain” (Genesis 34:27). These are Jacob's other sons, who've entered the defenseless city and found the carnage. Realizing that no one can now stop them, the sons of Jacob “plundered the city because they had defiled their sister,” holding the city itself collectively responsible for the polluting crime of their prized nobleman. “Their flocks and their herds, their donkeys” – their hamors – “and whatever was in the city and in the field, they took; all their strength, all their little ones and their women, they captured and plundered, and all that was in the houses” (Genesis 34:28-29). In the structure of the chapter, this act stands in parallel to Shechem taking Jacob's daughter.61 But how does it bring healing to anyone for the taking of one woman to be answered by the taking of many women? The whole sordid saga, which began with Jacob building his own house instead of going to the House of God, has led to his sons entering and robbing the houses of this vast pagan city.
Jacob is deeply disconcerted. Silent though he's been throughout the grievous ordeal, he now breaks silence and rebukes his sons. “You have troubled me!” he tells them, much as Achan “troubled Israel” by flouting a ban and bringing down a curse on Israel's camp by hiding plunder in it (Joshua 6:18; 7:25). Jacob argues Simeon's and Levi's actions “make me stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanite and the Perizzite” (Genesis 34:30). Jacob's hard-won reputation as a man of peace and even a man of honesty is shattered.62 And that poses a threat, because “I am few in number, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I'll be destroyed, both I and my house” (Genesis 34:30). Shechem was allied with many smaller settlements nearby, and Jacob's acutely aware that his “entire household could be held responsible for what happened” by the same logic Simeon and Levi used, and so they could now all be targets for the next round of vengeance.63
For now, though, the last word goes to the sons, whose retort – “Like a prostitute should he treat our sister?” (Genesis 34:31) – says all they can see is the original wrong. They end the chapter on the word 'our sister,' suggesting they stick up for Dinah because, as fellow-children of Leah whose own names memorialize Leah's unmet longings, they feel they can't count on Jacob's love, and they see proof of that in his litany now of 'I,' 'me,' 'my.'64 Since Shechem's deed humiliated all Israel, whatever they've done in the course of redressing that original wrong is irrelevant, so long as all dwelling in the land now know that a sister of the men of Israel mustn't be treated so; to do any less than they've done would surrender their honor, purity, and wholeness.65
So who's right? Ancient Jews consistently sided with the sons, as “Israel will not be cleansed of this defilement if there is in it... one who has given any of his daughters to a man who is from any of the Gentiles.”66 So “with these two swords, the Lord God punished the insult of the Shechemites by which they insulted the sons of Israel.”67 Some went so far as to picture Levi being given weapons by Israel's guardian angel,68 and that the Lord himself “gave [Simeon] a sword to avenge the foreigners.”69 Thus “God smote the inhabitants of Shechem.”70 As his instruments, Simeon and Levi's deeds were recorded in heaven as “righteousness.”71
On the other hand, Jacob on his deathbed gets the last word, denouncing Simeon and Levi for the excess of their violence, treating it as a peril and curse in Israel (Genesis 49:5-7).72 And so early Christians censured the sons of Jacob for their “godless acts..., for they wrought destruction and killed those who trusted them and intended to become one with them.”73 Rather than looking down on Jacob as passive and weak, they lauded him for putting a premium on compassion, moderation, and understanding.74
What's clear is that the ordeal has exposed and exacerbated fractures in the social fabric of God's chosen people, who can't agree on whether this was an acceptable resolution.75 The mess that is chapter 34 shows a scenario that “presents no good options to anybody,”76 so it's no wonder every single character comes out looking pretty lousy. In the wake of all this, and gripped by his fear, Jacob has to be wondering why this happened to him. Is he not the chosen one of God? How could things have gone so wrong? Why are there no good options here?77
Then, in the middle of the intractable debate, God redirects them from questions of worldly rights and worldly wrongs to something deeper still.78 “Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make an altar there to God who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother” (Genesis 35:1). And that's the point. He may not have tried to sail to Tarshish, but Jacob was off-the-mark like Jonah, so why be surprised Shechem swallowed him up and spat him out? All this folly and defilement and slaughter and trouble and stench is the horrid byproduct of Jacob's own failure, “an adverse consequence for the unfulfilled vow.”79 This is a strong hint now from God for Jacob to go “perform those sacrifices which he had vowed to offer” years before.80
See, it's written: “When you vow a vow to God, do not delay to complete it, for he has no pleasure in fools” (Ecclesiastes 5:4). Shechem committed an immense foolishness, Shechem was immensely displeasing to God, and yet, however discreditable was his desire for Dinah, it was strong enough that Shechem didn't delay going through with circumcision on the spot (Genesis 34:19). Jacob, by contrast, has for years delayed the completion of his vow – so has he not condemned himself as loving God less than a spoiled predator loves a pretty girl?
In the preparations to go to Bethel, Jacob at last takes charge and speaks, and his speech reveals a lesson he needs his children to hear. The way to deal with defilement isn't all about striking back at the polluters, as if violence solved everything. Clearly, it's done little for Dinah, from whom we hear nothing. Instead, the way to handle defilement is by turning to God and his grace to bring renewal.81
Now renewed in determination to complete what God requires, now cured of his deceitful ways and his smooth operating, Jacob leads the pilgrimage to Bethel and finds that, contrary to his fears, “a terror from God was upon the cities that were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob” (Genesis 35:5). Now that he was again following God's will, God was again their protector. And at last he reaches Bethel (Genesis 35:6). Now, “there he built an altar” (Genesis 35:7), toward the completion of his vow after thirty years.82 Now he's proclaimed Israel – not because he fights and strives, but because he's learned to be upright in the eyes of God.83
Now the LORD is his God. Now this stone pillar is, for him, God's house and sanctuary. But what about that tithe Jacob vowed? Genesis doesn't explicitly say, so later Jews filled in the blanks, saying that when Jacob “tithed everything which he possessed according to his vow,” Levi himself was tithed to God for ordination as a priest,84 and Jacob “paid tithes for all to the Lord through” Levi.85 As for Dinah's fate, some thought she died young,86 others suggested she lived a long life but never married or had children,87 but in a third old tradition, she did end up a happy wife and mother to a man who'd himself been through the ringer. His name? Job.88
There are so many lessons people have tried to wring out of these chapters over the years. But perhaps all we should say is that, because Jacob fails to be where he's vowed to be, he “brings a sword, not a blessing, upon the nations.”89 As a result, he becomes a stench in the land. This disruption of peace is the first stone slip in what becomes a landslide.90 But then enters Christ, who “gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2). And “thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing – to one, a fragrance from death to death; to the other, a fragrance from life to life” (2 Corinthians 2:14-16). So let us raise our thank-offerings to God, sing praises always to his name, and thus “complete my vows day after day” (Psalm 56:12; 61:8). Amen.
1 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 231.
2 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 362.
3 James McKeown, Genesis (Eerdmans, 2008), 157, 160.
4 Matthew Susnow, The Practice of Canaanite Cult: The Middle and Late Bronze Ages (Zaphon, 2021), 58.
5 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 233-234.
6 Paul D. Vrolijk, Jacob's Wealth: An Examination into the Nature and Role of Material Possessions in the Jacob-Cycle (Gen 25:19–35:29) (Brill, 2011), 256.
7 Brian Neil Peterson, Genesis as Torah: Reading Narrative as Legal Instruction (Cascade Books, 2018), 107.
8 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 473.
9 Daniel Hankore, The Abduction of Dinah: Reading Genesis 28:10–35:15 as a Votive Narrative (Wipf & Stock, 2013), 157-159.
10 David W. Cotter, Genesis (Liturgical Press, 2003), 253.
11 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 477.
12 Jubilees 30:2, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:112.
13 Demetrius the Chronographer, fragment 2.9, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:849.
14 Theodotus, On the Jews fragment 4, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:791.
15 Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 1.337, in Loeb Classical Library 242:161.
16 Cyril of Alexandria, Glaphyra on the Pentateuch 5.3.4, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 137:267; cf. Augustine of Hippo, Questions on the Heptateuch 1.108, in The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century I/14:56.
17 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 478-479.
18 Robin Parry, Old Testament Story and Christian Ethics: The Rape of Dinah as a Case Study (Paternoster, 2004), 136.
19 John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 59.7, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 87:170.
20 Susanne Scholz, Sacred Witness: Rape in the Hebrew Bible (Fortress Press, 2010), 35.
21 Frank M. Yamada, Configurations of Rape in the Hebrew Bible: A Literary Analysis of Three Rape Narratives (Peter Lang, 2008), 39.
22 Robin Parry, Old Testament Story and Christian Ethics: The Rape of Dinah as a Case Study (Paternoster, 2004), 151; Susanne Scholz, Sacred Witness: Rape in the Hebrew Bible (Fortress Press, 2010), 37-38.
23 Daniel Hankore, The Abduction of Dinah: Reading Genesis 28:10–35:15 as a Votive Narrative (Wipf & Stock, 2013), 185, 192; Philip H. Kern, Jacob's Story as Christian Scripture (Cascade Books, 2021), 103-104.
24 Marcus Tullius Cicero, On the Republic 2.12, in James E.G. Zetzel, Cicero: On the Commonwealth and On the Laws (Cambridge University Press, 1999), 36-37; Titus Livius, History of Rome 1.9.10-16, in Loeb Classical Library 114:37-39; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 2.30.4-6, in Loeb Classical Library 319:399-401; Publius Ovidius Naso, The Art of Love 1.101-132, in Len Krisak, tr., Ovid's Erotic Poems: Amores and Ars Amatoria (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014), 116-117.
25 Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 2.30.5, in Loeb Classical Library 319:401.
26 Johanna Stiebert, Fathers and Daughters in the Hebrew Bible (Oxford University Press, 2013), 57.
27 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 484.
28 Robin Parry, Old Testament Story and Christian Ethics: The Rape of Dinah as a Case Study (Paternoster, 2004), 153.
29 John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 59.8, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 87:170.
30 Frank M. Yamada, Configurations of Rape in the Hebrew Bible: A Literary Analysis of Three Rape Narratives (Peter Lang, 2008), 41.
31 Edward F. Campbell, Shechem III: The Stratigraphy and Architecture of Shechem/Tell Balatah (American Schools of Oriental Research, 2002), 1:29-34; David W. Cotter, Genesis (Liturgical Press, 2003), 255.
32 Robin Parry, Old Testament Story and Christian Ethics: The Rape of Dinah as a Case Study (Paternoster, 2004), 158; Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 365-366.
33 Paul D. Vrolijk, Jacob's Wealth: An Examination into the Nature and Role of Material Possessions in the Jacob-Cycle (Gen 25:19–35:29) (Brill, 2011), 271.
34 James Chukwuma Okoye, Genesis 12-50: A Narrative-Theological Commentary (Cascade Books, 2020), 271.
35 Plutarch, Life of Romulus 16, in Ian Scott-Kilvert, et al., tr., The Rise of Rome: Twelve Lives by Plutarch (Penguin Books, 2013), 27.
36 Robin Parry, Old Testament Story and Christian Ethics: The Rape of Dinah as a Case Study (Paternoster, 2004), 147-148.
37 Bill T. Arnold, Genesis (Cambridge University Press, 2009), 297.
38 Leah Rediger Schulte, The Absence of God in Biblical Rape Narratives (Fortress Press, 2017), 109-110.
39 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 366.
40 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 487; Robin Parry, Old Testament Story and Christian Ethics: The Rape of Dinah as a Case Study (Paternoster, 2004), 159.
41 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 366.
42 Susanne Scholz, Sacred Witness: Rape in the Hebrew Bible (Fortress Press, 2010), 34.
43 David W. Cotter, Genesis (Liturgical Press, 2003), 256.
44 Robin Parry, Old Testament Story and Christian Ethics: The Rape of Dinah as a Case Study (Paternoster, 2004), 162.
45 Daniel Hankore, The Abduction of Dinah: Reading Genesis 28:10–35:15 as a Votive Narrative (Wipf & Stock, 2013), 188.
46 Robin Parry, Old Testament Story and Christian Ethics: The Rape of Dinah as a Case Study (Paternoster, 2004), 163.
47 Paul D. Vrolijk, Jacob's Wealth: An Examination into the Nature and Role of Material Possessions in the Jacob-Cycle (Gen 25:19–35:29) (Brill, 2011), 281-282.
48 Frank M. Yamada, Configurations of Rape in the Hebrew Bible: A Literary Analysis of Three Rape Narratives (Peter Lang, 2008), 54.
49 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 492.
50 Bill T. Arnold, Genesis (Cambridge University Press, 2009), 298; Paul D. Vrolijk, Jacob's Wealth: An Examination into the Nature and Role of Material Possessions in the Jacob-Cycle (Gen 25:19–35:29) (Brill, 2011), 273; Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 368.
51 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 237.
52 Titus Livius, History of Rome 1.10.4, in Loeb Classical Library 114:39.
53 Titus Livius, History of Rome 1.13.1-2, in Loeb Classical Library 114:47-49; Plutarch, Life of Romulus 19, in Ian Scott-Kilvert et al., tr., The Rise of Rome: Twelve Lives by Plutarch (Penguin Books, 2013), 32-33.
54 Frank M. Yamada, Configurations of Rape in the Hebrew Bible: A Literary Analysis of Three Rape Narratives (Peter Lang, 2008), 58.
55 Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 1.340, in Loeb Classical Library 242:163.
56 Theodotus, On the Jews fragment 8, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:793; Testament of Levi 6.4, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:790.
57 James McKeown, Genesis (Eerdmans, 2008), 159.
58 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 494.
59 Robin Parry, Old Testament Story and Christian Ethics: The Rape of Dinah as a Case Study (Paternoster, 2004), 164.
60 Frank M. Yamada, Configurations of Rape in the Hebrew Bible: A Literary Analysis of Three Rape Narratives (Peter Lang, 2008), 59-60; Paul D. Vrolijk, Jacob's Wealth: An Examination into the Nature and Role of Material Possessions in the Jacob-Cycle (Gen 25:19–35:29) (Brill, 2011), 276.
61 Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (Zondervan Academic, 2001), 458.
62 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 371.
63 James McKeown, Genesis (Eerdmans, 2008), 159.
64 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 495-496; Nechama Price, Tribal Blueprints: Twelve Brothers and the Destiny of Israel (Maggid Books, 2020), 42.
65 Eve Levavi Feinstein, Sexual Pollution in the Hebrew Bible (Oxford University Press, 2014), 88; S. David Sperling, Ve-Eileh Divrei David: Essays in Semitics, Hebrew Bible, and History of Biblical Scholarship (Brill, 2017), 279.
66 Jubilees 30:14, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:113.
67 Joseph and Aseneth 23.14, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:240-241.
68 Testament of Levi 5.3, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:790.
69 Judith 9:2, in Deborah Levine Gera, Judith (De Gruyter, 2014), 294.
70 Theodotus, On the Jews fragment 7, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:793.
71 Jubilees 30:23, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:114.
72 Paul D. Vrolijk, Jacob's Wealth: An Examination into the Nature and Role of Material Possessions in the Jacob-Cycle (Gen 25:19–35:29) (Brill, 2011), 278-279.
73 Cyril of Alexandria, Glaphyra on the Pentateuch 5.3.4, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 137:268.
74 Ambrose of Milan, Jacob and the Happy Life 2.7 §32, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 65:164-165.
75 Frank M. Yamada, Configurations of Rape in the Hebrew Bible: A Literary Analysis of Three Rape Narratives (Peter Lang, 2008), 61.
76 Matthew R. Schlimm, From Fratricide to Forgiveness: The Language and Ethics of Anger in Genesis (Eisenbrauns, 2011), 160.
77 Daniel Hankore, The Abduction of Dinah: Reading Genesis 28:10–35:15 as a Votive Narrative (Wipf & Stock, 2013), 196.
78 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 500.
79 Daniel Hankore, The Abduction of Dinah: Reading Genesis 28:10 – 35:15 as a Votive Narrative (Wipf & Stock, 2013), 263.
80 Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 1.341, in Loeb Classical Library 242:163.
81 Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (Zondervan Academic, 2001), 471; R. R. Reno, Genesis (Brazos Press, 2010), 255-256.
82 Daniel Hankore, The Abduction of Dinah: Reading Genesis 28:10–35:15 as a Votive Narrative (Wipf & Stock, 2013), 199.
83 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 369.
84 Aramaic Levi Document 5:2, in Jonas C. Greenfield, Michael E. Stone, and Esther Eshel, The Aramaic Levi Document: Edition, Translation, Commentary (Brill, 2004), 71.
85 Testament of Levi 9.4, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:791.
86 Jubilees 34:16, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:121.
87 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 498; Philip H. Kern, Jacob's Story as Christian Scripture (Cascade Books, 2021), 115.
88 Testament of Job 1.6, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:840, where Dinah becomes Job's second wife after his first wife dies for urging him to curse God; but compare Pseudo-Philo, Biblical Antiquities 8.8, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:314, where Dinah is Job's only wife (and, by implication, the one who bade him curse God and die).
89 Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (Zondervan Academic, 2001), 468.
90 Brian Neil Peterson, Genesis as Torah: Reading Narrative as Legal Instruction (Cascade Books, 2018), 119.
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