After Shechem the Canaanite raped Dinah, Simeon and Levi gained revenge by deceiving the Shechemites into being circumcised as the condition for Dinah's marriage. Then they murdered the incapacitated men of the city.
"The story is a tangled skein of good and evil, as are all the patriarchal narratives."754
Dinah must have been a teenager at this time.755
34:1-17 Moses used the name "Israel"here for the first time as a reference to God's chosen people (v. 7). The family of Jacob had a special relationship to God by divine calling reflected in the name "Israel"(prince with God). Therefore Shechem's act was a specially "disgraceful thing"having been committed against a member of the family with the unique vocation (cf. Deut. 22:21; Josh. 7:15; Judg. 20:10; 2 Sam. 13:2; et al.).
"What had happened to Dinah was considered by Jacob's family to be of the same nature as what later was known as a disgraceful thing in Israel' [i.e., rape]."756
As was customary in their culture, Jacob's sons took an active part in approving their sister's marriage (v. 13; cf. 24:50). They were correct in opposing the end in view: the mixing of the chosen seed with the seed of the Canaanites. Yet they were wrong in adopting the means they selected to achieve their end. In their deception they show themselves to be "chips off the old block,"Jacob.
"Marriage was always preceded by betrothal, in which the bridegroom's family paid a mhdmarriage present' to the bride's family (1 Sam 18:25). In cases of premarital intercourse, this still had to be paid to legitimize the union, and the girl's father was allowed to fix the size of the marriage present (Exod 22:15-16 [16-17]; limited by Deut 22:29 to a maximum of fifty shekels). . . . Here it seems likely that Shechem is offering both a marriage present' to Jacob and a gift' to Dinah."757
34:18-31 We can explain the agreement of the men of the city, including Hamor and Shechem (v. 18), to undergo circumcision. Other nations besides Jacob's family practiced this rite at this time as an act of consecration.758Jacob was not suggesting that these men convert from one religion to another.759Normally circumcision was practiced on adults rather than on infants before God told Abraham to circumcise the infants born in his family (17:12-14).
It was "sometimes an initiation into marriageable status."760
Dinah, Simeon, and Levi were the children of Jacob and Leah, the unloved wife (v. 25). Simeon and Levi doubtless felt closer to Dinah than some of her other half-brothers did for this reason. Perhaps Jacob's indifference to Dinah's plight, evidenced by his lack of action, prompted the violent overreaction of her brothers.761
While Simeon and Levi took the lead in this atrocity, all of Jacob's sons evidently participated with them in the looting of the city (v. 27; cf. vv. 28-29).
Jacob's distress arose because of two facts (v. 30). His sons had committed murder and robbery, and his family had now broken a covenant, a very serious act in their society.
"It is ironic to hear Jacob venting his disgust over Simeon's and Levi's failure to honor their word, especially in terms of its potential consequence for Jacob, for he had done exactly that on more than one occasion."762
Deception proceeded to murder and pillage. As a result of this sin Jacob passed over Simeon and Levi for the primary blessing (49:5-7). It went to Judah instead.
"The crafty character of Jacob degenerated into malicious cunning in Simeon and Levi; and jealousy for the exalted vocation of their family, into actual sin."763
"Of course, fear is natural in such a situation, but the reasons Jacob gives for damning his sons betray him. He does not condemn them for the massacre, for abusing the rite of circumcision, or even for breach of contract. Rather, he protests that the consequences of their action have made him unpopular. Nor does he seem worried by his daughter's rape or the prospect of intermarriage with the Canaanites. He is only concerned for his own skin."764
It is interesting that Simeon and Levi referred to Dinah as "our sister"(v. 31) rather than as Jacob's daughter, which would have been appropriate in addressing Jacob. This implies that since Jacob had not showed enough concern for Dinah her blood brothers felt compelled to act in her defense.
The significance of this chapter is fourfold at least.
1. It explains why Jacob passed over Simeon and Levi for the special blessing.
2. It shows the importance of keeping the chosen seed separate from the Canaanites.765
"The law [of Moses] said that Israel was not to intermarry with the Canaanites or make treaties with them but was to destroy them because they posed such a threat. This passage provides part of the rationale for such laws, for it describes how immoral Canaanites defiled Israel by sexual contact and attempted to marry for the purpose of swallowing up Israel."766
"People who live on the borderland between church and world are like those who lived in the old days on the borders between England and Scotland--they are never safe."767
3. It gives a reason for the sanctification of Jacob's household that follows (35:2-4).
4. It demonstrates the sovereign control of God.
"While the story in this chapter operates at a level of family honor and the brothers' concern for their ravaged sister, the story nevertheless also carries along the theme that runs so clearly through the Jacob narratives, namely, that God works through and often in spite of the limited self-serving plans of human beings. The writer's purpose is not to approve these human plans and schemes but to show how God, in his sovereign grace, could still achieve his purpose through them."768
Younger zealots such as Simeon and Levi may bring reproach on God's covenant through their misguided zeal. This may happen when spiritual leaders such as Jacob are indifferent to pagan defilement and fail to act decisively against it.769
". . . this story shows Jacob's old nature reasserting itself, a man whose moral principles are weak, who is fearful of standing up for right when it may cost him dearly, who doubts God's power to protect, and who allows hatred to divide him from his children just as it had divided him from his brother."770
Many believers bring the wrath of unbelievers on themselves and on other believers by their ungodly behavior, as Jacob, Simeon, and Levi did.
