Genesis 31-40

Genesis 34: The Rape of Dinah.

Dinah, the daughter of Jacob & Leah, catches the eye of Shechem, the son of Hamor, a Canaanite. Shechem rapes Dinah, then tells his father he wants to marry her. Jacob’s sons are furious about what happened to their sister, but they decide to trick Hamor, Shechem, and their entire city into being circumcised so Shechem can take Dinah as his wife. After the entire city is circumcised, while the men of the city are still in great pain and unable to fight, Dinah’s brothers plunder the city, killing all the males and capturing all the women and children.

Sometimes the Bible puts forth an incredible vision of peace—a vision of the world as it should be.

Genesis 34 is not one of those times.

Rape. Lies. Violence. Greed. Vengeance.

Not to mention the fact that all of this plays out between two groups, the in-group and the out-group, the people of God and the Canaanites, the chosen and the…not-so-chosen.

So, what do we do with a text like this one? What does it mean for this story and other stories like it to be part of this collection of texts we call Scripture?

Well, I think the first thing it means is that we are intended to engage these difficult texts. We are not supposed to skip over them, simply flipping pages until we find the next happy ending. We are supposed to read Genesis 34 and sit with it for a while. How does it feel?

Are you angry along with Dinah’s brothers?

How do you think Dinah feels?

Does this act of revenge satisfy you?

Can you hear the cries of the women and children of the city?

At the end of this story, nothing is solved. Jacob is furious with his sons at the possibility of the people of Canaan retaliating and attacking his household. Jacob’s sons reply to their father, “But dad—they treated Dinah like a whore! They deserved it!” Not only is an entire city dead and plundered, the Canaanites are probably mad, Jacob is mad, and Jacob’s sons are mad because Jacob is mad. And Dinah’s voice is silenced. Mission accomplished? Not so much.

Well, in keeping with the biblical text, this blog will also end with no solution.

After all, the Bible is not something to be solved. It is something to be engaged.

Sometimes that engagement yields hope. Sometimes it yields frustration and discomfort.

Sit with it. Sit with God.

Wrestle with it. Wrestle with God.

But whatever you do, do not ignore it.

“On the third day, when they were still in pain, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city unawares, and killed all the males. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away. And the other sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because their sister had been defiled. They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and made their prey.” –Gen 34.25-29 NRSV