Fke Dishonour 0
Fke Dishonour 0/ Dinah. GENESIS XXXIV, XXXV. Jacob Meproveih Simeon and Levi.
The sons of Jacob answered—The honour of their family consist€d In having the sign of the covenant. Circumcision was the external rite by which persons were ailmitted members of the ancient Church. But Uiat outward rite could not make the Shechemites true Israelites; and yet It does not appear that Jacob's sons required any thing more. Nothing is said of their teaching the people to Worship the true Godj but only of their insisting on their being circumcised ; and it is evident that they did not seek to convert Shechem, but only made a show of religion—a cloak to cover their diabolical design. Hypocrisy and deceit, in all cases vicious, are inflnitetj' more so when accompanied with a show of religion ; and here the sons of Jacob, under the pretence of conscientious scruples, conceal a scheme of treachery as cruel and diabolical as was, perhaps, ever perpetrated. 30. Hamor and Shechem . . . came unto the gate of their city—That was the place where every public communication was made; and in the ready obsequious submission of the people to this measure we see an evidence either of the extraordinary af Tection for the governing family, or of the abjectdespotism of the East, wherethewillof achief isanabtentlon, passing round the Dead Sea, to visit his brother lu Seir, and thus, without crossing the Jordan, go to Beerslieba to Isaac; but he clianged his plan, and whether the intention was carried out then or at a future period has not been recorded. 17. Jacob journeyed to Siiccoth
/. e., booths, that being the first station at whicli Jacob lialted on his arrival in Canaan. His posterity, when dwelling in houses of stone, built a city there and called it Succoth, to commemorate the fact that their ancestor, " a Syrian ready to perish," was glad to dwell in booths. 19. Slialem i. e., peace ; and the meaning may be that Jacob came into Canaan, arriving safe and sound at the city Shechem—a tribute to Him wlio had promised such a return (cf. ch. 28. 15). But most writers take Shalem as a proper name—a city of Shechem, and the site is marked by one of the little villages about two miles to the north-east. A little further in the valley below Shechem " he bought a parcel of a field, where he spread his tent," thus Ijeing the first of the patriarchs who became a proprietor of land in Canaan. 19. an hunclred pieces of money—pieces, lit., " lambs;" probably a coin with the figure of a lamb on it. 30. and he erected . . . on altar—A beautiful proof of his personal piety, a most suitable conclusion to his journey, and a lasting memorial of a distinguished favour in the name "God, the God of Israel." Wherever we pitch a tent God shall have an altar.
solute command. 30. Jacob said . . . Ye have tronbled me—This atrocious outrage perpetrated on the defenceless citizens and their families made the cup of Jacob's affliction overflow. We may wonder that, in speaking of it to his sons, he did not represent it as a heinous sin—an atrocious violation of the laws of God and man, but dwelt solely on the present consequences. It was probably because that was the only view likely to rouse the coldblooded apathy, the hardened consciences of those ruffian sons. Nothing but the restraining power of God saved him and his family from the united vengeance of the people (cf. ch. 35. 5). All his sons had not been engaged in the massacre. Joseph was a boy, Benjamin not yet born, and the other eight not concerned In It. Simeon and Levi alone, with their retainers, had been the guilty actors In the bloody tragedy. But the Canaanltes would not be discriminating In their vengeance; and if
CHAPTEE XXXIV.
Ver. 1-31. The Dishonour of Dinah. 1-4. Though freed from foreign troubles, Jacob met with a great domestic calamity in the fall of his only daughter. According to Josephus, she had been attending a festival ; but it
Is highly probable that she had been often and freely mixing in the society of the place, and that being a simple. Inexperienced, and vain young woman, had been flattered by the attentions of the ruler's son. There must have been time and opportunities of acquaintance to produce the strong attachment that Shechem had for her.
all the Shechemites were put to death for the of Tence of their clilef s son, what wonder If the natives should extend their hatred to all the family of Jacob; and who probably, equalled, in number, the Inhabitants of that village.
5. Jacob Held Uls pence—Jacob, as a father and a good man, must liave been deeply distressed. But he could do little. In the ease of a family by difierent wives, it is not the father, but the full brotliers, on whom the protection of tlie daugliters devolves—they are the guardians of a sis-
CHAPTER XXXV.
ter s welfare and the avengers of her wrongs. It was for this reason that Simeon and Levi, the two brothers of Dinah by Leah, appear tlie chief actors in this episode; and tliough the two fathers would have probably brought about an ainical>le arrangement of the affair, the hasty arrival of these enraged brothers introduced a new element into the negotiations. 6. Ilamor i.e., ass; and it
Ver. 1-15. Removal, to Bbthei.. 1. God said unto Jacob, Arise, <fec.—This command was given as seasonably in point of time, as tenderly in respect of language. The disgraceful and perilous events that had recently taken place in the patriarch's family must have produced in him a strong desire to remove without delay from the vicinity of Shechem. Borne down by an overwhelming sense of the criminality of his two sons—of the offence they had given to God, and the dishonour they had brought on the true faith ; distracted, too, with anxiety, about the probable consequences which their outrage might bring upon himself and family, should the Canaanis a striking proof of the very difl'erent ideas wlilcli, in tlie East, are associated with that animal, which there appears sprightly, well proportioned, and of groat activity. This chief is called Emmor (Acts 7. 1(>). 7. tlie men were grieved, and . . . very wroth—Good mev ^u sucli a case could not but grieve; but it would have beeh well if their anger had been less, or that they had known tlie precept " let not the sun go down upon your wrath." No Injury can justify revenge (Deuteronomy 32. 35 ; Romans 12.9); hut Jacob's sons planned a scheme of revenge In the most deceitful manner. 8. Ilamor commnncd with them The prince and his son seem at first slglit to liavo acted honestly, and our feelings are enlisted on their side. They betray no jealousy of the powerful shephenls; on the contrary, show every desire to establish friendly Intercourse. But their conduct was unjustifiable In neither expressing regret nor restoring Dinah to her family; and this great error was the true cause of the negotiations ending In ho unhappy a manner. II. Shechem said unto lier father ite people combine to extirpate such a band of robbers and murderers ; he must have felt this call as affording a great relief to his afflicted feelings. At the same time it conveyed a tender rebuke, go up to Bethel—Bethel was about thirty miles south of Shechem; and was an ascent from a low to a highland country. There, he would not only be released from the painful associations of the latter place, but be established on a spot that would revive the most delightful and sublime recollections. The pleasure of revisiting it, however, was not altogether unalloyed, make tliere an altar nuto (>od, that appeared—It too frequently happens that early impressions are effaced through lapse of time—that promises made In seasons of distress, are forgotten ; or, If remembered on the return of health and prosperity, there Is not the same alacrity and sense of ol)ligation felt to fulfil tliem. Jacob was lying under that charge. He had fallen Into spiritual Indolence.
, . . and brethren—The consideration of the iHoiiosnl for marriage belonged to Jacob, and he cirtatnly sliowed great weakness In yielding so much to the fiery ImpetuOHlty of Ills sons. The sequel shows the unhappy conse-
of that concession. 13. Auk me never 80 mnch dowry and gift—Tho gift refers to the presents made at
It was now eight or ton years since his return to Canaan. He had eirected a comfortable settlement; and had neknowledged the Divine mercies, by which that return and betrothal, both to the bride elect and lier relations (cf. oh. U. 53) the dowry to a suitable settlement upon her. 13. 3b