Genesis 34

Genesis 34:1

It all begins with God An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on the Book of Genesis www.easyenglish.info Marie Wetherill and Keith Simons This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 34 Dinah v1 Now Dinah was the daughter of Jacob and Leah. Dinah went out to visit the women in that country. v2 Shechem was Hamor’s son. Hamor was a *Hivite and he was the prince of that country. Shechem saw Dinah. He seized her and he had sex with her. He *raped her. v3 Shechem thought that Jacob’s daughter Dinah was very attractive. Shechem loved her very much. He spoke to her in a kind way. v4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor. Shechem said, ‘Get this girl for me to be my wife.’

v5 Shechem had *raped Jacob’s daughter, Dinah. Jacob heard that news. Jacob’s sons were taking care of the *cattle in the field. Jacob said nothing until they came back.

v6 Hamor, Shechem’s father, went out to speak to Jacob. v7 Jacob’s sons heard about what had happened. They came in from the field. Those men were very sad and angry. Shechem had done something that nobody should ever do in Israel. He had had sex with Jacob’s daughter.

v8 But Hamor spoke to Jacob’s sons. He said, ‘My son Shechem loves your daughter very much. Please give her to him to be his wife. v9 Let people from our nations marry each other. Give your daughters to us. Take our daughters for yourselves. v10 Stay with us. Our country is open to you. Live in it and trade in it. Buy land in it.’

v11 Shechem, too, spoke to Dinah’s father and brothers. ‘I want to please you. I will give to you whatever you ask. v12 I will give to you whatever price you want me to pay for the bride. And I will give to you whatever present you want. I will give them to you, even if it is a lot of money. Please give the girl to me to be my wife.’

v13 Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and Hamor, Shechem’s father. The sons lied to them. The sons were angry because Shechem had *raped their sister Dinah. v14 Jacob’s sons said to Hamor and Shechem, ‘We cannot do this. We cannot give our sister as a bride to Shechem. If we did that, people would not respect us any longer. They would not respect us because Shechem has not received *circumcision. v15 We can agree to do what you ask.

But we will agree only if you do this. All your men must receive *circumcision as we have done. v16 Then we will let you marry our daughters. And we will marry your daughters. Then we will live among you. We will become one nation with you. v17 But perhaps you will not listen to us. Perhaps you will refuse to receive *circumcision.

Then we will take our daughter and we will go away.’

v18 Hamor and his son Shechem were pleased to hear that. v19 The young man Shechem did not wait. He *circumcised himself, because he was so happy with Jacob’s daughter. Shechem was the noblest man in his family. v20 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to their city’s gate. They spoke to the men that lived in their city. Hamor and Shechem said this: v21 ‘These men are friendly to us. Let them stay in our country and let them trade in it.

Let them stay because the country is big enough for them to be there. Let us marry their daughters. And let them marry our daughters. v22 They will agree to live among us. They will become one nation with us. But they will do it only if we do this one thing. All our men must receive *circumcision as they have received *circumcision. v23 Their *cattle, their animals and everything that they own will be ours.

They will stay among us if we agree with them.’

v24 Everyone that went out of the city’s gate listened to Hamor and his son Shechem. Every man received *circumcision. All those men that went out of the city gate received *circumcision.

v25 On the third day, all those men were very sore. Two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, who were Dinah’s brothers, eagerly took their swords. They attacked the city, where the people felt safe. They killed all the men. v26 Simeon and Levi used swords to kill Hamor and his son Shechem. Then they took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and they went away. v27 Jacob’s sons stole things from the dead bodies. They stole things from the city. They did that because Shechem had *raped their sister. v28 The brothers took the *flocks and *herds and *donkeys. They took everything that was in the city. And they took everything that was in the field. v29 They took everything that was valuable. They took the wives and children and they took everything from the houses. They took everyone as prisoners.

v30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ‘You have caused trouble for me. The nations in this country, both the *Canaanites and the *Perizzites, will hate me. I do not have a big army. Perhaps they will unite to fight against me. Perhaps they will attack me. Then they will kill me and my *household.’

v31 But Levi and Simeon just replied, ‘He should not have sex with our sister as he would do with a *prostitute.’

Jacob served the real God (Genesis 34:20). But Jacob’s family did not. They used *idols, which were images of false gods (Genesis 35:2). And they were not behaving in the same manner as people who serve the real God.

This became a very serious matter when a man called Shechem *raped Dinah. Dinah was the daughter of Jacob and Leah. Simeon and Levi were brothers of Dinah. They became very angry when they heard about Shechem.

They made a cruel plot. They pretended that Shechem could marry Dinah. But first, Shechem would have to accept *circumcision. And they wanted every male in Shechem’s town to accept *circumcision. Shechem’s town was called Shechem too (Genesis 12:6). The men agreed. But while the men were still hurting, Simeon and Levi attacked them. Simeon and Levi killed every man in the town, including Shechem.

Jacob was very unhappy about the behaviour of Simeon and Levi. They had acted in the same manner as very wicked people behave. Shechem deserved punishment. But the actions of Simeon and Levi were much too cruel. And now, Jacob’s whole family was in danger.

Before he died, Jacob *blessed his sons. But he did not *bless Simeon or Levi. Instead, he said that their anger was terrible. So, God would scatter their *descendants across the country called Israel (Genesis 49:5-7). Notes on the verses Verse 1 We do not know whether Dinah had sisters. People often made lists that showed members in a family. (See Genesis 29:31-35; 30:1-24). But such a list did not include girls, unless there was a special reason for that. Maybe Dinah should not have gone out to visit those people. Maybe that was dangerous.

Verse 2 At that time, people considered that sex between unmarried people was very seriously wrong. God says that this is wrong. There are laws about this in Deuteronomy 22:23-29.

Verses 3-4 Shechem very much wanted to marry Dinah. We do not know whether Dinah wanted to marry Shechem.

Verse 5 The report about Dinah probably upset Jacob greatly. But Jacob did not say anything. Perhaps he was too sad to speak about the matter. Perhaps he did not want to make any decisions while his sons were away. Perhaps he was being careful not to speak too quickly, in case his reaction was angry. So, Jacob waited.

Verse 7 In *Hebrew, the writer says that Shechem had ‘done a foolish thing in Israel’. The word ‘foolish’ can mean ‘evil’. ‘In Israel’ may mean ‘in Israel’s family’. That is Jacob’s family, because Jacob was also called Israel. It may also mean that the writer was referring to the future nation called Israel. The nation called Israel would come from Jacob’s (Israel’s) family.

Verses 8-19 Hamor and Shechem were very polite. And Jacob and his sons were also very polite. However, Jacob’s sons were telling lies about what they would do. And Shechem had not given Dinah back.

Verses 8-9 God would give very clear rules about marriages between *Israelites and other nations. Jacob and his family did not know these rules yet. But both Abraham and Isaac thought that their children should not marry anyone from Canaan.

Verse 10 To ‘trade’ may mean to ‘move about’. Merchants (traders) were people that moved about.

Verse 13 The brothers were angry because Shechem had *raped their sister. It seems that he was still living with her.

Verses 14-17 Jacob’s sons were not respecting God. They were using *circumcision for their own advantage. They were not using it to show a *covenant with God. Jacob’s sons wanted only to make the men in Shechem weak. The sons wanted to defeat and to kill those men.

Verse 20 People usually discussed all the important things at the city’s gate.

Verses 21-23 Hamor and Shechem were clever. They told the men in their city that the *Israelites’ wealth would come to the city. Actually, Hamor had invited the *Israelites to have land in the city. But Hamor and Shechem did not tell that to the men in the city. The reason for all that was so that Shechem could marry Dinah, the *Israelite woman. But Hamor and Shechem did not say the reason. The writer writes about ‘men that went out of the gate’. It probably means healthy, skilful men that could fight. Such men could also work in the fields.

Verse 25 Simeon and Levi punished the men in Shechem too severely. The brothers were very cruel.

Verse 26 Simeon and Levi took Dinah away. In the meantime, Dinah had been with Shechem all the time. That was another reason why her brothers were so angry. Simeon and Levi may have had other men with them. But in a surprise attack, it was sometimes better to have only a few men.

Verses 27-29 After Simeon and Levi killed the men, Jacob’s sons took everything away from the city. They took all the possessions that had belonged to the dead men. And they kept these things for themselves. They also took the women and children to be their slaves. So, Jacob’s sons became wealthy. But they became wealthy because of Simeon and Levi’s cruelty.

Verses 30-31 The behaviour of Jacob’s sons upset Jacob greatly. He realised that other people would oppose him because of his sons’ actions. Now, his sons had become wealthy and powerful. And Jacob had learned that he could not control them.

God had promised to make Jacob’s *descendants into a great nation. But Jacob did not want that nation to be a wicked nation. So, Jacob needed to teach his sons about God (Genesis 35:1-15).

Nobody in the story was innocent. Dinah went out to visit those people. That was a dangerous thing to do. Hamor and Shechem did something wrong to her. And they were not honest with Jacob’s family about it. Hamor and Shechem were not honest with their own people either. Jacob probably should have done more about Dinah’s situation. But he was perhaps more worried about his own safety among his neighbours.

But the behaviour of Simeon and Levi was terrible. The brothers punished the men in Shechem too severely. They were cruel. It is clear that people in Jacob’s family were bitter and angry. And they were behaving like people who did not know God.

© 2006, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

May 2006

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var w1 = new Array;w1[0]=’<b%3EHivite</b%3E ~ someone from a group (tribe) of people called the Hivites. They lived in the country called Canaan.