Genesis 34
The Battle Over Dinah

1. The Background
   1. Jacob's Incentives to Faith
      1. Bethel
      2. God appearing to him in Haran - God has prospered him
      3. God appearing to Laban - God protects him
      4. The angels appearing at Mahanaim - he has chosen the better part
      5. God blesses him at Peniel
         1. He wrestles with God, sees his face, and lives!
         2. God gives him a new name - no longer Jacob the supplanter
   2. Jacob's Wavering
      1. Jacob lingers in Haran despite Bethel
         1. To gain a second wife
         2. To gain wealth - for which he trusts to his own trickery
      2. Jacob flees Laban in fear despite God appearing to him and telling him to return to Bethel
      3. Jacob fears Esau because he trusts in his own righteousness
      4. Jacob, blessed by God with a new name, acts according to the old name by deceiving Esau into thinking he'll come dwell at Seir.
      5. Jacob settles in Succoth, outside the Promised Land
      6. Jacob finally crosses Jordan but doesn't go on to Bethel, the house of God
      7. His compromises with the world are ongoing; he cannot bring himself to leave the world of earthly prosperity entirely behind him.
      8. And this sets him up for trouble in the land of Shechem
2. The Story with Commentary
   1. The Violation of Dinah
      1. She went out "to see the daughters of the land"
         1. Already, there are signs of trouble
         2. The children of the covenant are mingling with the children of this world.
         3. Why did Jacob not guard his household better by going to Bethel?
      2. So Dinah is taken and violated by Shechem, son of Hamor.
      3. And he desires her as his wife
         1. This is bad news.
         2. Remember when Abraham wanted a wife for Isaac - don't take one from around here!
         3. Remember how Jacob was sent away to find a wife.
         4. Intermarriage with this people devoted to destruction is bad news.
         5. The Israelites knew this years later from the Mosaic Law
      4. So this is the tension that is set up
         1. Will Dinah make an ungodly alliance with the people of Shechem?
         2. Will Jacob in faith forbid it or in fear allow it?
   2. The Reaction of Jacob and His Sons
      1. Jacob is silent until his sons come home.
         1. Silent! He does not dare rebuke Shechem
         2. He waits for his sons to come and resolve the matter. Why?
            1. He is scared of Shechem and trusts his sons, rather than God, to find a way out of this mess.
            2. Dinah is his daughter by Leah, the less favored wife, so he just doesn't care as much.
      2. The sons, in contrast are furious, particularly Simeon and Levi, two of Dinah's full brothers.
      3. They are angry, "Because [Shechem] had done a disgraceful thing in Israel" (7)
         1. They take the new identity that God gave Jacob - Israel!
         2. They think of themselves in these terms, as the newly named people of God with different standards from the world.
         3. Their reaction is a rebuke to Jacob's inaction
         4. Yet they are far from blame themselves.
   3. Jacob's Sons and Hamor Negotiate
      1. Hamor - Let's have an alliance of marriages. You give us your daughters in marriage, we'll give you ours.
         1. It's as in the days of Noah
         2. Remember? The "sons of God" (people of the line of the promised seed) married the "daughters of men" (people outside that covenant lineage)
         3. And the result? Did the sons of God sanctify the daughters of men? No. The daughters of men corrupted the sons of God and the whole world - except for Noah - became wicked.
         4. That's what's at stake here
            1. Only worse, because if Jacob is corrupted, there's no longer anyone like Noah, the chosen seed of God, to save.
            2. If this intermarriage takes place, there can be no chosen race as distinct from the races of Canaan who must be destroyed.
         5. He tempts Jacob and his sons further
            1. Dwell with us and the land shall be before you. Dwell and trade in it, and acquire possessions for yourselves. (10)
            2. Stop seeking Bethel, the house of God, you silly man!
            3. Make your home here. Become rich here. Have treasure here.
      2. Shechem goes even further in this temptation
         1. I'll give you anything you want (11)
         2. It's a tempting offer indeed.
      3. Jacob - says nothing. He fails as a head of his household to reject this offer of the devil
      4. Jacob's sons -
         1. Answered deceitfully.
         2. Like father, like sons. They do not trust the Lord either but their own clever tongues and plans.
         3. You must all become circumcised, they say. (14,15)
            1. Technically true.
            2. But what does circumcision mean? It means to accept the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and give up your trust in all else but the promises he has made.
            3. The sons say nothing of this.
            4. They have taken the sign of God's covenant and corrupted it to their wicked ends.
         4. The sons, too, lack faith and behave like men of the world.
   4. Hamor Speaks to His People
      1. Hamor and his son Shechem agree to the plan and go back to convince their people
      2. Here, there true colors come through
         1. They observe that the land is big enough for all of them, so let them trade in it.
         2. "Will not their livestock, their property, and every animal of theirs be ours" (23)
         3. They aren't interested in enriching the sons of Israel, despite their deceitful words.
         4. They are interested in enriching themselves.
      3. This is the character of the world
         1. It makes wonderful promises
         2. But in the end it seeks to enslave you and take even what you do have.
         3. Children of God, we must fear loving the world and what the world provides
      4. So the men of Shechem circumcise themselves
   5. The Sons of Israel Attack
      1. They wait until the third day when the soreness and the fever from infection will be at their worst.
      2. Then Simeon and Levi go in and kill them all and take Dinah.
      3. Then the rest of the sons of Jacob plunder the city and take all the possessions and take captive the women and children.
      4. It is like a picture of the day of judgment
         1. A complete split is made between the people of God and the people of the world.
         2. No mercy is shown to the people of the world, but terror and wrath.
         3. And all that belongs to the people of the world is given into the hands of the people of God.
      5. Yet it's hard to rejoice in this picture of God's Judgment, isn't it?
         1. The sons bring it about by deceit and by making a mockery of the sign of circumcision.
         2. And this is not the proper time
            1. God told Abraham that his descendants would go to Egypt and it would be 4 generations after that before the iniquity of the inhabitants of this land would be full.
            2. THEN the children of Abraham would come and execute the judgment of God against the Canaanites.
            3. But the sons of Jacob didn't wait.
            4. By deceit, they brought in God's judgment too soon.
            5. They took vengeance into their own hands, not trusting the Lord to avenge wrongs done against his people.
         3. What a mess!
   6. Jacob's Rebuke and His Sons' Reply
      1. Jacob is not concerned about any of this, however.
      2. His focus isn't on the unrighteousness of what his sons have done or their failure to trust the Lord.
      3. After all, his very presence in Shechem is a sign that he too has failed to trust the Lord. He should be in Bethel.
      4. Rather, he worries that he is now in trouble with the Canaanites and Perizzites and since he is few in number, they will destroy him and his household (30)
      5. Has Jacob learned nothing?
         1. God has protected him over and over
         2. God has taught him over and over that it is not possessions that matter but the inheritance that is in heaven at God's right hand.
         3. Yet still he fears because he is not strong.
         4. Yet still he loves his possessions and worries that someone will take them.
         5. Where is your faith, Jacob, after all you have seen and heard?
      6. The sons reply "Should he treat our sister like a harlot?" (31)
         1. And what can Jacob say?
         2. They were right to be offended, but wrong to take vengeance in the way they did.
         3. But then how were they supposed to get Dinah back without intermarriage?
      7. None of this would have happened if Jacob hadn't loved the world and had instead taken his household directly to Bethel.
      8. What a mess!
3. How Will All This Be Resolved?
   1. In Israel Triumphing Over the Canaanites
      1. This is the first purification of this ugly scene played out in Shechem.
      2. Israel will leave Egypt and go to the Promised Land.
      3. There, the Israelites will execute God's vengeance against the Canaanites, destroying everything in their path.
      4. Then we will have a better picture of the completeness of the judgment of God against sin
         1. But still, it will only be a picture.
         2. The real judgment of God will be yet to come.
   2. In Christ Triumphing Over His and Our Enemies
      1. The temptation of Hamor and Shechem will be set before Christ
         1. The devil will show Jesus the whole world and offer it to him
         2. Just one little catch - stop seeking and trusting God and bow down to me instead.
         3. (We'll cover Matthew's account of this this evening.)
         4. Jesus succeeds as a head of his house where Jacob failed. He resisted that temptation for you.
         5. We grieved here over Jacob's failure to resist temptation
         6. When Christ comes, his people can rejoice at his success.
      2. Satan will come and bruise his heel at the cross
      3. But Christ will rise again to crush Satan's head
         1. He has triumphed over his and our enemies at the resurrection
         2. He has triumphed over the world
            1. As Jacob clearly didn't, being tempted by it
            2. As Jacob's sons clearly didn't, using the ungodly tactics of the world for their "triumph"
            3. But he, rising again, left the world behind him and entered a new creation that will not pass away.
         3. He has triumphed over sin - as Jacob and his sons clearly did not
         4. He has triumphed over death - Jacob and his sons will suffer the same fate as the Shechemites, death.
      4. Here is a triumph we can truly rejoice in
         1. He has not sinned to accomplish it
         2. And his triumph is complete
   3. In the Church Triumphing as Christ Has Triumphed
      1. He has given us a new identity - better than the name of Israel which is here corrupted
      2. He has given us a new home
         1. better than what the Shechemites offer
         2. Better even than Bethel
         3. He has given us a home in heaven with him, where our treasure is, eternally.
      3. We have triumphed over the world in him
         1. By turning our backs on what the world offers and seeking that which is eternal
         2. By making disciples of all men
            1. We baptize them - not as some sham sign of the covenant to trick them - but by the Spirit conquering hearts and souls for Jesus
            2. And by the Spirit we subdue them to the commands of Christ and teach them to observe all he has commanded us.
            3. This is a genuine triumph
         3. Is it of this triumph that God has made me a herald
            1. 2 Cor 2:14-16 "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?"
            2. So you as well, hearing this word of triumph, are made the visible sign of Christ's triumph over all our enemies.
            3. And those who are perishing smell this aroma and tremble.
            4. But to us who are being saved it is sweet and fragrant
            5. The aroma of this story - of Hamor and Shechem and Jacob and his sons - is distasteful
            6. But the aroma of the triumph of Christ is sweet and pleasant and lacks nothing.
      4. We have triumphed over sin in him
         1. Therefore let us not be like Jacob's sons
         2. They use the tricks of the world, deceitfulness and sin, to defeat the world.
         3. But in Christ we have turned our back on sin and may be without deceit or anger or vengeance though we should be greatly persecuted.
      5. And in him we have triumphed over death.
   4. In Christ's Coming Again
      1. He is no deceiver.
      2. He has openly declared to all that they must lay down their arms against him or be destroyed.
      3. Christ does not pretend to offer intermarriage between the church and the world.
      4. he cries out, leave your world behind; it is about to be consumed with fire!
      5. In the last day he shall indeed judge with a terrible vengeance
         1. What the sons of Jacob do in this story is nothing in comparison
         2. He will lay waste to the entire world and all its peoples
         3. Only those who have citizenship in heaven will be saved.
         4. This, not what the world can do to us, is what we ought to fear.
         5. And this is what we have already been saved from in Christ.
      6. Let us walk as those who have that day always before us
         1. Not in fear, like Jacob, for what do we have to fear?
         2. Not in the love of this world, like Jacob, for we have been made dwellers of Bethel, the house of God, in Christ
         3. Not in wrath and premature vengeance, like Jacob's sons, for the Lord will repay in the last day.
      7. Then thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

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