The Clash of Cultures

Genesis 34:1-31                      The Clash of Cultures

9/11/16            D. Marion Clark

Introduction

James Boice, in his sermon series through Genesis, introduces our chapter by noting the difficulty of the subject matter. He referenced two commentators who simply skipped it. Another was willing to make some comments but would not offer how to preach the chapter. With due trepidation, let’s look into this infamous episode.

Text

Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. ² And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. ³ And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. ⁴ So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.”

Verses 1-4 present the setting. Dinah is Leah’s daughter. Shechem is the son of the king of the city. He bears the title of prince. He – in whatever manner: by force or by seduction – lies with Dinah. He falls in love with her and wants to marry her. The custom is for the father of the man to arrange marriage with the father of the woman.

What are the implications so far? We need to be careful with this because so little is stated. Nothing is presented about Dinah to form judgments of her. Was she wrong to have ventured out? Did she somehow show consent to what happen? We don’t know.

The episode has been referred to as the rape of Dinah, and, indeed, is so translated in some Bible versions. And yet that is but one use of the verb in question. The act can be consensual, and verse three implies that this was not a mere act of force. Even so, the word always indicates illicit physical relations. We can know that however the act took place, it was wrong from the perspective of the Scriptures.

The act itself is what humiliates Dinah. Her honor has been violated. It does not matter what her role may be nor her feelings for Shechem. Nor does Shechem’s falling in love make it right. And, Shechem, by the way is not trying to make what he did right. He is not trying to make amends, to make some kind of restitution. He saw Dinah and acted according to how he felt. He did not feel remorse. It so happened that he felt love. So now, he wants her for his wife, which requires dealing with the father.

⁵ Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. ⁶ And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. ⁷ The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing must not be done.

⁸ But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. ⁹ Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰ You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it.” ¹¹ Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. ¹² Ask me for as great a bride price and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.”

Shechem is head over heels for Dinah. His father Hamor, who has the duty to speak for his son, sees opportunity in what has happened. He had sold land to Jacob. Now he asks not only for the hand of Dinah for his son but proposes that the two peoples merge together through intermarriage. It seems to him a win-win proposition. The two peoples become one strong people. No doubt he values the wealth of Jacob.

It seems like a fair and positive proposal. Take what admittedly could be construed as a shameful act and turn it into a positive consequence. Redeem a sinful situation. And this, by the way, is in keeping with the law that would be written generations later under Moses.

There it is. Shechem is not merely willing to marry Dinah; he earnestly desires to marry her. He is not merely willing to pay some kind of restitution; he gladly will pay the highest bride price and gift. What could be fairer? What could be more generous?

Now enter the brothers, specifically the sons of Leah who are Dinah’s full-blooded brothers. Jacob has waited for them before making any decision. We were not told how Jacob felt about the matter, but we do know the mind of the brothers: the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing must not be done (v. 7).

¹³ The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. ¹⁴ They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵ Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. ¹⁶ Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. ¹⁷ But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.”

Some quick observations. Note who replies – the “sons of Jacob,” not Jacob. They answer “deceitfully.” They justify their deceit because of the affront to their sister. Note what they request. On the surface, circumcision appears reasonable because it is the sign of who they are. If the two peoples are to become one, this is the deal breaker because it preserves their identity.

What they do not communicate is that circumcision is the sign of God’s covenant with his people. It is a sacred act and a sacred sign denoting the promises of God and that they belong to him. The brothers will use this sacred act as a means to revenge themselves in a horrible manner. They will not merely commit an atrocity; they will sully the very name of their God in doing so.

Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor’s son Shechem. ¹⁹ And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his father’s house. ²⁰ So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, ²¹ “These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. ²² Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. ²³ Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.” ²⁴ And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

Did you notice the significant reasoning of Hamor and Shechem for what would have been an unpleasant request? It is in verse 23: “Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.” “What a great financial boon! Look at the wealth of these people. It can be ours!” This, as is with all marital arrangements, is seen as opportunity to better one’s standing and financial status.

Do you see now how things are playing out? Here are two cultures approaching an incident from polar opposite perspectives. Here are the Shechemites who see the “Dinah incident” as perhaps a delicate problem, but still as no big deal. Shechem, after all, was a prince of the city. Maybe he should have shown some restraint, but he is after all one of the power-persons of the community and what he did was not unusual. For that matter, a nobleman of the city is offering marriage, an offer that every woman of the city dreams about. And here we are now with an opportunity to turn a “misunderstanding” into a profitable benefit for all.

For the Jacobites or Israelites, an outrage has taken place on several levels. A man has forced himself upon a maiden. That the perpetrator was a prince of the city’s royal family makes it all the worse. That family represents being the hosts of the newcomers. All the more then they should be respecting and protecting Jacob’s family. Instead, the prince violates their sister. And they just don’t get it. There is no apology. There is no repentance. There is simply an arrogant man and his father who think they can buy anything and any person they want.

This is not playing out well.

²⁵ On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. ²⁶ They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away. ²⁷ The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. ²⁸ They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. ²⁹ All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered.

This is not justice. It is not even revenge. It is travesty. However great Shechem’s crime might seem, it did not warrant murder, much less genocide. Simeon and Levi possess blood-curling hatred. And what of the other brothers? They take advantage of Simeon’s and Levi’s violence to rob the city, even taking the children and wives as simply more property to plunder.  And all because the city was guilty of defiling their sister (v. 27).

Lest we forget Jacob, who evidently had abdicated his responsibility as head of the household, here is his response.

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” ³¹ But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”

What is Jacob upset about? His safety. His sons’ rash actions have put them all in danger. And that is the extent of what he expresses as his concern. There is no remonstrance against the injustice; no anger over how his sons have profaned the name of their covenant God; no shame over their deceit, the unlawful taking of life, and the multitude of other sins rolled into this atrocity. Just the poor strategic thinking, something which Jacob had always prided himself about.

And then the justification of Simeon and Levi: But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”

Is the welfare of Dinah really the concern of the brothers? Is it not rather that their honor has been offended? Dinah is always referred to as “their sister” or “our sister.” The fury of the brothers cannot be appeased by marriage for Dinah – what the law actually calls for – because the brothers feel that they are the ones who have been sinned against. They are the ones who have truly been humiliated.

Lessons

What do we do with this mess? The whole episode is an embarrassment with no heroes, no positive role models. Nor is there any clear purpose for why it should be included in the Scriptures. Any moral lessons come from what we ought not to do. What I want us to consider are two dynamics taking place that help us to understand not only the times “back then,” but our own as well.

1. Clash of cultures

The episode of Dinah reveals the clash of two distinct cultures. They view sexual relations differently. For the Shechemites, young men will be young men. Here is a great opportunity for Dinah. Here is a win-win situation that can benefit both peoples. What is the big deal?

The sons of Jacob are not paragons of virtue when it comes to sexual relations, as will be seen in later episodes. But though they may be hypocrites of their own moral code, there is a code nevertheless, which includes not forcing oneself on the maiden daughter of a guest. What is the big deal? The Shechemites have humiliated their sister and themselves. Something that the Shechemites never seem to get.

Is that not like the growing gap between our Christian culture and our secular American culture of today? At one time the gap was not wide. There has always been promiscuity, to be sure, but it was recognized what good girls (and boys) do and what naughty girls (and boys) do. Once, society looked down upon premarital relations. Now, society looks down upon premarital chastity. This was highlighted for me when counseling a couple getting married. When I asked how their parents felt about the marriage, they looked at one another sheepishly. It turned out that the parents wanted their children to live together before getting married, something which they as Christians would not do.

What’s the big deal? our secular culture wants to know. Our society long ago removed sexual mores off the category of morality. As one person explained to me her code, as long as there are no victims anything is permissible.

What’s the big deal? What’s the big deal about who wants to have relations with whom? With who wants to marry whom?

What’s the big deal about religion? What does it matter who or what god one believes in? Or for that matter, whether one believes in a god? As long as we are not harming anyone, what does it matter what we do? As long as we are being decent neighbors, what does it matter what we believe?

This is the gap that is growing ever wider. The question for us followers of Christ is, Will we be faithful to our Lord and Savior? Will we remain obedient to the clear moral teachings of Scripture? Will we be obedient for the one motivation that we desire to please our God? Will we take the opportunity being afforded to us to display lives that are devoted to following Jesus Christ regardless of the consequences?

This is a new opportunity. Growing up, if we tried to be obedient to the commands of God in Scripture, we might be described as goody-two shoes. Now we are denounced as intolerant and frigid. Now we have the opportunity to live for Christ when there is no benefit in our society.

Will we remain obedient to the demand for holiness, and will we remain obedient to the demand to love? Or will we, like the sons of Jacob, let hatred spill out? Jesus’ demand is unsparing. He does not say to love those who have the same moral values as we. He does not say to love those who treat us kindly or even fairly. He says to love our enemies. Love whoever considers us to be intolerant and frigid. Love whoever considers us to be enemies.

That is the opportunity that the clash of cultures presents to us. It also presents one other opportunity – to trust in the promises of God.

2. God’s promise preserved

This awful episode turned out to be yet another example of how God will carry out his promise in spite of our sin and even through our sin. There were two dangers that arose in the Dinah episode. One was presented by the Shechemite culture, which was to merge the two peoples into one people and thus for Jacob’s clan to lose their covenant identity. The act of Levi and Simeon was disgraceful; nevertheless, through their sin the merger did not take place.

The other danger was that which the folly of Jacob’s sons created for themselves, namely their destruction. God directly intervenes to thwart this danger. Verse 5 of the next chapter notes: “And as they [Jacob’s clan] journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.”

God’s promise of the Messiah remained ever secure however insecure the circumstances of God’s people. The line of the Messiah would carry on.

I cannot predict America’s future. It does not look promising from my perspective. The clash of cultures is likely to grow. Secular values have triumphed, and pressure to marginalize Christians who remain true to the moral code of Scripture and to God’s demands for holiness will likely increase, even if Christians remain true to love one’s neighbors.

Yet, this I know, that the God who made the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and brought to fruition the promise of the Messiah, is the same God with whom Christ mediated a covenant on our behalf. God the Father and God the Son have promised that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church of Jesus Christ. In different ages and parts of the world, the Church has prospered and the Church has suffered. Whatever may be the circumstance in our lifetime, the promise of God remains secure. The kingdom of God will prevail. Christ will return in glory. Whether our troubles come from the world or are our own making, God keeps his promises.

Perhaps you are one who has not known or understood the promise of God to provide the Messiah for our salvation. Indeed, you find yourself identifying with the secular perspective, one reason being because of the sinful behavior of those who profess to follow Jesus Christ. As Scripture so embarrassingly reveals, we who bear the name Christian can be guilty of whatever sin we rail about. All the more, then, we invite you to enter into the covenant of God found in Jesus Christ. We follow him, however inadequately – we follow him, not because of the laws he laid down for us, but because of the life he laid down on the cross on our behalf. We invite you to know how sweet the name of Jesus sounds to us.