Rape, Revenge, and Rescue in Shechem

Well, let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to room, room 103. Actually, I see Mike Barry looking at me right now. Genesis 34, turn to Genesis 34 for our time of study in the word. This morning, We're doing a verse by verse study through the book of Genesis, and as we continue in our study of this book, we come this morning to Genesis 34 and my goal this morning is to try to cover verses 1 through 31.

And the title of the message this morning, as you see on the sermon notes that are in your bulletin is rape. Revenge and rescue in Checkham. Genesis 34 is, in my opinion, truly one of the saddest chapters in all of the Bible. It is definitely not a feel-good chapter.

If you came this morning expecting to hear a feel-good sermon, You will be disappointed. In Romans 3, the apostle Paul says there is none good, not even one, and we can actually say that about the people, the characters in Genesis 34. There's not one completely good character in this chapter, not even one. Contained in this chapter is not a story of good guys against the bad guys.

This is a story in which every person in this chapter behaves. In ways that are confusing to us. In fact, in morally confusing ways that lead to terrible outcomes. One commentator says it this way, he says that there is ostensibly nothing about Genesis 34 that is commendable.

Nothing. He goes on to say that Genesis 34 possesses no prayers, no divine revelation, no mention of promissory blessings, and no mention of God. And I think that final description there in that quote is one of the keys to understanding this chapter. It's a godless chapter.

In Genesis 32, we saw how Jacob cries out to God in prayer for deliverance from the hand of Esau. And Jacob, by the end of the chapter ends up seeing the face of God and testifying about that. In Genesis 33, the last chapter that we studied last Sunday, God shows up several times in the chapter. In verse 5, Jacob speaks to Esau about his children and he refers to them as the children whom God has graciously given to him.

In verse 10, he tells Esau that he sees Esau's forgiving countenance as one sees the face of God. Jacob points to his wealth and explains it is coming to him because he says God has dealt graciously with me. Jacob, we saw last week then moves to Sukco and settles there for a while, and then he moves to the outskirts of the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan, and he builds an altar there and he calls that altar, God is the God of Israel. So clearly, in Genesis 33, God is looming.

Large in Jacob's thinking at every turn. But evidently some time goes by. And whereas Jacob was soaring in chapter. 33, he is sliding.

In chapter 34. Some time goes by with Jacob living outside the city of Sheckham. And we come into chapter 34 and we see that God is absent from everyone's lips, including Jacob's. No one calls on the name of God in prayer, God's direction, God's intervention is never sought by anyone.

God is never mentioned, everyone in this chapter. Does according to what seems right, it seems, in their own eyes, and mayhem is the result. The events that are recorded in this chapter. Cause the Lutheran commentator loophole to say, and I quote, we may well wonder if any man who has proper discernment ever drew a text for a sermon from this chapter.

Unquote. But here we are doing a verse by verse series through the Book of Genesis and we come this morning. To Genesis 34. We're gonna work through this chapter as we would through any other chapter.

If this chapter shows us anything, it shows us how much we all desperately need God to always be at the center of our thoughts and governing our lives. And this chapter reminds us of the scary version of ourselves that we could become. When God is not. At the center Of our thoughts.

The way we'll break down our study of this text this morning is we'll observe 6 developments in the story of how Jacob's daughter was raped. And how his sons exacted brutal revenge in their rescue of her. Development number one. Is Sheckham.

rapes Jacob's daughter. And desires to have her as his wife. Observe what happens beginning in verse one. Now, Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land.

We are told here that Dinah is a daughter. Or the daughter of Leah, the wife whom Jacob did not love as much as he loved Rachel. Dinah is actually the only daughter that Jacob has, we don't know her precise age at this particular point, but the words that are used to describe her in this chapter indicate That she was young and also of marriageable age, at least in this time period in human history. The timeline of Genesis could put her anywhere from 13 to 15 years of age.

And literally the Hebrew text says Dinah went out to see the daughters of the land or to look upon the daughters of the land. Perhaps she was curious as to how they lived. And thought there's little harm in me going out of my encampment away from my family to look upon. The daughters of the land.

Unfortunately, it seems that Dinah is going out by herself, which is at best a very reckless thing to do. As the Jewish commentator Nehem Sarna says, girls of marriageable age would not normally leave a rural encampment to go unchaperoned into an alien. City You'll recall that even Isaac and Abraham were fearful even traveling with their wives. Through these lands and would tell them, hey, tell everyone you're my sister.

And here's this young girl going out. Into the city to see, to look upon the daughters of the land. This is what she does and subsequent events shows that she puts herself right in the path of danger. Observe what happens in verse two.

When Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, the prince of the land, Shechem is the prince of the land destined to be the ruler of this part of Canaan, when his father Hamor dies, when Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, The prince of the land saw her, he took her and lay with her by force. The Hebrew text is a little bit more. clearer than maybe the New American Standard translation that I just read and some of your English translations actually bring this out. Literally, as you see on the screen, there's 4 verbs that are in this verse, telling us that Shechem saw her, he took her.

And lay with her and humbled her. And I believe the ESV says humiliated her, and that's a good translation. How did Sheckha humiliate or humble her? By having sex with her outside the bounds of marriage, by not giving her the honor of a proper marriage before He took her and lay with her.

By not even giving her the honor of any say so in The matter, he lay with her without her consent. This is all his acting. That is happening here. He lay with her without her consent, inflicting a deep wound to her person in the process.

Some translations say that he violated her. He afflicted her. humiliated her. This is textbook rape.

An experience that had to have been terrifying for young Dinah. If there were a Me Too movement. In this day, Dinah would have her own awful story to tell. As a powerful prince in the land, Sheckham had almost certainly done this thing on more than this occasion, but something happens with Dinah that is different than what Sheckham is accustomed to.

He falls in love with her. Look at verse 3 of the text. The text says he was deeply attracted to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her. There are 3 things that are being said here.

First of all, Shechem was deeply attracted to Dinah. The literal Hebrew says his soul clung to her. We're told that he loved the girl as much as a man who does this thing to a girl could love a girl. And we're also told that he spoke tenderly to her.

Literally the Hebrew reads, he spoke upon the heart of her. This expression means that he truly sought to speak to Dinah's heart. In a persuasive way that actually seems to reach your heart on some level. And succeeds in bringing some measure of comfort to her.

Evidently, Sheckham now feels bad about what he has done to Dinah and he wants to make things right. Back in this day, for better or for worse, back in this day, and in this part of the world, if an unmarried woman was raped, she would remain unmarried for the rest of her life and be desolate. And that will likely be Dinah's future unless Sheckham. Choos to marry her.

In all likelihood, he sought to comfort Dinah by promising to marry her so that he could treat her right from this point on and take responsibility for her. Observe what he does in verse 4 to that end. Verse 4, so Sheham spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, get me this young girl for a wife. This is not stated in the text at this point, but it will become obvious in later verses that Sheckham does not send Dinah home to her parents after this incident.

He continues to hold Dinah. In his own house, and he tells his dad to work out the details to make their relationship legal. Checkam holding Dinah. In his home at this point forward will turn out to be a huge mistake on his part.

Dads, imagine someone doing what Checkham has done. To Dinah, I imagine someone doing that to your daughter. And then holding your daughter hostage in his own house, and then coming to you to get your permission for you to allow him to marry your daughter and make the relationship legal. That's the reality that Jacob is going to be faced with in this chapter.

Well, word travels fast in these parts and word about what Sheham has done travels and ends up reaching Jacob and his sons, and this leads us to the second development in this very sad story. Number 2, Jacob keeps silent while his sons are furious about what Sheham did. To Dinah As for Jacob's response, observe what happens in verse 5. Now Jacob heard that he, Shechem, had defiled Dinah, his daughter, but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob kept silent until they came in.

We're not told here by what means Jacob heard this news. We're just told that word got back to him that Sheckha had defiled Dinah, polluting her with a sin. And nothing in the text here is said about Jacob being angered or grieved or upset about what had happened. Instead, the only thing said in the passage is that Jacob kept silent.

Until his sons came in. From the field We, we cannot automatically presume that From this verse that Jacob was not angry over what happened, but in verse 7, the narrator is going to tell us how angry Jacob's sons were. So the absence of any mention of Jacob's anger must indicate That his response was surprisingly muted. Compared to his son's response.

imagine how Jacob would have responded if something bad like this had happened to his son Joseph. In Genesis 37, when Jacob hears that his son Joseph had been killed, we are told in Genesis 37:34 and 35 that Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days and refused to be comforted. So clearly Jacob knows how to emotionally react when something bad happens to a child of Rachel. Yet here, all we are told is that Jacob kept silent when he hears the news of what happened to Dinah, the daughter.

Of Leah. While Jacob is waiting for his sons to come in from the field, Sheham's father. Heads out of the city to go and talk to Jacob and try to obtain. Dinah as a wife for his son Shechem.

Look at verse 6. Then Hamor, the father of Shechem, went out to Jacob to speak. With him, father to father. But before Hamor arrives at Jacob's house, the sons of Jacob come home having heard themselves the news of what had happened, and the narrator of Genesis tells us exactly how they felt about What had been done To Dinah, look at verse 7.

The text says now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. And the men were grieved. Literally, they were pained. And they were very angry because he, Shechem, had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.

We're told here that they're grieved, then the text says that they were very angry, literally the Hebrews says it burned for them exceedingly. And we're told that they viewed what Sheham had done as a disgraceful thing. In Israel. By lying with Jacob's daughter and we're told that they saw such a thing as something that ought not to be done.

This is the way the sons of Jacob are thinking about what had happened and the narrator of Genesis is actually agreeing with their assessment that this is a terrible thing that ought not to be done. The expression disgraceful thing in Israel. could be read as a disgraceful thing against Israel. Jacob's sons see what Sheckham has done as a crime, not just against Dinah.

But also against their father, whom God has named Israel and against themselves as the sons of Israel from whom the nation of Israel will descend. And they see this as a terrible crime for Shechem to commit against the daughter of Israel and the very land that would one day belong to Israel. This is a manifold violation, and these sons of Jacob feel it. And this is honestly exactly how the sons of Jacob should be thinking at this point.

And it's just odd. That these descriptions are not given to us about Jacob's response. Jacob's sons respond with moral outrage as they should, but all we're told about Jacob is that he kept His silence. We saw in verse 6 that Shechem's father is coming out of the city to talk to Jacob, father to father.

Jacob lived on the outskirts of the city. And Haymar's intention is to persuade Jacob to give Dinah to his son as a wife, and this brings us to the 3rd development in this tragic story. Number 3, Sheha seeks to obtain Dinah as a wife from Jacob. And his sons.

Observe what happens in verse 8. But Haymore spoke with them. Meaning Jacob and his sons, saying the soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter, please give her to him. In marriage And Haymore follows his request with a larger request and an offer.

Look at verses 9 and 10, intermarry with us. Give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves. Thus you shall live with us and the land shall be opened before you. Live and trade in it and acquire property.

In it This promise of intermarriage is essentially an offer to allow Jacob and his sons to assimilate with the Shechemites and be one people with them. So let's not forget how pivotal of a moment this is right here in redemption history. If Jacob and his sons were to take Hamor up on his offer, there would be no people of Israel today. And, and redemption history as we know it.

would not exist. We were told in verse 6 that it was Hamor who went out to speak with Jacob, but we learn in verse 11 that evidently Shechem must have come with him. Or joined him as he was on his way to Jacob's house. Because it turns out Sheckham is here.

In this meeting It's at this point of the proceedings that Checkham speaks up, look at verse 11. Sheham also said to Dinah's father and to her brothers, if I find favor in your sight, then I will give whatever you say to me. Ask me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give according as you say to me, but give me the girl in marriage. Checkham is a spoiled prince.

He's used to buying his way out of any trouble that he gets into. He's used to getting what he wants. He's used to everyone having a price. For everything that he wants.

And he's used to having the means to pay whatever that price is to pay people off. He's obviously a man who greedily takes whatever he wants whenever he wants it. And he tries to play to Jacob and his son's greed here. Ask me ever so much bridal payment and gift.

Anything, and I will give according as you say to me, but give me the girl in marriage. That's all he cares about is getting Dinah. As for Jacob's sons, This whole thing feels to them, even at this moment, like a further violation of their sister Dinah. Checkham has sexually violated Dinah and has her right now in his custody.

In his own home, and now he dares to ask for the price at which he can keep her. In the mind of Jacob's sons, this feels like human sex trafficking. It feels to them like they're being asked to trade away their sister's body for money and for gifts. That's prostitution.

And it adds insult. To the injury of what Sheckha has already done. The commentator Henry Morris is almost certainly right when he says, That quite possibly, it was this matter of fact, businesslike attitude of Haymore and Sheckam that infuriated Dinah's brothers beyond limits. They are seething at this point.

Notice that at no point Does Haymore confess the fact that his son has already violated Dinah? He offers no apologies on behalf of his son for what his son had done. Sheckham does not confess to anything like that either, nor does he apologize for what he has done. He and his dad are just simply covering that over and keeping everything on a business.

Level, trying to make an offer to Jacob and his sons that maybe they won't be able to refuse. And as nice as their offer sounds on paper, don't forget that Dinah is being held. Right now, as they speak in Checkham's house. And Haymore is asking Jacob to let Checkam keep her as his wife.

However, Jacob and his sons are going to choose to respond to this, they have to keep in mind that Dinah is in Sheckham's custody. Right now, And Haymore and Sheckam are really the ones in control of this negotiation. Jacob and his sons know that there's only two ways that this is probably going to go down. Number 1, they say yes.

To Sheckha and allow Sheckha to have Dinah in marriage. Or 2, they say no. And Sheckham may refuse to return Dinah to them anyway. If you were Jacob in this situation, if you were one of his sons in this situation, what would you do in a situation like this?

At this point, Jacob and his son should have pulled away from the negotiations. And sought the face of God and prayed. And sought God's direction and intervention in the matter, but they don't do that. Jacob's sons take over the negotiations and do what seems best in their own eyes.

And this leads us to the 4th development in this tragic story. Number 4, Jacob's sons trick the men of Shechem into being circumcised. What a, what a crazy story. Observe what happens in verse 13.

But Jacob's sons answered Sheckham and his father Hamor with deceit. Because he had defiled Dinah. Their sister Verse 14, they, Jacob's son, said to them, to Shechem and Hamor, we cannot do this thing to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. Only on this condition will we consent to you.

If you will become like us and that every male of you be circumcised, Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people. Jacob's sons act like They like the plan that Haymore and Sheckham have offered to them and they're willing to go along with it and engage in intermarriage with the Shechemites. If all the males of Checkham would simply become circumcised. They don't need any other gifts, any other bridal payment.

Circumcision of every male in the city would be enough. For them And they conclude by saying in verse 17, but if you will not listen to us to be circumcised, Then we will take our daughter. And go And making this final statement, they're letting Sheckham and Haymore know that they know that Dinah is being held by them right now. At this point, Sheckham would probably realize that Jacob's sons know that he had violated Dinah, but that they seem to be willing to let bygones be bygones if only all the males of Shecom are circumcised.

If they choose not to be circumcised though, then Jacob's sons are saying we will take. Dinah, and we will go. Now, if you're a careful reader of the text of the Bible, you may be wondering at this point, why Jacob's sons are doing the negotiating rather than their father Jacob. Hamor, we learned in a previous verse had come out to speak with Jacob.

But Jacob is not doing the negotiating or the talking here, only his sons are. We were told a few verses ago that Jacob kept silent when he heard the news of Dinah's rape, and here Jacob is continuing evidently to keep silent. And let his sons handle the whole thing. So where's Jacob?

We ask. Rightly Right now, Jacob seems like he's been reduced to silence, passivity, and non-involvement while his sons are Taking over the negotiations. So where's Jacob? Where is that man who so boldly got out in front of his family in the previous chapter and walked straight toward Esau and his 400 men with courage?

Where is that man? In this moment. Where are you, dads? Where are you when Satan comes calling for your children?

Where are you when godless people are seeking to have their godless way with your children? In the absence of Jacob's leadership, his sons happily fill that void and offer their own proposal. To Shechem and Hammo and amazingly and perhaps to Jacob's son's surprise, Shechem and his father Hamor accept their proposal. Look at verse 18.

Now, their words seemed reasonable to Hamor and Sheckham, Hamor's son. And the young man did not delay to do the thing because he was delighted with Jacob's daughter. And observe how Shechem takes action beginning in verse 19. Now he, Shechem, was more respected than all the household of his father, which means he would have had more persuasive capital.

great persuasive capital with the people of Shechem to influence them. Verse 20 so Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, These men are friendly with us, speaking about Jacob and his family. Therefore, let them live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters in marriage and give our daughters to them.

Only on this condition will the men consent to live with us, to become one people, that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised. And to make the whole thing seem more attractive to the people of Checkham. They put this cherry on top, in verse 23 and whispered tones, they said, will not their livestock and their property and all their animals be ours? Only let us consent to them and they will live with us.

And over time we can get everything that is theirs. Obviously, Sheckham and Haymore are speaking differently to the men of Sheckham. than they did to Jacob and to his sons, but this is how they're framing things with their own people in order to make the deal more attractive for them and to persuade them to be circumcised. Notice that nowhere in their speech is there any mention of Sheckam wanting to marry Dinah.

Nor of the fact that Checkham had violated Dinah and is now holding her in his own house. Haymore and Sheckam are withholding such information from their own people and trying to pass this whole thing off as some trade deal that they've negotiated with Jacob's. Family. With their plan presented in this way to the people of Checkham, everyone who hears it.

and this just astounds me, seems to like the idea and want to go along with it. Observe what happens in verse 24. All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to his son Shechem and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate. Of his city The expression speaking of those who went out of the gate of his city would refer to every male who was old enough to conduct business and engage in war.

In other words, every adult male here. In the city of Sheckham is becoming circumcised just as Jacob's sons had requested. What happens next is staggering in It's extreme. Brutality This leads us to the 5th development in the sad story.

Number 5, Jacob's sons rescue Dinah in a killing and looting spree. Jacob's sons rescue Dinah in a killing and looting spree. Observe what happens in verse 25. When the men of Shechem were still recovering from their circumcision, verse 25, now it came about on the 3rd day when they, the men of Shechem, were in pain that two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword and came upon the city unawares and killed every male.

Remember that Dinah is the daughter of Leah and Simeon and Levi are both sons of Leah and older brothers. To Dinah They are full brothers of Dinah, so they would be the most inclined to be protective of Dinah and the most outraged by what Sheckham had done to her. We're told that they did their killing on the 3rd day after the circumcision took place. This is the time when the men who had been circumcised would be in the greatest pain and be the most vulnerable to attack.

And Levi and Simeon take advantage of this moment and come up on the city and, and kill every single male. Observe what they do in verse 26. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword and took Dinah from Shechem's house. And went forth.

It's this verse that told us from the outset that Dinah had been in Checkham's house all along. It's probably after Simeon and Levi returned to the house with Dinah that the other brothers join. Them on their return trip back to the city of Shechem. Observe what happens in verse 27.

Jacob's sons came upon the slain and looted the city because they had defiled their sister. They took their flocks and their herds and their donkeys, and that which was in the city and that which was in the field, and they captured and looted all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, even all that was in the houses. In the Old Testament law, There was a provision that we could call the law of recompense that basically said an eye for an eye. And a tooth for a tooth and so forth.

And the purpose of that provision in the law was to protect people from overreactions against people for crimes that they had committed. What Simeon and Levi do is a profound overreaction. Against the people of the city for what Sheckham had done. Shechem violates and takes one woman and Jacob's sons respond by murdering every male in the city and taking everything from the Shechemite men that they had killed.

Taking, notice the word all, all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, even all that was in The houses. So Sheckham takes Dinah, wanting her as a wife. Jacob's sons respond by murder, and then by taking every wife in Checkham. For their own household.

As Alan Ross says, this was not justice. It was brutal and excessive revenge. And this is why, this is one of the reasons why we're told in the Bible not to take our own revenge. The first reason we should never take our own revenge is because God says vengeance is mine.

I will repay. But the second reason we should never take our own revenge is because when we take vengeance on people, we never get it right. Like God does. We always overreact and take a greater vengeance than what is merited.

And it's best we leave vengeance to God. Again, nothing is said, even in the telling of what Jacob's sons do here about Jacob's involvement in any of this. The only action of Jacob so far in this whole story is the verb, he kept silent in verse 5. He kept silent when he heard what Sheham had done to Dinah, and he kept silent during the negotiations.

With Haymore and Checkham. But Jacob does now finally. Speak up. Now that his sons have killed every male of Shechem and looted the city, finally it seems that Jacob is actually angry about something.

And this leads us to the final development in this awful story. Number 6, Jacob's sons defend their actions in response to Jacob's complaint. Jacob's sons defend their actions in response to Jacob's complaint. Observe what Jacob does in verse 30 and notice how me-centered this whole thing is.

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, cause they were the ringleaders of What had happened. You have brought trouble on me by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Parasites, and my men being few in number, They, the Canaanites and Parasites, will gather together against me and attack me, and I will be destroyed. I And my household Everything in what Jacob says here is all about Jacob until the very last word when he thinks to include his household.

And notice that Jacob does not rebuke his sons on moral grounds.

He simply complains about the trouble that they've brought upon him. And the danger that they put him in and put his household in. As one writer says, Jacob's concerns are tactical and strategic rather than ethical, even as he's responding to his sons and speaking to them here. Nowhere is God showing up in Jacob's words to his sons.

In fact, Jacob now predicts that he and his household are going to be destroyed by the Canaanites, completely forgetting God's past promises. That from him and from his household will come an uncountable multitude of people as plentiful as the dust of the earth. This chapter ends with one question. From Jacob's sons, a question they ask in response to Jacob's criticism, a question uttered in defense of what they had done.

Simeon and Levi note that in Jacob's words to them as he criticized them, And complain. Jacob didn't mention Dinah. At all in his complaint. So they will Look at verse 31.

But they, Simeon and Levi said, should he treat our sister. As a harlot. Checkham did treat Dinah. Like a harlot.

In the minds of Jacob's sons, Sheham rapes Dinah and then holds her in his house and tries to make a financial deal with Jacob's family in exchange for him being able to continue to have her. Simeon and Levi here are saying, Dad, you may be worried about consequences from what we have done, but we're not worried about that. No man is going to treat our sister like a harlot. Even if our whole household ends up being killed when the Canaanites come against us with their greater army, at least we will die having defended our sister's honor.

Simeon and Levi would rather be killed than to allow the violation. of their sister to go unavenged. And notice that they refer to Dinah as our sister. Rather than referring to her as Jacob's daughter.

Rightly or wrongly, their impression is that Jacob doesn't seem to care about Dinah as much as he should, but they care. And they aren't about to apologize for what they have done in their minds. The fact that Sheckha treated their sister as a harlot should rank a little higher than Jacob living a trouble-free life. And so they say, should he treat our sister like a harlot?

And that's all they have to say to their dad. And that's how Genesis 34 ends. So let's close in prayer. Yeah Actually, let's not do that just yet.

Why in the world is this story In the Genesis account, let me give you 3 reasons. Number 1, because it, it actually happened. The story is here because the events recorded in this chapter actually took place and the narrator of Genesis tells us the sad story with unflinching honesty, even though it presents no one in a positive light, and we can appreciate that about the Bible, how honest it is. A second reason this story is included in the Genesis account.

is to show us that all is not well with Jacob and his household at this particular point in time. Jacob was in a good place by the end of Genesis 32 and seemed to be in a good place in Genesis 33, but it seems that Jacob has lost his way. And so has his family, Dinah unwisely goes out from their encampment to hang out with the daughters of the land. We don't know the story behind that, but I'm sure there is one.

Jacob's sons react to her assault with mass murder and looting and somehow Jacob just isn't as engaged as he should be until his comfort in Checkham is shattered. On top of that, no one in Jacob's family, including Jacob, is taking a moment to cry out to God for him to rescue Dinah or to give them wisdom as to how to handle the situation. No one prays, no one seeks the face of God. There's no mention of God on anyone's lips here.

Everyone, it seems, is doing what is right in their own eyes, even in Jacob's family. Clearly this is not Jacob and his family at one of their best moments. Tied to that, a third reason. This story is in the Genesis account is because the awful events of this chapter seem to be part of what brings an end to Jacob's stay in Sheckham.

It interrupts his comfort. And serves as a catalyst for him and his family to uproot from their. And to head to Bethel. Some commentators suggest, in fact, many commentators suggest that Jacob was actually wrong to settle and check him in the first place.

They say that he should have first Upon entering the land of Canaan, should have traveled to Bethel where he had a vow from back in Genesis 28 that he had to pay on. When God spoke to him, When he was in Param and said, come back to the land, he said, I am the God of Bethel and called him back to the land of Canaan. Commentators suggest that Checkham is a place of compromise. A place where Jacob stopped just 20 miles.

shy from where his original goal should have been, which was Bethel, and those who hold this view may very well be right. It actually seems likely to me that Jacob has not yet gone to Bethel because he has some compromises in his life that he isn't quite prepared to give up just yet. In fact, we'll see this next week, but in the next chapter, God is gonna speak to Jacob and call him to come to Bethel, and Jacob will respond by speaking to his family and telling them to put away the foreign gods which are among you.

Before they leave and go to Bethel.

So evidently, Jacob has been tolerating some idolatries in his family and he feels that his family needs to do some serious house cleaning before they can go to Bethel. And perhaps that's why he was delaying. It's likely that the sad events of Genesis 34 are merely a manifestation of the fruit of those idolatries in Jacob's life and in the life of his family members, and it's likely that this whole awful episode. In Genesis 34 serves as a huge wake-up call for Jacob.

And tunes his ear. To God, who is going to speak to him in the next chapter. A tragic victim in this story is Dinah. A young girl, she's victimized by Sheckham.

And she may be the victim of a dad who didn't look after her and protect her. And who didn't fight hard enough for her after she was violated. Dad's, I just, we don't know the details of what was going on. And Jacob's relationship with Dinah, but I just, this is just a reminder to all of us dads to watch over your daughters and your sons, be a guardian.

Of their purity, be present in their life, love your children. Be careful about where you allow your children to hang out and who you allow them to hang out with. If you are not careful as a dad and even as a mom, you're just asking for trouble for your sons and your daughters. But more than anything, love.

Your children, love your daughters, love your sons, pursue them when they stray, hug them often and protect them, even sometimes when you're having to protect them from themselves. And young people Be careful about the choices you make, even at the age you are right now. Don't think that you have to be older before your choices have consequences. Dinah is only 13 to 15 years old, and little would she have imagined the chain of events that would follow from a simple choice she made on an ordinary day to go outside her encampment and hang out with and see the daughters of the land.

Be careful about the choices you make. The companions you choose. Respect the guidelines and the boundaries that your parents give to you, even if you may not understand them. Those guidelines are for your good and for your protection.

Also in the midst of all the moral confusion. Of Genesis 34, there is one thing that really stands out is absolutely clear. And that is that sexually assaulting a person is a disgrace and it ought not to be done. There are few violations that cut any deeper than the violation of sexual assault.

And if such an assault has ever happened to any of you in this room, I am deeply, deeply sorry for the pain that you endured in the moment of that assault and for the pain you've had to carry. Ever since My hope is that you have found in Christ a loving companion that you really can trust. I don't know why God allows what he allows. His ways are past my finding out, but I do know that God sent His Son into the world and when Jesus was on the cross, Jesus bore your every sorrow and your every grief while on the cross so that he could be the one.

Who walks with you. In your pain And I hope you are finding in Jesus that he is the bomb. For your every wound, and I hope that his example at the cross convinces you that when evils are committed against you, those evils do not have to have the last word. The evils done against Christ at the cross when he was abused and assaulted, did not have the last word, and the evils done against you don't have to have the last word either.

Jacob's sons. They allowed Sheckham's sin to turn them into murderers and into thieves. Don't allow those who have committed evils against you to have that power over you. Let only Christ.

And his love have that power over you. We may wonder How in the world this chapter points us to God. It's actually, guys, the complete absence of God in this chapter that points us to Him. What happens in this chapter is what happens in a godless existence.

Dinah ventures out in unrestricted liberty. Shechem operates by unrestrained lust, Jacob's sons operate with unrestrained vengeance, and Jacob exhibits passive leadership. And awful things happen as a result. This chapter shows us how awful people are capable of being apart from God, at the center of their lives and thoughts.

This chapter shows us how much we need God for apart from Him. There truly is none good, not even one. And finally, as crazy as Dinah's brothers were, it was to their credit that they stopped at nothing to rescue Dinah from Sheckham's house and we can appreciate that. It was unthinkable to them that they would leave their sister behind.

In their mind, the sin against Dinah was so great that as Henry Morris, the commentator says, nothing but the death of all the men of the city would atone for such a crime. Even if it meant that they, the sons of Jacob, would later be killed by the Canaanites when they retaliated. Against them for the slaughter. But Jesus is greater than Jacob.

Jesus did not disappear when you and I needed him most. Jesus was not a no show in the narrative of our redemption. He didn't just keep his silence. When our destiny was on the line, and Jesus is greater than Jacob's sons.

Jesus does not leave us in the slave house of sin, but he comes to us and he rescues us. He doesn't kill other people to atone for the sins that have been done against us, nor does he make us. die for our own sins. He dies on a cross in order to atone for our own sins, and he comes in grace to rescue us from our godlessness and from our sins.

And if you're here this morning and you are longing for That rescue, cry out to Jesus. Maybe as you read Genesis 34, you're like, man, that's my godless life. It's my life story. If it is, aren't you tired of that?

You need God, you need Jesus. Cry out to him. He will hear your cry and he will come and rescue you with a perfect rescue. And if you are a Christian, I, I want you to be encouraged by this chapter.

We have to end on a positive note. As bad of a place as Jacob. And his family is at this point. God amazingly is not finished with them.

Nor has God done with Jacob. In the very first verse of the next chapter, God is going to speak to Jacob, and he's not going to say, Jacob, I'm, I'm done with you and your family. No, he's gonna speak to Jacob after all of this mess and say, arise and go to Bethel and make an altar there to God. And Jacob's gonna do that and God's gonna speak to him and mercy and State promises to him.

And lavish his grace on Jacob. why God does that? Because God doesn't give up on those that He has set His love on. Even with all of the mess.

God is going to go on and make something of Jacob and his sons. A nation will come forth from Jacob and his sons, and from that nation will come a Messiah who brings blessing to all the world and to all of us in this room. We are the recipients of blessing that actually came through this messed up family. Because God loves to take things that are broken and do wonderful things with them, just like he desires to do with you.

And with me, And with our families. And what is not to love about a God like this? Amen. Let's pray together.

Lord, it's can almost make us dizzy to try to ponder and assimilate all the themes that are touched on in a chapter like this, but we thank you for your word. And how it touches us where we need to be touched and Minister's perspective where we need that. I pray if there's any here today, Lord, that is living a godless life. That they would see How much they need you and that you, Lord, would awaken them and draw them to yourself this morning.

Save people in this room. And for those of us who know you, Lord, we may have had great experiences with you in the past and we may have been soaring spiritually a year ago. And yet today our hearts are far from you. And May this passage actually be a wake-up call to us.

To return to you. Knowing that you are a gracious God who sent your Son to die and shed his blood to make atonement for all the ways we've been falling short and sinning. And that you receive us happily and you delight in those who cling to your mercies and your mercies never grow old. Bring about repentance in all of us where repentance is needed.

And comfort where comfort is needed. And hope where hope is needed. We thank you, Lord, for this opportunity to give of our offerings to you. Receive what we give in this offering, do much with all that is given.

For the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through whom we have been saved. And whom we proclaim to the world. We surrender ourselves to You, Lord, in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said,