12.8.24 ~ The Connection in Deceit
Good morning!
In Scripture there are portions, literally sectioned off for weekly reading, called Parsha. In last week’s portion (Gen. 32:4-36:43), vayetze/and he left, there are many events that take place. Jacob prepares to meet his brother, Esau. He gets into a wrestling match with an angel and his name is changed to Israel. Jacob meets Esau, they embrace, and eventually, they each go their separate ways. We have a tragic story of Dina’s rape by Shechem. Jacob gets a few more prophecies, and with the birth of Benjamin, Rachel dies. Isaac dies, and we get the generations of Esau.
A Lot of stories. Sometimes they don’t seem to make a whole lot of sense, but the Scripture is set up textually and structurally to give us 21st century guidance.
Today, I want to share with you a guiding truth from the Dina story. But before I do, I want to acknowledge the difficult nature of this subject matter. The wonderful thing about the bible is that it doesn't gloss over difficult subjects just because they are difficult to talk about.
If there are any times that I refer to Dina’s rape quickly, know that I not trying to cover anything up, devalue what happened to her, or in any way undermine that she is a survivor of rape. My goal in sharing this study with you goes deeper than the overt story line. I hope the goal is met.
Here’s what happens (Gen. 34)-- Dina is out walking, when Shechem - the city’s prince - rapes her… He ends up falling in love with her, so he and his father, Hamor, the king, approach Jacob to arrange a marriage between them. The brothers then do something that’s pretty tough to swallow. They say, “We’ll give you Dina if you and your whole city get circumcised.” Surprisingly, the whole city agrees, and on the 3rd day after the circumcision, when the people are weakest, Simeon and Levi come into the city, kill every male - including Hamor and Shechem - and rescue their sister Dina. Jacob is furious. He angrily and fearfully protests, 'why did you do that'?? Now we’re going to be hated in our neighbors’ eyes, and they’ll try to kill us. Simeon and Levi respond with, 'Should we allow our sister to be treated like a harlot' (Gen. 34)?
This is a very, very disturbing story. There are a bunch of things that are troubling, but here are 2 “big picture questions.” First of all, who was right?? Was Jacob right that this was the wrong thing to do? Or were Simeon and Levi right - the massacre was justified after what Shechem did to Dina? The story just ends without any sort of resolution. The text eerily leaves us in the dark.
Second, we just learned about the resolution to Jacob’s epic story (Gen. 33), and we would expect to see a continuation of his legacy but suddenly we have this story of Dina, Simeon, and Levi - people who have not been crucial parts of the story until now. Why are we hearing about this, and why now?
After Shechem violates Dina, he falls in love with her. So, he and his father try to broker a deal with Jacob. We’ll do all these wonderful things for you: we’ll give you access to our people, our land, our business, if you give us your daughter’s hand in marriage.
Have we seen anything like this before? Someone who loves a woman, speaks to the woman’s father to try and make a deal - to do things, to offer his services, all in exchange to get her hand in marriage? Isn’t that exactly what happened with Jacob in Laban’s home? Jacob loved Rachel, I’ll work seven years for you, for your daughter Rachel’s hand in marriage (Gen. 29). It seems like we’re hearing echoes of the Jacob story.
Back to the Dina story. The brothers seem to agree to the deal as long as the people get circumcised…but that’s not really true. It only seems like that. They’re planning something. The sons answered them with deceit (Gen. 334:13)....That’s exactly what happens in the Jacob story too. Laban seems to agree to Jacob’s deal on the outside, but he has a very different plan. Jacob yells at Laban, ‘why did you deceive me? Ironically, deceive is the same word as deceit.
And now look at what Jacob’s sons say in their deception: ‘we can’t do this thing...to give our sister to a man who is uncircumcized’. Does that remind you of anything? That formula of not being able to fulfill a marriage agreement because of some particular norm? Laban responds to Jacob’s accusation of switching Leah and Rachel and says, ‘that’s not what’s done here… to give the younger’s hand in marriage before the elder’s. Everything Jacob’s sons seem to be doing here has echoes back to Laban’s deception towards Jacob!
Look at what’s happening here! What Laban did to Jacob, that’s exactly what Jacob’s sons are doing to Shechem. Unfortunately,what Laban did to Jacob was already an echo. Laban is replaying what Jacob himself did to his father and brother with the blessings (Gen. 27:30-36). Look at how Isaac described what Jacob did to Esau. He said, ‘your brother, Jacob, came with deceit, and took your blessings (Gen. 27:35).
What’s happening is an awfully vicious, chilling chain of events, set in motion with Jacob’s original deception. Laban did the same to him, and now Jacob’s sons are replaying it with Shechem. Their behavior here is a replay of their father’s own behavior years before.
Is the story just telling us that Jacob’s sons learned deception from their father? That may be true on the surface, but there’s something much deeper going on here. What drove Jacob’s sons to act this way may have been more than just the horrific things that happened to Dina. Let’s go back to the story one last time - and this time - pay attention to how the text refers to Dina.
In the first verse of chapter 34, Dina, the daughter of Leah who was born to Jacob, went out…If you’ve been following the Torah’s story until now, we know who Dina is. We know she’s Leah’s daughter. But by repeating that here, it seems like the text is telling us that who her parents are is an important part of the story.
After Dina is violated, Jacob hears about it, and here, the text refers to her as “Dina, his daughter (Gen. 34:5)’. Meanwhile, his sons were out in the field, and Jacob was silent until they got back (Gen. 34:5). What?? The text emphasized that it was his daughter who was violated, and he didn’t say or do anything!
Hamor is actually the next person to act. He speaks to Jacob, but Jacob’s sons are there too. And look how Hamor refers to them: ‘My son, Shechem, longs for your daughter (conjugated in plural). If it were just a singular person’s daughter, just Jacob’s daughter, it should have been written in Hebrew differently. By saying it in plural, Hamor is saying she is ‘the daughter of all of you.’Hamor refers to Dina as the daughter of both Jacob and her brothers! Kinda strange isn’t it?
She’s obviously only the daughter of Jacob, but this kind of gives us a picture of what’s happening here. It’s almost like the brothers are taking on the role of the father. And they themselves confirm that: “if you don’t go along with our deal, we’ll take ‘our daughter’ and move on.”
Now look at what happens at the very end of the story. Jacob rebukes Simeon and Levi for what they did, and they respond with can we allow our sister to be treated like a harlot (Gen. 34:31)? Now, that’s pretty a sharp line, but it’s not as sharp as it could be. Think about it. If they really wanted to convince Jacob that what they did was right, what should they have said? What about, “Should YOU allow YOUR DAUGHTER to be treated like a harlot?” It’s YOUR daughter!!!
Let me share with you some food for thought. It looks like the text is pointing us to a struggle we’re already familiar with: and that’s the struggle of favoritism. Dina is raped and who was Dina? The text begins by telling us she was Leah’s daughter. Remember Leah, the unfavored wife of Jacob. Jacob does nothing about his daughter's rape. Think about what that must’ve looked like from Simeon and Levi’s perspective. Their whole lives, they’ve been the children of the unfavored wife of Leah. They knew that Jacob didn't love Leah as much as he loved Rachel (Gen. 29:18, 30, 31) . And by extension, that made them, the children of Leah, Jacob’s unfavored children. They know that Jacob really cared much more about Rachel’s children. And then, when Leah’s child, Dina, their sister is in trouble, Jacob does nothing about it.
So, Simeon and Levi, sons of Leah, step in. They act deceptively. They do whatever it takes to make things fair again. And they rebuke Jacob. Personally, I don’t think they are trying to convince Jacob that their plan was okay, they may have just been expressing how they felt when they saw this happen. Maybe she’s not “your daughter” enough to act. But we won’t let this happen to our sister.
Now pull the zoom lens out and look again at the connection between the deceit of Jacob’s sons and the deceit of Jacob himself. Way back when, Jacob was the unfavored child, next to Esau (Gen. 25:28). Jacob thought that was unfair, so he deceived in order to make things right. And now, Jacob’s sons are doing the same thing! They are Jacob’s unfavored children. They are being treated unfairly, so they deceive in order to make things right again.
So who was right in this story? Maybe the text leaves it ambiguous because there’s no answer. What we do know is the unloved, unfavored individuals live hurt and do whatever it takes to make the playing field even when things look like they are heading in the wrong direction.
On the one hand, Jacob should have learned from his father and not picked favorites. On the other hand, his sons shouldn’t have acted deceptively to get what they think they deserve. They should confront openly and honestly; just like Jacob should have done so many years before.\
The Dina story is given to us as a transitional story from Jacob to his children. Right before this, Jacob reconciled with his brother, and from his perspective, he did everything he could to continue his father’s legacy. But when Jacob himself does what his father had done - favored some of his family over the others - his children are going to face the same challenges that he faced. The brother’s deception in the Dina story is the beginning of that.
And this story, the story of Shechem, teaches us about the emotional trauma that the children of the unfavored wife go through. And it’s exactly the story we need to know before we get to the very next major event in Genesis: the story of the sale of Joseph. The story of the sale of Joseph is the struggle of the favored vs the unfavored (Gen. 37:3). Can the ‘favored’ sensitively use what they have in order to continue legacy and positively impact others, or will they flaunt it and push people away? Can the unfavored learn to confront, to talk openly? Will they just continue to deceive? And can they rectify their mistakes? Jacob himself reconciled… but can Jacob’s children?
I'm sure glad God is not a respecter of persons! I have a long way to go.
Have a wonderful 1st day.
Shalom
Commercial: Yesterday's zoom call. Vayetze/and he left: The Jacob & Leah Story - Maybe there wasn't as much deception to the story as we thought or boy, do I have a lot to work on in my own life!
In Scripture there are portions, literally sectioned off for weekly reading, called Parsha. In last week’s portion (Gen. 32:4-36:43), vayetze/and he left, there are many events that take place. Jacob prepares to meet his brother, Esau. He gets into a wrestling match with an angel and his name is changed to Israel. Jacob meets Esau, they embrace, and eventually, they each go their separate ways. We have a tragic story of Dina’s rape by Shechem. Jacob gets a few more prophecies, and with the birth of Benjamin, Rachel dies. Isaac dies, and we get the generations of Esau.
A Lot of stories. Sometimes they don’t seem to make a whole lot of sense, but the Scripture is set up textually and structurally to give us 21st century guidance.
Today, I want to share with you a guiding truth from the Dina story. But before I do, I want to acknowledge the difficult nature of this subject matter. The wonderful thing about the bible is that it doesn't gloss over difficult subjects just because they are difficult to talk about.
If there are any times that I refer to Dina’s rape quickly, know that I not trying to cover anything up, devalue what happened to her, or in any way undermine that she is a survivor of rape. My goal in sharing this study with you goes deeper than the overt story line. I hope the goal is met.
Here’s what happens (Gen. 34)-- Dina is out walking, when Shechem - the city’s prince - rapes her… He ends up falling in love with her, so he and his father, Hamor, the king, approach Jacob to arrange a marriage between them. The brothers then do something that’s pretty tough to swallow. They say, “We’ll give you Dina if you and your whole city get circumcised.” Surprisingly, the whole city agrees, and on the 3rd day after the circumcision, when the people are weakest, Simeon and Levi come into the city, kill every male - including Hamor and Shechem - and rescue their sister Dina. Jacob is furious. He angrily and fearfully protests, 'why did you do that'?? Now we’re going to be hated in our neighbors’ eyes, and they’ll try to kill us. Simeon and Levi respond with, 'Should we allow our sister to be treated like a harlot' (Gen. 34)?
This is a very, very disturbing story. There are a bunch of things that are troubling, but here are 2 “big picture questions.” First of all, who was right?? Was Jacob right that this was the wrong thing to do? Or were Simeon and Levi right - the massacre was justified after what Shechem did to Dina? The story just ends without any sort of resolution. The text eerily leaves us in the dark.
Second, we just learned about the resolution to Jacob’s epic story (Gen. 33), and we would expect to see a continuation of his legacy but suddenly we have this story of Dina, Simeon, and Levi - people who have not been crucial parts of the story until now. Why are we hearing about this, and why now?
After Shechem violates Dina, he falls in love with her. So, he and his father try to broker a deal with Jacob. We’ll do all these wonderful things for you: we’ll give you access to our people, our land, our business, if you give us your daughter’s hand in marriage.
Have we seen anything like this before? Someone who loves a woman, speaks to the woman’s father to try and make a deal - to do things, to offer his services, all in exchange to get her hand in marriage? Isn’t that exactly what happened with Jacob in Laban’s home? Jacob loved Rachel, I’ll work seven years for you, for your daughter Rachel’s hand in marriage (Gen. 29). It seems like we’re hearing echoes of the Jacob story.
Back to the Dina story. The brothers seem to agree to the deal as long as the people get circumcised…but that’s not really true. It only seems like that. They’re planning something. The sons answered them with deceit (Gen. 334:13)....That’s exactly what happens in the Jacob story too. Laban seems to agree to Jacob’s deal on the outside, but he has a very different plan. Jacob yells at Laban, ‘why did you deceive me? Ironically, deceive is the same word as deceit.
And now look at what Jacob’s sons say in their deception: ‘we can’t do this thing...to give our sister to a man who is uncircumcized’. Does that remind you of anything? That formula of not being able to fulfill a marriage agreement because of some particular norm? Laban responds to Jacob’s accusation of switching Leah and Rachel and says, ‘that’s not what’s done here… to give the younger’s hand in marriage before the elder’s. Everything Jacob’s sons seem to be doing here has echoes back to Laban’s deception towards Jacob!
Look at what’s happening here! What Laban did to Jacob, that’s exactly what Jacob’s sons are doing to Shechem. Unfortunately,what Laban did to Jacob was already an echo. Laban is replaying what Jacob himself did to his father and brother with the blessings (Gen. 27:30-36). Look at how Isaac described what Jacob did to Esau. He said, ‘your brother, Jacob, came with deceit, and took your blessings (Gen. 27:35).
What’s happening is an awfully vicious, chilling chain of events, set in motion with Jacob’s original deception. Laban did the same to him, and now Jacob’s sons are replaying it with Shechem. Their behavior here is a replay of their father’s own behavior years before.
Is the story just telling us that Jacob’s sons learned deception from their father? That may be true on the surface, but there’s something much deeper going on here. What drove Jacob’s sons to act this way may have been more than just the horrific things that happened to Dina. Let’s go back to the story one last time - and this time - pay attention to how the text refers to Dina.
In the first verse of chapter 34, Dina, the daughter of Leah who was born to Jacob, went out…If you’ve been following the Torah’s story until now, we know who Dina is. We know she’s Leah’s daughter. But by repeating that here, it seems like the text is telling us that who her parents are is an important part of the story.
After Dina is violated, Jacob hears about it, and here, the text refers to her as “Dina, his daughter (Gen. 34:5)’. Meanwhile, his sons were out in the field, and Jacob was silent until they got back (Gen. 34:5). What?? The text emphasized that it was his daughter who was violated, and he didn’t say or do anything!
Hamor is actually the next person to act. He speaks to Jacob, but Jacob’s sons are there too. And look how Hamor refers to them: ‘My son, Shechem, longs for your daughter (conjugated in plural). If it were just a singular person’s daughter, just Jacob’s daughter, it should have been written in Hebrew differently. By saying it in plural, Hamor is saying she is ‘the daughter of all of you.’Hamor refers to Dina as the daughter of both Jacob and her brothers! Kinda strange isn’t it?
She’s obviously only the daughter of Jacob, but this kind of gives us a picture of what’s happening here. It’s almost like the brothers are taking on the role of the father. And they themselves confirm that: “if you don’t go along with our deal, we’ll take ‘our daughter’ and move on.”
Now look at what happens at the very end of the story. Jacob rebukes Simeon and Levi for what they did, and they respond with can we allow our sister to be treated like a harlot (Gen. 34:31)? Now, that’s pretty a sharp line, but it’s not as sharp as it could be. Think about it. If they really wanted to convince Jacob that what they did was right, what should they have said? What about, “Should YOU allow YOUR DAUGHTER to be treated like a harlot?” It’s YOUR daughter!!!
Let me share with you some food for thought. It looks like the text is pointing us to a struggle we’re already familiar with: and that’s the struggle of favoritism. Dina is raped and who was Dina? The text begins by telling us she was Leah’s daughter. Remember Leah, the unfavored wife of Jacob. Jacob does nothing about his daughter's rape. Think about what that must’ve looked like from Simeon and Levi’s perspective. Their whole lives, they’ve been the children of the unfavored wife of Leah. They knew that Jacob didn't love Leah as much as he loved Rachel (Gen. 29:18, 30, 31) . And by extension, that made them, the children of Leah, Jacob’s unfavored children. They know that Jacob really cared much more about Rachel’s children. And then, when Leah’s child, Dina, their sister is in trouble, Jacob does nothing about it.
So, Simeon and Levi, sons of Leah, step in. They act deceptively. They do whatever it takes to make things fair again. And they rebuke Jacob. Personally, I don’t think they are trying to convince Jacob that their plan was okay, they may have just been expressing how they felt when they saw this happen. Maybe she’s not “your daughter” enough to act. But we won’t let this happen to our sister.
Now pull the zoom lens out and look again at the connection between the deceit of Jacob’s sons and the deceit of Jacob himself. Way back when, Jacob was the unfavored child, next to Esau (Gen. 25:28). Jacob thought that was unfair, so he deceived in order to make things right. And now, Jacob’s sons are doing the same thing! They are Jacob’s unfavored children. They are being treated unfairly, so they deceive in order to make things right again.
So who was right in this story? Maybe the text leaves it ambiguous because there’s no answer. What we do know is the unloved, unfavored individuals live hurt and do whatever it takes to make the playing field even when things look like they are heading in the wrong direction.
On the one hand, Jacob should have learned from his father and not picked favorites. On the other hand, his sons shouldn’t have acted deceptively to get what they think they deserve. They should confront openly and honestly; just like Jacob should have done so many years before.\
The Dina story is given to us as a transitional story from Jacob to his children. Right before this, Jacob reconciled with his brother, and from his perspective, he did everything he could to continue his father’s legacy. But when Jacob himself does what his father had done - favored some of his family over the others - his children are going to face the same challenges that he faced. The brother’s deception in the Dina story is the beginning of that.
And this story, the story of Shechem, teaches us about the emotional trauma that the children of the unfavored wife go through. And it’s exactly the story we need to know before we get to the very next major event in Genesis: the story of the sale of Joseph. The story of the sale of Joseph is the struggle of the favored vs the unfavored (Gen. 37:3). Can the ‘favored’ sensitively use what they have in order to continue legacy and positively impact others, or will they flaunt it and push people away? Can the unfavored learn to confront, to talk openly? Will they just continue to deceive? And can they rectify their mistakes? Jacob himself reconciled… but can Jacob’s children?
I'm sure glad God is not a respecter of persons! I have a long way to go.
Have a wonderful 1st day.
Shalom
Commercial: Yesterday's zoom call. Vayetze/and he left: The Jacob & Leah Story - Maybe there wasn't as much deception to the story as we thought or boy, do I have a lot to work on in my own life!
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