SERIES B --- A CHOSEN PEOPLE --- LESSON 9

DANGEROUS EXISTENCE

THE SAD STORY OF SHECHEM

From Genesis 34

After Jacob settled near the city of Shechem, his daughter Dinah, whose mother was Leah, went to visit some of the women who lived nearby. When Shechem, son of King Hamor the Hivite, saw Dinah, he took hold of her and dishonoured her. Then he fell passionately in love with her and began to talk lovingly to her. [I want that girl for my wife!] Shechem told his father. [Get her for me!] So Hamor went to talk with Jacob about this matter. Jacob had already heard what Shechem had done to Dinah, but he kept quiet until his sons came back from the field, where they had been taking care of the animals. The sons were furious when they heard about the incident, for they realized what an insult this had been to their sister. [My son Shechem is desperately in love with your daughter,] King Hamor told Jacob. [Let them get married. And let our other sons and daughters marry one another. Live here with us and share the land with us. We will do business together and you will own property here.] Shechem also talked to Jacob and his sons. [Show me your favour and I will give you whatever you ask,] he said. [If you will let me marry the girl, I will give you whatever gift or dowry you require.] But Jacob’s sons deceived Shechem, pretending to receive favourably what he said, while plotting something dishonourable. [If only you were circumcised, we could do these things,] they said. [It would disgrace us for our sister to marry an uncircumcised man. However, if all of your men would be circumcised, then we could live here with you and marry one another. If you will not be circumcised, we must take Dinah and move on.] Hamor and Shechem were pleased to hear this, so they went to the gate of the city to talk with the city leaders. [These men are friends,] they said. [We should do as they ask so they can live here and do business with us. The land is big enough for all of us, and we can marry their daughters and they can marry ours. But they won’t stay unless we are circumcised as they are. If we agree to their request, we will profit from all they have. Let us agree to be circumcised so they will stay here with us.] The men of the city agreed, and every one of them was circumcised. But on the third day, when they were so sore that they couldn’t move about well, Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, carried their swords into the city and killed every man and boy there. They even killed Shechem and Hamor and took Dinah from Shechem’s house to her home. [You certainly have got us into a great deal of trouble,] Jacob told his two sons. [Now we must smell very bad to the rest of the people of the land. There are so many Canaanites and Perizzites that if they band together and attack, we’ll all be destroyed.] [But we couldn’t let him treat Dinah like a common harlot!] they answered back.

COMMENTARY

SHECHEM AND TWO SONS

Israel and his family lived as nomads in the land that Abraham and Isaac had once travelled. Like his grandfather and father, Israel came into conflict with the inhabitants of Canaan. In this reading we see the dangers of life in those ancient times. We see also how like the people of the land the sons of Israel were! Two sons of prominent leaders were buried at Shechem. One was Shechem, son of Hamor, king of the city of Shechem. The other, buried generations later, was Joseph, son of Jacob, who once pitched his tent outside the city walls. No monument marks the tomb of the man Shechem, the king’s son. Although he and the city had the same names, time has lost the memory of his life, and his grave. Shechem, son of Hamor, is remembered only in Scripture, and that for violating Jacob’s daughter Dinah. For his thoughtless act, he lost his life, executed by Dinah’s brothers, Simeon and Levi. But Joseph’s memory lives on today at Shechem. During the Exodus, Moses brought his bones there from Egypt. Shechem, son of Hamor, is all but forgotten. Joseph, son of Jacob, will be remembered for generations.