Genesis 34 Overview, The Rape of Dinah
This chapter records the rape of Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, and the revenge her brothers Simeon and Levi carried out on the rapist’s entire community.
Dinah, the daughter of Leah . . . went out to see the daughters of the land.” We are immediately told that she is Leah’s daughter. It is difficult to pin down Dinah’s age at this point, but she was probably thirteen or fourteen years old. Most commentators agree on this, though some think she was as old as her late teens. By following the timeline of Jacob’s journey, service to Laban, and return to Canaan, the evidence points to a young girl of around thirteen. She was curious enough to leave the safety of the camp and to explore. She was certainly physically mature enough to draw attention from men.
She went out of her family’s camp, left its safety, specifically to see the “daughters of the land.” The Jewish historian, Josephus, says that the Hivites were having a festival of some sort. We can picture the color, the pageantry, and music of an exotic celebration and realize how that would catch the eye of a tent-dwelling young girl.
In verse 2, we find that Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, a prince of the country, “saw her, he took her and lay with her, and violated her.” By the time this incident occurred, Jacob and his family had lived in the area for a few years. After Jacob left Laban and met and dealt with Esau, he had journeyed on to Succoth, staying there long enough to build homes—or more properly booths—for his family and livestock. He had then moved on to the city of Shechem, where he had bought the land that his tents were pitched on from Hamor (verses 17-19). No doubt, there was additional contact between the peoples as they traded with each other.
Dinah had possibly been to town before on one of these trips, and Shechem may have seen her. Verse 3 relates, “[Shechem’s] soul was strongly attracted to Dinah . . . and he loved the young woman.” Most likely, the young man had begun to lust for her when he first saw her, developed a “crush” on her, and as a son of the local ruler, he just took what he wanted.
The Violation
The Revised King James Bible reads that Shechem “lay with her and violated her.” The King James Version says that he “defiled” her. The New American Standard Bible says he “took her and lay with her by force.” These descriptions demark it was rape and not a consensual act.
Dinah may have made the wrong decision by leaving the camp and wandering in a pagan city alone. The curiosity to “see the daughters of the land” unknowingly put herself in danger.
After the rape, Shechem puts Dinah in his house (verse 26), probably under guard, and asks his father, Hamor, to arrange a marriage. Verse 4 shows how “politely” this is done: “So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, ‘Get me this young woman as a wife'”—which sounds like a young man accustomed to getting his own way.
Verse 5 relates that “Jacob heard that he [Shechem] had defiled Dinah his daughter. Now his sons were with his livestock in the field; so Jacob held his peace until they came.” We do not know what Jacob thought at this point, for he kept silent. His daughter had been raped and was now held “captive.” A thousand things must have gone through his head, yet he said nothing. In light of this, it is interesting to consider how the dynamics of Jacob’s life have changed: Now he “kept his peace” until the sons came home.
Hamor and Shechem soon visit Jacob to speak to him. That the princes of the land humbled themselves to go to the tents of the nomadic visitors implies that at least Hamor knew that a wrong had been committed. Bible commentator Adam Clarke feels that Hamor did not have enough people to overwhelm Jacob’s entourage, and thus he had to negotiate.
Enter Dinah’s Brothers
News of this rape spread quickly. “The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved and very angry, because Shechem “had done a disgraceful thing in Israel” by lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing which ought not to be done” (verse 7). A more literal translation of “had done a disgraceful thing in Israel” would be “against Israel.” Thus, this crime against Dinah was also against Jacob who’s name had been changed to Israel; and it was an offense to the Prince of God. No small thing!
“Hamor spoke with them, saying, ‘The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter, please give her to him as a wife'” (verse 8), and he urges them to intermarry with his people. In verse 11, Shechem speaks to Jacob and her brothers, saying, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give.” Shechem, it seems, knows that he did wrong and feels a sense of responsibility. While he does not apologize, he does ask for favor and offers to make restitution.
What happens next is well known. As verse 13 relates, “The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father, and spoke deceitfully because he had defiled Dinah their sister.” In verse 15, they lie to Hamor and Shechem, telling them that if they and the men of the town are circumcised, then Shechem can have Dinah.
The coming atrocities are justified with the words “because he had defiled Dinah.” We do not know how many of the brothers were in on the plot to coerce the men of Shechem to be circumcised, but it appears that Simeon and Levi took the lead. Three days after the men were circumcised, Simeon and Levi “each took his sword and came boldly upon the city and killed all the males” (verse 25).
Simeon and Levi, two of Dinah’s full brothers, break from the pack here. Whereas previously the phrase “the sons of Jacob” had appeared, these two are now singled out for what they did. All of the brothers participated in plundering the town (verse 27), but it was Simeon and Levi, along with their servants most likely, who carried out the murders of all the town’s males. God says, however, in Deuteronomy 32:35, “Vengeance is Mine.” As God had been working with Abraham and his descendants for several hundred years by this point, Simeon and Levi should have known better.
Who Is to Blame?
We will begin with Jacob. In Genesis 28:20-22, he made a vow that, if God would be with him, he would return to Bethel. Instead, however, after leaving Laban, he stops first at Succoth for a time, then settles in Shechem, fifteen miles short of Bethel. For whatever reason, he does not go to Bethel, which means “House of God”. God allows him this latitude, but in the rape of Dinah and the subsequent murders, it is obvious that God wants him to honor his promise to return to Bethel. Notice Genesis 35:1: “God said to Jacob, ‘Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there.'” The first thing that Jacob says to his family after being told this is to “put away the foreign gods that are among you” (verse 2). We know that Rachel took ‘gods’ from her father Laban and hid them when they were leaving. This tells us Rachel and Leah were exposed to pagan worship through their father. It is likely that this is where it came from.
In Genesis 34:30, we see something else about Jacob:
Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land, . . . and since I am few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and kill me. I shall be destroyed, my household and I.” (Emphasis ours)
This verse does not put Jacob in the best light! He appears to have been just a bit self-centered. At this point in the story, he was not thinking in terms of Dinah’s best interests, only of his own.
It seems that Jacob failed Dinah in several ways. He put her outside Shechem where she should have never been. He allowed continuing worship of pagan gods in his home. He was concerned more with his personal honor and image than that of his daughter. Moreover, he left it to his sons to deal with this tragedy rather than taking a leadership role.
What about Leah? Where was she in all this? The Bible is silent about her. Should she have known where her young daughter was? Maybe she did know; perhaps she allowed her to go to Shechem unattended. If what Jerome stated was true, the pagan festival held there may have been familiar to Leah, and she felt no threat from it or its attendees.
Are Hamor and Shechem to blame? Certainly, Shechem must take blame, as he raped Dinah, first in the mind and then bodily. In some respects, despite being the perpetrator of a dreadful crime, he comes off as somewhat honorable. He is said to have loved her, he appears to be sorry, and he offers to marry her and give the family a dowry.
Hamor’s role in this seems to be two-fold. He wants to give his boy his desire, and he wants to accumulate more wealth and power for himself. When he pitches the idea of circumcision to the townsmen in Genesis 24:23, he says “Will not their livestock, their property, and every animal of theirs be ours?” Hamor means “ass” or “donkey,” so make of it what you will.
Then there are the sons of Jacob, led by Simeon and Levi, full brothers to Dinah. There is no excusing the crimes that they committed, and they are subsequently punished (see Genesis 49:5-7), a part of the saga that is a story unto itself. They certainly share great blame.
What about Dinah? It is interesting that in this entire chapter we never hear from her. Was the rest of her life ruined? Did she have a child from this rape? We cannot know all that went on in this matter, but God has given us a great deal of information about the various people involved. As with most things in life, there is more to it than what appears at first.