Genesis Chapter 34-36 – John Karmelich

1. I like to call this section of Scripture, “Don’t let it happen to you!” J

a) Genesis is not only filled with heroic moments, but also tragic.

b) “All Scripture is God Inspired” (2^nd Timothy 3:16), and that includes some pretty ugly moments incorporated in this section of Genesis.

2. In this section we are “wrapping up” the life of Jacob.

a) We are still going to read of him every now and then through the rest of the book, but the primary focus after this section will be on Jacob’s children.

b) In Chapter 33, Jacob fully submitted his will to God

i) That was the “wresting with God” story. The wrestling match did not end until Jacob confessed his own sinful nature to God. At that point, God blessed him.

c) In Chapters 34-35, we are going to read of more tragedies happening to Jacob.

d) It is so important to understand the principal that “Once you submit your life to God, everything is not wonderful and beautiful”.

i) God did promise to bless Jacob in the middle of Chapter 33.

ii) Yet we read of more tragedies in Jacob’s life in Chapters 34-35. OK, what gives? J

iii) First of all, there is the spiritual warfare that occurs. Satan does not want you to be a good witness for others, and thus Satan does his utmost to either persecute you or at the least, get you to compromise with getting God’s will accomplished. We’ll read of that “underlying tone” in this lesson.

iv) Second, our old human nature does not want to give up so easily. Just because we mentally and verbally turn our life over to God, our old human nature does not want to go away. Let me explain it another way: If we have a lifetime of bad habits, it often takes awhile for us to let go of those habits, even though God has already forgiven us for those sins committed by those habits.

a) God desires that we change. That change means we struggle with our “old self”. This is the topic of Paul’s letter to the Romans, Chapter 6. To paraphrase, “God wants us to do things this way, but we have always done it that way”. Every time that desire to do things “out way” comes up, we need to recognize that that desire and turn it over to God.

b) I described in the last lesson that when you ask Jesus to take over, it is like “an army establishing a command central in your body”. That “army” is directed by God. That army then battles your old nature and thus we “struggle with God”, which is what the word “Israel” means.

c) The good news is that God eventually wins. If we are simply willing to let God “win”, it will occur. Sometimes, in order for that occur, God allows terrible circumstances in our lives in order for us to realize Gods ways are the best for us.

v) Remember that everything that happens to your life is “God filtered”. This is the principal behind Romans 8:28. That means that all the tragedies and all the rough moments are “God filtered” for a purpose. One of my favorite prayers during those times is,“God let not these lessons be wasted on me”.

3. Which leads us back to Jacob. In Chapter 34, a local prince rapes Jacob’s daughter Dinah. His sons overreact and kill all the males in town. Jacob has to run for his life as a fugitive. In Chapter 35, Jacob has to deal with the death of several loved ones, including his favorite wife Rachel. Rachel dies giving birth to Jacob’s final son, Benjamin.

a) What is important to note is that not all the actions in this chapter are explained.

b) For example, after Jacob’s sons commit murder, they appear to “get away with it” and there is no further mention of direct punishment to the Jacob’s sons.

c) The main point of this section focuses on, “Jacob’s actions and the results”.

i) Jacob does things that are not God’s will, and bad results happen.

ii) Or, Jacob fails to do things that are not God’s will, and bad results happen.

d) In this chapter, we read of a lot of innocent people getting hurt by sin, including Jacob’s own daughter Leah.

i) One of the tragedies of sin is that it affects the people around us.

ii) People often ask,” Why in the Old Testament did God require the slaughter of innocent animals for sin? The animals didn’t do anything”.

a) One of the word-pictures being painted by that action is that sin often hurts innocent people. By God wanting the Israelites to slay innocent animals, it is a vivid visual reminder that our sins hurt innocent people.

4. I’m also going to cover Chapter 36 today, which is “only” Esau’s genealogy.

a) This chapter also goes along with my theme of “Don’t let this happen to you”.

b) Esau is a word picture of our old human nature. The New Testament picks up on that. (Hebrews 12:16). Chapter 36 is a word picture of “unhindered growth” of the flesh.

c) Esau takes wives of which his parents did not approve (Genesis 26:35). In Chapter 36 Esau renames some of the wives, hoping that might “clean up their image”.

d) There are a lot of trivial details that one won’t remember from Chapter 36. The main lessons to learn are:

i) God blesses Esau with children and wealth only because he too is a Son of Abraham, and God promised an unconditional blessing on that family.

ii) (Balance that thought with) God does not “bless the flesh”. Esau was a man who did not care for the things of God even though God was blessing him.

5. Genesis 34, Vs. 1: Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. ² When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and violated her. ³ His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her. ⁴ And Shechem said to his father Hamor, "Get me this girl as my wife."

a) To understand why this happened, we have to back to Chapter 33.

i) “Jacob, however, went to Succoth, where he built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock.” (Genesis 33:17, NIV) The specific located where Jacob settled is also called “Shechmen” (Genesis 33:18).

ii) The name Succoth means “booths” or “tents”. The idea is that of “temporary shelter”. Yet Jacob “built a place”. This implies he built a wood (or stone) home in this location.

iii) Here’s the problem: God said, “I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.'" (Gen 31:13 NIV)

a) This means that God wanted Jacob back to the specific location of Bethel. This is where Jacob saw the ladder with angels ascending and descending and God spoke to him back in Genesis 28.

iv) With Jacob stopping and building a house in Succoth, Jacob was not doing God’s will. That mistake leads to Dinah getting raped as mentioned here in Verse 2.

b) Onto the big question: Why did this rape occur? Who was at fault here?

i) Remember that Jacob met his brother Esau in Chapter 32. Jacob then lied to Esau about following him and went the opposite direction.

ii) Here’s the important point: Jacob’s children learned that deception was “no big deal”, if our dad can deceive his brother, why can’t Leah just “go run off and check out the town?”

iii) Even if Jacob told his brothers to keep an eye on her, or even if Jacob told Leah not to wander off, “actions speak louder than words”. Children see our actions far greater than the words we say to them.

c) What about the guy who raped her? Isn’t he guilty of this crime?

i) Yes of course. He gets killed in revenge in a few verses. One can argue that the punishment did not fit the crime. I’ll let God sort that out in judgment day.

ii) I also find it interesting that this guy still wanted to marry Dinah after the rape.

a) Usually, guys want nothing to do with a girl after that.

b) I may be reading too much into this, but I see “spiritual attacks” in this section. Satan wanted Jacob and his family to “compromise with God” and not go back to Bethel. Therefore when this boy desired to marry Dinah and settle here, you can read this as a word-picture of “spiritual compromise”.

d) What about Dinah herself?

i) Yes she is guilty of “wandering where she should have not”. This is a good story to read to your daughters about the consequences of just, “I just wanted to see what was happening”. There are some places where young girls should not be.

ii) The interesting thing is there is no “epilog” to Dinah’s life after this incident.

a) We don’t know the long-term implications of this tragedy.

b) The primary focus of this chapter is on Jacob, and therefore, we don’t get a lot of details of the consequences of this action on Dinah.

6. Verse 5: When Jacob heard that his daughter Dinah had been defiled, his sons were in the fields with his livestock; so he kept quiet about it until they came home.

a) There is a lot of debate over this verse. Essentially, Jacob was “passive” about this event until it could be discussed with his sons.

b) Some argue that Jacob did the right thing and showed patience.

c) Most argue (including me) that Jacob was too passive and didn’t do the right thing.
Let me put my argument this way:

i) The word “God” and “Lord” never appear in Chapter 34.

ii) The word “prayer” never appears in Chapter 34.

iii) When Jacob/renamed Israel is called “Jacob”, it usually means that the ol’ do-it-myself-ignore-God person in view. When Jacob is called “Israel”, it usually means Jacob is struggling to do God’s will. Jacob is only called Jacob in this chapter other than to mention that rape is disgraceful to “Israel”.

d) Remember that God tests our faith in many ways, some of them tragic.

i) God is saying to Jacob in effect, “I wanted you to be in Bethel. Instead, you build a house in Succoth. Here are consequences you have to suffer for disobedience”.

ii) Because of the sin of disobedience, the innocent daughter suffers.

7. Verse 6: Then Shechem's father Hamor went out to talk with Jacob. ⁷ Now Jacob's sons had come in from the fields as soon as they heard what had happened. They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter--a thing that should not be done. ⁸ But Hamor said to them, "My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. ⁹ Intermarry with us; give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰ You can settle among us; the land is open to you. Live in it, trade in it, and acquire property in it."

a) Let me paraphrase the father of the guy who raped Dinah. “Hey Jacob, sorry about the rape thing and all. You know how kids are. Listen, my son wants to make it up to you. Let us let our kids get married. We’ll do business with you and we’ll both get richer. How about it ol’ boy?”

b) This whole section is about getting Jacob to compromise. God still wants Jacob in Bethel, as indicated in the first verse of Chapter 35. In the meantime, I personally see a Satan-inspired temptation to get Jacob to compromise with God’s will.

8. Verse 11: Then Shechem said to Dinah's father and brothers, "Let me find favor in your eyes, and I will give you whatever you ask. ¹² Make the price for the bride and the gift I am to bring as great as you like, and I'll pay whatever you ask me. Only give me the girl as my wife."

a) One of the interesting things about this proposal is the lack of any response by Jacob.

i) In the next few verse, we are going to see two of Jacob’s sons take matters in their own hands and kill every male in town.

ii) One has to wonder that if we read of Jacob taking action, or at least if Jacob was praying to God for action, this whole tragedy would have been avoided.

iii) Sometimes, as a leader a lack-of-action speaks louder than action. I personally see Jacob’s pacificity as part of the problem.

b) Let’s talk a bit about the rapist-prince-Shechem and his father.

i) The prince’s name is Shechem, the same name as the town (Genesis 33:18).

a) I suspect that this guy has the “abusive/guilty” personality trait. Some people with abusive personalities often feel guilty afterwards and do everything to “make it up” to the person they hurt, only to do it again later.

ii) The father knows what he did was wrong and is trying to “make it up” to Jacob. He wants to please his son.

a) Notice the father never address the problem of rape.

b) Notice any lack of mention of any discipline to his son.

c) The father’s solution is to “bribe his way” out of it. For those of you familiar with the term “co-dependant”. This is when a person living with a problem-person ignores the problem and tries to “fix everything but the problem itself”. People who live with alcoholics are often co-dependant because they refuse to deal with the problem itself and try to fix everything around that person. This father fits that profile.

9. Verse 13: Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob's sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor. ¹⁴ They said to them, "We can't do such a thing; we can't give our sister to a man who is not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵ We will give our consent to you on one condition only: that you become like us by circumcising all your males. ¹⁶ Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We'll settle among you and become one people with you. ¹⁷ But if you will not agree to be circumcised, we'll take our sister and go."

a) The brothers now speak up and say, “we can’t intermarry with you because you are not circumcised.” They say that if all the men into town agree to do this, we’ll intermarry.

i) When we get to Verse 25, we learn the reason for this is because two of the older kids Simon (Son #2) and Levi (Son #3) want to kill the men of this town.

b) A couple of thoughts to consider from this paragraph:

i) Notice the lack of any action on Jacob’s part. That set the stage for this tragedy.

ii) Notice that nobody talks to Dinah is if it her intent to go with the man.

iii) Notice the lack of prayer by anyone in this family.

iv) Notice how the boys use “religion” as a cover up for their plan. Circumcision was not only practiced by the Jews, but some other tribes used the custom as well. It is as the boys are saying, “Perform this religious act, and all is forgiven.”

v) Circumcision was designed to be a “declaration” that you are now a part of God’s family, the same way Christians use baptism as a public declaration of our new faith in Jesus.

a) On the surface the requirement of circumcision sounds reasonable as if they want the town to convert to their religion. One has to see this plan in light of the boy’s plan to kill and plunder the town.

vi) Another point is that the boys are deceivers like Jacob. They have “learned well” from Jacob. This is another case of bad personality traits being past on.

10. Verse 18: Their proposal seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. ¹⁹ The young man, who was the most honored of all his father's household, lost no time in doing what they said, because he was delighted with Jacob's daughter. ²⁰ So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city to speak to their fellow townsmen. ²¹ "These men are friendly toward us," they said. "Let them live in our land and trade in it; the land has plenty of room for them. We can marry their daughters and they can marry ours. ²² But the men will consent to live with us as one people only on the condition that our males be circumcised, as they themselves are. ²³ Won't their livestock, their property and all their other animals become ours? So let us give our consent to them, and they will settle among us."

a) Remember that the townsfolk were not believers in the true God. In order for the father/ son team to convince the guys in town to perform a circumcision, they use money as an incentive. Notice Verse 23 where it says, “Won't their livestock, their property and all their other animals become ours?”

i) Notice there is no “Worship the true God” in order to commit to circumcision.

ii) The only benefit offered by “doing this religious thing” is that it is “good for business”. Unfortunately, I have met my share of “Christians” who join a church because it is “good for business”. I have met my share of politicians who brag about their membership in a certain church for political gain.

b) The big-picture idea is still about God’s will versus man’s will getting accomplished. God did not want Jacob to settle here. God allowed these tragic events to occur in order for Jacob to “move on”.

i) You can read this whole section as one, big Satan-inspired compromise of Jacob and his sons to not do God’s will. As to the townsfolk, all it took was some monetary incentive and they go along with this plan.

11. Verse 18: All the men who went out of the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male in the city was circumcised. ²⁵ Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. ²⁶ They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem's house and left. ²⁷ The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where their sister had been defiled. ²⁸ They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields. ²⁹ They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses.

a) Here we read of Simeon and Levi killing all the men of the town.

b) They waited until everybody was too sore to move to perform their deed.

c) Notice in Verse 27 that all the sons were involved in the looting.

d) Notice who was missing from the scene: Jacob himself. His passive attitude about the rape lead to the sons taking actions in their own hands, and over-reacting to the problem. Yes the prince-son was guilty, but not the townsfolk.

e) When we read of Jacob’s life, we don’t read of any violent tendencies. If anything, Jacob was passive and under-reacted to situations where he should have taken the lead.

i) I wondered how the sons got the point where they could commit mass murder. Jacob the father was a deceiver, but not a violent murderer. We read of Jacob getting angry at Laban, but that was based on years of pent-up anger.

ii) Jacob’s two sons take that anger “one step further”. They saw their father get angry at Laban, but never violently act on their anger.

iii) There is no justifying the actions of the sons. It is an over-reaction to a crime.

iv) God is “very silent” in this chapter. That is the way God works in our lives sometimes. He lets tragedies occur in order for us to realize our faults and eventually turn back to him. We don’t read of God condemning this action, but it is implied by God’s silence in this chapter.

12. Jacob’s reaction, Verse 30: Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed." ³¹ But they replied, "Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?"

a) Notice what Jacob did not say, “You kids have committed mass murder”.

i) Jacob did not say, “Lets seek God and ask forgiveness of this action”.

ii) Instead we read of Jacob having a pity-party saying in effect, “Woe is me because I will now have a bad reputation in this town and the surrounding folks will come after me for this tragedy”.

b) Notice the lack of trust in God’s promises. Jacob was worried in Verse 30 that his family would be destroyed. God promised that through Abraham, through Isaac and through Jacob, God would make a mighty nation.

i) God had to honor that commitment despite the sins of the sons. This is not about the children of Jacob being faithful; this is about God being faithful.

ii) God honors his commitments despite our sins, because His reputation is on the line. God still blesses the children of Jacob and makes them a great nation, despite the sin of this chapter.

iii) Possibly the most important application of Chapter 34 is that despite the fact that we mess up daily, God still wants to bless us and give us a great life. This is about His promises to us, and nothing else. Yes God still wants us to confess our sins, as God wants us to acknowledge that His way is the right way for us to act in life.

c) You have to wonder about the son’s motivations in Verse 31. They said they killed all the men in town essentially, to protect the honor of the daughter.

i) If that was the case, why did they kill all the males?

ii) If that was the case, why did they take all the plunder of the town?

iii) We may be seeing the “deceiver” trait being past on from father to sons.

iv) Even if their intention was honorable, it does not excuse the sin itself.

13. Chapter 35, Verse 1: Then God said to Jacob, "Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau."

a) This verse gets me.

i) There is no commentary from God on all the sins committed.

ii) There is no comment from God about Dinah getting raped.

iii) There is no comment from God about the mass murder of the sons.

iv) The only thing God says in effect is “OK Jacob, time for you to do what I told you to do which is go to Bethel and build an alter to me there.

b) Sometimes God punishes us by allowing us to see the consequences of our sins.

c) Sometimes “life is enough punishment itself” without any further comment from God.

d) God still needed Jacob back where he wanted, in order to accomplish His will.

i) God is reminding Jacob of a time over 20 years ago, when he first fled from Esau. At that time, Jacob was scared for his life, and God comforted him.

ii) Here, Jacob is scared for his life again, and God reminds him of that past time.

iii) Sometimes, when life is going terribly and we don’t “feel” the presence of God in our life, it is often good to look back at a time when we noticed God was obviously working in our lives. Many Christians keep journals of their prayers and God’s answers to those prayers. That way, when the “dark times” come, and God is quiet in order to test us, we can look back how God miraculously got us “this far” to remind us that God is still there.

a) In a sense, that is what we have in this verse of Genesis. God is telling Jacob, “Hey, remember that time 20 years ago when I told you I would be with you on your journeys? Well, I’m still here. I never said my presence was conditional. I’m still here. Now go to where I commanded you to go.”

14. Chapter 35, Verse 2: So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. ³ Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone." ⁴ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. ⁵ Then they set out, and the terror of God fell upon the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.

a) If the name of God was missing from Chapter 34, it is definitely present in Chapter 35.

b) Now that God is in touch with Jacob again, now we read of Jacob telling the kids “put away your foreign gods” and let’s be obedient to what God wanted us to do.

c) When one commits a sin against God and wants to start anew, what do you do?

i) You start by “burying” your sins at the cross.

ii) You start by confessing what you did wrong, and let it go.

iii) Notice Jacob told his sons in Verse 3 to take the foreign god (idols) and earrings (probably more symbols of foreign gods) and bury them at Shechem.

a) God always want to restore a right relationship with Him, but that means a desire to kill or bury our old sinful ways and “move on” to the new life.

b) Before Jacob and the family can go to Bethel, the place where God desired them to go, they first had to stop and bury their foreign idols.

c) One has to wonder that if the kids were zealous for the true God, would they even have these i