The more I dig into God's Word, the more I realize I don't know as much as I thought I did! This morning's readings in Genesis took me hours of digging, looking at maps that never included all the locations mentioned, reading what others thought of the passages, etc... I am worn out! :-)
I was stopped by some things that I just can't understand, but each made me ponder... what should I learn from this passage?
- Was Dinah innocent? Did she go out alone in a foreign place unguarded? In that day young virgin women stayed at home unless they were with family.
- Shechem was very wrong in what he did. Dinah did not agree to his taking of her. Yet Shechem, unlike David's son who raped his sister, truly adored Dinah, so he went to his father for help.
- His father did not apparently correct his son for his behaviour, but indeed wanted to make things right with Jacob and his family, willingly allowing themselves to be circumcised. But Jacob's family knew just because you are circumcised on the outside you are not a follower of Yahweh unless your heart has been circumcised on the inside. Why make them go through a ritual that truly would not change them on the inside? Why didn't Jacob speak up and explain why that was not the problem?
- In this set of passages the father, Hamor, and son, Shechem, truly wanted to make amends and make things right by their foreign way of thinking.
- Why did Jacob's sons speak for their father? Laban spoke for his... I tried looking this up, but could find nothing on the culture saying that the sons spoke for the father. I don't believe that to be the case in general, but it was in these two instances.
- How did Jacob's sons become so deceiving? Well, even after Jacob became Israel he lied and told Esau he would meet up with him in Sier and then moved on to Shechem. Some habits are hard to break, even when you are a changed man.
- In chapter 34, Dinah's rape could have been the worst thing that happened, but unfortunately her brothers made matters worse. Innocent people were killed due to one man's sin and the revenge of her brothers. Jacob's family had become a "stench" to the surrounding areas and he had reason to fear that his family would be attacked and killed for their evil deed.
- But in Jacob's correction of his two older boys, they of course took no blame. Just like in the Garden of Eden. The boys blamed the entire town for corrupting their sister. The sister that went out alone when in their own culture she should not have. There was enough sin here to go around to all.
- God told Jacob to move to Bethel and build an altar for Him there. Jacob did as God told him.
- I noticed in Chapter 35 that Jacob knew his household had idols. What?
- Did God tell Jacob to leave Bethel?
- Rachel still mystifies me... in ch. 30:1 she told Jacob to give her children or she would die. So God gave her children. She died in childbirth with Benjamin.
- Why would a mother put an anchor on a baby by naming him "Benoni" son of my sorrow? Did she want to leave him with that name?
- Thank you, Jacob for changing his name to "Benjamin"... son of my right hand.
- After reading about Rachel dying I remembered a NT passage... Matthew 2:18... Rachel weeps for her children refusing to be comforted... guess where Rachel dies... Bethlehem. Note: Sometimes we don't realize how many children we have. The ones who we are examples for, who look up to us for guidance are also our children. You don't have to have a child to be a mother. You possibly have more affect on children when you are not a biological mother. You have more time and love to share without children of your own. Just a thought.
- Levi and Simeon were the two boys of Jacob who killed the men of the town of Shechem. Reubin slept with his father's concubine, Bilhah, Rachel's maid. Well, that is the oldest three of Jacob's boys. That is how the decision to give the blessing to Judah came about.
- Esau and Jacob buried their dad together.
- The remainder of our OT passage today tells of Esau's family.
Blessings!
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