- We don't know all the details concerning this situation
- How does Jacob respond initially?
- He doesn't say anything. He specifically holds his peace
- He is passive
- This was very typical response of Jacob at this point in his life
- Is Jacob's lack of a response right or wrong?
- Wrong: He shows no leadership. This is his old nature winning the battle. He has struggled with fear in his life and He could be afraid
- Right: He could be trying to trust God without taking matters into his own hands
- What do you think Jacob should have done?
- He should have exercised leadership in the family by at least saying something or by trying to control his own children
- There is probably little he could do to the ruler's son, although he could have tried
- Was it right that the whole town should be killed?
- No. We know that is God's judgment because later it is given for one of the reasons that Simeon (2) and Levi (3) are passed over for the line of the Messiah
- Later on, God will exercise judgment against the Hivites, but not yet
- Why do Simeon and Levi (specifically) take action?
- Leah was the mother of Dinah and the mother of the first four sons
- What is it regarding Simeon and Levi's actions that are noteworthy (or ironic)?
- It is the same disease that affected Jacob, deception
- It is also interesting, that God is still using Jacob's old name to tell the story. There still has not been a switch
- It is important to note that other brothers took part in the looting
- What is Jacob's fear at the end of the incident?
- They will be destroyed
- Maybe if he had shared this at the beginning we could have avoided some of the trouble
- Sin always has consequences
- Jacob had deceived others in the past
- It isn't surprising that his children also deceive others (although our sin nature alone makes all of us susceptible, independent of actions by our parents)
- Jacob doesn't correct them for breach of contract, murder, or looting--only for bringing other's ill will against him
- Does any good come out of this situation?
- Rom 12:28 says that God works for good in every situation
- God does use the occasion for good in the life of Jacob's family (next section)
- APPLICATION: Men, we need to be careful about passivity. Sometimes we make decisions slowly and that can be very good, but sometimes we put off decisions because we don't want to make them. We need to approach these situations in prayer and ask God for wisdom to know when and how to react
- APPLICATION: One of the purposes of the chapter is to explain why Levi and Simeon are passed over for the line of the Messiah. Soon we will find why Reuben is passed over too
- APPLICATION: It also shows the need for regular purification. They need to refocus
- APPLICATION: … the story nevertheless also carries along the theme that runs so clearly through the Jacob narratives, namely, that God works through and often in spite of the limited self-serving plans of human beings. The writer’s purpose is not to approve these human plans and schemes but to show how God, in his sovereign grace, could still achieve his purpose through them.” (Sailhammer).
- How does God use the Shechem incident to bring about good?
- He moves them to Bethel (Bethel is where he made his vow)
- Gen 28:19-22 (NIV) 19 He called that place Bethel,c though the city used to be called Luz.
- Actually, Jacob had never fulfilled the vow by making the pillar, God's house or of sacrificing the tenth that he had promised
- He purifies them (they got rid of foreign gods). Why would this be an issue?
- Rachel's theft
- Loot from the sacking of Shechem
- He cleanses them. Changing clothes is symbolic
- Does he hide them or bury them? Why not melt / burn them?
- APPLICATION: Sometimes God uses difficult circumstances to bring us back to Him
- APPLICATION: Fear sometimes drive us back to God
- How does coming to Bethel fulfill the vow?
- Because he builds an altar
- We assume he fulfilled his vow of sacrifice as well
- The place is renamed a third time, from Luz to Bethel (House of God), to El Bethel (God of Bethel). What is the significance?
- The names remind the person of the event
- At first it was the place where God spoke
- The second time, Jacob now knows the person who had spoke
- Was Jacob's fear of his neighbors justified?
- YES: because apparently they had considering pursuing him
- NO: God protected them ("a terror from God")
- APPLICATION: Is there something that we have promised to do for God, but we have been slack to follow through on?
- Why does God repeat the renaming of Jacob to Israel?
- It reconfirms the name change
- It places it in more positive connotation vs the negative connotation of the last encounter
- He attaches the new name to a reaffirmation of the covenant
- Why does Jacob rename the place again (vs 15)?
- God names himself "El Shaddai" in verse 11
- Jacob renames it again back to Bethel, probably because God speaks to him, and also because God names himself
- APPLICATION: We all need reaffirmation of our faith. Unfortunately, and maybe fortunately, God doesn't appear to us like He did to the Patriarchs. God speaks through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. If we are not in the word on a regular basis, we miss out on the reaffirmation of God
Timeline Update
|
2236
|
Birth of Terah
|
Gen 11:24
|
|
2166
|
Birth of Abram
|
Gen 11:27
|
|
2091
|
Abram departs
from Haran
|
Gen 12:4
|
|
2066
|
Birth of lsaac
|
Gen 21:2; cf.21:5
|
|
2006
|
Birth of Jacob
and Esau
|
Gen. 25:26
|
|
1966
|
Marriage of Esau
|
Gen 26:34
|
|
1930
|
Jacob journeys to
Haran (after 1966 but not sure how much; Isaac' eyes are very bad)
|
Gen 28:2
|
|
1916
|
End of Jacob's 14
year labor for his wives
|
Gen 29:30
|
|
1916
|
Birth of Joseph
|
Gen 30:23
|
|
1910
|
End of Jacob's
stay with Laban
|
Gen 31:41
|
|
1910
|
Jacob's arrival
at Shechem
|
Gen 33:18
|
|
1902
|
Rape of Dinah
|
Gen 34:1-2
|
Review
5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. 6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing must not be done.
8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, "The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. 9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it." 11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, "Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. 12 Ask me for as great a bride price and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife."
18 Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor's son Shechem. 19 And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob's daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his father's house. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21 "These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. 22 Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us." 24 And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.
25 On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem's house and went away. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. 29 All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered.
30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household." 31 But they said, "Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?"
OR
…
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If
God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and
will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21
so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lordd will be my
God 22 ande this stone that I have set up as a
pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a
tenth.”
d 20,21 Or Since God... father~s house, the LORD
e 21,22 Or house, and the LORD will be my God, then
c That is, Northwest Mesopotamia;
also in verse 26
f Hebrew El-Shaddai
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