Genesis 34 (Rape of Dinah)

It's a horrible story. The family of Jacob arrives at a new land. While they are getting adjusted, their daughter is taken by the prince of the land and raped. In anger, Jacob's sons devise a plan of revenge and effectively kill all of the men of the region.

This story is usually understood this way - Shechem, the loose prince of the land wrongs Dinah and her family by raping her. He is evil. And his father is awful for trying to cover it up. In righteous indignation, her brothers exact divine wrath against the evil people. This is told as a symbol of God's anger against human sin.

But I believe there is a better, more accurate way of understanding this story and so God's truth. We need to put on our cultural sensitivity hat and look at it for what it is - a story of one family with one culture entering another region with another culture. To do this properly, we need to step away from looking at this story from our modern American perspective (our sense of right and wrong, as well as our view of men and women) and view it as a story of two cultures butting heads.

First of all, we all believe Shechem's violence towards Dinah was wrong. Jacob and his family are burning mad! But it's certainly surprising to read that Shechem and his father never apologize. Rather, Shechem's feelings toward Dinah is described, "he loved the girl, and spoke tenderly to her" (v.3) and longed to marry her (v.4). In our culture, if this is the case, Shechem should have done anything and everything to get Dinah to like him! But the narrative reads like Shechem's act of rape was his expression of love. Could it be that this was a accepted way a young man in his region carried out love? Or was Shechem simply evil and deranged?

Shechem's father's reaction is instructive here. When Hamor approaches Jacob, we know that he wants Jacob's approval of marriage between their children. I would think Hamor would approach it with great apology and regret at the wrongful action of his son. No apology is offered. Rather, it's a simple, "the heart of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him in marriage" (v.8).

Is it possible that in this culture, Shechem was carrying out a suitor's method of courtship? As crude as it may seem to us, maybe that's simply the case. And that is not too much of a stretch. Among the Kyrgyz people in the Central Asian region, there is practice that is commonly called "bride stealing" or "bride kidnapping." Even though the practice has been officially outlawed, the practice continues with the approval of the village elders. The man will kidnap a woman they want to marry and hold her in his home for a night. The next day, he visits the woman's parents and asks for her hand in marriage. The understanding is that the woman has spent the night with the man and so has become sexually active; the parents therefore cannot reject the request. It's an accepted practice.

If Shechem was following the method of his culture, then his action is no longer as personally evil as it appears. Obviously Jacob and his sons abhor it. But they are the ones who have entered a new culture. They are visitors; they must accommodate to the new culture, or if they cannot not, then they need to move out. But they will not move, and they will not accept. Of course, they are filled with anger over the rape. And so they will violently uproot it. Their method -- kill all of the men. Their trick -- religion -- they will use the holiest of acts (circumcision) for murder. In the end, no one comes out looking good.

Shechem's act is sinful (whether cultural or personal), but so much more so are Jacob and his sons. They show their mixed intention when they plundered the city with all her wealth and women. They are all workers of evil.

Kyrgyzstan 2002. Sarang Church young leaders.

There are a handful of teachings that arise from this. How to respond to evil is probably the most important. Jacob and his sons teach us how NOT to respond. By killing all the men, they upped the evil and began the cycle of revenge. So how are we to respond? When Jim Elliot and his friends were killed by the Auca people of Ecuador, the response of the family stand in contrast. Forgiveness first and then sacrificial acts of love. Their method allowed God's grace to overflow. Read about it online by searching for it.