(Genesis 33:01 - 34:21)
Jacob observed Esau approaching with his four hundred men. He separated his various children with his wives Leah, Rachel, and his two concubines, positioning the concubines and their children first, Leah and hers next, and Rachel and her son Joseph last. Jacob approached his brother, bowing to the ground seven times as he did so.
Esau ran to meet him. He embraced, held his head in his hands and kissed him, and then wept. He noticed the women and children and inquired, " Do they belong to you?"
Jacob answered, "These are the children that Jehovah has granted me, your servant."
The concubines and their children stepped forward and bowed in respect and greeting. Leah and her children did so next, and, lastly, Rachel and Joseph.
"And what of the droves that I encountered?" Esau asked.
"I offer them to you that I might find favor with my master."
"I have plenty, my brother, keep for yourself what's yours," Esau answered.
"No, please. If I have found favor in your eyes, accept them as a small token of my respect. Indeed, your face is as welcome to me as the face of my god! ... Be so good as to receive them as a blessing from the god who has been generous with me."
With much ceremony Esau accepted the gift at his brother's strong insistence. And Esau declared, "Let's us continue your journey together, for I will accompany you."
"Master," said Jacob, " I'm sure you've noticed I have small children with me, and sheep and cows that are nurturing their young, so that if the men should drive them too hard, the herd could all die in a single day. Let my master, if he would, go ahead of his servant. I will follow slowly behind, traveling only as fast as the children and the livestock can go, until we arrive at your place in Seir."
Esau responded, "I ask at the very least that a few of my men go with you."
Jacob said, "It's not necessary, but I want nothing save to please my master."
Esau returned that day to Seir, the way he had come.
Jacob, however, journeyed to Succoth, where he erected a hut for himself and pens for his livestock -- thus the name of the place [meaning “shelters"]. He then traveled to Shechem, a city in Canaan. It was there, outside of town, where he made his home after his safe return from Aram. That part of the field where he had pitched his tents he purchased for a hundred lambs from the sons of Hamor. He built an altar there to worship his god; he called it El Elohe Israel [meaning the mighty god of Israel].
One day, Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob, went out to call upon some of the local women and caught the eye of Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite and a prince of the land. Lusting after her, he abducted and seduced Dinah, violating her virginity. But, very much taken with the girl, he tried to placate her and wooed her with sweet words. He went to his father Hamor and asked him, “Would you arrange a marriage for me? I want this lass for my wife.”
When word came to Jacob how Shechem had disgraced his daughter, his sons were out tending the flocks, so Jacob took no action until they returned. While he waited, Hamor, Shechem’s father, stopped by to confer with him. When Jacob’s sons heard the news, they came in from the fields. Enraged and distraught they were: this was an affront to the race of Israel, for sexually assaulting the daughter of Jacob was a something that could not be allowed to occur.
Hamor pleaded with them, saying, “My son Shechem’s heart is set on your sister. Please let him take her as his wife. Let our families intermarry. You can live with us, conduct trade, own and till the land." Shechem said to Jacob and his sons, "I hope to find favor in your eyes. Whatever you ask will be granted to you. Whatever wedding gifts and marriage settlements you demand will be given you, as long as you let me marry Dinah."
Jacob's sons, still offended by the rape of their sister, responded to Shechem and his father with anger, "We can’t approve of such a thing! We cannot allow our sister to marry a man who is uncircumcised, for that is prohibited to us. But,” they continued, making a deceitful and spurious offer, “if your people will adopt our practice, if all your men will become circumcised, then you may marry our daughters and we will marry yours; we will live together and become a single people. But if our request that you become circumcised is refused, then we will take our sister and leave the country."
The offer was amenable to Hamor and his son Shechem, who fulfilled the conditions of the agreement without delay, for he was deeply in love with the girl. Being the most respected member of Hamor's family, Shechem accompanied his father Hamor when he appeared in the market place and addressed the menfolk of the city. They told them, "These people are willing to live in peace and friendship among us. We propose that they be allowed to own property, engage in commerce, and cultivate the land -- which is vast and needs men to populate it. We will marry their women, and they, ours. The only condition is: we must circumcise all our men to conform to the custom of their people. We will be able to share in their wealth, their livestock and possessions, if we defer to them in this one regard. Together we can become one people."
All the men in the marketplace who heard the proposal put before them by Hamor and Shechem agreed to it, and so every male inhabit of the town underwent circumcision.
However, on the third day, when all the men of Shechem were in the most pain from the circumcision, two of Dinah's brothers and sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi took up their swords. Making a surprise attack upon the town, they slew every man in the place. They dispatched Hamor and Shechem with a slash of their swords, rescued Dinah from Shechem's house, and absconded. Later, Jacob's other sons, discovering the carnage, pillaged the town in retaliation for the rape. They seized the livestock, all the flocks and herds, looted the wealth of the city, plundered the fields, even ransacked the private homes, while taking captive the women and children.
After they had done these things, Jacob had words with Levi and Simeon,"You have given me considerable grief, you will make my name hateful to the Canaanites and Perizzites who live here. There are only a few of us. They will join forces against us, attack and destroy me and my people.”
His sons excused themselves by saying, "Can we allow our sister to be treated like a loose woman?"
Notes
1. Jacob stole his older brother Esau's birthright and tricked him out of his father's blessing so he could be top man, but he ended up being forced into exile. Although he returns after twenty years a wealthy and successful man, he hardly feels secure in his position. He is more than merely deferential to Esau, he is servile, calling him "master," and eager to curry his favor, apparently scared to death that Esau will attack and wipe him out. When they meet and Esau falls all over himself to make his brother feel welcome, Jacob still seems suspicious. He forces Esau to accept his presents of bald appeasement. He gives excuses so he won't have to travel with Esau, but assures him that he will follow. This, however, turns out to be a lie, for Jacob doesn't go to Esau's country at all, but to another place entirely.
2. Shechem, where Jacob settles -- a long way from Seir, where Esau lives -- is a northern Canaanite town mentioned by other texts contemporaneous with the supposed time of Jacob. (Shechem is also the name of its prince in this story.)
3. The rape of Dinah is acknowledged as a crime, a sin, as one would expect it to be, although it is less an offense committed against a person that an affront to a family. Hamor, the father of the rapist Shechem, tries to smooth things over by offering a deal to Jacob's family that seems handsome compensation. It should be noted that Dinah is not consulted as to whether she wishes to marry Shechem or not. (Women at that time probably had no say in matters so trivial as to whom they were to marry: marriages were based upon familial interests, not personal preferences -- a situation that would, for the most part, not change for thousands of years.) The men of Shechem are surprisingly and generously accommodating to Jacob's tribe and all quickly get themselves circumcised (ouch!). Their motives are not entirely unselfish: they hope to share Jacob's wealth. They do not know that they are the dupes of a diabolical plot.
4. It might be understandable for Dinah's brothers to avenge her rape by killing her rapist -- not exactly an eye for an eye, but rough tribal justice. However, Simeon and Levi are not content with just that. Inheriting their father’s deceitful cunning, they have tricked the men of the town into undergoing circumcisions, so that while they were recovering from the operations and still in pain, they cannot adequately defend themselves. They then kill every (all but defenseless) man jack in the town to slake their thirst for vengeance. Then their brothers loot the place and take the women and children captive. An act of such heinous barbarity reminds one of the primitive nature of society at this time and the crude sense of justice and morality existent. That Jacob's sons apparently believe that mass murder and the pillaging of an entire town is just compensation for a rape is, from a modern viewpoint, quite disturbing. (Yet, we find a similar attitude among contemporary Islamic extremists who believe that offenses such as blasphemy justify murderous acts of terror.)
5. Jacob's disapproval of his sons' act of genocide does not stem from its immorality or from regret for the death of so many innocent men, but merely out of a concern for his reputation -- this is going to make him look bad with the neighboring tribes, and there might be retaliation against him. Jacob is obviously no longer in control of his family; his sons are acting without his knowledge or consent and acting contrary to his interests. And Jehovah, at this point, has nothing to say to his devotee about the conduct of his homicidal family.
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