relative living

Genesis 34 One day Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, went to visit some of the young women who lived in the area. ² But when the local prince, Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, saw Dinah, he seized her and raped her....⁸ Hamor tried to speak with Jacob and his sons. "My son Shechem is truly in love with your daughter," he said. "Please let him marry her. ⁹ In fact, let's arrange other marriages, too. You give us your daughters for our sons, and we will give you our daughters for your sons....¹⁴ They said to them, "We couldn't possibly allow this, because you're not circumcised. It would be a disgrace for our sister to marry a man like you! ¹⁵ But here is a solution. If every man among you will be circumcised like we are, ¹⁶ then we will give you our daughters, and we'll take your daughters for ourselves....²² But they (Jacob's family) will consider staying here and becoming one people with us only if all of our men are circumcised, just as they are. ²³ But if we do this, all their livestock and possessions will eventually be ours.

There is an account in Genesis 34 of the one daughter of Jacob (who had twelve sons).  As they live in a foreign place, the one daughter, Dinah, is raped by the son of the area's ruler.  Rather than being punished for this grievous sin and crime the son and his father seek to strike a deal.  In fact, they see opportunity to ultimately steal all of Jacob's property and make it their own.  As a result, the table is turned and they are the ones who ultimately lose all their property and even their lives.  It seems to me that Shechem and Hamor reflect what life can look like when you live in a realm where justice is not connected to righteousness.  When there is no justice or punishment for wrong than we easily justify even our worst actions because we have made self more important than anything else.  The actions of Jacob's sons in the story are certainly cruel, but they are the direct result of a failure to directly address a serious wrong.  Truly, God is not only sovereign over all...He is the anchor of our lives and the one who holds the fabric of society together.

Blessings,

Rob Smith