Summer
Sermon Series: Wrestling with Jacob
Genesis
33:18-34:31
This morning we continue our summer
sermon series “Wrestling with Jacob”.
Throughout the last few months we have covered the overarching narrative
of Jacob’s life. We have witnessed to
his struggles in birth and conflict within his family, we have followed the
saga of his many wives and children, and we have discussed his wrestling with
his father-in-law Laban, with his brother Esau, and with a mysterious stranger
(God?) at the side of the Jabbok River.
These last two chapters round out the end of his saga, and we will see
the drama begin to move on into the next generation.
Fair warning: This is an “R” rated
Bible story involving rape and extreme violence. I make no judgements on anyone who decides to
leave at any point while we discuss this scripture. I want this to be a safe place, but I also
want this to be a place where we are willing to confront the depths of human
sin, so do whatever you need to do to take care of yourself this morning.
(Read Genesis 33:18-34:4)
Those that were here last week will
remember that after Jacob’s happy reunion with Esau, the two sons of Isaac
decided to part ways once again. Esau
headed back into the land of Edom, and Jacob headed into Succoth. Jacob now moves into Shechem which is in the
land of Canaan to make his home. He buys
property from the head of the tribe, Hamor, and erects an altar there to mark
the land as a place of the Lord.
Jacob’s one and only daughter, Dinah,
heads innocently into town to visit with the other womenfolk of the
region. While there she is seized by Shechem,
son of Hamor, and prince of the tribe and Dinah is raped. (It is a bit confusing that Shechem is the
name of the man and also the name of the city, but the author will be making a
play on words later on, so just do your best to keep the two straight). After the rape, Shechem seems to fall in love
with Dinah. The author tells us that his
soul was drawn to her. So Shechem tells
his father Hamor that he wants Dinah to be his bride.
(Read Genesis 34:5-12)
Both Hamor and Shechem approach Jacob
and make an offer of marriage. Legally,
this is a correct move. Shechem
shouldn’t have raped Dinah, and the law states that he now must pay her father
and marry her. So Shechem now is
following the law and making a very generous offer. He states he would do anything for Dinah,
give anything for her, offering Jacob and his family the opportunity to name
their price. Once again the author makes clear Schechem’s deep love for Dinah.
Also of note here is Hamor’s offer to
welcome Jacob and his people into the land.
God may have promised this land to Jacob and his descendants but as far
as the law is concerned, this is the land of Shechem and Hamor is its
leader. Hamor offers to welcome Jacob
and his people fully into the place, allowing the tribes to intermarry and to
share goods and wealth. It is a good
deal for Jacob, as he and his people could make this their permanent home.
(Read Genesis 34:13-24)
Jacob may be ready to make an
agreement for Dinah between his family and Hamor’s, but his sons are not. They demand that Shechem be circumcised in
order to be wed to Dinah. They falsely
offer a union of tribes if the men of Shechem will consent to the circumcision
ceremony and join with the Israelites in this sign of covenant community. They don’t demand a conversion of worship,
but they do demand this physical sign of the covenant.
Schechem’s love of Dinah is so great
that circumcision seems a small price to pay.
He and his father Hamor approach the other men of the city and make the
offer. They convince the men of the city
that the whole city will benefit if Jacob and his tribe remain and join with
the city economically. They must have
been quite the smooth talkers, because all the men of Shechem agree to undergo
the circumcision ritual. Although the
author doesn’t clearly state it, I think we can assume that Hamor’s son Shechem
and Dinah are married at this point.
(Read Genesis 34:25-31)
Here, things get really nasty. Dinah’s brothers Simeon and Levi, the ones
who had offered the covenant of circumcision, now use that covenant to kill the
community of Shechem. They are brutal in
their attack, killing all the males of the community including Shechem and
Hamor. They take Dinah forcibly from her
home, and the verb usage here is similar to the taking of rape that Shechem
commits at the start of this story. It
is an act against her will.
The sons of Jacob go even further,
plundering the city. They take all the
livestock, all the goods of wealth, all the women, and all the children. Again, the verb usage here implies great
violence, and the taking of women here implies rape. The sons of Jacob rape the women of Shechem. In fact this is where the play on words comes
in. Shechem the man rapes Dinah, but
Jacob’s sons rape Shechem the city.
Their behavior is abhorrent.
Jacob confronts his sons in
anger. He had been prepared to settle
here and was willing to make his family one with the community, but now it is
all ruined. Like a foul odor, the
presence of his family has become odious to the region and stunk up the
place. The sons have acted like fools in
their harsh violence and deceit, and now Jacob and his family must flee the
area.
The sons reply that their course of
action was just. They claim they were
seeking justice for Dinah following her rape.
But, their usage of words betrays them.
They call their sister Dinah a whore, further dragging her name through
the mud. They also unknowingly convict
themselves; for they are the ones who have treated their sister like a whore,
using Dinah’s body and Schechem’s desire for her, as a means of gaining the combined
wealth of the city. If she is a whore,
then they are her pimps.
What then are we to say? What is the lesson for today? (Other than to
be wary of encouraging people to read their Bibles?!?)
Well, I think one of the biggest
problems with this text is rape.
Violence against women is nothing new, and it continues to be a divisive
topic in our modern culture. Of all
people, this story centers around Dinah, and close readers of the scripture
will note she has no voice here. Dinah
never gets to say what she thinks of Shechem, of her marriage, or of the
actions of her brothers. We get hints of
things, as the brothers take Dinah from Schechem’s house, and it doesn’t appear
to be a place she leaves willingly. But
we never really get to hear from her.
We have to remind ourselves that at
this point in history women are no more than property. The rape of Dinah is a property crime, not a
personal crime. She becomes spoiled goods,
property value down, and that is why the one who rapes her must pay her father
restitution and marry her and provide for her from now on. The actions of the brothers are also property
crimes though to a much greater extent.
Women aren’t property any more in this
country, but they still struggle for justice in issues of rape. And just like with this text, the drama
always seems to revolve around the men.
Dinah was the one raped, but the brothers and the fathers make it about
them. So too, when women accuses
attackers today, the burden of proof is on the woman, as if only the accused
man were damaged in the incident.
Leaving the issues of sexual violence
aside, the overarching problem of this text is a definition of justice. Shechem and Hamor attempt to seek justice for
Dinah in the marriage contract. Even
though Shechem committed the initial offense, he is the one to offer whatever
justice is asked on Dinah’s behalf.
In contrast, Dinah’s brothers also claim
to be seeking justice. They claim their
wrath and violence, their raping and pillaging, are proper justice for the
wrong done to Dinah and her family. And
even more troubling, they use religion as a weapon and an excuse in their
overzealous, over-violent seeking of justice.
And so we are forced to ask ourselves,
“what is justice?” According to the law
of their day, Shechem and Hamor are in the right, and Jacob’s family is in the
wrong. The men of Jacob’s family are the
bad guys here, but no one is going to tell them that.
I am reminded of times when I have
seen people use religion, and the cause of justice in this way. I wonder how many of the tiki-torch marchers
in Charlottesville would claim to be Christians? And how do they understand justice in their
context. On the other side, I read an
article in Mother Jones on anti-fa gangs
whose sole purpose is to seek out neo-Nazi gatherings and beat those people
up. I am sure those folks consider their
actions to be actions of justice. So who
is right, and is justice really that subjective?
Throughout the centuries, people have
used the power of religion and selfish understandings of justice and for their
own gains. Our declaration of faith today
comes from the church in South Africa and the struggle of apartheid there. Here we find the historically black church,
calling the white church to task for mistaken ideas of justice. Churches in South Africa argued that
segregation was the will of God, and justice for the people. This declaration of faith, points out the
falsehood of that point of view, and calls our attention to the biblical images
of justice that God offers.
As those who claim a religious
identity and dare to call ourselves seekers of justice, we must be careful that
we don’t fall into these same traps.
When we seek justice in the world, is it for our own personal gain, or is
it for the good of society as a whole?
When we share our religion, do we use it as an olive branch of peace, or
as a weapon to beat down our neighbors?
We would do well to keep these things in mind in our daily interactions
in our world.
And so once again, we find the story
of Jacob and his family to be extremely relevant for our modern lives. Thousands of years later, we still struggle
with the issues of violence against women and seeking appropriate justice in
our world. Next week we will conclude
the series with a final chapter of wrestling with Jacob. In the meantime may God help us to continue
to understand what justice really is.
Amen.
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