Genesis 34:13–17 (ESV)
Shechem Defiles Dinah
13 The
sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. 14 They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised,
for that would be a disgrace to us. 15 Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. 16 Then
we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. 17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take
our daughter, and we will be gone.”
Hamor and Shechem had just made an offer that is hard to refuse: “I will give whatever you say to me.”
There is a BIG key word in verse 13: “deceitfully”. They answered Shechem and Hamor, but deceitfully. What is going on? The sons of Jacob say that they cannot give their daughter (Dinah) to the “uncircumcised”, and
that they must agree to become “as we are” by being circumcised. This would be in essence to request them to become spiritually one with them and to be marked as children of God. What will their response be? This kind of reminds
me of the crusades where Christians told the nonbelievers to “believe or die”.
I pray:
O Lord, protect my family and other people from people like Shechem and Hamor. Help us to honor the Ten Commandments, especially “Thou shall not commit adultery.” Amen.