A Journey Through the Bible, Part Seventeen

Old Testament

Genesis 33 and 34

Genesis 33:4—“But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.” Good for Esau, he finally got something right. I mentioned in the Genesis 32 post that Jacob was very concerned when he heard that Esau was coming towards him with 400 men. But the older brother finally shows some spiritual maturity. This is pretty much the last we’ll see of Esau as a person; he will show up again in chapter 35 to bury Isaac, and his genealogy will be given in chapter 36. His descendants become very important players in much of the rest of the Old Testament, though, because they settle south of Israel and become the Edomites—people of the land of Edom. They were a thorn in the flesh of Israel almost the entirety of their history, until God finally put an end to them by the Babylonian invasion. So the early infighting between Jacob and Esau, not the final reconciliation, will be what prevails between their offspring.

At the end of the chapter, Jacob buys a parcel of land near the city of Shechem and settles there. But not for long....

Genesis 34:25—“Now it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword and came boldly upon the city and killed all the males.” This is a sorry tale all around. A young man in the city of Shechem, confusingly named Shechem, saw Dinah, and raped her. But he loved her and wanted her for his wife; at least he was going to do the honorable thing and marry her, and the Bible mentions that (v. 19). His father approached Jacob and his sons about it. Whatever Jacob agreed or disagreed to, his sons had their own ideas. They deceitfully accepted the plea, but only on the condition that all the men of the city of Shechem be circumcised. This provision was accepted, but during the time of their recovery from that operation, Simeon and Levi, as verse 25 above says, went into the city and killed all the defenseless males, including Dinah’s husband-to-be (we aren't told what Dinah thought about all of this). Jacob was extremely grieved at what the two sons had done, fearing that the men of the area would seek revenge, which they would likely have done had God not commanded the patriarch in the next chapter to move to Bethel. Jacob reproved his sons, but they only responded that their sister shouldn’t have been treated like a harlot. Certainly, the abuse of Dinah was a gross sin by Shechem, but it does not justify wholesale murder by Simeon and Levi. As we shall see in the next few chapters, Jacob’s sons, at least in their youth, were very wild and very wicked. Part of it had to do with the jealousy centering around the polygamous relationship of their birth, but apparently Jacob and his wives and concubines simply did not do a very good job raising them. It’s another reason why Abraham was such a great man. In Genesis 18:19, Jehovah said, “For I have known him [Abraham], in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice.” His son, Isaac, and his grandsons Jacob and Esau, were apprently not quite as diligent with their offspring.

One last thought here--nothing justifies the sin of Simeon and Levi, but I think it should be pointed out that the men of Shechem were less than pure in their motives for being circumcised.  They saw this as perhaps an opportunity to plunder Jacob's wealth: "Will not their livestock, their property, and every animal of theirs be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us," (verse 23).  But, again, nothing excuses the wanton slaughter of an entire city.

New Testament

Matthew 19:14—“But Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’" Jesus, of course, is teaching the kind of attitude we must have in order to be successful servants of God in His kingdom—the simpleness and trust of a child. There is almost nothing a child won’t believe of an adult if the youngster truly thinks the older person is serious. “If you go outside, there is a purple snake that will eat you up,” the young one is told. And for a moment, and perhaps even longer, the child will believe. That’s the kind of unquestioning faith we should have in God (though, naturally, we should never get to the point of doubting--and Jehovah never fibs to us to get us to obey). Children obviously at times disobey their parents, as we do our heavenly Father. But the principle of trust is what’s important. Just as the child never even thinks about whether a worthy parent will provide for his/her needs, we should never question that our Father in heaven will supply all our needs as well. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). One of the great tragedies of our modern culture is the breakdown of the family and the loss of this great lesson of trust on the children of America today.