Genesis 34:13-29 (NIV)

Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob’s sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor. They said to them, “We can’t do such a thing; we can’t give our sister to a man who is not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. We will enter into an agreement with you on one condition only: that you become like us by circumcising all your males. Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We’ll settle among you and become one people with you. But if you will not agree to be circumcised, we’ll take our sister and go.”

Their proposal seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. The young man, who was the most honored of all his father’s family, lost no time in doing what they said, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city to speak to the men of their city. “These men are friendly toward us,” they said. “Let them live in our land and trade in it; the land has plenty of room for them. We can marry their daughters and they can marry ours. But the men will agree to live with us as one people only on the condition that our males be circumcised, as they themselves are. Won’t their livestock, their property and all their other animals become ours? So let us agree to their terms, and they will settle among us.”

All the men who went out of the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male in the city was circumcised.

Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem’s house and left. The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where their sister had been defiled. They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields. They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses.

This passage should be read with the Mission Impossible theme played in the background. (“As always, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.”) The brothers hatch a plan to wipe out the whole town. To keep the mission secret, they don’t let Jacob in on it. They’ve seen his timid behavior too many times.

The men of the town should string up their prince for this despicable act. But they’re such a bunch of sycophants that they not only don’t punish him, they enable his behavior, even to the point of being circumcised.

That’s exactly what the brothers need for their plan to work. They wait until every man in the town is bed-ridden in pain, and then put them all to the sword.

This is an act of war. It may seem extreme, but it’s nothing compared to the Trojan War, and that was started over a woman too. It all seems so senseless, but we’ll soon see the purpose of this “mini war.”

This will precipitate a crisis that will move Jacob to greater maturity.

The weekly study guides, which include discussion questions, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies