Honey From The Rock

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Honey From The Rock
Psalm 81:16

"Sweet Stuff From God's Word"

A daily Bible study with Victor Knowles
Copyright 2007

SOMEONE'S IN THE KITCHEN WITH DINAH

This entry was posted on 03-18-2010 and is filed under STUDIES IN GENESIS.

Probably some of my older readers will remember the song, "Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah." Well, in Genesis 34, someone was in the kitchen with Dinah and Dinah paid dearly for the visit. Dinah was one of the daughters of Jacob and Leah. She went out for a walk one day and was violated by Shechem the Hivite. Dinah's brothers were "filled with grief and fury" over the matter. Shechem's father tried to make things right by offering Jacob by settling among the Hivites. Jacob's sons had learned one thing from their father: the "gift" of deceit. The agreed to do so on the condition that Shechem and the Hivites submit to the Jewish ritual of circumcision. Every male in the city agreed because they could see prosperity down the road if they formed an alliance with a big family like Jacob's. So, like sheep led to the slaughter, the mass circumcisions began.

Three days later, "while all of them were still in pain," two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, entered the city and slew every male by the sword. The rest of the sons looted the dead, seized the flocks and herds, and carried off their wealth, women and children. Jacob told Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites." But his sons replied, "Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?" The chapter ends on that question mark and leaves a big question mark over the entire chapter. Is this the way we should respond when something bad happens to a loved one? Is the sin of deceit "in the genes" of Jacob's sons? How would you react in a similar situation?