An old song goes like this: “Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah…someone’s in the kitchen I know.” But Dinah is not in the kitchen, Dinah has gone to the mall.
Trouble for ourselves and others
It would have been better had Dinah stayed closer to the kitchen. Many things would have turned out differently. Sometimes we put ourselves in harm’s way and by so doing hurt a lot of people as well as ourselves. (How inconsiderate we can be of the potential effect on others when we endanger ourselves. For example, the brave motorcycle rider who wants the personal freedom to ride his bike without a helmet and “take his own chances” too often saddles the rest of us with the bills for his care and upkeep when his brain is damaged in an accident.)
But the kitchen can be boring and Dinah wanted to be with friends her own age so she went down to the mall, or its equivalent in 1751 B.C. “And Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land” (Gen. 34:1).
What did Dinah’s parents do?
I wonder what Jacob and Leah said about her going? “Have a good time dear? Do you need any money? Be careful out there?” I doubt they said that.
Some have speculated Jacob and Leah fell down in their parental duties or they would not have let Dinah go. It can’t be proven they did and I doubt it. It happened “on their watch” so responsibility does rest with them in a sense. But Dinah must have known right from wrong. I can’t believe anyone could grow up in Jacob’s tents without having a clear knowledge about God’s plan and His desire for His people to “come out from the world and be separate.”
Did Jacob even know Dinah had gone down to the “mall” to “see the daughters of the land” and be seen?
Trouble at the “mall”
Other people like to hang around the mall and “see the daughters of the land” too. Shechem “saw” Dinah and it sounds like it was love at first sight. He “saw her, he took her and lay with her, and defiled her” (Gen. 34:2).
It almost sounds like what we might call a seduction today. It doesn’t sound like he violently attacked her. There are a number of factors leading to that conclusion:
- Shechem “loved the damsel, and spoke kindly unto the damsel” (Gen. 34:3).
- He clearly wanted Dinah for his wife (v. 4).
- He was a cut above his family in reputation for being honorable (v.19).
- Dinah was still living in Shechem’s house when the massacre occurred: “And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son, with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house” (v. 26).
Clearly it does not appear Dinah ran screaming from Shechem’s presence back to the safety of her father’s tent nor is it reasonable to conclude she was being held captive. How could Jacob’s family enter into any kind of intermarriage negotiations if Dinah was a prisoner? (vs. 8-17).
One thing led to another
It sounds like Dinah went to the “mall” to see and be seen and one thing led to another and soon matters were out of her control and out of Shechem’s control. And out of Jacob’s control.
It was almost like being in the wrong car with the wrong people in the wrong place and someone says the wrong thing to the wrong person and someone is dead. Which, of course, leads to the need for revenge! As Simeon and Levi said to their father in justification of their massacre (drive-by shooting), “should he [Shechem] deal with our sister as with an harlot?” It sounds like Simeon and Levi were upset about “No respect.”
What a disaster Dinah’s trip to the “mall” precipitated. She was defiled — which would have ruined her marriage prospects in that day and age. All the men in that village were massacred. Her brothers were moved to become murderers. God’s sacred command of circumcision was abused in a horrible way and the whole family had to leave town for fear of the neighbors. (How would your family react if something bad happened to you and how would they be affected?)
Jacob’s reaction shows faith
Jacob reacted in chapter 35 by leading his family in rededication to God. This was a good reaction to a bad incident.
There is an important lesson in Jacob’s reaction. When all is said and done, it is not what happens to us that is of final importance; it is how we react to what happens to us. Jacob reacted in a right way. Simeon and Levi reacted badly.
And God still protected them. “And the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob” (Gen. 35:5). God’s mercy and longsuffering toward our waywardness must be kept high in our awareness at all times. We must never give up.
We may be affected all our lives by our decisions today. Dinah was. Simeon and Levi were. At their father’s death bed years later when the patriarch’s blessings were given, this incident comes up and affects their blessing. “Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitation. 0 my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united; for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self will they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel” (Gen. 49:5-7).
Whether it is Jacob, Job or ourselves, every parent finds the experience of raising children teaches them the sentiments of this prayer: “Oh Lord God, please keep our children and all of us from sin and from harm and look away from their sins and keep the way of repentance open to them — and us.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One