Would you keep your word no matter what? Jacob’s sons would be put to the test over their sister Dinah and would fail badly. Here is how it played out. Jacob certainly knew some significant suffering even into old age.
Genesis 34: The Defiling of Dinah
1 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land.
2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her.
3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her.
4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, "Get me this girl for my wife."
5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came.
6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him.
7 The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing must not be done.
8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, "The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife.
9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.
10 You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it."
11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, "Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give.
12 Ask me for as great a bride price and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife."
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."
18 Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor's son Shechem.
19 And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob's daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his father's house.
20 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying,
21 "These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters.
22 Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people---when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised.
23 Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us."
24 And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.
25 On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males.
26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem's house and went away.
27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.
28 They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field.
29 All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered.
30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household."
31 But they said, "Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?"
Genesis 35: God Blesses and Renames Jacob
1 God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau."
2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments.
3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone."
4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.
5 And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.
6 And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him,
7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.
8 And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.
9 God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.
10 And God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name." So he called his name Israel.
11 And God said to him, "I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.
12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you."
13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him.
14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.
15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.
The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac
16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor.
17 And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, "Do not fear, for you have another son."
18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.
19 So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem),
20 and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel's tomb, which is there to this day.
21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.
22 While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.
23 The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali.
26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.
27 And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned.
28 Now the days of Isaac were 180 years.
29 And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
Things to think about…
1. Jacob made a vow to the Lord to return to Bethel when he returned to Canaan. He instead buys land from Hamor and settles in Shechem (the same name of Hamor’s son). This is where Jacob is still learning to be obedient to what you have vowed. As with Cain “Sin lies at the door and its desire is for you”. In this case it was after his daughter, Dinah and had tragic results. Jacob should have learned that lingering in a place when the Lord has asked you to be somewhere else will never end well.
2. Dinah started the ball rolling here by wanting to go out and see the women of the land Gen 34:1. This means she was interested in the dress and practices of the Canaanite women. What happens when we lose the desire to follow after the God of Jacob? We follow after the world. Sons are tough enough, but my hat goes off to all those mums and dads who are trying to keep their daughters from falling away into the world’s ways and distractions. Keep going, the rewards are well worth it.
3. Jacob clearly had no control over his sons either. Have a look at Gen 34:13. The sons of Jacob speak and Jacob is not mentioned. What a sad state of affairs when a father has no influence or control over his sons. The sons of Jacob, especially Simeon and Levi who led the rebellion were never going to honour the agreement. The honour for themselves and their sister was more desired than any honour worthy of the Lord. How would you have handled the situation if you had a rebellious sister or daughter like Dinah?
4. Defiling Dinah was bad enough by Hamor, but defiling a covenant made before the Lord by Jacob’s sons is worse. Not only did they not keep the covenant but then proceeded to murder the men, then raid and keep all the women, goods and livestock of Shechem. There were acting in recompence – but in the Lord’s eyes they had dishonoured his name. What about us as Christians when we agree to something then change our minds. Our ‘yes’ is ‘no’ – which the Lord says is of the devil. In this way we are no different to the sons of Jacob when we do not keep our word.
5. Jacob eventually returns to Bethel, Gen 35:1-15 – the house of God where he initially dedicated himself to the Lord. Remember the vow he had made all those years earlier. He said if you bless me in the way I will serve you, Gen 28:19-22. He had taken some detours along the way before he finally arrived back at Bethel. Often we have to come full circle before we realise how important our faith and our commitment to the Lord really is. His name of ‘Israel’ is reconfirmed. This relates to his new identity – a prince with God. We are sons and daughters of the king and need to continually reaffirm our commitment to the Saviour of our souls.
6. The last years of Jacob’s life were tough – his wife and love of his life Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin (Son of my right hand) – ‘Ben oni’ which she wanted to call him means ‘son of my pain’. Jacob rightly changed his name – names become our identity – hence we have new names in the new heavens and new earth, Rev 2:14. But also Ruben sleeps with Jacob’s concubine Bilhah. He also buries his father Isaac. Jacob had known much grief and disappointment. Praise God this is not our home, take comfort in this when things get tough in this life.
Vision Point
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Questions for Cell groups
Sunday’s sermon, “God blessed anyway” came from Gen 27 by Ps Jay.
1. Discuss the character differences between Jacob and Esau as they are displayed in Gen 27. Do you see any moral differences between them, that the Lord would bless Jacob over Esau?
2. Clearly there was little to no trust between Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Esau. There was also little display of faith and trust in the Lord either. However the Scriptures exalt the character of Isaac and Jacob, Hebrews 11:20, 21; but they are not kind to Esau, Heb 12:16, 17. Discuss.
3. Jay spoke about the outworking of the blessing’s that were given by Isaac to his two sons in Gen 27. How have they been fulfilled?
4. The greatest blessing through the line of Jacob is the birth of the Messiah – Jesus. Consider how Jesus fits into the blessing Isaac gave to Jacob in Gen 27:28, 29.
5. Pray for your cell group and prayer/praise points. Pray for our “Blessing Beirut” appeal as we endeavour to help these ‘sons of Abraham’.
Prayer Points
1. Pray for Lebanon and the people of Beirut with this accidental blast from the storage of ammonium nitrate. 157 confirmed dead. 5000 wounded, 300, 000 left homeless. $10 - $15 billion to rebuild.
2. Pray for those who heard the gospel on Sunday. Pray for Christ to grant them salvation.
3. Pray for Victoria they are in stage 4 lockdown. Curfews and very strict travel restrictions in place for 4 weeks.
4. Pray for our church services now meeting together and our streaming that both can continue to be done well every Sunday.
5. Continue to pray for our government for wisdom and economic management.
6. Sunday’s messages and for Kids church. The message this week – “You shall be called Israel” Gen 35 – Ps Jay.
7. Church finances to meet our expenses and to put a roof over our café.
8. Our City and Country – Pray for revival over our city and the leadership of our country even through these challenging times.
Praise Points.
1. New visitors. Please pray that they receive Christ as their Saviour. Pray they keep coming back to CBC.
2. Wonderful spirit of joy in our church. Thankyou Jesus.
3. Finances being maintained and donations to Café roof. Thankyou!
1. We have established a “Blessing Beirut” fund. Pray we can find a gospel centered ministry to bless the people of Beirut as they rebuild.
2. One service at 9:30am Every Sunday morning. This service will also be live streamed. No kisses, hand-shakes or hugs are allowed. Hand sanitizer is to be used, tables will be wiped and chairs arranged for appropriate distancing. Families can of course sit together. CBC is allowed up to 50 people inside, then we will have an overflow in the house and Kids church will be in the crèche in the cafe.
3. Cell groups – Ask for details as to how and what is required.
4. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
5. Kids Church will be run in the house when the message starts.
Q. 15. What do we pray for in the fifth petition? A. That God would pardon our sins for Christ's sake, and enable us to forgive those who have wronged us.
