and said to them, We cannot do this, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that [were] a reproach to us.
Hamor has just asked for Dinah and proposed that the two families intermarry. Jacob's sons refuse in the language of a people set apart — but their words hide a plan, and the sign of God's covenant is about to become a bargaining chip.
Their answer was deceitful from the start. Commentators read the whole speech as a trap laid under religious words:
But the sons of Jacob were far from honourable in the way they answered. No doubt Jacob did not suspect their motives at all. But it was with cruel deceit that they told Shechem and Hamor their terms. They would agree to Hamor's suggestion only if all the males of the land accepted circumcision. They even promised that, if the men did this, they would live together as one people and be willing to intermarry with the local people there.
The brothers' own family history exposes the excuse:
Not the smallest thought or wish had they for inviting the Shechemites into the covenant. It was the lowest treachery, meant to trap and massacre them. Their pride and revenge ignored God as it did their father. Shechem was guilty of a great wrong; but Dinah too was in fault. Their own mothers and their grandmother were daughters of uncircumcised men. And no godly or sensitive reluctance showed in their own marriages. They set the condition as a lying, cowardly excuse, so they could carry their resentment as far as it could go.
The brothers call the match a disgrace to them. Yet circumcision carried a meaning of its own, and that is what they sold:
In crafty malice and greed for gain, Israel's sons hand over to these men God's title to the land. And the one who valued that title so little that he based his claim on another's rights would hardly hesitate to trade circumcision away for treasure in the world. Circumcision was the reproach of Christ, separation from the world of the ungodly, the seal of faith, the sign of God's inheritance.
The brothers speak as though a wall still stood between their family and the people of the land. It did not. Their father had taken it down himself by settling at Shechem:
In self-will a man was killed there, and a fence thrown down. But Jacob himself had dug down God's fence first. The call of God had raised a wall between the clean and the unclean, between the circumcised and the Gentile. Jacob himself, in spirit, had broken that wall down when he settled as a citizen or landowner on his purchased estate at Shechem. And Simeon and Levi may complete this, as soon afterwards as they please.
The same writer turns the verse's own word back on the speakers:
What we see here is an uncircumcised Jacob, not circumcised Shechemites.
The brothers made their demand in God's name, so the crime that followed carried a second offence:
They plot together and deceive, as religious bigotry always does. Every genuinely religious person will join Jacob in disowning them. The innocent suffer with the guilty in these cursed crusades — the innocent ox along with the guilty Shechem — though Shechem was not half as bad as they were. The worst of this crime is that they do it in the name of God, religious order and separation. So they make thoughtless people hate religion. In this way they manage to wrong the world and the church at the same time.
Both sides aim at the same outcome: no difference between the two peoples. The same pull is still at work today:
Hamor also promised to give Jacob many things. He suggested that they might be one people, live in the land and trade, and marry together. Just like the world of today; they want Christians to be one with them — no difference. Christians, be careful! The Lord says, "Go out from their midst, and be separate from them" (2 Cor. 6:17). The world says, "We may be one." The Lord says, "Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity" (2 Tim. 2:19).
- Cause — Jacob pulled the fence of separation down himself when he settled at Shechem. His sons' fine words defended a boundary the family had already left.
- Pretext — "We cannot do this thing" was a lying, cowardly excuse. The brothers had no wish to bring anyone into the covenant. They wanted a trap.
- Barter — Circumcision was the seal of faith and the sign of separation from the ungodly. Here the brothers trade it away for revenge and gain.
- Cover — The worst part was doing it in the name of God and separation. That wrongs the world and God's people at once.
- Call — The world keeps saying, "let us be one, no difference." God keeps calling His people to come out and be separate.
But only in this will we consent to you, if ye will be as we, that every male of you be circumcised;
Shechem wants to marry Dinah, and his father Hamor has asked Jacob's family to join with his people as one. The sons answer with a single condition — circumcision — and the chapter shows what happens when people use a holy sign for an unholy purpose.
The terms sound like an invitation into the covenant. They were nothing of the kind.
Then Jacob's sons stepped in with guile, setting the condition that every male be circumcised. They had not the smallest thought or wish of bringing the Shechemites into the covenant. It was the basest treachery, meant to trap and massacre them. Jacob had nothing to do with the cruel secret. Their pride and revenge ignored God just as it ignored their father. … The condition was a lying and cowardly pretext to carry their resentment to the limit.
The sons' offer came with a promise and a threat.
No doubt Jacob did not suspect their motives at all. But their words to Shechem and Hamor were cruel deceit. They said they could only agree to Hamor's suggestion if all the males of the land were circumcised. They even promised that if the men were circumcised, they would live together as one people, willing to marry the local people. If the men would not agree to be circumcised, the brothers said they would take Dinah with them and leave the country.
They offered God's own mark on His people as an entry fee. That mark meant the opposite of the merger on the table.
Circumcision was the rite appointed by God as a token of the covenant that He made with Abraham and his descendants. It was also the seal of the righteousness of his faith… It signified the separation of a people from the world to God… Against God's design, circumcision became a mere formal act when the covenant itself was ignored.
So they offered the sign of separation as the price of mixing. They kept the form and emptied out the meaning.
Hamor wanted the merger too, and he made it sound attractive. One writer sees the same pressure on Christians today.
Jacob and his sons all knew they should not agree, but they spoke deceitfully. Hamor also promised to give Jacob many things, and suggested they might be one people and live in the land and trade and marry together. Just like the world of today; they want Christians to be one with them — no difference. Christians, be careful! The Lord says, "Go out from their midst, and be separate" (2 Corinthians 6:17). The world says, "We may be one." The Lord says, "Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity" (2 Timothy 2:19).
The trouble started before any of this. Jacob had settled at Shechem.
The whole of Genesis 34 is filled with the unhappy results that sprang from the lowering of Jacob's separation from the world. Its effects for evil were not seen in Jacob himself, but in his family. The tide of evil runs in two broad channels: violence and corruption… The world is just the same today. How often we have to hang our heads in shame and confess that a little compromise with the world on our part, as Christian parents, has led to sorrow and even disaster in our families.
When the trouble came, Jacob looked at his sons rather than at himself.
Instead of looking at Simeon and Levi, or at the consequences of their rash action, he should have judged himself for being in such a position at all. If he had not settled at Shechem, no one would have dishonoured Dinah, and his sons would never have shown their violence. We constantly see Christians getting into deep sorrow and trouble through their own unfaithfulness. Then, instead of judging themselves, they look at their circumstances and blame them.
The bargain did not buy Jacob peace.
Then comes the slaughter of the Shechemites. It was a judgment so cruel, and with so much deceit in it, that the Spirit of God later pronounced it accursed through Jacob himself. And now Jacob is shaken out of his ease and security, and plunged into distress and fear once more. God's grace will not comfort those who refuse to use it in a holy way.
The revenge outran the wrong it punished: "their dealings with the city were far worse than was Shechem's sin" (Leslie M. Grant).
- Compromise. The chapter's disasters trace back to one step: Jacob settled at Shechem and lowered his separation from the world. The damage showed up in his children, not in himself.
- Cover. His sons named the covenant sign as their one condition. They had no wish to bring anyone into the covenant. It was a pretext to trap and kill.
- Contradiction. Circumcision stood for a people separated to God. Offering it as the entry fee for intermarriage emptied the sign of the very thing it signified.
- Consequence. Revenge dressed in religion ended worse than the sin it punished. Jacob himself later called it accursed.
- Correction. Jacob blamed his circumstances rather than himself. The lesson is self-judgment: grace does not comfort those who refuse to use it in a holy way.
then will we give our daughters to you, and take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and be one people.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
But if ye do not hearken to us, to be circumcised, then will we take our daughter and go away.
Dinah's brothers close their offer with a threat: no circumcision, no marriage. It sounds like an honest condition between two families, but the sign they demanded was sacred and their whole use of it was a lie.
The brothers dressed their demand as covenant faithfulness. It was nothing of the sort.
So Jacob's sons stepped in with deceit, setting the condition that every male be circumcised. They had not the smallest thought or wish of inviting the Shechemites into the covenant. It was the basest treachery, designed to trap and massacre them. Jacob had nothing to do with the cruel secret. Their pride and revenge ignored God just as it ignored their father. Shechem was guilty of a great wrong; but Dinah was at fault too. Neither their mothers nor their grandmother came from circumcised fathers, and no pious or careful reluctance showed in their own marriages. The condition was a lying and cowardly pretext to carry their resentment through to the end.
Refuse, and Shechem loses the marriage he wants. Accept, and the city lies open to the massacre they planned.
Circumcision was not just a family custom. It stood for something definite.
Circumcision was therefore the seal of the righteousness of faith. Some fourteen years earlier Abram had been counted righteous because he believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. First righteousness by faith, and then the seal.
That is what the brothers put on the table as the price of a marriage. They asked a whole city to wear the sign of a faith they had no intention of sharing.
In crafty malice and greed for gain, Israel's sons hand to these men God's own title to possess the land. And the man who valued it so little that he based his claim on someone else's rights would think nothing of trading circumcision away for treasure in this world. Circumcision was the reproach of Christ, separation from the world of the ungodly, the seal of faith, the sign of God's inheritance.
The threat in this verse has a positive half: stay and we become one people. That promise was as false as the threat was real.
The sons of Jacob were far from honourable in the way they answered. No doubt Jacob did not suspect their motives at all. But with cruel deceit they told Shechem and Hamor that they could only agree to Hamor's suggestion if all the males of the land were circumcised. They even promised that if the men were circumcised, the two families would live together as one people, willing to intermarry with the people of the land.
The trouble started before the brothers. Jacob had already settled at Shechem and bought land there.
In self-will a man had been killed there, and a fence had been thrown down. But surely Jacob himself had dug down God's fence before. God's call had raised a dividing wall between the clean and the unclean, between the circumcision and the Gentile. Jacob himself had broken that wall down in spirit when he settled as a citizen and landowner on his purchased estate at Shechem. And Simeon and Levi may complete the work as soon afterwards as they please.
No one paid for it at the time. The reckoning came years later.
Years later, in Genesis 49, the dishonour to the name of God and the horror and shame of the whole thing come over Jacob's soul far more strongly than they appear to have done at the moment of the sin. He cries: "Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel." Levi was scattered in Israel as punishment for that terrible sin, committed centuries before at Shechem. But now, for our encouragement, see the grace of God. The very punishment, the scattering in Israel, becomes an unspeakable blessing. This tribe is chosen to draw near to God. They are scattered in Israel so that the knowledge of God and His Word may be scattered through them too.
- Drift — Jacob broke God's fence down first, settling as a landowner at Shechem. His sons only finished what he started.
- Disguise — The demand sounded like covenant faithfulness. The brothers had not the smallest wish to bring the Shechemites in.
- Barter — They traded the seal of the righteousness of faith for land, peace and gain.
- Trap — The "or else" in this verse was a lying pretext. The men who accepted it in good faith walked into a massacre.
- Reckoning — Jacob cursed their anger years later, and Levi was scattered for it. God turned that scattering into the spread of His Word.