Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land.
Genesis 34 opens with one sentence about a girl paying a visit. Everything terrible in the chapter flows out of it. Commentators explain it by looking back a chapter — to where her father had chosen to live.
The ground her father had bought
Dinah walks out from a settled home, not a tent. Writers trace the whole episode back to one decision. Jacob bought land in Canaan instead of travelling through it as his fathers had.
J. G. BellettAt Succoth, where our patriarch first arrived, he builds a house. Then at Shalem, in Shechem, he buys a field. Abraham and Isaac, truer to the call of God, never did this and never would have done it. How could he count on moral safety in such circumstances? Jacob had exchanged the tent for a house, and the pilgrim stranger had become a citizen and a property owner. … The Lord did not give Abraham so much land as to set his foot on (Acts 7:5); but here at Shalem in Shechem, Jacob will have a parcel of ground, and buys it for an inheritance.
The question the verse forces
The verse identifies Dinah by her mother and father before it says a word about what she did. That naming invites a comparison with the family she belonged to.
J. G. Bellett"Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land." Genesis 34:1. Was this the way of the house of Abraham? Was this the family of the separated patriarch keeping the way of the Lord? Had Abraham been this careless? What dealings had he arranged for his children with either the sons or the daughters of the land?
A daughter at home in her father's choice
If a father makes his home among a people, his daughter will want their company. Writers read Dinah's outing as the natural next move after Jacob's.
George C WillisJacob seems to have grown tired of the pilgrim path, and gave in to the temptation to settle down and build a home. … Her father had settled down in the world instead of living as a heavenly pilgrim passing through it. What could be more natural than that his daughter should want to be friends with the world? … Who would have guessed that trading a tent for a house could produce such bitter fruit?
Dinah's own part
The blame is not laid on Jacob alone. One writer pictures a young girl left to herself among many brothers.
William KellyJacob's only daughter no doubt had a difficult part to play among so many brothers. She may have been about fourteen or fifteen years old. Whether or not her parents approved, Dinah went out to see the daughters of the land. … What had she to do with them at all? Everyone but the godless knew that the people of the land would be judged in time, and that Abraham's descendants would own it. Their wickedness was great, though not yet full. … She seems to have been as independent of her mother as the young men certainly were of their father's advice. Her wandering curiosity exposed her to the young prince of the land, who was taken with her and, carried away by his passion, seduced her — if he did not force her.
Commentators differ on what happened next. One writer puts the blame in two places.
L. M. GrantJacob's sons, when they came home, were not only grieved but very angry at Shechem. Did they not stop to think that the blame belonged not only to Shechem but to Dinah as well? For though this was sin, it was not rape.
The two channels the damage ran through
The rest of the chapter is corruption first, then slaughter. Writers name the two streams evil has always run in.
F. B. HoleThe whole of Genesis 34 traces the unhappy results that came from the lowering of Jacob's separation from the world, which we have just noticed. Its evil effects showed up not in Jacob himself but in his family. The tide of evil runs in two broad channels: violence and corruption. They are first mentioned in Genesis 6:12-13. … The world is just the same today. How often we have to hang our heads in shame and admit it. A little world-bordering on our part, as Christian parents, has led to sorrow and even disaster in our families. In this chapter the corruption comes first. … The anger came to a head in the atrocious violence of Simeon and Levi.
Summary
- House. Jacob traded a tent for a house and a bought field. So "the pilgrim stranger had become a citizen and a property owner." The first move in the chapter is his, not Dinah's.
- Habit. The verse names her parents on purpose. Abraham arranged no dealings for his children with the sons or daughters of the land. Jacob's household no longer looked like his.
- Heir. A daughter makes her father's address her own. Settle in the world, and children will want the world's friendship.
- Herself. She is not only a victim of her upbringing. Her "wandering curiosity" and independence from her mother exposed her. One writer says the blame was not Shechem's alone.
- Harvest. From one walk came corruption and then violence. Evil always runs in those two channels. A little world-bordering by parents can end in disaster at home.