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.
News of Dinah's disgrace reaches Jacob first, while his sons are still out with the livestock. He says nothing, and his silence hands the crisis to them.
How the trouble reached Jacob's tent
The chapter's grief did not begin with Shechem. It began earlier. Jacob stopped travelling, built a house and bought land instead of going on to Bethel. One writer ties the daughter's wandering to her father's choice of home:
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. And what was the fruit of this? His daughter Dinah goes out to see the daughters of the land. Her father had settled down in the world instead of living as a heavenly pilgrim passing through it. So what could be more natural than his daughter wanting to be friends with the world? We all know the sad, shameful result. Who would have guessed that trading a tent for a house could bear such bitter fruit? Yet so it is. In our day, friendship with the world still means being an enemy of God. If we settle down in this world and lose the pilgrim spirit, we can hardly blame our children for seeking the friendship of the people we have settled among.
Jacob heard — and waited
The verse is careful about timing. Jacob knows before Hamor arrives, and he waits for sons who are not yet home.
Leslie M. GrantJacob had heard the news before Hamor came, but had said nothing, waiting till his sons returned from their work in the field before saying anything at all about the shame of Shechem's sin with Dinah.
Not every writer reads that silence kindly. One speaks straight to Jacob, and the silence closes a list of failures:
The Bible TreasuryAt Shechem you buy a field, and Dinah is defiled by Shechem; your sons act by deceit, and Simeon and Levi — instruments of cruelty, fierce anger and cruel wrath — are cursed: and you hold your peace! You are a foolish dove without heart!
Who was to blame
Commentators do not lay the whole weight on Shechem. The sons come home grieved and angry, and one writer asks what their anger overlooked.
Leslie M. GrantThe sons, when they came, were not only grieved but very angry at Shechem. Did they not stop to think that the blame was not only Shechem's, but Dinah's also? For though this was sin, it was not rape.
Another writer looks at Dinah too, and at how little her parents counted at home. Commentators differ on whether force was used:
William KellyWith or without her parents' permission, Dinah went out to see the daughters of the land. What business did she have with them at all? Everyone but the godless knew that judgment would come on these people one day, and that the descendants of Abraham would take the land. She seems to have been as independent of her mother as the young men clearly were of their father's advice. Her restless curiosity exposed her to the young prince of the land. He was taken with her and carried away by his passion, and he seduced her if he did not force her. Her poor father was silent until the sons came back from work.
What the silence let in
Because Jacob waited, his sons answered Hamor instead of him. Their offer used the language of the covenant to hide a plan for slaughter.
William KellyThen Jacob's sons stepped in with guile, setting the condition that every male be circumcised. They had no thought or wish at all 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 as it did their father.
One writer sees Jacob meeting his own past in his sons:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinAfter Peniel, Jacob built a house at Succoth and bought a piece of land instead of going on to Bethel. If he had gone to Bethel, perhaps this sad event would never have happened. God permitted it for the humbling of His servant Jacob. Again he reaps what he had sown, and the father's deceit is reflected in the deceit of some of his sons.
From curse to blessing
The story does not stop at ruin. The curse spoken over Simeon and Levi was not the last word:
F. B. HoleIn later days the tribe of Levi acted in a way that gained a special blessing. So we are allowed to see how God can turn what was once a curse into a blessing. The word had been, "I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel." They were divided — but the division came through Levi's call to special service and Levi's scattering throughout all the tribes.
Summary
- Settle — Jacob traded the tent for a house. His daughter's wandering followed his settling.
- Hear — the news reaches Jacob first, and he waits for sons still in the field.
- Silence — writers differ on that silence; one calls the waiting father a foolish dove without heart.
- Seize — the sons fill the gap. Their grief was real, but their plan was treachery, and their father knew nothing of it.
- Salvage — the curse scattered Levi, and God turned that scattering into service.