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.
Jacob's sons hear the news and hurry in from the field. Shechem has shamed their sister, and the men are furious. Two questions follow. How did a family under God's promise end up here? And was their anger the same thing as righteousness?
One step aside
One writer traces the whole disaster to an earlier choice. Jacob bought land at Shechem and built himself a house.
William KellyOne wrong step away from our true position before the Lord leads to many a sin, scandal, and sorrow. So we find here, as the consequence of Jacob's buying the land of the Hivite and building himself a house. His stay at Succoth and Shechem covers some ten years. He had to be unsettled to bring him back to his pilgrim place. But the way back was painful for everyone, and it brought deep shame, humiliation and fear on Jacob.
Dinah had gone out among the local women. Another writer holds that against the household Abraham kept.
J. G. BellettWas 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 slack? What contact had he arranged for his children with either the sons or the daughters of the land?
Two channels
Compromise rarely stops with the person who makes it.
F. B. HoleThe whole of Genesis 34 deals with the unhappy results that sprang from the lowering of Jacob's separation from the world. The evil did not show itself in Jacob 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, as Christian parents, must hang our heads in shame and admit that a little closeness to the world on our part has brought sorrow and even disaster into our families.
Folly in Israel
The verse does not merely report an offence; it labels it, and the label attaches to the whole household. (Older translations read "folly wrought in Israel"; the ESV renders it "an outrageous thing in Israel.")
The Bible Treasury"So here was folly wrought in Israel… which ought not to have been done" — a matter of grief and wrath — a horrible thing in Israel. "Israel is defiled and Jacob holds his peace."
Grief without clear eyes
Jacob waited for his sons before he said anything. Their grief was real, but one writer asks whether they weighed their sister's part in it too.
L. M. GrantJacob had heard the news before Hamor came, but said nothing. He waited until his sons returned from their work in the field before he spoke at all about the shame of Shechem's sin with Dinah. The 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.
What the anger became
Grief that looked like family loyalty turned into a plan. The brothers used circumcision, the sign of God's covenant, as bait.
William KellyThen Jacob's sons stepped in with deceit. They set the condition that every male among the Shechemites be circumcised. They had no thought or wish of inviting these men 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 long verdict — and grace
The story does not end with the raid. Judgment fell on the brothers who led the violence — and God did not leave it there.
F. B. HoleThe shameful story of Genesis 34 made Jacob "stink among the inhabitants of the land." That was a dreadful position for him, since he was the only man in the land who had the true knowledge of God. It also brought judgment on the two men who led the violence. Yet in later days the tribe of Levi acted in such a way as to gain a special blessing. So we are allowed to see how God can turn what was first a curse into a blessing. The word had been, "I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel" (49:7). They were divided — but the division came when God called Levi to special service and scattered him through all the tribes.
Summary
- Step — It starts before verse 7. One move away from the pilgrim place, a house at Shechem, and ten settled years.
- Soil — Closeness to the world bore fruit in the family: corruption and violence. The parents' compromise showed itself in the children.
- Sentence — The verse calls the deed folly in Israel, a thing that must not be done. The shame touched the whole household, not one man.
- Sword — The brothers' grief was real. It hardened into pride and revenge that ignored God and their father alike.
- Scattering — The judgment stood, and God scattered Levi. Yet He turned that scattering into service — a curse becoming a blessing.