Dinah
“Judged or vindicated”
Summary
The only daughter of Jacob and Leah, whose violation by Shechem provoked her brothers' treacherous and brutal revenge upon the Shechemites.
☩The Violation
Dinah, perhaps thirteen to fifteen years old, 'went out to see the daughters of the land'—likely attending a festival near Shechem. Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite chief, saw her, seized her, and violated her. The prince then developed genuine affection for the girl and sought to marry her through proper negotiations. Such reparation would have satisfied the later Mosaic law, but the offense was considered 'folly in Israel' because it was committed by an alien against God's chosen people.
☩Treacherous Revenge
Hamor proposed intermarriage and commerce between the two peoples. Jacob's sons, concealing their fury, demanded that all Shechemite males be circumcised as a condition of the alliance. On the third day, when the men were disabled by the effects of the operation, Simeon and Levi attacked the city, slaughtered all the males, and plundered it. For this act of 'truly Oriental vindictiveness' no excuse can be offered, though in Eastern culture a stain upon a sister's honor demanded such vengeance.
☩Consequences
Jacob was horrified, fearing retaliation from neighboring peoples: 'Ye have troubled me to make me stink among the inhabitants of the land.' Only divine intervention protected the family—'the terror of God was upon the cities round about them.' On his deathbed, Jacob cursed the fierce anger of Simeon and Levi, prophesying that their descendants would be scattered in Israel. Dinah accompanied her father into Egypt and apparently remained unmarried.
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Dinah," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. II (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Dinah," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. II (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Dinah," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).