Genesis 34:18-31
Relax, Read and Reflect
Prayer- Lord, Open my heart and open my mind and help me learn. Go-Fight-Win. Amen.
18 Their proposal seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. 19 The young man, who was the most honored of all his father's household, lost no time in doing what they said, because he was delighted with Jacob's daughter. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city to speak to their fellow townsmen. 21 "These men are friendly toward us," they said. "Let them live in our land and trade in it; the land has plenty of room for them. We can marry their daughters and they can marry ours. 22 But the men will consent to live with us as one people only on the condition that our males be circumcised, as they themselves are. 23 Won't their livestock, their property and all their other animals become ours? So let us give our consent to them, and they will settle among us."
24 All the men who went out of the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male in the city was circumcised.
25 Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. 26 They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem's house and left. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where [a] their sister had been defiled. 28 They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields. 29 They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses.
30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed."
31 But they replied, "Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?"
Jacob’s clan played hard-ball. They deceived their new neighbors until a false sense of security, had them circumcised, and then killed them. But they had justification, their sister had been done wrong. Welcome to the new land, these are people I want for neighbors.
The Bible does not judge this act one way or the other. The writer of Genesis just brings the facts, the who, what, when, where. It does state that Jacob was mad-not because his sons had killed lots of people, but because that put him sideways with his new neighbors.
What they did was wrong! They deceived Shechem and his father into thinking all is well if they make a sacrifice, if they become circumcised. While they are in post op, they get attacked and killed. They boys justified their action because Shechem treated their sister wrong. He did, but did his action warrant the reaction?
We do this today. Someone wrongs us, says something bad about us, and maybe it is even untrue. We let them think all is well, and then pounce. We justify our action because of the original wrong to us. Two wrongs do not make a right, they are just two wrongs!
Prayer- Lord, Help us forgive our neighbors. Help us remember that if we are your children, we should be able to treat each other fairly, no matter what others may have done to us. Go-Fight-Win. Amen.
Things to do- Read Genesis 35:1-15
Prayer- Lord, Open my heart and open my mind and help me learn. Go-Fight-Win. Amen.
18 Their proposal seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. 19 The young man, who was the most honored of all his father's household, lost no time in doing what they said, because he was delighted with Jacob's daughter. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city to speak to their fellow townsmen. 21 "These men are friendly toward us," they said. "Let them live in our land and trade in it; the land has plenty of room for them. We can marry their daughters and they can marry ours. 22 But the men will consent to live with us as one people only on the condition that our males be circumcised, as they themselves are. 23 Won't their livestock, their property and all their other animals become ours? So let us give our consent to them, and they will settle among us."
24 All the men who went out of the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male in the city was circumcised.
25 Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. 26 They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem's house and left. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where [a] their sister had been defiled. 28 They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields. 29 They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses.
30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed."
31 But they replied, "Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?"
Jacob’s clan played hard-ball. They deceived their new neighbors until a false sense of security, had them circumcised, and then killed them. But they had justification, their sister had been done wrong. Welcome to the new land, these are people I want for neighbors.
The Bible does not judge this act one way or the other. The writer of Genesis just brings the facts, the who, what, when, where. It does state that Jacob was mad-not because his sons had killed lots of people, but because that put him sideways with his new neighbors.
What they did was wrong! They deceived Shechem and his father into thinking all is well if they make a sacrifice, if they become circumcised. While they are in post op, they get attacked and killed. They boys justified their action because Shechem treated their sister wrong. He did, but did his action warrant the reaction?
We do this today. Someone wrongs us, says something bad about us, and maybe it is even untrue. We let them think all is well, and then pounce. We justify our action because of the original wrong to us. Two wrongs do not make a right, they are just two wrongs!
Prayer- Lord, Help us forgive our neighbors. Help us remember that if we are your children, we should be able to treat each other fairly, no matter what others may have done to us. Go-Fight-Win. Amen.
Things to do- Read Genesis 35:1-15
posted by Steve Killam TMTL | 6:36 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home