I LOVE the patriarchs. These stories in Genesis are some of my favorites. Today's soap operas have nuthin' on these guys. Lies, trickery, polygamy, murder, rape. Golly. Talk about dysfunctional family?!
And our Patriarchal Soap Opera continues. The brutal rape of Dinah by Shechem. (Who then has the gall to say he loves her and demand her as a wife. Ew.) The murder of every man in the city by Jacob's sons.
After the pain of seeing his daughter brutalized and his sons' cold hearted act of murder, Jacob must have been in considerable pain. Could he have been angry with God? Who knows. In that position, I probably would be. The Word doesn't say. But it does say that God spoke to Jacob and told him to move. Jacob does. Right away.
So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. 3Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone." Genesis 35:2-3
That's not only some serious faith, that's a man who's desperate for God's blessing and comfort in the midst of heartache. The Word doesn't say much about Jacob's reaction after Dinah's rape, but what father wouldn't be sick with anger and grief? I can't imagine that kind of pain.
What waits for Jacob when he arrives?
9God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10And God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name." So he called his name Israel. 11And God said to him, "I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you." 13Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. 14And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel. Genesis 35:9-15
God's blessing. His reminder of His promise.
This is a family who has done more than their fair share of deceiving, cheating, distrusting God's promises, and even murder. This is God's chosen line?
OH YES! And how much the better for us. The entire Patriarchal line was a train wreck. Yet God blessed them and made a great nation out of them. How much more will He do for us? His chosen children?
How many of us have lied? Failed to trust? Sinned in our anger or grief?
Ecclesiastes 1:9 says:
What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
We're all trainwrecks. Just in different degrees. Yet God chooses to bless us. He chooses to love us and give us grace and mercy despite our own yuckiness. A lineage of broken people who make mistakes...and from THAT lineage, He gives us Christ. What a display of His mercy! His grace! His mighty power to heal!
Why would I say that these stories are my favorites? Stories of dysfunctional families, pain and deceit? Because I'm no better.
"But for the grace of God go I...."
Jesus as our savior has so much meaning! Eternal life. An earthly life filled with grace and mercy and the blessed freedom from the sin that once held us in a choke hold. Coming to Christ as a young adult (I was 23), I can remember with a pain all too fresh the grip sin held on me not too long ago. A heart filled with anger and bitterness. Unkind words flowed from my lips like water from a faucet.
A marriage on the way to fulfilling a legacy of generational sin and divorce.
But, God called THIS trainwreck to something better. He brought me to Bethel. To the 'House of God'. El Bethel brought me home. And gave me a future better than the one I had laid out for myself.
Thank you God. I can never thank You enough.
(As an aside, if you ever get the opportunity to participate in "The Patriarchs" by Beth Moore, I highly recommend! It's an amazing study!)
Tomorrow's passage: Genesis 36-38 and Matthew 21:1-22
9 comments:
This is another situation where I'm disappointed in Jacob. HE should have been the one offended and seeking restitution for Dinah's rape, not his sons. Where was he when his sons were plotting murder and then massacring an entire city?
Not that I'm any better, of course, but I just sort of expect more from the man God named ISRAEL!! I expect he will be like Abraham ~ FIRST seeking God's direction ~ instead of realizing afterwards that's what he should have done. I guess that's why we have these stories though. Seeing how God has used very imperfect people in the past to achieve remarkable things for His glory gives us great hope and encouragement.
I was also disappointed with Jacob's lack of action and leadership during such a huge ordeal. And, even though Jacob's sons were trying to avenge their sister's rape - they used her in order to do so! I feel so much for Dinah who appears to have been used and them just discarded, even by her own family - her pain must've been enormous!
Definitely another amazing display of God's grace despite our sinful actions - thanks Sandy!!
Great post! I have also have been amazed at God's grace throughout this story! This definitely proves he can use imperfect people to do His work.
This might go against the grain, but does the Bible say that Dinah was brutally raped? My copy says that she was violated/defiled, which to me sounds more like he had sex with her outside of marriage. Still a sin to be sure, but I honestly place the much greater blame on Jacob's sons. The men of the city were willing to be circumcised after all.
And yes, Jacob should've been at the fore front handling the entire matter, but I think Jacob's sons were far more concerned with family honor then their sister's happiness.
Otherwise, I enjoyed and agreed with much of what Sandy said :)
I've always kinda thought, too, that it could just have easily been consensual sex as rape. I don't really see this as being any different, necessarily, from any other situation where there's sex before engagement and marriage. Except that in our North American culture today, families don't take offense to this like they did in Jacob's day ~ and still do in some parts of the world. It's too bad we aren't ashamed of this kind of thing anymore.
(I realize I called it rape in my initial comment though)
I thought the same thing, Jennifer. I thought it was admirable that ALL of the men agreed to be circumcised in order for marriages to occur. Not that it makes it right but it does put it into a slightly different context.
One thing that stood out for me in the NT readings was that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. My Grade 1 friends are struggling with fighting issues lately and they look at everything as a competition. Who will get to the carpet first? Who will finish their agenda first? Who will be the first to line up for recess? etc. etc. It is difficult for them to understand the concept of letting others go before them and that it doesn't matter who is first because we will all get to sit on the carpet, finish our agendas, and get outside for recess, etc. etc. BUT fighting for the first place just causes problems and people can get hurt in the process. Kind of like other areas of life too...trying to get ahead of someone, can hurt them physically and/or emotionally and it is not what God wants us to do.
Well, I'll just come out and admit that my husband and I did have sex before marriage, and yes it was wrong, but I'm kinda glad that men of my family didn't take it upon themselves to slaughter dH's family!
Instead we've been married almost 10 years now and have 2 children together. Slightly different outcome. Reading stories like this always make me very glad to be living in the time period I am, as opposed to when women were little more then property to be fought over.
I too am glad that we don't live in a time when women were treated like property. And I'm glad your DH wasn't slaughtered along with his family! ;)
Jacob's brothers absolutely reacted wrongly to the sin (whether it was rape or consensual).
I think we are in far more danger, in society today, of disregarding almost all types of sexual sin. And yet, one thing I've noticed time after time in the Bible is how serious and far-reaching sexual sins (of all kinds) are!
Whether it was polygamous relationships (descendants of Ishmael and Isaac are still bitter rivals), incest (the descendants of Lot and his daughters were against the Israelites at every turn), prostitutes, homosexuality, adultery or pre-marital sex - the consequences rarely (if ever!) affect only the sinner. They are incredibly far reaching.
And yet we as the Church are starting to buy in to society's lies that it's not that big of a deal and it's no one else's business. We tread in very dangerous waters when we treat our sins as inconsequential.
(BTW - just in case it's not clear, that paragraph was not aimed at you Jen!)
Post a Comment