Genesis 34: 3-6: “And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife. And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come. And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him.”
This episode gives a good description of the underlying reason why the Lord wanted to punish the sin of the Amorites (see Gen 15: 16 “But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”) They followed a fertility religion and this led to complete self obsession. In this case, Shechem had committed a crime but felt no guilt for the fact that he had violated Dinah. He decided that he loved her and wanted to have her as his wife. Under the Law, which had not yet been given, (compare Ex 22: 16, 17 “And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.”) a man was required to pay a penalty for doing something like this. Rape is characteristic behaviour of a lawless society where might is right. In this case Shechem felt no shame but went to his father and told him that he wanted to marry Dinah. Hamor, his father, didn’t reprimand him but supported his actions by trying to arrange a marriage with Jacob. This should really have put the matter to rest because his later behaviour was actually honourable even though his earlier action wasn’t. However, Jacob was used to living by deceit so he continued with his usual manner of behaviour and didn’t do anything until his sons returned home from looking after the cattle.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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