Off To See The World

TO READ: Genesis 34:1-31

Jacob’s sons had come in from the field as soon as they heard what had happened. They were shocked and furious that their sister had been raped. Shechem had done a disgraceful thing against Jacob’s family, something that should never be done.

Genesis 34:7

Dinah was young and daring and wanted to see how the women in the rest of the world lived (Genesis 34:1). She went to the annual Canaanite festival of nature worship even though this was forbidden for an Israelite. Dinah, so young and naive, roamed around the festival awestruck, no doubt, by the town girls’ oriental garments.

Then Prince Shechem “saw Dinah.” Saw means “lusted after,” for the text says that immediately after seeing her, “he seized her and raped her” (Genesis 34:2). After that, he “tried to win her affection” (Genesis 34:3), but his lust had already done the damage.

The sons of Jacob were furious and plotted their revenge (Genesis 34:24-29). Simeon and Levi, “two of a kind . . . instruments of violence,” were the main culprits and earned Jacob’s curse when he was dying (Genesis 49:5-7).

We are not told any more about Dinah. We do know that when Simeon and Levi came to do their dirty work, Dinah was rescued from Shechem’s house while her brothers killed all the men in the town (Genesis 34:25-26). Dinah had let curiosity lead her into disaster, and the little escapade caused suffering and death to many.

There is a Dinah in all of us. Suspicious that God is withholding fun and happiness from us, we go to the party either in our heads or in actual fact, just to see what the world has to offer and if it’s really as bad as some “narrow-minded” Christians say it is. Such curiosity ends up bringing trouble to everyone and disgrace to God.